11-Step TikTok Marketing Strategy Guide [2025]

For a while, TikTok was this “fun app” where brands could occasionally toss up a quick video of their employees doing a silly dance to a viral song and call it a day. Not anymore.

Today, TikTok is one of the most powerful platforms for grabbing attention, shaping your brand’s identity, and building real connections with customers. With well over a billion monthly users and an algorithm that seems almost psychic in matching content to the right people, TikTok has gone from side project to serious business. Two out of five Gen X TikTok users follow brand accounts not just for product updates but also for inspiration.

But, here’s the catch. Winning on TikTok takes much more than chasing trends or praying for overnight virality. A successful TikTok marketing strategy means syncing your brand’s voice with the platform’s culture, creating content people actually care about, and using the right tools to test, tweak, and scale.

In this guide, we’ll break down the steps to building a long-term TikTok strategy for brands that actually works, share fresh content ideas you can steal, and spotlight tools to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Why create a future-proof TikTok marketing strategy?

The beauty of TikTok is that it allows you to show up with a mix of engaging content, ads, and community interactions that give previously untapped audiences a complete understanding of your brand.

Here are a few reasons why you may want to invest your limited time and resources into building a sustainable TikTok presence:

1. Low barrier to entry. Unlike YouTube, TikTok doesn’t demand high-budget, long-form videos with polished editing to succeed — raw, authentic clips filmed on a smartphone can perform just as well, if not better. This makes it easier for lesser-known brands to compete with larger players.
2. Diversifying your brand image. On TikTok, you can experiment with trending sounds and memes while still staying true to your brand’s core identity. Meaning, you get to test different tones of voice, aesthetics, and storytelling styles without high production costs.
3. Higher discoverability. TikTok’s “For You” recommendation algorithm is designed to surface content based on user interests rather than follower count, which means you can gain visibility quickly even without an established audience and reach far beyond your immediate network at a fraction of the cost of traditional ads.
4. Taking advantage of TikTok’s native tools. Ads Manager gives you control over targeting, budgets, and performance, while Spark Ads let you amplify posts that are already working, while In-Feed Ads and TopView Ads deliver reach without feeling forced. For partnerships, TikTok’s Branded Content tools and Creator Marketplace make it easier to connect with niche influencers.
5. Community building. TikTok is known for higher user engagement and comment rates — you can foster a community by interacting directly with users in real time, responding to comments, duetting or stitching their content, and encouraging UGC that showcases your product or service. Such interactions strengthen your presence and make your content feel less like advertising and more like part of the culture.
6. Backing up funny videos with real data. TikTok’s built-in analytics give you a solid start, and third-party tools like Sprout Social or Later can help you dig deeper. You can use data-driven insights to make informed decisions regarding your posting times, video lengths, and creative approaches.

The main TikTok’s “disadvantage” is that it evolves fast, and what works today might need tweaking tomorrow. However, exactly that flexibility is what makes a TikTok marketing strategy so powerful — it allows you to capture attention in real time, ride cultural moments, and bond with your audience on another level.

How to create a relevant TikTok marketing strategy

Success on TikTok comes from being willing to take creative risks, whether it’s hopping on unexpected trends, trying yourself in comedy, or showcasing a raw, undiscussed side of your business. However, those risks need to be calculated and justified. The following steps will ensure your TikTok growth strategy has a strong foundation as well as room for experimentation.

Step #1. Study your audience and what entertains them

On TikTok, entertaining ads show on average 25% higher brand love among a younger audience. So, before creating a long-term content calendar, you need to understand who your audience is and what makes them stop scrolling.

TikTok users are highly picky — they engage only with videos that hook them emotionally, educate them, or entertain in some way, and your goal is to find out what that magic formula is for your target audience.

