We reveal how you can use content to build a TikTok community and how proactive and reactive engagement on the channel really helps, too. Follow our work on @stdavidscardiff, @trinityleedsshopping, @bluewater_shopping.
We make it look easy but travelling the country, staying in hotels and bringing many TikTok short video concepts to life is no mean feat. Fortunately we have a great time experimenting with TikTok and our followers are as enthusiastic as we are.
Team TikTok at St David’s are ready to voxpop, set trends and aim to go viral
read our Q&a with tips on growing a tiktok community
Charlotte Dallin-Gist, Director of Content
Q: How important is community on TikTok and what do we mean by that?
A: Establishing a community on any social platform is very important in order to deliver content with real impact. Communities can be built around a certain area of interest, but also around a geographical location. You have to get to know your audience in order to understand who you are talking to and what will drive engagement. On TikTok, it’s key to structure your strategy around your community, keeping in mind what videos are likely to spark discussions in the comments section, encourage people to save a video to refer back to, or make it irresistible to hit the like button or share with a friend.
Q: Can you give us an example of a TikTok video you've made for the shopping centres that appeals directly to their community?
A: TikTok videos should hit at least one of these three objectives: to entertain, to educate, to inspire. This video we created for Trinity Leeds shopping centre really captured the community, as it gained 321k views, 36.4k likes, 148 comments, 3,707 saves, and 329 shares:
This video appealed to the Trinity Leeds community as it educated them about where at Trinity Leeds they could find freebies for their birthday, and thus inspired them to share the information with their friends, or perhaps visit on their birthday for their free treats!
Q: How can you grow a community that's inspired by the content (i.e. gain more TikTok followers)?
A: Keep an eye on what other channels with similar communities are doing, and see what’s working for them – you can use their popular videos as a starting point to come up with your own content ideas to attract more followers. It’s also worth paying attention to the latest TikTok trends to keep your channel feeling fresh and relevant. If you can use a trending sound alongside content tailored to your target audience, your video will get more visibility within the algorithm. Including relevant hashtags can also make your videos more discoverable by people that are actively searching for content like yours.
Sophie Hawes, Editorial & Admin Assistant
Q: Why be proactive on TikTok?
A: Regularly engaging with comments, and liking/sharing/commenting on other users’ videos will increase your engagement, and help create a community around your account. Engagement also helps with your presence in the algorithm, as a video with lots of comments will be prioritised over one with none.
Q: Why participate in trends and be reactive?
A: Participating in trends by using trending hashtags and audios will bring your content to new users, increase brand awareness and visibility, connect with younger audiences and also give you fresh ideas for content when you see a new trend.
Q: What should community managers be doing more of?
A: Keeping on top of trending audio and see how you can incorporate it into your TikTok channel. Also, create videos that make engaging easy for your audience, whether it’s something funny, or something where you are asking people a question that they can answer in the comments.