TikTok has shaken up the digital panorama — and its explosive development over the previous yr means that it is right here to remain.

Though it is an entertainment-first platform, TikTok is extra than simply Gen Z dance challenges.

We’re seeing an increasing number of social impression and non-profit purchasers use TikTok to tell, educate, interact, promote, and lift funds and consciousness.

Right here, let’s discover suggestions and greatest practices for nonprofits trying to leverage TikTok for development.

Is TikTok proper on your nonprofit?

Constructing a presence on a brand new social media platform is usually a large enterprise. As with every platform, it is important to evaluate whether or not it is a good match for your group, and whether or not it is going to show you how to meet your objectives.

Earlier than diving in, it is essential to make sure that your efforts go into areas and platforms that your viewers already makes use of.

First, make sure that TikTok helps attain your group’s audience. Keep in mind: over 50% of the apps’ customers are below 32 years outdated, and over 41% of TikTok customers are between the ages of 16 and 24, in keeping with Qgiv.

You will additionally wish to assess whether or not your group can handle a TikTok channel. If you happen to’re contemplating whether or not your group has the capability to construct a TikTok presence, step one is to ask — and belief — the individual or crew who manages your social media.

One other factor to contemplate is the way in which TikTok prioritizes uncooked, actual, unedited, and people-first movies. On this platform, hyperlink posts or polished graphics and replica will not lower it. Take into consideration whether or not you’ve got workers keen to make movies for the account, or you probably have the finances to rent creators and influencers to construct your presence.

Having an worker kick off your TikTok account is a superb start line, nevertheless it’s not the one means. TikTok’s creator market is the platform’s official collaboration heart that connects manufacturers and creators to execute paid and reward-based campaigns. This can be a nice start line for nonprofit’s which are new to TikTok.

8 Suggestions + Finest Practices for Nonprofits on TikTok [+ Examples]

As soon as you’ve got decided TikTok will show you how to attain your objectives and audience, and you have ensured you’ve got the sources to handle the platform, it is time to get into some suggestions that may assist nonprofits transfer missions ahead with high quality TikTok content material.

1. Inventive is the first issue for fulfillment.

Your content material is all the pieces on this platform. As famous above, polished photographs and movies will not lower it. You want an actual individual (whether or not that be an worker or creator from TikTok’s Creator Market) to commit to creating movies which have high-performing components.

2. Use the precept of “entertainment-first”.

Keep in mind that TikTok is an leisure platform in the beginning.

The American Kennel Membership (AKC) makes use of Fb to share suggestions and articles about canine care — like this submit that includes the very best canine raincoats — to ascertain its place as an professional in canine welfare.

AKC’s TikTok, nevertheless, has a special purpose: to interact audiences with cute canine movies. This TikTok submit succeeded not by educating about canine care, however by exhibiting off the extremely cute Pekingese breed at a canine present.

3. Leverage expertise to deliver your movies to life.

Greater than one in three viral movies featured an individual talking throughout the first three seconds, in keeping with a latest evaluation of over 600 viral TikTok movies by SemRush. That includes precise folks in your video content material is important, and it offers your group the possibility to highlight and uplift a various group of voices.

There are a couple of key locations you’ll be able to supply expertise from — as an illustration, think about inviting people from totally different departments of your group to create or star in content material, or faucet into the platform’s huge provide of creators.

The It Will get Higher Undertaking faucets right into a community of creators that they’ve established relationships with — like this video that includes Zoe Stoller — to create enjoyable, informative content material for his or her web page.

 

4. Keep forward of tendencies and discover inspiring creations from the Uncover web page.

Tendencies are continually circulating on TikTok, and one of the best ways to know which content material, audio, hashtags, or ideas are going viral on the platform is to interact with the Uncover web page. Consider this web page because the hub for the preferred content material on the app. This house additionally consists of featured placement for paid media.

On the Uncover web page, you will see a sequence of trending hashtags you could click on by. The set of movies that seem below every hashtag are movies that both began the pattern or in style movies which are related to the trending hashtag.

It is a good suggestion to make use of these examples as inspiration when growing new movies, however a TikTok technique mustn’t focus solely on reacting to viral tendencies.

5. Strategy TikTok like an everyday human — not a model.

Establishing your group’s identification or persona is essential when constructing a content material technique as a result of this is step one in attracting an engaged viewers.

As famous earlier, Gen Z — a main viewers on this app — favors authenticity greater than their millennial counterparts. As a substitute of making an attempt to enchantment to an enormous viewers, lean into your group’s distinctive data base and informative storytelling.

If you happen to aren’t positive learn how to construct a TikTok persona on your group, begin together with your mission assertion! From there, you’ll be able to slender down which content material buckets you want to deal with, and in the end the kind of movies you wish to make.

AKC posted this video of a canine competing in an agility contest — and regardless of being filmed on a smartphone, the TikTok earned over 2 million views. Costly tools shouldn’t be essential to supply extremely participating content material.

6. Use a narrative arc.

Movies ought to have a concise starting, center, and finish. Think about mapping out key story fundamentals resembling a hook, introduction, attention-grabbing flip, and remaining pay-off earlier than executing a TikTok. Storyboarding may also help to streamline the filming course of, and it offers tips for many who are new at creating this kind of content material.

In preparation for It Will get Higher Undertaking’s natural TikTok marketing campaign selling the “50 States. 50 Grants. 5000 Voices.” grant program, the Media Trigger crew developed a story construction and pattern script to correspond with the marketing campaign’s branded hashtag.

Mapping out a pattern narrative arc and instance script was essential for example how the overarching marketing campaign would perform on the platform. It additionally served as a useful gizmo to share with expertise who would finally take part within the creating content material for the TikTok marketing campaign.

Media Trigger partnered with the TikTok crew to realize suggestions on the narrative arc and branded hashtag — and, consequently, It Will get Higher Undertaking’s marketing campaign was featured on the TikTok Discover web page.

7. Preserve it concise (15-30 seconds), and get to the purpose.

Remember to present your followers the lesson or goal of the video throughout the first three seconds … That is on a regular basis you get earlier than the common consumer swipes.

You possibly can simply obtain a charming introduction through the use of textual content on the display, narration, or front-loading the video with probably the most salient info.

Think about, as an illustration, this Pure Useful resource Protection Council (NRDC) TikTok video, which educates viewers on the infrastructure bundle in a mere 30 seconds: 

8. Encourage co-creation.

When crafting a content material technique, you needn’t begin from scratch. Leverage in-app instruments to advertise dialog and engagement with present audiences that overlap with your individual — this may be by TikTok’s duet, react, reply with video, and sew options.

Encourage your viewers to have a dialogue together with your group by using polls or Q&As. Additionally, group administration is essential on TikTok, so you should definitely reply any questions you obtain in your feedback (or within the remark part of different viral TikToks).

Finally, TikTok is right here to remain, and it offers the chance to attach with an viewers you could not in any other case attain. As with every platform, it is important to evaluate whether or not it is a good match on your group and objectives.

As soon as you’ve got decided whether or not a TikTok technique will assist your group attain its desired viewers and objectives, embrace the following pointers to make sure success. Keep in mind: Experimentation and creativity are key! The time and power you make investments on this platform to realize model consciousness might result in viewers loyalty and high-quality conversions.

Media Trigger’s Patricia Camerota (Social Media Strategist) and Janine Guarino (Affiliate Social Director) contributed to this submit.