2023 is coming to an end, and in the past year, TikTok has become a marketing stage for global brands to chase with its unique charm and innovative strategies. From short** to live streaming, from challenges to co-hosts, TikTok has not only changed the way users are entertained, making marketing more vivid, fun and interactive, but also bringing unprecedented opportunities for brands.
From unpopular large pieces of furniture to popular beauty and home appliances, popular models with goods are emerging in an endless stream, and every day new small stores rush into the top sales list because of a hot model**. TikTok U.S. footwear and apparel category head merchant Evan pointed out.
Undoubtedly, insight into the most cutting-edge marketing trends and the most real psychological changes of users are the key to the birth of popular and even Changhong content.
Therefore, standing at the starting point of 2024, with the intensification of competition and the continuous change of user needs, the marketing strategies of cross-border e-commerce sellers on TikTok also need to be constantly adjusted and innovated. Looking back at the marketing trend insights for 2023, we can see some success stories and lessons learned.
For example, a product that has exploded in the United States in TikTok - armless office chair, TikTok expert Ally (@alexandraarosee) released a related short ** content in October this year, showing that compared with the restrictions of armchairs, this armless chair is more comfortable, more free to sit, and unrestricted. The ** became popular on the whole platform in just a few days, gaining more than 10 million ** and millions of likes, and the product was even more popular with the explosive content and talent planting grass out of the circle, and finally achieved a sales volume of more than 40,000 pieces.
So, how should cross-border e-commerce sellers gain insight into the most cutting-edge marketing trends and user psychology on TikTok, and further implement them in their own marketing strategies?In a copy of "TikTok What" given by TikTok for Business'In the S Next 2024 Global Trend Report, from hot spots, trend signals to evergreen trends, step by step, specific trend interpretations and corresponding guidance suggestions are given, and cross-border e-commerce sellers can specifically discover different life cycles and influences under different trend categories, and focus on those evergreen trends and trend signals with longer life cycles, greater influence, and more action guidance.
The logic of traditional e-commerce platforms is mainly based on the screening of "keyword matching" and "product attributes" under the user's active search. This logic is simple and clear, and can quickly feedback the results, but the corresponding product display method relies more on ranking or advertising traffic to display the product in front of the user, lacks personalized recommendations, and the understanding of the user's search intent is not deep enough.
In fact, whether it is on social platforms or e-commerce platforms, users have unlimited curiosity, and sellers need to stimulate their latent awareness, cognition and values to tap into greater potential demand and purchasing power.
Personalized recommendations based on the perfect blend of "passive discovery" and "active search" are an excellent solution. On TikTok, users have gone from swiping short ** in the For You Page in the past to actively searching for topics or product recommendations of interest on TikTok, and have been stimulated with endless curiosity, even if the user himself does not know. According to Marketcast's research, 40% of respondents believe that TikTok can achieve this very well, which is 18 times.
With the platform's in-depth stimulation and blessing of user curiosity, what sellers need to do is to get rid of the traditional concept of making superficial scrolling ads on this basis, and create authentic and high-quality content works that are more attractive and can resonate with consumers and values.
Specifically,First, go deep into the TikTok community and stimulate the curiosity of users.
TikTok's natural community atmosphere allows the content itself to be spontaneously discussed, building a real discussion scene, and the influence of this discussion is not advertising-style indoctrination, but interesting, professional content that is widely recognized by users. Users share new niche interests and hobbies in these highly engaged communities, constantly discovering unexpected inspirations and driving spending.
For example, the enduring hot topics on TikTok - Newfinds and TikToktaughtme, users spontaneously and voluntarily participate in the community and be influenced, and tap into previously undiscovered product needs, and "open up wasteland" in shopping, games, and film and television dramas, which also brings a variety of business opportunities to good products and brands.
Second, it breaks down geographical boundaries and showcases daily life, culture, and value content around the world.
In the face of differentiated overseas markets, regional or cultural differences have always been a major pain point in overseas brand marketing. Taking the brand entering the Southeast Asian market as an example, although geographically, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam all belong to Southeast Asia, but the economic development level, living habits, cultural values, policies, and corresponding marketing environments of each country are very different. Overseas products and brands need to focus on the cultural concepts and values that match the market orientation of the target country, and at the same time narrow the distance between them and fans, and resonate with more diverse groups on TikTok.
When it comes to fully stimulating users' creativity and curiosity and helping merchants generate sales, TikTok also provides corresponding advertising solutions. Cross-border e-commerce sellers can attract high-intent users through sponsored ads, while achieving a seamless shopping experience through VSA (Video Shopping Ads)** shopping ads and TikTok Shop, thereby driving higher sales conversions.
TikTok's own unique content production model is subverting traditional creative advertising content. This is because, first of all, TikTok's hashtag challenge and feed streaming advertising model can increase the repetition rate of content by several times;
Second, the community culture on TikTok encourages users to share their authentic selves and unique perspectives, providing content modes such as "POV (Point of View)" and "StoryTime", allowing content creators to engage audiences by tapping into the real experiences around them
In addition, TikTok's advertising strategy also emphasizes more entertainment and attractiveness, and the audience will obviously have a longer time for entertainment ads than ads that do not have entertainment value
Finally, the emergence of TikTok has also triggered a trend of "decentralization", so that social topics are no longer subject to a few ** giants, on TikTok, content creators can compete or even surpass the traditional ** content through their unique perspectives and creativity.
Therefore, on the TikTok platform, cross-border e-commerce sellers can output more diverse and rich views, forms and themes through their unique advertising models, community culture and entertainment strategies, which may successfully subvert traditional advertising creative content.
