Looking for new ways to level up your event marketing? TikTok is an extremely powerful tool for showcasing your event to tons of people across generations! With the rise of short-form video in recent years, creating TikToks starring your events will get them in front of a wider audience than ever before. With over 1.6 billion users on the app today, you’re sure to find a niche community as passionate about your events as you are!
Read on for our rundown on how to grow on TikTok without spending a dime, then check out our accompanying blog on how to get started with paid event marketing on TikTok. Now, let’s dive into our tips to help your events go viral!
1. Master The Hook
Users are continually scrolling through their For You pages, which means you have three seconds to grab their attention before they swipe to the next video. By peaking their curiosity immediately, they’ll be more likely to watch until the end to see what happens. A hook could be something as simple as a blurb of text with a voiceover (e.g., “You won’t believe this…” or asking a rhetorical question). Your hook should explain why watching your content is valuable to the viewer, whether it’s giving them tips, helping them save time, or inviting them into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
2. Make Your Videos Engaging
To get viewers to watch your entire video, keep them short, eye-catching, and punchy. While TikTok lets creators make videos up to 10 minutes long, it’s best to keep most of your TikToks between 15 to 30 seconds and no more than 60 seconds. Within TikTok itself or using a third-party editor like CapCut, you can add in quick transitions, sound effects, and captions to help keep viewers’ attention. For example, if you’re filming a quick tour of your event grounds, try cutting to different angles with quick transitions between them, layer in a trending sound bite, and use bold-colored text throughout. Then, in your post’s caption, include a call-to-action or question that encourages people to comment and keep the conversation going!
Remember: when it comes to TikTok, always film your videos vertically, and make any text you add in front and center. We don’t want it hiding behind your caption or sidebar icons!
3. Explore New Ideas
Time to get creative! Find trends (like using popular sounds, stitches, duets, or challenges) and do your own spin on them to put the focus back on your event. TikTok’s algorithm loves to push videos that try out their newest launches, so keep an eye out for any new features and use them to your advantage. Watch other creators in your TikTok event niche too, and see if any of their videos spark ideas for yours. For instance, if you’re hosting a festival, interview some of your attendees and get them to share stories like their funniest concert moments or that one time they went crowd surfing. While you’re at it, why not try doing a challenge or dance with your event staff? Remember, the more fun you have with these videos, the more likely your viewers will enjoy them, too!
4. Categorize Your Videos
With over 1 billion videos watched per day on the platform, TikTok is now becoming a content search engine similar to YouTube. Because of this, you’ll want to include text in the video itself, your caption, hashtags, and the cover image that reflects your event’s niche (e.g., sports, music, fandom) and what your video’s about. That way, your video will more likely appear when TikTok users search for similar content. For example, if you’re hosting a concert with a popular headliner, you could include the band’s name and ‘live show’ keywords in your video text and caption to make sure it’s categorized correctly and it’s shown to fans of the band. Use between 5-8 hashtags total, each related to your video’s topic. Avoid including more than one general hashtag like #fyp, #foryou, or #viral). Finally, tag your location to help viewers in your area more easily discover your events, and hopefully get them to buy tickets to your next one!
5. Get Attendees Involved
Encourage your attendees to make TikToks at your event and tag you in them! This user-generated content is a powerful way to engage your current audience on a deeper level and gain more exposure from their followers, and you can even repost their videos to supplement your own stream of content. Attendees could post a funny moment from your convention’s Q&A panel or a clip of them jamming out at your concert. They could even put together a highlight reel of their exciting day at your event. To take this to the next level, host a contest for people who tag you in their event TikToks and offer them the chance to win some exclusive prizes!
6. Be Consistent
While influencers may post up to multiple times per day, posting even just 1-3 times a week can be effective. The key is to stay consistent. To help with this, put together a content schedule and build in time to create, edit, and post your content to TikTok. Batching TikTok event content (where you film and create multiple videos on a specific day) can help you efficiently use your time as well. You may even consider hiring a dedicated content creator for your events, if you have the budget for it.
Ultimately, TikTok is the perfect opportunity to get more people than ever excited about your events. You just need to be persistent with it and willing to experiment to discover what kind of content resonates the most with your audience. Now, let’s put your TikTok event marketing skills to action!