Jodi Porter, Vertical Director Auto & Dining, Global Business Solutions at TikTok, delivered a great breakout packed with information about using Tiktok to meet your community. We attended the standing-room-only talk and took notes to share with anyone with the will to put TikTok to work for their dealership.
Key Insights:
71% of customers feel closer to brands when co-creating.
TikTok invites its users into communities based on almost any topic. Many communities have overlap with automotive and produce hours of content each day. When dealerships find people with commonality to create with, not advertise to, good things happen.
Automotive is already a significant community on TikTok.
In 2021 alone, TikTokers posted 60 billion automotive references. Some existing auto community content includes talking about cars, the sound of cars, tours of cars, and ASMR footage of pressing buttons within the car. The sky is the limit.
People come to TikTok for entertainment.
Attaching your brand to the kinds of videos people already enjoy will form a lasting impression with future buyers. 6/10 of buyers surveyed said entertaining TikTok videos played a factor in purchases.
Sound on.
TikTok has a unique ability to prime customers for brand engagement due to being a "sound on" app. Users always listen to what is being posted so you can deliver catchy tunes, inviting tones, or catchy jokes and start a bond with customers.
Engage the whole household.
More than ever, the family's younger members contribute to family decisions. TikTok provides a way to engage with families in your community at every level.
Be playful but not useless.
Customers want entertainment, but they also need product information. Find enjoyable ways to deliver it. Stage a conversation, write a song, or use an existing template on the platform but insert your product or information.
Keep it real.
People can often tell when something is fake. Thinking like a marketer but acting like a creator requires authenticity and practice.
Collaboration.
Collaborate within your team and across the platform. Do not keep all the TikTok skills and time in one person's daily duty; spread it around. Likewise, don't create everything in a vacuum. Look for local creators or creators with shared interests to collaborate.
Gen Y and Z will travel to buy where they feel good.
The emerging auto shopping generations are thinking about more than price. They want to buy from people with shared values. That will make a lifelong customer.
Rules to get started:
-Always shoot in vertical, fill the screen.
-7 to 15 seconds is best
-Remember the sound is on and essential.
-Try to get the most crucial thing in the first 2 seconds.
-Pick a voice: Funny, educational, sentimental, etc
Success metrics:
TikTok tracks impressions, views, and engagements, which allows you to adjust your approach over time, leading to discovery. Discovery now will produce organic leads for years to come.