Specifically, brands are also taking the following two key elements to further enhance the creativity of their content.
The first is to break the traditional, cookie-cutter and conformist narrative structure to create a new story line, advancing rhythm and creative opening content. It is even possible to vigorously mobilize users on the platform to participate in the creation of previously unexpected structures and content, or integrate user suggestions and comments into subsequent marketing strategies, and widely invite users to co-create multiple times.
TikTok creator Octopus Slapover8, for example, has created a new way for his fan community to control the content he publishes, create skits based on user (and brand) reviews, and collaborate with brands including eyewear brand Warby Parker to produce such content.
Second, create more fantastical and light-hearted content and community culture for users, so that they can escape from the high-pressure real life for a moment. Short** is a very magical field, some of the content that has been liked hundreds of thousands or even millions of times**, there are stalks, ridicule, joy, warmth, and **, and the creators of them may not be big names, but every ordinary person who works hard to live.
Rooted in fan culture, content creation on TikTok can be "fantasy and reality", "lighthearted and fun", and even "delusional and crazy", allowing users to empathize with the reality and at the same time withdraw from the high-pressure reality environment and talk about comfort.
For example, the word "delulu" is a variation of the English word "delusion", which means the longing and delusion of a sad girl. The result is Delulu, the latest way of thinking and storytelling in the TikTok community, a modern version of "mad literature" that allows users to convey the unattainable and confident Maincharacter energy that is difficult to achieve in reality, just like expressing optimism in a state of despair, which is a self-consistent state of mind, which is sometimes rampaged, hysterical, and cranky, but very romantic and diverse.
On TikTok, brands and merchants are becoming more aware of the importance of authentic and relaxed content, which can also capture the hearts of users and create more resonant hits and deep-rooted values.
In terms of specific advertising solutions, cross-border e-commerce sellers can use Spark Ads to share joy, produce native and authentic content, efficiently reach users through focused view, improve marketing efficiency, and enrich the interactive add-ones gameplay to make the advertising experience more interesting and reduce the burnout caused by homogeneous content.
For cross-border e-commerce sellers, one of the key points affecting the success of the transaction is the mutual trust between merchants and users. How to break through the "transaction relationship" with consumers and create more transparent, sincere, and realistic content has become the top priority.
We don't define marketing as traffic acquisition. For a start-up brand, it's important to impress consumers with sincerity and leave a positive brand impression in their minds, rather than rushing to demand that marketing actions be immediately reflected in conversion rate data. Martin, founder of Furbulous, a global pet appliance brand, said.
In his opinion, all complex marketing terms and communication strategies are finally condensed into a simple concept - "to be honest".
Honesty is the first impression of the brand in the minds of users. "We never hide our progress from our users. To a certain extent, we have witnessed the growth of Furbulous from 0 to 1 together with our users, and jointly built this brand. ”
For cross-border e-commerce sellers, they can further build trust and connection with their target users in the following two ways.
First, understand and adapt to TikTok's unique "language".And use these definitions of freedom to resonate with users, so that users know that brands are not only "buying and selling", but can integrate into their own community culture.
For example, the buzzword "girl math" that exploded on TikTok before it meant that consumers buy things with cash is equal to free, because your bank account balance will not decrease - cash is not real money, and then it leads to a bunch of interesting, seemingly nonsensical and absurd behavioral logic - buying an expensive consumer product, using it every day, ** evenly divided into each use is about equal to the price of cabbage;Every time I buy a dress, I get a 50% discount, because it includes tops and pants, etc., and grasping this language and behavioral logic that represents young people has become the key for brands to win each other's strong favor.
Second, brands need to be bold and expose their truest sideThis form of open and honest publication can foster a natural dialogue with the fan community, and can also be exchanged for the user's most authentic feelings and affection and trust in the brand, and establish influence.
Many technology brands have mentioned that in the process of creating products, they will actively and openly publish the technical difficulties they encounter in the community, but they will gain the understanding and appreciation of users, and even many product engineers and users will actively make suggestions and suggestions to help the team grow together and overcome problems, and they will become the most loyal seed users of the brand.
For this group of users, they play not only the role of consumers, but also co-creators, sharing the sense of achievement of polishing products, creating explosive products, and building brands with enterprises, and also playing an irreplaceable role in the improvement of products and services. "Treat users sincerely, and users will definitely respond to you, which is our greatest feeling and the motivation for us to keep going. Bruce, the head merchant of TikTok 3C, pointed out.
In terms of specific advertising solutions, cross-border e-commerce sellers can continuously improve their creative content through TTCX (TikTok Creative Exchange), create a natural image on TikTok through the enterprise account to enhance trust and credibility, in addition, they can also output natural and soft advertising content through Branded Mission, and cooperate with creators through crowdsourcing to resonate with real, natural and native creativity. Gain trust.
In fact, TikTok has become an important platform for cross-border e-commerce sellers to attract user participation, and behind its high stickiness and high engagement is cutting-edge trend insights and high-quality content creativity. By deeply understanding user psychology, tapping into potential needs, and creating engaging and resonant content, sellers can achieve multiple goals of branding**, IP image building, and product sales on TikTok.
In order to create more influential high-quality and popular content, cross-border e-commerce sellers need to focus on the theme trends of the greatest curiosity, creative subversion and trust remodeling, as well as related trend signals, and create their own unique value and influence in TikTok's highly competitive content field by exploring these rules and rules, cultivate ever-iterating, attractive, creative and vital ever-popular works, and ultimately achieve efficient conversion and a steady stream of purchasing power.
Merchants can go to the TikTok for Business Chinese official website,** to view the report: