2024 overseas marketing is so fun! Playing TikTok's' Three Key Points'

Nowadays, the global market is turbulent. From the rise in raw material prices to the surge in shipping costs, Chinese brands going overseas are facing unprecedented challenges. However, among many challenges,TikTok's rapid rise has provided new growth opportunities for Chinese brands. This platform, which hasover 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide, has not only changed the way content is consumed, but also provided brands with new consumer pathways.

Faced with such a stage full of both opportunities and challenges, how can brands stand out on TikTok?

Here are the“three key” strategies for overseas brands on TikTok in 2024.

Seeding Content: Stimulate Consumer Interest

On TikTok,content is king.

This content-driven platform gives brands a chance to achieve big results with small investments.

Take thePuxi slippers brand as an example. An ordinary user shared the comfort brought by the product, unexpectedly triggering a sales boom. In the video, the user described the soft experience of the slippers as “feels like stepping on poop,” a slightly humorous expression that resonated with a large number of viewers. The video quickly gainedover 500,000 views, and salesincreased by 500% in a short period. Behind this “seeding” effect is the resonance and hot topics between the brand and users.

The key to the success of seeding content lies in grasping user interests and market trends. For example, Puxi invested budget to find influencers in vertical fields for brand promotion, which not only increased the brand’s voice on TikTok but also deepened the emotional connection between the brand and consumers. In terms of content creativity, brands need to be unique and able to trigger user resonance and discussion. Such content is more likely to go viral on TikTok.

TikTok users sharing their experience with Puxi slippers. Image source: TikTok

Community Interaction: Unlocking Users' Hearts

If content is the key to attracting users, then continuous community interaction is the bridge to building long-term relationships.

Community interaction can be seen as an amplifier, continuously magnifying the influence of content and forming lasting user stickiness.

Take theAmerican affordable cosmetics brand e.l.f as an example. Through community interaction on TikTok, the brand not only broke through growth bottlenecks but also created7 billion views through the #eye lips face challenge, significantly enhancing the brand’s market influence.

TikTok users sharing their experience with e.l.f products. Image source: TikTok

The realme mobile phone brand case also shows that community interaction is a platform for brands and users to communicate deeply. Through cooperation with TikTok for Business, realme successfully built emotional resonance with users, especially during specific cultural moments such as Ramadan, by planning activities closely related to local culture, effectively enhancing brand awareness and user engagement.

TikTok users sharing their experience with realme C55. Image source: TikTok

Integrated Operations: Unblocking the Circulation Chain

Finally, in order to go from seeding to transaction, brands need to unblock the complete consumer circulation chain on TikTok.

This not only includes content creation and community interaction, but also requires a smooth purchasing process. Takerealme as an example. The brand launched TikTok Shop in the Indonesian market, directly completing product display and transactions within the TikTok platform, greatly improving purchase convenience and conversion rates.

Image source: Dida Dog

In addition, brands need to adapt to the consumption habits of different markets. For example, in Western markets, although live-streaming sales are still in their early stages, a combination of short videos and interactive activities can effectively convert into sales. This “omni-channel” marketing strategy enables brands to achievea complete closed loop from interest to purchase on TikTok, effectively solving the problems of high traffic costs and ROI involution.

In today’s globalized world, TikTok is not only adisseminator of popular culture, but also abooster for brands going overseas.

Brands on TikTok, a dynamic and diverse platform, can not only survive but also thrive.

These three strategies together form a brand-new business model thatadapts to the present and anticipates the future.