India has banned it. US is on the brink of doing the same, and Canada and parts of the EU has banned their government employees from using it. But Aussies (for now) still love it. And no matter how governments feel about it, you probably haven’t been able to ignore it.
Tell me, do you think you need to be down with the cool kids and jump on the TikTok bandwagon by including it in your digital fundraising strategy?
Since it’s burst on the Aussie social scene, TikTok has steadily gripped the imagination of orgs who are looking for that magical unicorn to a) diversify the heck out of dark overlord Facebook, and b) reach that ever-elusive younger audience.
But is it worth it for your charity? Let’s find out.
TikTok is Trending
It’s the second most downloaded app in Aus and the world’s fifth most-used social media platform, with 1 billion monthly global users.
Here are some other stats for your data-loving heart:
- It’s Australia’s fourth most-used social media platform and third most favourite
- 3 million Australian over the age of 18 use it
- It reaches over 8 million people
- TikTok users spend more time on the app than any other platform – average of 29 hours per person, per month.
- In Australia, it’s most used by Gen Z (13-17), followed by the younger tech-savvy Gen A (6-12).
While Facebook remains the biggest social media platform in Australia (followed by Facebook Messenger and Instagram), TikTok is gaining traction and is THE social destination for short-form mobile videos.
Why is TikTok relevant?
Um, because it’s the fastest growing social platform in history.
From humble beginnings as an app for dance challenges and lip-syncing videos, TikTok is now the go-to source for recipes, DIY hacks, dance challenges, alongside important dialogues about mental health and social and political issues.
Orgs LOVE it is because it has the highest engagement rates on any social platform, with it’s sharp, snappy video content providing users instant, endless gratification.
Unlike other apps, TikTok delivers content based on a user’s interests, rather than what their friends are watching. So even if you don’t have a big following, your video can still reach who you need it to. For orgs, that means there’s a much higher chance of connecting with relevant audiences.
- 3 in 5 Gen Z and 40% of millennial users reckon TikTok content helps them discover new things
- Ads with creators drove 18% increase in brand love among users
- A user opens the TikTok app 8 times per day.
- 83% of TikTok users have posted a video.
- TikTok SEO is huge (with tens of millions of searches per day).
TikTok is an entirely new experience and valuable content is being delivered in interesting and entertaining ways to different audiences.
So, should your org be on it?
It depends.
Like any other channel strategy, you need to consider if it aligns with your org goals and the type of people you want to engage and attract. You also need to consider what type of campaign you want to build on it. Appeals? Probably NOT. P2P and brand awareness/engagement? Probably YES. But, most importantly, you HAVE to consider if you have a bank of GREAT content that is relevant, engaging, topical and authentic to put on the platform.
It’s All About Keeping It Real
Yes, TikTok is the fastest growing social platform in Australia – in both number of users and time spent on a platform – and has that elusive younger audience charities want to tap into.
And yes, you SHOULD be actively diversifying your digital platforms and channels to tell better stories to the right people. Charities are still far too dependent on Meta (the artist formerly known as Facebook). While it still has a good ROI if you’re only thinking about advertising, Meta is facing a whole host of other issues – drop-off in users, changes in privacy policies, targeting options (if you are advertising), ethical issues – which means it’s not the juggernaut it once was.
From an advertising standpoint, ad impressions on TikTok cost 50% less than on Instagram Reels, 33% less than on Twitter, and 62% less than on Snapchat. This means your ads get seen more.
From a growth perspective, you’ll want to consider the channel so you can tap into the younger demographic who give in different ways and will become your long-term supporters once your current supporters age out. In fact, some orgs will actually have more relevance on this channel based on the work they do and the content they have.
From an engagement perspective, I’ve already mentioned how many people are using it, and for how long.
So yes, you should consider it.
But, TikTok is NOT a silver bullet to social success, and you really need to THINK before you leap into this platform.
A great experience on the platform depends on relevant and authentic content. Your org must be real, valuable, and a sincere contributor. And you should build a proper strategy and community, rather than just jumping on it because you see that young people are on it. (Or that everyone else is.)
TikToker’s are SMART and they care. They want to see your true personality and the impact you are making, rather than a gimmicky attempt at just getting their attention because they hang there.
Did you tick YES to relevancy, authenticity and strategic? Great! Here’s how your charity can get started on TikTok.
At Parachute we always preach diversifying from ye dark overlord, Meta. So we’re ALL about trying new things. BUT don’t do it unless you’ve ticked off the items above. (Go, read it again. Reconsider TikTok if you can’t say YES to the above, then come back to this section once you can.)
If you are ready (yay, you!), consider first WHY you want to be on it. For example, did you want to sign people up to a challenge event? Are you wanting to highlight some incredible stories? Do you need to build awareness about a topical issue that your org has solution to?
