The power of communities on TikTok

TikTok serves audiences the content they love, but also facilitates discovery of new interests, brands and products. Brands that identify relevant communities on TikTok and craft their creative strategies around them are able to create authentic ads that deliver real impact.

Case study: eBay and the sneakerhead community

eBay has cultivated a strong following with sneakerheads as the ultimate destination for buying and selling sneakers. In a nod to this community, their US #SneakerShowdown campaign leveraged Voting Stickers to decide the winners in a bracket-style tournament. Users were invited to vote between competing shoes to crown the top sneaker. The showdown culminated with a price drop on eBay for users to purchase the winning shoe.

The campaign was creative and timely: the interactive Spark Ads ran during the annual NCAA basketball tournament, helping eBay to create their own March Madness among the sneakerhead community.

How do I get started?

Lead with a community-first approach on TikTok with these three steps:

1. Find your communities

2. Develop your content strategy

3. Create content

Step 1: Find your communities

Embrace communities and their subcultures—that’s where true inspiration lives. 76% of users say they like it when brands are a part of special interest groups on TikTok.¹

Consider the passion points of your audiences as a starting place — from #gaming to #parenting to #mukbang — and then experiment with communities that may be outside your brand’s usual domain.

Tip: Explore insights on the Creative Center if you need a little help

Need inspiration? Try the Keyword Insights tool to discover the top keywords that resonate with your audience and industry. Start by looking up a hashtag that is relevant to your intended audience — for example, try #makeup if you're looking to reach the beauty community on TikTok. From there, the tool will show you related interests, which you can use to further explore beauty-adjacent subcultures and communities.

You can also use the Top Products tool to show you the most popular and top-converting items in TikTok ads — then see examples of actual ads on the platform that put them to use. No matter what type of product you're advertising, the Creative Center will point you in the right direction!

You can leverage a stay-and-play framework to identify communities to engage with, both in your brand's domain as well as outside of it:

Stay: Familiarity builds belief and trust

• Stay in expected communities of your brand (for example, #techtok if you're a tech brand)

• Grow your current audience (brand loyalists)

• Focus on category, cause and interest

Play: Tapping into new communities builds cultural resonance

• Play in unexpected and new communities — for example, try showing up in the comments of #gamertok as a QSR brand

• Reach new audiences

• Focus on culture, values and innovation

For both your stay and play communities, you should explore broad macro-communities and niche micro-communities. In doing so, you'll cast a wide net of communities to engage with—allowing you to drive trust and brand performance in both the short and long-term.

Let's take a look at an example: here's how a stay-and-play framework could look for a luxury retail brand.

Stay

• A luxury retail brand should be in tune with fashion trends, so #fashiontok is an expected macro community for the brand.

• A subculture of #fashiontok is #gorpcore — wearing clothes that are traditionally functional outdoor wear outside of their intended use (named after "Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts," a.k.a. trail mix). Though #gorpcore is more niche, a luxury retail brand wouldn't be out of place showing up in this community.

Play

• Though a large and popular community like #foodtok is outside of a luxury retail brand's usual domain, there are many opportunities to interact with a new audience, and it isn't out of place because there's plenty of crossover between foodies and fashionistas.

• #miniatureworld is a niche subculture that's just what it sounds like: skits with small figurines living in their tiny worlds. Subcultures like Miniature World offer a wide range of creative content formats and partnerships with creators that may have never been done before! Remember the focus on innovation in "play" communities.

Step 2: Develop a content strategy

Finding your stay-and-play communities is a great start. While your actual content strategy will depend on your marketing goals, here are some things to keep in mind when planning:

Drive better results through value and variety

• Value: Content that entertains, educates, connects, or is personally relevant.

• Variety: Content that serves different need states (thinking, planning, or buying)

Additionally, building a content strategy on TikTok means creating specifically for the platform. Here are some tips for maintaining a TikTok-first mindset:

• Go lo-fi (avoid glossiness)

• Shoot vertical and hi-res

• Feature real people (creators, employees, customers)

• Use sound

• Use TikTok-specific editing techniques

• Have a narrative

• Adopt category and vertical norms

Step 3: Start creating

Experiment with new content formats that TikTok users embrace and are familiar with, like Photo Mode or street interviews. Some communities favour certain content formats: K-pop stans are familiar with the fan edit, while #beautytok loves "get ready with me" (#grwm) vlogs and storytimes. You can also explore templates in CapCut.

Seize the moment by aligning your product messaging with high points of interest during seasonal and major moments. Here's an example from Wendy's that you can use as inspiration.

Tap into what’s trending by checking out our Creative Center. Browse trending hashtags, songs, creators, and more.

1. Source: TikTok Marketing Science Global Community and Self-Expression Study 2021 conducted by Flamingo