While TikTok may have once been viewed as a teen platform for lip syncing and dancing videos, its exponential growth over the past few years have made it the go-to place for brands to reach new and younger audiences. There are an incredible number of diverse communities on TikTok and an audience almost certainly exists for any brand seeking to expand their reach. PBS’s hit show ANTIQUES ROADSHOW found great success on the platform, generating over 94 million views since the December 2021 launch, by creating targeted content for the TikTok audience.
Our PBS sponsors leverage brand building with an ANTIQUES ROADSHOW sponsorship, which allows them to connect with the series’ large and loyal fanbase, while the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW team utilizes TikTok to bring in new viewers and increase their engagement. Learn how your company can build brand awareness and energize new audiences by using some of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s learnings from their successful TikTok launch.
- Create Content Prior to Your TikTok Launch
- Prior to launching on the platform, the ROADSHOW team prepared a variety of video content of different styles and lengths so they could maintain a consistent posting schedule from the start. This is helpful in establishing a following as it shows the audience your commitment to publishing consistent content and creates more opportunity to engage with users in the comment section.
- Move Fast and Experiment Often
- The ROADSHOW team employed a test & learn strategy for their TikTok launch to determine what kind of creative would drive the most engagement on the platform. The ROADSHOW team found that clips of appraisals taken from their broadcast episodes garnered the most views and led to big increases in follower growth. As a result, the team doubled down on posting fan-favorite appraisals. Experimentation will allow you to quickly discover what brand messaging and video format works best for your brand on the platform.
- Diversify Your Video Content
- Diversification of content is important on TikTok as different videos can work for you in different ways. While direct clips from the television episodes showed the most success for the ROADSHOW team, shorter, social-first videos had a higher completion rate, which is helpful for overall account health. The ROADSHOW team makes sure to post a healthy mix of both repurposed and TikTok-specific content on their account to take advantage of the different benefits.
- Stay on Top of Trends and Get Creative with Platform Tools
- TikTok users gravitate toward the platform because it allows and encourages creativity. Using platform tools to create content that is undeniably “TikTok” shows that your brand is embracing the culture. For example, the ROADSHOW team used “stitching” to respond to Johnny Weir’s TikTok post during the Olympics, showing timely engagement with the trending video style. TikTok users will be more likely to engage with a brand that wholeheartedly embraces the platform.
- Make the Content Work for You Beyond TikTok
- TikTok videos can be repurposed on other platforms. In fact, the ROADSHOW team posts some of their made-for-TikTok content on Instagram using Instagram Reels. They surmised that their established Instagram audience embraced more experimental videos because they were already familiar with the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW brand, while the new TikTok audience gravitated towards appraisal clips since they were still learning about the show. It takes a lot of work to create engaging video content so make sure you are getting the most out of it.
Creating a new social account for your brand is a big endeavor, but this learning can give you helpful context for your own successful TikTok launch. Want more? Check out ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s TikTok account for inspiration here, and learn how you can become a corporate sponsor of this iconic, innovative brand to quickly increase your brand’s reach and diversify your audience.
Want to learn how corporate sponsors are quickly accessing new audiences with ANTIQUES ROADSHOW? Read more here.
