How to Approach Automotive Marketing on TikTok

With many businesses struggling to connect with consumers in this post-COVID-19 era, one might wonder what they're supposed to do. This post looks at the automotive industry and its struggle to find creative ways to connect with consumers on social media.

To stay afloat, automobile brands must try new things and be innovative and authentic in their business. We are seeing a lot of fierce competition, but as long as your brand finds new ways to stay relevant, you are good to go.

One of the newer advertising platforms for the auto industry is TikTok. Brands can employ it to market their new and existing products, stay competitive, and grow their businesses.

Marketing automobile brands on TikTok

Many marketers now ignore conventional marketing tactics and use social media to promote automobiles and auto deals. And the great thing about networks like TikTok is the fun factor!

TikTok offers a wide variety of creative tools and a larger worldwide audience than other platforms. It's great for getting your content out to earn more—you can make, edit, watch, and share short videos.

The automotive industry is already taking advantage of the number of users and competitive edge TikTok possesses, so don't miss out.

Reasons for a change in auto marketing approaches

The constant change in the business world means that traditional marketing techniques aren't just outdated, but downright ineffective. With COVID-19, companies and organizations had to adapt to a changing environment so they could come out on top.

Many automotive companies have realized that staying competitive in the marketplace means they need to adapt their outreach strategies. They've adopted new methods and styles of reaching potential clients, while also integrating changes in their existing relationships with customers.

The following are a few reasons why you should change your marketing approach:

• 1. Change in consumers’ orientation

  Consumer surveys indicate that fewer people are interested in owning a car. More people now prefer car-sharing or subscription-based options and are less likely to be interested in the traditional dealership model. This means brands and marketers will need to change their approaches and focus more on new types of customers that prefer these models.

• 2. Eco-friendly cars

  

  People are beginning to shift from fuel-powered engines to eco-friendly cars, such as hybrid and electric, because of sustainability. It’s currently a trend in countries across the world, especially in Europe, North America, and Asia.

  Consumers are increasingly willing to even pay extra for eco-friendly cars. The goal is to go green!

• 3. Change of preference

  The modern technologies inherent in current automobiles offer more interesting features that consumers consider, rather than the engines themselves.

• 4. Target audience

  One effective strategy is to try and reach your target audience where they are. If you're going to spend money on advertising, make sure it is visually appealing and will be seen by your target audience.

  On TikTok, there is a large mass of users around the world you can easily market to. There are also many people on the platform actively trying to make purchases or sales.

How do automotive brands leverage TikTok marketing?

TikTok creates an environment where you can make short videos and broadcast them to the whole world for free. The platform is very easy to use and users love that it's the most effective way of marketing their business.

Below are steps that might help you explore TikTok and market your automobile brand:

• Step 1: If you haven't already, sign up on the platform and set up your account.

• Step 2: Get your account verified. Verifying your account will make it more authentic and motivate people to buy from you! You will get a verification badge—a blue mark that will appear beside your profile—once you're verified.

  You don't want to launch an account and then have people thinking it's spam. Plus, if you start a business account that is not verified, you'll be missing out on some opportunities.

• Step 3: Once you scale the first two steps, you're ready to explore the opportunities of TikTok marketing. The next step is to make unique videos for the campaign or advert.

  There are three ways you can do this:

  • One, you can create branded TikTok content to make yourself known in the online world. Upload videos from your verified account and you will gain followers who are eager to engage with your content. This also improves your relationship with your buyers.
  • Two, get your advert to the audience through paid content, where you pay some users with visibility on the platform. Your influencer will help spread your content to their audience. Paid content has become a popular strategy because it allows you to create content that is more engaging and has a better reach with your desired audience.
  • Three, you can get your content to the audience through earned content, where users will share and respond to your videos, thereby boosting the content’s virality. This type of promotion will cost you little to nothing.

• Step 4: TikTok is a creative platform where users are more active than on other social networks. Tools like Stitch and Duet provide ways for you to create creative content for your audience.

  While Stitch allows users to trim the clip from other users’ videos in response to the original content, Duet lets users make two videos that will appear side by side. The Response to Comments feature allows you to creatively respond to any content.

Types of advertisement packages on TikTok

This platform is great for getting your content and ads in front of the right audiences. You can use it to promote any type of business, and there are many options for advertisements such as:

• In-feed ads

  First, you should create sponsored in-feed content. It is easy to publish and will automatically appear as an ad in user feeds. You can grow followers and gain new customers by doing this.

• Spark ads

  This package is designed to optimize and improve the visibility of your brand and content on TikTok. You'll get upwards of 140% engagement rates.

• Hashtag challenge ads

  Brands can solicit interaction and response on TikTok by creating a branded hashtag challenge. This is a good way to get people involved; just make sure they enjoy the contests you set up.

• Branded effect ads

  This product is yet another unique way to interact with your audience through the use of video effects on TikTok. The ads will inspire users to also use your branded effect.

Note: If you want to launch a new addition to your brand, you can create awareness for the launch date and create a discussion around it in the community. In addition, you can invite users for a trial before the launch date. This will make your business more interactive.

Conclusion

Marketing today is all about getting your messages in front of potential clients (i.e., consumer engagement models) and that means going where they already are. So, where are they?

TikTok is the best place where sellers meet with buyers, including the auto market. This platform offers advertising features that make it easy for automobile brands to advertise their products and services.

The advice above will prepare you for your TikTok automotive marketing journey, so read again to make sure you’re on the right path.