How nonprofits can use TikTok for growth [Case Study + Examples]

Tik Tok has shaken the virtual landscape – and its explosive increase during the last yr shows it’s miles right here to stay.

although a platform for leisure, TikTok is more than just the dance demanding situations of generation Z.

we’re seeing increasingly more social have an impact on and non-profit clients are using TikTok for data, training, collaboration, advertising and fundraising, and recognition raising.

here we explore pointers and satisfactory practices for nonprofits seeking to leverage TikTok for growth.

Is TikTok right for your non-profit employer?

developing a presence on a brand new social media platform may be a massive feat. As with all platform, it is critical to assess whether it is suitable for it yours corporation and whether it’ll help you obtain your goals.

before you dive into this, it’s important to make sure your efforts are centered on spaces and platforms that your target market is already the use of.

First, make sure TikTok enables reach your company’s target market. Bear in mind: extra than 50% of app users are under the age of 32, and more than forty one% of TikTok users are among the a while of sixteen and 24, depending on Qgiv.

you’ll additionally want to evaluate whether or not your business enterprise can manage the TikTok channel. In case you are considering whether your company is capable of organising a presence in TikTok, the first step is to ask the person or crew that manages your social media and trust them.

any other component to maintain in thoughts is the way TikTok gives priority to uncooked, actual, unordered videos and motion pictures aimed toward humans. Links or polished photos and copies will no longer be cut in this platform. Consider whether or not you have got personnel who are willing to shoot movies for the account, or you have got the price range to hire creators and influencers to boom your presence.

Having an worker run your TikTok account is a notable starting point, however it’s now not the most effective way. TikTok’s creators marketplace is the official collaboration middle of the platform, which brings collectively brands and creators to run paid and award-triumphing campaigns. This is a first-rate place to begin for non-earnings businesses which are new to TikTok.

eight hints + excellent practices for non-earnings businesses on TikTok [+ Examples]

once you locate that TikTok will assist you attain your dreams and target market, and make certain you have got the sources to control the platform, it’s time to learn a few pointers that may assist nonprofits develop their missions with pleasant TikTok content material.

1. Creativity is a primary component in success.

Your content is all on this platform. As noted above, polished snap shots and videos will no longer cut this. You want a actual person (be it an employee or a creator from TikTok’s creator market) to commit to growing videos with high-performance factors.

2. Follow the “have a laugh first” principle.

keep in mind that TikTok is frequently a a laugh platform.

the american Kennel membership (AKC) makes use of fb to proportion dog care pointers and articles – like that post with the exceptional canine raincoats – to set up your self as a canine welfare professional.

AKC’s TikTok, however, has a distinct purpose: to engage audiences with cute canine motion pictures. Tole TikTok submit be successful no through teaching about canine care, but by displaying a really lovely Pekingese breed at a canine display.

three. Use your skills to deliver your videos to existence.

greater than in one of the three viral motion pictures, the individual was the speaker in the first 3 seconds, in keeping with a recent evaluation of greater than 600 TikTok creator’s viral videos SemRush. Presenting real humans on your video content material is important and gives your employer the opportunity to spotlight and increase a numerous group of voices.

There are some key locations wherein you can get skills – for instance, bear in mind inviting human beings from different departments of your organisation to create content material or a celeb, or take gain of a wide variety of platform creators.

The It gets higher assignment touches the network of creators with whom they’ve established relationships – e.G. this video with Zoe Stoller – Create fun, informative content on your web site.

4. Live beforehand of developments and locate inspiring creations on the find out page.

tendencies are constantly circulating on TikTok and the nice manner to discover what content, sound, hashtags or principles are viral at the platform is to collaborate with the find out page. Consider this web site because the hub for the most famous content in the app. This area additionally consists of a paid placement presentation.

On find out the web page, you’ll see a series of famous hashtags that you can click on on. The set of videos that appear beneath every hashtag tag are videos that have either started a fashion, or preferred motion pictures which might be relevant to a popular hashtag.

those examples are true to apply as concept in developing new movies, however the TikTok strategy should not recognition solely on responding to viral developments.

5. Method TikTok like an normal individual – now not a brand.

organising the identification or character of your employer is crucial in building a content approach, as that is step one in attracting an engaged target market.

As already stated, Gene Z – the number one audience on this app – favors authenticity greater than their millennial counterparts. as opposed to seeking to engage a mass target market, rely on your employer’s unique knowledge base and informative storytelling.

if you’re not sure a way to create a TikTok persona to your corporation, start along with your assignment statement! From there, you could slender down which content material groups you need to cognizance on, and in the end the kind of motion pictures you need to capture.

The AKC announced and video a dog that competes in an agility competition – and notwithstanding that recorded on a telephone, TikTok earned greater than 2 million perspectives. No steeply-priced gadget is required to create very appealing content material.

6. Use a story bow.

films need to have a concise start, center, and end. Before you run TikTok, don’t forget planning the key fundamentals of the tale, inclusive of the hook, the creation, the exciting twist, and the final payout. Storyboarding can help simplify the recording manner and provide guidance for those who are new to growing this form of content.

V practise for the TikTok natural marketing campaign of the It gets higher venture, which promotes “50 states. 50 scholarships. Five,000 votes.” grant software, media The reason crew advanced a story shape and sample script that matched the campaign logo hashtag.

The mapping of the pattern narrative arc and instance state of affairs turned into critical to demonstrate how the umbrella marketing campaign might paintings on the platform. It additionally served as a beneficial device for sharing skills that would subsequently work together to create content material for the TikTok campaign.

Media reason collaborated with the TikTok group get comments on the narrative arc and the hashtag logo – and as a result, the It gets better task campaign became supplied at the explore TikTok page.

7. Hold it concise (15-30 seconds) and get to the factor.

don’t forget to expose your fans the lesson or reason of the video within the first three seconds … That’s all of the time you have got earlier than the common person pulls.

you can easily achieve a captivating advent through the usage of on-display screen textual content, narration, or uploading a video to the front with the most visible information.

do not forget this, as an example natural sources protection Council (NRDC) TikTok a video that teaches visitors about the infrastructure package in just 30 seconds:

8. Encourage co-introduction.

You don’t have to begin from scratch when designing a content strategy. Take gain of in-app equipment to inspire conversations and collaborations with present audiences that overlap with yours – this can be via TikTok’s duet, reaction, video reaction, and sewing capabilities.

inspire your target audience to dialogue together with your organisation the use of surveys or questions and answers. Network control is also key to TikTok, so make certain to reply any questions you obtain to your remarks (or in the feedback segment of different viral TikToks).

sooner or later TikTok is right here to live, and gives an opportunity to connect to an target audience you may not in any other case attain. As with every platform, it’s miles important to assess whether or not it’s far suitable in your employer and dreams.

while you decide however TikTok’s approach will assist your agency reach the desired target market and dreams, observe those pointers and make certain fulfillment. Bear in mind: experimentation and creativity are key! The time and electricity you put money into this platform to advantage logo reputation may want to cause target audience loyalty and top notch conversions.

Patricia Camerota (social media strategist) and Janine Guarino (partner director of social media) contributed to this put up.