1. Analyze what type of videos in your niche get the most views, comments, shares, and saves.
2. Note established as well as up-and-coming formats (tutorials, get-ready-with-me, comedy skits) that audiences respond to.
3. Search TikTok hashtags related to your industry and see what trends make users participate in them.
4. Use TikTok Creative Center to explore trending sounds, hashtags, creators, and insights by industry.
5. Establish what kind of look, tone of voice, and production quality your audience may expect from a brand like yours — and be ready to break those stereotypes when necessary.
6. Use TikTok polls, Q&A stickers, or live streams to ask what type of content they want more of.

TikTok Analytics can help you correct your assumptions moving forward — you’ll be able to see what makes your audience watch through or abandon certain videos, how new users discover your content, and what sparks more engagement.

Step #2. Shape your vision and positioning to match the vibe of the platform

TikTok is not the place for stiff, awkwardly corporate messaging — the only way to succeed there is through authenticity, relatability, and creativity. You need to be prepared to align your brand personality with TikTok’s playful environment while still staying true to your core values. This means adapting a new tone, experimenting with storytelling formats, and embracing a more casual, human side of your brand.

We see it time and time again — even global legacy brands like Marc Jacobs dare to step out of the traditional marketing mold and embrace TikTok’s chaotic and sometimes absurd visual culture and humor without sacrificing their unique DNA.

Step #3. Define your content plan, goals, and posting frequency

First things first, you need to be clear on what you want to achieve with your TikTok presence — be it spreading awareness, driving website traffic, building a loyal fan base, or just hopping on trends to stay relevant. This will dictate potential content formats and topics.

TikTok’s algorithm rewards consistency, relevance, and audience engagement. To grow sustainably, you need a clear content plan that aligns with your big-picture goals while also playing to how the platform surfaces content. A structured posting schedule ensures your audience knows when to expect new videos, and it gives the algorithm more data points to push your content onto “For You” pages.

Here are some tips based on the current understanding of TikTok’s algorithm:

1. Build content pillars — a few themes you will consistently be posting about. Rotate between them to keep your feed varied but consistent.
2. Start with a sustainable frequency. Posting two to three times a day, as some recommend, can be daunting and even detrimental. Aim for three to five posts per week if you’re starting out. Increase to one or two posts per day once you have a content production flow and know your audience is ready.
3. Use strong hooks in the first two–three seconds — questions, controversial statements, unpopular opinions, or surprising visuals. TikTok favors healthy clickbait, so it helps to add some edge to your content.
4. Focus on two key video formats: optimal short-form (15–30s) and longer-form (up to 10 min) for different objectives. Always include text overlays — these are crucial for sound-off viewing and key messaging.
5. Post at times when your audience is most active. If some videos don’t perform as expected, it’s recommended to still keep them in the feed or at least make them private as opposed to deleting them.
6. When using viral songs, rely on the built-in TikTok or CapCut sound copyright check before uploading to avoid any issues.
7. Batch create and schedule. Record multiple videos in one session to save time and maintain stylistic consistency — this also ensures brand recognition in the feed.
8. Use TikTok’s scheduling tool or third-party platforms to post consistently and when your target audience is most active.

Having your content and goals laid out in front of you enables you to post more strategically and with intention while still allowing for spontaneity.

Step #4. Give TikTok trends and challenges a unique spin

Trends are the lifeblood of TikTok — but blindly copying them won’t do your brand any good. While it’s tempting to replicate a trending sound or challenge as is, users quickly scroll past content that looks and feels like everything else on their feed.

The key is to participate in trends while adding a clever twist that ties back to your brand personality, product, or values. This way, your TikTok content strategy revolves around contributing to the trends rather than regurgitating the same punchline.

e.l.f. Cosmetics does just that, chiming in on trends like “Explaining X to a Victorian child” in ways that feel fresh and true to the brand. The company doesn’t just repeat someone else’s ideas — it highlights related products and shares some niche expertise.

To discover growing and exploding trends, tags, accounts, and viral sounds, head to Creator Search Insights. This hub also highlights current content gaps — underserved topics that TikTok users want to see more of.

Step #5. Squeeze the most out of your TikTok bio

Your TikTok bio is often the first touchpoint for potential customers — it’s a small but powerful space to communicate who you are, what you offer, and where you want people to go next. Since TikTok content spreads virally and often reaches people who don’t already follow your brand, having a punchy bio section plays a huge role in how you manage to harness those spikes in attention.

