Social media is a goldmine for event promotion, offering access to a wider audience and effective marketing tools. From drumming up new event attendees and event ticket sales, social media is a creative and far-reaching platform that allows brands to capture the right audiences. That is what you get with TikTok event marketing.
In July 2024, TikTok announced a partnership with global events marketplace, Eventbrite to offer creators a powerful new way of promoting their events and selling tickets. Now, TikTok users can add Eventbrite links directly to their videos, helping communities to discover event details and buy tickets in-app. The partnership means every TikTok user can now seamlessly host events, promote and sell tickets directly to the platform’s community.
This article will take a deep dive into TikTok event marketing, discussing how it works, its benefits and practical strategies for promoting events on the platform successfully.
How TikTok Event Marketing Works
TikTok event marketing involves the use of short-form video content to promote brands and their events. It focusses exclusively on using the platform’s unique content style to build up an online presence and engage audiences.
Successful event promotion on TikTok requires that your overall messaging echoes other platforms where your brand has a presence. However, TikTok content tends to be different from the type of content published on other social platforms. Nonetheless, you may end up repurposing your TikTok videos for Instagram reels and YouTube shorts . That can help you attract even more viewers and drum up attendance for your event.
Why Use TikTok to Promote your Event?
TikTok is increasingly becoming the go-to social platform for event promotion. Here are the main reasons why you should consider TikTok event marketing when planning an event.
Access to a wider audience
Tiktok boasts over 1.58 billion monthly active users, making it the fifth most popular social media channel globally. While other social media platforms only allow posts to stay on top for an hour, TikTok boosts the shelf life of your content by up to 90 days. The platform is mainly a staple for younger people but, it also attracts other demographics. These statistics mean using TikTok to market your event can ensure access to millions of audiences in a single swipe. It can also be effective in in attracting more followers and going viral on TikTok.
Here’s an essential guide on how to go viral and attract more views on TikTok.
Engaging visual content
The short-form video format on TikTok allows you to create visually engaging content that can quickly attract attention. Authentic and visually appealing content can also create a buzz around your brand and event. Check out the following example of a post by Nike.
Authenticity and real-time engagement
TikTok event marketing also enables you to deliver impactful content and engage your audience in real-time. That allows you to build a strong community around your event, attracting more attendees and selling more tickets.
Market research opportunities
TikTok keeps you ahead of the pack in the fast-paced events industry. That is because it provides real-time insights into emerging trends and shifting customer preferences.
If you are looking to maximize reach and drive more engagement around your event swiftly, tiktok is no doubt an ideal place to do so. However, you need a powerful content strategy go effectively attract, engage and drive attendance for event.
Strategies to Use TikTok for Event Marketing
TikTok event marketing is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Instead, it is a process that leverages creativity and unique strategies for success. Here are practical steps to enable you ensure successful TikTok event marketing.
- Jump onto Popular Trends
TikTok is no doubt a hot bed for popular trends and challenges that often go viral. Thus, taking part in viral trends and challenges is a no brainer if you are looking to drum up support, boost engagements and event sell more tickets for your event.
Jimmy Fallon’s #TumbleweedChallenge is a good example of the power of TikTok trends and challenges. Fallon challenged TikTok fans to roll around on the ground like tumbleweeds and include the hashtag #TumbleweedChallenge in their videos for a chance to be featured on The Tonight Show. The video attracted more than 10 million views and over 8000 video uploads after Jimmy Fallon published the favorites on his show.
Participating in popular trends grows the reach of your marketing content and makes it appear more in the feeds of larger audiences. Take time to do a proper research of popular and relevant trends and challenges on TikTok. Then, design content for your event marketing campaign accordingly.
- Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing thrives on TikTok. The platform is home to thousands of content creators and influencers that partner with brands to crate fun, engaging video content. Influencers have an upper hand in broadcasting your event to a wider audience and creating a community of engaged followers around your brand.
Influencers can boost trust in your brand, thereby making the audience to feel more confident and willing to attend your event. You can partner with influencers who create similar content or are popular among your target audience.
For TikTok event marketing, you could bring in a speaker with a substantial following to cross promote the occasion. You can also collaborate on a video or series of videos that highlight your event exclusively. Although partnering with mega influencers can be costly, you can always work with micro-influencers.
If you choose to partner with influencers for TikTok event marketing, be strategic about who you collaborate with depending on the location and demographics of the audience that you seek to attract.
