If you’ve never heard of TikTok, you’ve been living under a rock.
Smashing records for most downloads of a social app in a quarter, the app now has one billion active users all over the world. It rests in seventh place for the most-used social site, which is unbelievable considering it took Instagram six years to gain the user base TikTok has achieved in under three.
So it’s no wonder that businesses are flocking to the app like geese in the winter, and the sports industry is no different. Thirteen NFL teams have followings of over 100k on their accounts, and the NBA has over 6.5 million. Companies like Gatorade are hosting entire competitions on the app, getting huge amounts of exposure from athletes creating videos as entries in their contest.
But how can your brand leverage TikTok marketing and athlete endorsements to make the most out of your marketing budget, especially with the new NIL laws going into effect now in 22 states? Keep reading to learn more about why TikTok marketing could be the best way for your business to partner with NIL athletes.
Just like most sports figures, social media platforms get really big, really fast. The apps, platforms, and modes of connection utilized by Gen Z constantly shift and change, and marketing tactics have to change with it.
And these individuals in the youngest generations catch onto and utilize social media platforms and trends way quicker and more often than adults. That being said, adults often follow in the footsteps and hop on trends started by the youngest generation (see Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, VSCO, the list goes on). This is also the case with TikTok; it started as an app for children and young adults to use to share dances, and it has grown to be a platform where people, businesses, and institutions post short form educational videos, mini-movies, stories, skits, and musical performances.
The bottomline? TikTok is where the next generation of consumers is hanging out, and where the next generation of sports fans is being shaped. So TikTok marketing is one of the best (if not, the best) platforms to reach a large audience.
Another factor to consider— the generation that is mainly spending their time on the app is also the generation that contains collegiate-level NIL athletes that are now legally allowed to accept endorsements from businesses and brands. So chances are, they are already using the app and have a following, meaning businesses can use their presence to expand their brand awareness. But what approaches to using TikTok marketing can companies and brands take?
There are several different marketing strategies companies can take advantage of when it comes to TikTok.
Just like any other marketing social media outlet, there is paid and organic marketing. Paid TikTok marketing works similarly to FaceBook ads and ad campaigns. TikTok provides a comprehensive step-by-step here, but the whole process is pretty straightforward: you set a goal (do you want people to go to your website? Do you want sales conversions?), you select an audience (are 100,000 people going to see your ad? Do you want a broad audience, or a narrow audience?) and then you set your budget and design a short-form video ad. These ads are then shown to members of your target audience in between a user’s regular video feed.
Another form of paid TikTok marketing is influencer endorsements. Influencer marketing can take different forms, but would include reaching out to NIL athletes and pro athletes who are active and famous on TikTok
Organic TikTok marketing involves creating your own account and building a following based on the content you post. But the beauty of specifically NIL endorsements is that brands can simply piggyback off of the success of already-existing famous accounts to get a ton of exposure with relatively little cost.
TikTok marketing certainly has the numbers to show to prove the power of its platform. For as short of a time span as the app has been around, it has an astounding influence on its user’s consumer choices.
Nearly half of all consumers depend on influencer recommendations to make decisions, which is proof enough of how lucrative an NIL athlete TikTok influencer endorsement could be. Add that up with the fact that the average TikTok user spends almost an hour on the app daily, and you’ve got the perfect environment for maximum brand exposure.
And there are numbers to back up these numbers. Influencer marketing campaigns boast an average earning of $5.78 for every dollar spent on their execution. Some range as high as $18 per dollar spent. No matter what way you look at it, that is an incredible return on investment.
But what about other, more traditional marketing channels? Studies also show that 42% of customers use ad-blocking technology, so there’s a chance that a company’s ad budget could be wasted on trying to show ads to an audience that won’t even have a chance of seeing them.
Therefore using different pathways (like organic social media through influencers) that circumnavigate these ad blockers is a way to ensure that a company is reaching all the people it can and not wasting any of its budget on ads that will just be blocked.
Good news: you’re in the right place. Icon Source is an online platform built to connect athletes and brands to begin relationships that become iconic and world-renowned. Start your journey by creating an account and browsing athletes open to endorsements from companies. Reach out and wait for a response. It’s that easy!
Sign up here. Want more information? Have Questions? Reach out to us here.