To elevate your TikTok bio and make it more informative, consider including emojis, CTAs, social proof, relevant fundraisers, or useful links. Having a Showcase with your products right below the bio will also help extract the most value out of that real estate.

With SendPulse, you can create a distraction-free, TikTok-friendly link page for promoting your resources and channels that can’t be featured in your TikTok profile directly. Instead of creating a site from scratch, you can select one of our customizable templates and have your own page ready in minutes — responsive, branded, and with big tappable buttons.

Our visual website editor with a built-in AI assistant also allows you to make multi-page resources where each element can be adjusted and branded accordingly. You can drag and drop different blocks as well as add conversion-driving widgets like chatbots, payment forms, contact forms, and CTAs.

Step #6. Collaborate with influencers to expand your reach

No TikTok marketing strategy is complete without influencer marketing, especially considering that 69% of consumers trust influencers more than conventional advertising. For brands, collaborating with relevant bloggers unlocks access to engaged communities, adds credibility through trusted voices, and makes their content feel more tangible and real.

Creators on TikTok are perfect for starting and spreading trends, demonstrating real-life product use, and conveying the benefits of a product in a casual, believable way that the brand itself can hardly recreate. Platforms like Upfluence and Influencity are useful for finding TikTokers with a genuinely engaged audience, communicating with them, rapidly executing creative ideas, and even handling payments.

Reusing influencer TikToks on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or even in email campaigns to maximize ROI is a common practice. Moreover, you can amplify influencer-generated content through TikTok’s Spark Ads, combining the authenticity of organic creator posts with the precision and scalability of paid media. Spark Ads look and feel just like regular UGC, but they are capable of carrying your message further out and enhancing it with a powerful call to action.

Step #7. Explore diverse ad formats

TikTok ad formats let businesses reach audiences across the full funnel — from awareness to engagement to conversion.

Besides the aforementioned Spark Ads, there are multiple other ways to get more eyeballs on your brand:

• Promote tool. A built-in AI assistant for quickly boosting published videos and Lives in a few taps. A perfect way to start gaining momentum if you’re new to the platform.
• In-feed ads. Native videos that appear in the “For You” feed, blending seamlessly with user content. Great for driving clicks, conversions, or app installs.
• Interactive in-feed ads. Playable app previews and carousel ads are intended to provide TikTok users with more options and increase the potential for conversions.
• TopView ads. High-impact, sound-on videos that take over the whole screen when the user opens TikTok. Perfect if your goal is maximum visibility and wide reach.
• Branded effects. Custom AR filters, stickers, or effects that users can apply to their own videos. A subtle way of putting your brand out there and propelling UGC.
• Automatic search placement. An opportunity to make your product visible exactly when your potential customers are searching for related items on TikTok.
• Branded mission. A way for brands to crowdsource content from communities on TikTok and then turn the top-performing assets into ads.
• Messaging ads. Allows interested TikTok users to seamlessly start conversations with businesses on or outside of the platform.
• Instant pages. Lightweight landing pages created directly in TikTok and used to supply visitors with more information about the offer.
• TikTok Shop. A full-scale solution for running your eCommerce business directly on TikTok.

A common TikTok marketing practice is to retarget people who watched most of your video or engaged with an influencer campaign. One of the ways to achieve that is through Advanced Matching, which helps identify and serve ads to people who are more likely to take a desired action on your site. The platform can even automatically generate ad variations for you to ensure better results.

TikTok offers even more nuanced advertising solutions, such as TikTok Pulse Core campaigns, for selected and qualified customers. To check your eligibility and find out more, reach out to TikTok Sales representatives.

Step #8. Work on building your community

Responding to users’ comments is the key step to building your tribe on TikTok. It’s not enough to leave generic replies like “Thanks!” or an emoji like brands used to do on Instagram — instead, take the time to craft witty, thoughtful responses that show you’re genuinely listening.