Once you know this, you can think about HOW you can spread that message:
Hashtag Challenges: Clear and simple challenge that asks users to perform an activity.
Informational Videos: Behind-the-scenes and educational videos on what your org does. New members, day-in-the-life, impact… all of these are great informational videos that allow you to show need, impact and be transparent, building trust between you and potential supporters.
Tutorials: How-to videos are popular among all social media platforms, but especially on TikTok. Do you have something you can share? For mental health orgs this might be a “how-to” guide on self-care? For a physical p2p events, these could be “how-to” videos on training?
User-Generated Content: UGC videos are 22% more effective than branded videos on TikTok. If we’re talking about authenticity, nothing says it better than working with real people and their real content to drive social proof and influence. Finding the right people doesn’t have to be daunting. You can:
- Collaborate with TikTok creators. Reach out to existing creators on TikTok with solid followings, whose content and personality aligns with your org.
- Get your existing donors and supporters Ask them to participate in your UGC campaign. You can offer incentives in exchange for participation.
- Start a TikTok challenge. Ask users to take part in a charity challenge and share their content
- Use a campaign #hashtag to track content. Encourage creators to use a unique hashtag so you can track and measure content performance. As always, keep hashtags short and sweet so they’re easy to remember.
UGC is NOT influencer marketing, but offers similar benefits at no cost. Influencer marketing involves a brand partnering with an influencer, and paying them to produce promotional content for the brand. UGC is spontaneous content, and creators aren’t paid.
Charity TikTok Campaigns We Like
We love the American Red Cross TikTok channel. The Red Cross’ TikTok channel focuses primarily on education and information about their service areas. The videos work well on TikTop because they’re short in length and use appropriate background music and text on the screen.
Movember is fantastically visual and had some kick-butt success with a TikTok partnership, creating a hashtag challenge aimed to raise awareness of topics such as prostate cancer, mental health and suicide prevention, as well as testicular cancer, the most common cancer amongst young men.
We’ve used TikTok to great success with Black Dog Institute’s Mullets for Mental Health p2p event. We used user-generated content as an authentic approach to boost the ads performance. The campaign achieved strong results, getting 8.5% of the total sign ups and lower cost per participant than Meta.
Citizen’s Advice in the UK hit their target audience where they were, with questions important to them
Want To Get Started?
- Do you have relevant, topical, authentic content you can keep rolling out? If yes, read on. If not, go on get back to the drawing board
- Build an organic strategy and consider your content pillars, then create the best content types that align with those pillars. Reach out to content creators to get them in your arsenal as well
- If you have a relevant campaign that talks to the right people on the platform, you can try your hand at advertising. Here’s a quick overview (get in touch if you have more questions):
- Choose your objective: conversion, lead gen, awareness, traffic, engagement, awareness
- Pick your target audience: demographic (align to your audience persona), interests (different to Meta, you can target categories, but similar to Meta, think outside the box), behavioural (interactions), hashtags, custom lists
- Have authentic, topical, engaging creative: short video with thumbnail preview, brand logo, discription and CTA button. (Find out more about Tiktok Ads Specifications here.) As Tiktok is a fast-moving video platform, a cool video is the most important part of successful campaign. You also need ensure you have LOTS of videos to refresh creatives for campaigns every 1-2 weeks. Where possible, use UGC
- Set your budgets: based on your goals. If you’re new and learning, put a small amount of budget to get some benchmarks. You can manage budgets between ad group budget optimisation and campaign budget optimisation. We recommend using ad group budget optimisation while you’re testing and learning
- Optimise and set benchmarks: To learn and grow, and to solidify you strategy. CPMs are generally great for TikTok (for now) at about $4-$6CPM. Average click-through rates range from 0.6%-0.8%. Results will vary based on how good your content is and what your original goal was
A word to the wise
While you’re considering whether your org should be on TikTok, it’s worth also thinking about the wider issues plaguing the platform. There have been growing concerns by certain countries about TikTok’s affiliation with China, through its parent company Bytedance, and how the data may be used. Though there’s no evidence to suggest misuse, it has led to some countries considering banning – or already having banned – the platform.
There have also been concerns about the toxic content on the platform, and how slow the moderators are to address and remove it.
This shouldn’t deter you, but something to be aware of. Just because everyone thinks they should be doing it, doesn’t mean they should be. Be strategic to see if it’s the right fit for your charity.
But, more importantly, ensure you give the people who love it, and use it, something genuinely good and appropriate to experience.
Have questions about TikTok or other digital channels? Get in touch!
Patricia is our most Senior Digital Producer who delivers ROI-breaking digital fundraising campaigns – especially in social advertising.