- Leverage TikTok Paid Ads
Combining organic and paid ads is a winning strategy for any social media channel. Whether you are starting a fresh marketing campaign or need extra boost on an existing strategy, TikTok provides a wide range of paid ads you can leverage for effective event marketing.
Before you start advertising on TikTok, you should register as a TikTok Business Account. You will only be required to provide basic information such as your name and email to verify the legitimacy of your brand. The platform usually takes about 24 hours to review and approve your account.
Types of Paid Ads on TikTok
There are five types of ads on TikTok including; TopView, Branded Hashtag Challenges, Branded Effects, Brand Takeover and In-Feed Ads. Although you can use all the five types of ads to promote your event, you should consider focusing on using the ad types that work best for different marketing stages.
- TopView drives attention through the use of full-screen displays, ideal for selling tickets. TopView is usually the first video that users will see whenever they open the app, giving brands three seconds of attention.
- Branded Takeover also allows full screen ads that play when users enter the TikTok app. The full screen format gives brands maximum exposure, ideal for driving more attention and reach.
- Branded Hashtags allow brands to create various trends and contests with uniquely branded hashtags. This format enables brands to quickly capitalize on organic content and paid ads, encouraging users to create content around your event and brand.
- Branded Effects customized to your event style are great for engaging audiences during single or multi-day events. They allow you to create shareable customized stickers, AR filters and lenses, ideal for boosting brand awareness attracting more user-generated content.
- In-Feed ads appear organically, just like other videos that users can scroll through the For You Page. They can be used to boost the post event hype as you get ready for the next event.
- Create a Hashtag Contest for your Event
Hashtag contests are among the most popular social media marketing strategies that can also work effectively for TikTok event marketing. Running a hashtag contest entices your audience to take part and show their creativity through unique content creation.
Contests with incentives such as discounts on tickets for the first 100 uploads or other exclusive offers can be great for event promotion. Hashtag contests will encourage your followers to create posts promoting your event, thereby driving ticket sales and attendance. Hashtags can also create an influential effect on larger audiences, encouraging them to impulsively create content using your event hashtag.
Here’s an example of the power of hashtags, featuring KungFu Tea’s #BobaChallenge
Make the hashtag contest accessible to people in various locations and do not be afraid to post it multiple times. Be sure to craft an intriguing hashtag for your event to attract maximum reach and engagement.
- Create Authentic and Engaging TikTok Videos
Authenticity is one of the key traits that distinguish TikTok from other social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. TikTok users expect organic, user generated content. The best-performing videos on TikTok are videos that are not staged or overly edited. That makes the platform an ideal marketing platform for small businesses and teams short on time and resources.
You can give potential attendees a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the event. You could also interview some of the teams organizing the event to give potential attendees an opportunity to see the work that goes into putting together a successful event.
Apart from creating authentic and engaging front-camera content, you can also use your attendee or guests’ natural enthusiasm for effective TikTok event marketing. You can have event goers put together some clips of them going through the event and then add graphics and text for the event. That would attract a lot more impressions than professionally curated videos uploaded onto the platform.
Add incentives such as ticket giveaways, featuring participants in your platforms or merchandise to get many people to take part. Doing so will enable you to increase engagements about your event and, also get more followers on TikTok.
- Go Live on TikTok
TikTok Live is a must-use feature for promoting your event before it happens and engaging audiences on the material day. It is an excellent way to broadcast your event to attendees and even those at home in real-time. You can use the TikTok Live feature to answer questions and inquiries about the event from your followers and other users on the platform.
Live video has a unique interactive bit that many customers are quickly falling in love with. For example, Chinese creator, Austin Li Jiaqi, popularly known as ‘Lipstick King’ sold over $1.9 billion worth of goods in just a 12-hour live stream event with Alibaba. The stream saw customers interact, comment and buy the products in real-time.
For brands and event marketers, using Tiktok live can be a great way to sell more tickets and merchandise before, during and even after the event. Remember you can also use the Live feature to congratulate all those who attended your event and, also give directions on what to expect in future events.
Final Thoughts
Whether you run a small events company or an organisation, TikTok offers just the right space for effective event promotion. This article has outlined definitive strategies and examples to help you out together a successful TikTok event marketing campaign. You should also pay attention to TikTok analytics to measure the performance of your campaigns. The metrics include video views, growth rate, trending videos and average watch time. Tracking those metrics will enable you to know where to put more effort for maximum reach and engagement.