By putting in this extra effort, you create space for inside jokes, recurring references, and a sense of shared language that makes followers feel like part of an exclusive circle — and potentially pay more for your product over cheaper but faceless alternatives. The stats show that Gen Z consumers listen to their community almost twice as much as to brands when shopping on TikTok.

Over time, this consistency builds a loyal audience who not only understands your banter and brand personality but also actively roots for you.

Scrub Daddy does it exceptionally well, frequently poking fun at its audience on TikTok and giving snarky responses left and right. This kind of unhinged humor is exactly what makes its large audience stick around, even though there are many other sponge alternatives on the market.

Step #9. Cleverly capture TikTok traffic

When creating a TikTok strategy, you always need to stay one step ahead. What happens when your followers decide to interact with your brand beyond the platform? Having the right resources set up and ready allows you to turn every visit into an opportunity. For instance, the TikTok bio link pages created with SendPulse can also be used for lead magnets, contest sign-ups, or direct product displays with an integrated checkout.

However, the TikTok audience is used to personalized, highly tailored interactions, so dropping them onto a static page often feels like a dead end. A chatbot bridges this gap by continuing the conversation — answering questions instantly, guiding users toward the right product or offer, and keeping the energy of the TikTok interaction alive.

You can build an AI-powered customer service chatbot with SendPulse and feature it on your page for a more seamless user journey. The conversational bot not only mimics your tone of voice but also delivers instant, 24/7 responses that help users make purchasing decisions. Our visual editor and the built-in AI assistant allow you to build entire flows in minutes and describe your bot’s personality as well as set some guidelines.

Step #10. Nurture your TikTok audience beyond the app

While TikTok is great for discovery and engagement, long-term growth comes from moving your audience into channels you fully control. If you enhance a link-in-bio page powered by SendPulse with lead capture forms and chatbots, every sign-up or interaction captured there will build your contact base, which can then be synced with our built-in CRM.

Inside the CRM, you can segment leads by interests or buying behaviors and nurture them with automated email campaigns — sharing valuable tips, product updates, or limited-time offers. This way, TikTok serves as the top of your funnel, but the real relationship building continues across email and other communication channels, ensuring you don’t lose touch with curious followers when algorithms shift or trends fade.

With SendPulse, you can effortlessly create and automate personalized, pixel-perfect campaigns, ensuring that they’re sent out at the right time and to the right recipients. Our template library allows you to quickly select and customize a layout, letting your branding shine through. The integrated AI email assistant is there to ensure superb copy and effortless translations when needed.

Step #11. Analyze and optimize

A holistic TikTok strategy for brands must include consistent use of the platform’s built-in analytics tools. This is the ultimate way to find out who is engaging, how your content is performing, and which trends are worth doubling down on.

TikTok Analytics gives you a fairly granular view of your content performance. It shows:

• video views, profile visits, and follower growth;
• audience demographics (location, gender, active hours);
• content insights (average watch time, traffic sources, % watched to completion);

TikTok Pixel is particularly useful for tracking user actions beyond the platform, such as clicks, sign-ups, or purchases, and tying them back to specific videos or ads. This allows you to see the real ROI of your TikTok marketing efforts instead of relying only on surface-level engagement metrics.

Then, there are third-party analytics tools, which add a layer of competitive and industry-wide insights that TikTok’s own tools don’t cover. For instance, VidMob can equip you with more data regarding your videos, including brand guideline adherence and even diversity data. Sprout Social is a popular choice for businesses that want to track and measure their performance across multiple channels, build custom reports, and uncover long-term trends.

5 witty TikTok marketing strategy examples from niche brands

Let’s take a look at a few brands that are currently killing it on TikTok — and whose content stands out because of creativity rather than bloated production costs and editing gimmicks. These examples showcase how a smart TikTok marketing strategy or a creative TikTok content strategy can fuel brand growth and engagement.

