Brief #51: TikTok and Clubhouse… now what?

Welcome to Future of Marketing.

Each week, we send you the most relevant trends, resources, and strategies in social and user-generated content (UGC) from leading marketers and brands around the globe.

Today, we're discussing…

Rising platforms (and expectations)
8 tips for advertising on TikTok
Homesick elevates the voices of fans to 8+ million views

Also, don't miss next week when we join Hootsuite on LinkedIn Live. We're discussing the State of UGC and rising marketing trends in 2021.

Register here and send us your questions!

We're also hosting our first Clubhouse room tomorrow, 2/26 at 1pm CST. Mark your calendar! 🗓

To each their own social channel

People go to TikTok to learn or unwind. Twitter is used for real-time news and communication (check their 2021 trends report). LinkedIn is used to build a professional brand, network, recruit, and search for new opportunities. Instagram started with photography and is moving more and more into shopping and commerce. And now Clubhouse is shaking up the conferencing space.

As marketers with more responsibilities, it's becoming very hard to be everywhere at once – and the list keeps growing:

TikTok... Clubhouse... Twitter Spaces announced exciting developments… and now Dispo.

It's important to try new things and experiment, but start with the why and be careful getting caught up chasing shiny objects. Study where and how your audience consumes content before you jump in.

What are they talking about? What are they engaging with? Who are they following? What content do they share? How does it look? What does it say?

Understand the content on each platform, be a student of each platform, take notes, and learn what the top creators are doing. Listening is key and UGC represents your fans and audience showing you what kind of content they resonate with.

That will inspire your organic content, paid ads, and encourage you to communicate with more authentic (and less self-promotional) content.

Try this...

For every self-serving post you share on social, share three that teach, entertain, and genuinely elevate the voice of your audience. Think user- and employee-generated content – unboxing videos, how-to's, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes content.

Make TikToks, not ads

In a recent Clubhouse room called Content marketing strategies – Daniel Murray, Amelia Sordell, and Chantelle Marcelle were among several marketers discussing paid ads on TikTok.

We took a few notes and learned 8 tips about advertising on TikTok:

Having the right content is key
Think like a marketer, act like a creator
Recreate what's trending
Study top creators
Re-share user-generated content (UGC) or recreate your customer experience in-house (i.e. unboxing)
Targeting is broad – gender, age, location
Focus on the organic TikTok page first, then move to ads. Practice makes perfect and it allows you to track what is working and worth investing in.
Make TikToks, not ads!

Despite security concerns, both Clubhouse and TikTok, have a lot of potential for engaging and educating your audience from a new angle. And now we have Twitter Spaces to consider.

Creators, business leaders, customers, and fans are all increasingly sharing valuable information and real experiences across these platforms in more relatable and entertaining ways.

Takes notes, brands... because those that genuinely focus on understanding their audience – and how each platform works – will reap the benefits of the next wave of social consumption.

In other words, let's put the social back in social media.

What we're learning

User-Generated Content Management: A Starter's Guide
The Social Marketer's Guide to Clubhouse
5 Things Successful Marketing Leaders Should Do
What you need to know about Dispo
Study reveals Instagram Reels are better for brands and TikTok is better for Influencers – making it a gold mine for UGC

Brand Crush: Homesick 💘

Each week in #brandcrush, we highlight exceptional brands that are channeling their customers' voice to connect more authentically with their audience.

We're always telling brands to engage their customers and biggest fans – whether by asking for feedback or telling them what type of content your brand wants to see.

We caught Homesick candles doing just that.

“We speak to anywhere from 30 to 100 people for every candle we develop, visiting local areas, collecting samples, and even extracting scents from food,” they shared on their website.

On TikTok, they're sharing tips, user-generated content, and showing fans what they want to see on #WickTok. Genius.

To give you an idea of the power of this platform, this video alone got over 8 million views:

Homesick also balances UGC on its Instagram. They recently shared a Reel of a fan singing with a lit Homesick candle by her side. The fan ended the video by saying, “this candle makes me want to be a candle person.”

Beautiful way to tie in the voice of your fans.

Nice work, Homesick! 💘