In the minds of many, TikTok is merely a platform where teens create dances and respond to trending challenges. However, the vast potential of this platform for connecting with new customers, engaging with existing customers, and developing brand loyalty remains somewhat untapped by companies. Let us look into understanding social listening on TikTok and how to leverage it to increase brand awareness, have a successful online presence, and stand out from the competition.
What is social listening?
What is social listening? Social media listening is the process of tracking all mentions, conversations, and discussions about your brand across social media platforms using a social listening tool. Social listening allows brands to gain insights into how social media users are experiencing and interacting with their brand in order to better attract, retain and serve both new and loyal customers. In this way, your company can identify best practices, areas of improvement, and issues that need to be addressed. As we live in an age where people go to social media first, social listening is crucial to spot and monitor crises in real time.
Why does social listening on TikTok matter?
TikTok is a revolutionary platform in social media today. Here are a few key reasons why TikTok social listening matters:
TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms
It is no secret that TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms. We can understand why when we take a look at the statistics below:
- TikTok has 1 billion active users worldwide and 2 billion downloads
- 90% of TikTok users access it daily, often multiple times a day
- The average user spends 46 minutes per day on the app
TikTok has proved to be highly influential in the decisions that users make, with users reporting the following:
- 67% of TikTok users said that the platform “inspired them to shop even when they didn’t want to”
- 74% of TikTok users said that the platform “has inspired them to find out more about a product or brand online”
- 66% of TikTok users said that the platform “has helped them decide what to buy”
Keep up with trends
Whether your goal is to increase brand engagement with your target audience or to create engaging content for current and potential customers – or both – you want users to see that your brand can stay fresh and current by keeping up with trends on what is arguably the most influential social media platform. In order to do this, TikTok social listening is an essential element for your brand’s marketing strategy. A trend that emerged recently is the “One Thing About Me Storytime Trend” which consists of making a TikTok storytime video with a particular sound clip, singing over the instrumental beat, and telling a crazy story. This kind of trend can be used to market a product or speak about an experience with the brand, thereby being more relatable to users.
Find opportunities to improve your TikTok strategy
By monitoring TikTok using social listening tools, your company will be able to:
- Conduct market research
- Manage brand reputation
- Improve customer service
- Generate new leads
- Identify top and rising TikTok influencers
This will enable your company to gain insight into user behavior, find opportunities to tweak, and improve your brand’s TikTok Marketing strategy.
Combine TikTok insights with other data
The insights gained from TikTok such as sentiment trends, or an increase in brand mentions, combined with data from other social media platforms and market research will allow your company to have a better understanding of your target audience. You will be able to anticipate questions that people may have about your brand and thereby lead the way for better overall brand management.
TikTok social listening metrics
We have established why and how important it is for your brand to monitor TikTok. However, it is important to outline the key social listening metrics to gain the most benefit from these analytics.
Trending topics
With its high number of users, and the sheer quantity of content that is posted on the app each day, TikTok trends can go viral very quickly. Because of this, it is vitally important to stay informed on what is trending in terms of topics and support music. These can be obtained from keywords and trending hashtags and will allow your brand to create relevant content that users can identify with and will want to engage with. This could also give your brand an edge over competitors especially if your company creates its own trending hashtag.
Brand mentions
When a user speaks about your brand on a social media platform, that is a brand mention. On TikTok, users usually tag the brand they are talking about in their videos. They could be sharing their experience with your product or company, or they are trying to get your attention. Whatever it is, whether good or bad, these mentions are an excellent opportunity for your brand to engage with users to improve brand reputation. They also provide valuable insights as to how users feel about your brand. If it is a positive mention, this could generate leads and increase revenue. On the other hand, if it is a negative mention, this will allow your company to establish a strategy to protect your brand reputation. In some cases, it is a good practice to address the issue online for more visibility and restore brand trust and loyalty.
User insights
To create relatable and engageable content, your brand needs to understand its audience. TikTok analytics can provide insight on relevant hashtags and keywords that are being used by your brand’s target audience. Small but fast insights like this tap into demographic-specific interests that you can use to create the kind of content that is most appealing to users. The more relevant the content, the more likely they are to engage.
Competitor analysis
If you want your brand to stay ahead and stand out to users, you need to keep an eye on your competition. If you monitor mentions and hashtags on TikTok in the category where your brand falls, you will be able to see what your competitors are doing. The more you know about the kind of conversations they appear in, the better you can compare strengths and weaknesses and identify what marketing strategies are successful.
Sentiment
TikTok social listening helps you to identify the sentiment – what users are thinking and feeling – when they create and share content on TikTok. Sentiment tracking shows positive, neutral, and negative overall sentiment reports over selected periods of time, based on user words, sentence length, emojis, and more. Want to sense how a product launch landed over the past week, or how your most recent campaign compared to the last? Check sentiment reports for correlational backing and insight. Sentiment tracking may be one of the most useful tools of social listening.
Content performance
An integral part of assessing your brand’s marketing strategy is gaining insight into how well your published content is performing. It is important to keep track of the content, keywords, and hashtags that get the most engagement. This will enable your company to identify what kind of content users find relevant, what they prefer to engage with, and what is not working to make the necessary strategic adjustments.
How ICUC Can Help
ICUC leverages analytics and human expertise to provide actionable insights on TikTok. Our experts offer comprehensive TikTok social listening analysis, navigating a complex API to deliver monthly reports on the conversations surrounding your brand, industry trends, influencer activity, and audience sentiment so you can uncover strategic insights, understand your audience, and gain competitive advantage.
To learn more about how to turn mentions and conversations into actionable insights, schedule a meeting with our team today.
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