Argos

Argos is a British catalog retailer and online marketplace known for offering anything from homeware, electronics, and toys to furniture and appliances. While this may sound yawn-inducing, the brand’s TikTok presence is anything but boring. Each of their videos feels like an episode from the sitcom Superstore — it’s sharp, down-to-earth, and has an unmatched comedic value.

Argos’ episodic mockumentary with recurring characters is a great example of a TikTok strategy for brands that want to break through clutter and humanize the brand. The employee-generated content feels original and far removed from sales pitching — and it is well-received by diverse demographics. The full-funnel ads and creator-led videos help the brand fill in the gaps and grow general awareness alongside entertainment.

Scrub Daddy

The iconic all-rounder sponge brand has a TikTok personality so sassy and feisty that it can compete with Ryanair and Duolingo. By turning something as mundane as a sponge into a quirky meme, Scrub Daddy shows how a bold TikTok content strategy can completely reshape brand perception.

The sponge is portrayed as a feisty character that roasts competitors, performs absurd sketches, does cleaning ASMR, and even engages in playful violence like setting rivals ablaze. In short, its subscribers can enjoy attention-grabbing antics that highlight product benefits and make them giggle at the same time.

Every video sends a clear, digestible message — Scrub Daddy is better, more fun, and more effective than any old sponge. And it does this through humor and simplicity, not dense product demos, which would feel out of place on the platform where users mostly seek entertainment. With content this shareable, there’s no need to bombard people with ads — the message spreads itself like wildfire.

Hoka

With their chunky, maximalist silhouettes gaining viral momentum (so-called ugly chic), Hoka hits the sweet spot between comfort and standout aesthetics. On TikTok, the company positions itself as a trusted running authority, not just another footwear brand. Its TikTok marketing strategy smartly blends relatable content and influencer tactics:

• collaborating with elite athletes to inspire;
• working with micro-influencers to build trust;
• engaging healthcare professionals to lend credible endorsements, especially on topics like injury prevention.

Emotional storytelling is another Hoka’s strong suit, along with clever feature adoption. For instance, the brand often invites its followers to share what life in their new Hokas feels like — and to use the newest TikTok features for doing so.

The brand isn’t afraid to experiment with other formats — you will find occasional branded travel blogs, memes, and mobility routines in its profile. All of these components contribute to a holistic TikTok growth strategy that makes people want to watch, save, and come back for more.

Step

Step is a financial tool designed for Gen Z, with a mission to help young people gain financial independence. The brand relies on a single creator as its consistent face, which strengthens credibility and builds a recognizable identity. Its TikTok marketing strategy centers on financial education and empowerment, making complex money topics approachable and thrilling for a younger audience.

Instead of boring teens with legalese and abstract advice, Step breaks down how everything money-related works, from inflated hotel prices and Costco sales to gym memberships and cashback. Some of their videos garnered over seven million impressions with tens of thousands of likes, which proves that Gen Z will gladly pay attention to a brand if the subject is related to their day-to-day life.

Sult

Sult is an electrolyte beverage brand for everyday life. The brand is still young, so the founders do their best to gain visibility online, and especially on TikTok. At the core of their TikTok growth strategy lies raw authenticity and transparency, just like in their drinks. The founders appear in most of the videos — they do unboxing, conduct taste tests, and even share their emotional personal stories related to the brand.

What makes this account unique is the refreshing POV of the founders themselves — TikTok users get to see the brainstorming behind the product, the challenges the small team faces, and the amount of work that has been put into the drink, and they can’t help but root for the business. This is a genius way to make Gen Z empathize with a brand and get emotionally invested — by turning videos into a Netflix-like drama and sprinkling some TikTok slang on top.

Ready to give it a go?

Hopefully, our TikTok marketing tips have given you a clear roadmap for creating a strategy that doesn’t just chase trends but builds meaningful connections with your audience. If you want to take it even further, make sure to explore our omnichannel marketing and sales automation toolkit, which allows you to seamlessly connect with your audience across social platforms, email, SMS, and other channels.

Go ahead and create your free account today — with it, you’ll be able to experience most of our tools in a completely risk-free way!