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How can brands start their own TikTok challenge?
Starting your own TikTok challenge is a powerful way for brands to engage with audiences, boost brand awareness, and foster user-generated content (UGC). To successfully launch a TikTok challenge, you’ll need a creative concept, clear instructions, and a way to incentivize participation. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to start your own TikTok challenge:
1. Define Your Goal
- What Do You Want to Achieve? Determine the primary objective of the challenge. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive sales, promote a new product, or engage with a specific target audience? Knowing your goal will guide the structure of your challenge.
- Example Goals:
- Promote a new product.
- Increase brand awareness.
- Encourage customer engagement and create brand loyalty.
- Highlight a brand value, such as sustainability or inclusivity.
- Example Goals:
2. Create a Compelling and Simple Concept
- Make It Fun and Engaging: TikTok users enjoy challenges that are creative, fun, and easy to participate in. The concept should be clear and allow for variations that enable users to put their own spin on the challenge.
- Examples:
- A dance challenge to a catchy, popular song (ideal for music-related brands or products).
- A before-and-after transformation challenge (perfect for beauty, skincare, or fashion brands).
- A creative use of your product challenge (for brands with unique or practical products).
- A cause-driven challenge (encouraging users to showcase something related to social causes or sustainability).
- Examples:
- Keep It Simple: Don’t overcomplicate the challenge. Users should easily understand what they need to do. If the task is too difficult or unclear, participation may be limited.
- Example: The #ShareACoke challenge by Coca-Cola encouraged users to share a Coke with a personalized name on it, which was a simple, relatable action for anyone.
3. Design a Unique Hashtag
- Hashtags Are Key: A unique, memorable hashtag will help users find and participate in the challenge. Make sure it’s short, catchy, and relevant to your brand or campaign.
- Example: #InMyDenim (Guess Jeans challenge) or #MyCalvins (Calvin Klein challenge).
- Check for Availability: Ensure that the hashtag you choose isn’t already associated with something else on TikTok, as this could cause confusion.
4. Choose a Relevant Song or Sound
- Music Drives TikTok: TikTok is inherently tied to music and audio clips. Pick a song, sound, or song snippet that resonates with your challenge’s concept. It could be a current trending sound or a custom audio clip that fits the mood of the challenge.
- Example: The #BlindingLightsChallenge used the popular song by The Weeknd, which made it easy for users to participate and catch on quickly.
5. Create an Inspiring or Memorable Kickoff Video
- Launch with a Strong Entry: The first video to introduce your challenge should be engaging, high-energy, and demonstrate exactly how users can participate. It should set the tone and inspire others to join in.
- Make It Relatable: Show how others can replicate your challenge, and be sure to include your brand’s personality or mission in the video.
- Example: If your challenge is dance-related, feature an influencer or your own employees performing the dance. If it’s a transformation, showcase the before-and-after process with your product.
6. Partner with Influencers
- Influencers Can Amplify Your Reach: Working with TikTok influencers who have a significant following can help jumpstart the challenge and encourage others to participate.
- How to Choose Influencers: Pick influencers who align with your brand’s values and have a following that matches your target audience.
- Influencer Roles: Influencers can create the first few challenge videos to set the example, share personal stories or tips related to the challenge, and encourage their followers to participate.
- Example: A beauty brand could collaborate with beauty influencers to showcase how they use the brand’s products in a challenge.
7. Set Clear Instructions
- Provide Easy-to-Follow Guidelines: Make sure the challenge has clear instructions that users can easily understand. This helps ensure that participants know exactly what to do and how to engage with the challenge.
- Example: If you’re asking users to create a video of themselves using your product, outline the steps they should follow (e.g., “Show your unboxing, share your first impressions, and use our hashtag”).
8. Promote Your Challenge
- Leverage Other Channels: In addition to TikTok, promote your challenge across your other social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) to drive traffic to your TikTok challenge.
- Cross-Promotion: Encourage followers on Instagram or YouTube to join the TikTok challenge by sharing teaser videos or behind-the-scenes footage.
- Email Marketing: If you have an email list, send out a campaign that invites customers to participate in the TikTok challenge.
- Paid Advertising: Consider using TikTok Ads to boost visibility. TikTok’s Branded Hashtag Challenge Ads are a great way to promote your challenge and put it in front of a larger audience.
9. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)
- Create a Community: Encourage users to participate by adding their own personal touch. User-generated content is central to TikTok’s ecosystem, and the more people contribute, the more your challenge will grow.
- Engage with Participants: Like, comment on, and share videos created by users who participate in your challenge. Showing appreciation for their involvement will increase the likelihood of more people joining in.
- Feature UGC on Your Brand’s Account: Reposting videos of participants to your brand’s TikTok account can increase visibility and provide social proof of how fun or engaging the challenge is.
10. Incentivize Participation
- Offer Prizes or Rewards: While not always necessary, offering prizes for the best videos can increase participation. The prize doesn’t always need to be large; it could be a gift card, exclusive products, or a shoutout from your brand.
- Example: A fitness brand might offer a free product bundle to the most creative video in the challenge, or a beauty brand could give away a makeover session or exclusive products.
- Recognition: Even if you don’t offer a tangible reward, simply featuring the best submissions on your brand’s TikTok page or other social media channels can be an incentive.
11. Track and Measure the Success of the Challenge
- Monitor Engagement: Track how many people are participating in the challenge, how many times the hashtag is used, and how your brand is being mentioned.
- TikTok Analytics: Use TikTok’s built-in analytics tools to measure the reach and engagement of your challenge. This will help you understand the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Adjust and Iterate: Based on performance, you may want to tweak the challenge to encourage more participation, add new incentives, or expand the content.
12. Maintain Momentum
- Follow Up: After the initial success of the challenge, keep the momentum going by continuing to engage with participants, reposting their content, or adding new twists to the challenge.
- Extend the Challenge: Consider launching new iterations of the challenge or using feedback from participants to improve it.
Conclusion:
Launching your own TikTok challenge can be a fun, creative, and effective way to connect with your audience and create buzz around your brand. By following these steps—creating a clear and engaging challenge, leveraging influencers, promoting it across platforms, and incentivizing participation—you can significantly boost your brand’s visibility, foster community engagement, and generate a lot of user-generated content that can keep your brand front-and-center in the TikTok ecosystem.
