TikTok has become a viral sensation itself since its launch. The average TikTok user spends 89 minutes a day browsing the app and its demographic is shifting away from the initial perception that the platform is only for teens. In 2021, 78% of the 1.8 million Irish TikTok users were aged between 18-34. Given the broad reach of the app, it can be an extremely useful and engaging tool for event marketing businesses. 

Traditional social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram require a large following on your account to allow you to reach a wide audience. TikTok is built to allow for a high level of organic reach, no matter what your initial following is. You only need the right content and the right targeting for your campaign as the algorithm is designed to increase your content’s “shelf life”, allowing you to receive engagement on your old videos well after a post on a traditional platform would have run its course.

Some tips on how TikTok can be used as an event marketing tool:

Make Use of Trends

TikTok is a very fast paced platform, with new sounds and concepts going viral every day. There is a huge range of content that you can pull inspiration from and adapt to your own needs. For example, a clip of a song by Louis Theroux, Jiggle Jiggle, amassed nearly 6.5M videos of all styles from business promotions to dance challenges and animal content. Selecting the right trending sound for your videos can allow you to access the audience that has been listening to that sound on other videos in the lead up to your content being posted. 

Influencer Collaboration

Similar to traditional social media platforms, TikTok has its own collection of influencers that can be utilised to promote your events & content. Collaborating with influencers that are popular within your target audience or who create similar content to the people you are looking to promote your event too can increase your reach and engagement. For example, a foodie event in the US might make use of an influencer like Keith Lee, who started out doing short reviews of local restaurants in Las Vegas and now has over 8.5M followers and over 306M profile likes. His influence has been made clear on the platform as some of the struggling restaurants he has reviewed have seen a massive increase in on the ground sales after his content is posted

Use TikTok as part of an Event Marketing social wall

Social media walls are hugely successful at events. People enjoy seeing themselves as part of the wider event and seeing themselves on a big screen only adds to that. Utilising a specific event hashtag will allow attendees to post content for you to filter onto the social media wall, adding a dynamic video element to the wall!