A perspective on social media best practices for brands on the platform that makes videos go viral
TikTok is a marketing opportunity brands shouldn’t overlook. While many financial brands may not be on TikTok, understanding platform trends is crucial for relevant engagement. Here’s how to use the platform without relying on it completely:
TikTok has grown into a content powerhouse with over 1.5 billion monthly users in 2025, creating authentic connections and driving traffic for businesses, influencers, and creators worldwide. While the platform offers unique opportunities for organic reach, we’ve made the strategic decision to stay off TikTok after carefully assessing whether it aligns with our audience and brand values, and we outline the reasons below.
After launching worldwide in 2017-18, TikTok quickly became known for its short-form user-generated videos – from confessional and POV, dance routines and DIY, to comedy and educational content – spanning 15-seconds to the newly extended three-minute option. A place for real content from real creators, TikTok features organic, authentic interactions and discussions between regular people. Upon passing a one billion milestone in 2021, TikTok spoke to their purpose: “Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. Today, we’re celebrating that mission… More than 1 billion people around the world now come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh, or discover something new.”
TikTok has become a vibrant community where 135 million U.S. users create and share millions videos every single day — a testament to the platform’s power to inspire creativity and authentic connection. User engagement makes TikTok particularly compelling for brands: 1 in 4 people start searching for something within just 30 seconds of opening the app, revealing a community that comes not just to be entertained, but to actively discover. This search-first behavior has transformed TikTok into not just a social platform but a discovery engine where brands can meaningfully connect with audiences through search ads and organic content alike.
With TikTok’s explosive growth, many brands feel pressure to jump on the platform without first considering whether it aligns with their audience and goals. Before creating that first dance video or trending challenge, smart brands take a strategic approach to determine if TikTok, or any social platform, truly serves their business objectives. The key lies in understanding where your audience is most active and engaged, not just where the masses are gathering.
To find out whether a brand might want to be on TikTok (or any social media platform for that matter), Gini Detrich, creator of the PESO Model for brand communications, recommends a vetting process that includes four steps:
1. Identify your 10 best keywords and use social listening strategies to identify relevant topics. Google Trends and the TikTok “Top Keywords” tabs are solid places to start.
2. Leverage Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) to identify which social channels send the most traffic to your brand.
3. Use pulse surveys or form builders, like Typeform, to survey your (current and ideal) audience and ask them which social channels they use.
4. Encourage client-facing teams, like sales, to utilize available customer experience data to inform exchanges around social platforms and finding your audience.
Once discovery is complete and brands know where their audience is, they’ll be able to fine-tune “social media activities to not only focus on the channel sending you the most visitors but the ones sending you the right visitors.” For many brands, their fans may not be on TikTok yet, but that’s why it’s so important to have an ongoing real-time social media audit of your brand’s audiences.
With TikTok serving as the Internet’s trend factory – where viral content is born before spreading to other platforms – it would seem only natural that brands would want to get in on the action. “Trends are the currency of the Internet and TikTok is the breeding ground of today’s most permeating trends and memes,” according to Sprout Social’s exploration of TikTok. But TikTok operates by its own rules, making it uniquely challenging for brands to create authentic content without appearing “cringe” or copying another creator. Those who simply repurpose Instagram content or force irrelevant trends risk getting pushback from users, like Buzzfeed learned when called out for their “uninspiring, lazy” recycled posts that ignored TikTok’s native style. “One of the biggest failures we see brands make on TikTok is repurposing content from other platforms – what works on Instagram is different to the content that works on TikTok and vice versa,” according to a round-up of brands using TikTok.
A strong TikTok marketing strategy requires understanding that no one likes brands barging into the party awkwardly – the platform demands original, culturally-aware content that speaks TikTok’s unique language.
One way brands are showing up on TikTok is by authentically engaging with content creators rather than becoming the creators themselves. In fact, 66% of brands use TikTok for influencer marketing efforts, rather than Instagram (47%) and YouTube (33%). A good example of this engagement-first strategy is the brand response to TikTok user Emily Zugay who deadpan delivers her assessment of instantly recognizable logos and her bad redesign of them. Brands that were paying attention started requesting in the comments that their brand be up next, showing they’re in on the joke. “Despite misspellings of names, and mismatched shapes and colors, the brands loved their new logos, and even replaced their TikTok profile pictures with them,” according to Newsweek. “The Washington Post, Tinder, Nascar, Tampax, the Detroit Lions and even TikTok’s official accounts now display Zugay’s redesign proudly.”
By being present and paying attention, brands are finding some of their next creators and influencers through the platform. Tapping into some of the superfan communities provides a way for brands to get their content in front of TikTok users who may be less inclined to follow a brand directly. With hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, partnerships with creators can help brands spread the word about their products in an authentic way.
Most of the success, however, comes with a mix of paid advertising and creative, organic content. Unlike many social media channels where brands lean heavily on unpaid content, TikTok is a platform where paid often takes the lead first, to grow audience and attention. Brands can use Spark Ads to achieve wider reach on the platform and organic strategies to build a community. Brands should also learn TikTok’s Cost Per Mille (CPM) and adjust their strategy accordingly, as benchmarks are typically between $5 and $10 but vary.
Leading brands have cracked the TikTok code by embracing the platform’s unique culture and creative possibilities. Hyundai’s KONA campaign exemplifies this approach, partnering with eclectic creators to produce share-worthy content like 3D-printed hand-cone projectors and bubble machines, resulting in 7.4 million video views and engagement rates that exceeded benchmarks by over 30%. Their TopView launch takeover and strategic retargeting demonstrated how brands can leverage TikTok’s advertising tools while maintaining authentic appeal.
Similarly, Cetaphil’s #FaceOfCetaphil Branded Mission campaign became the first in North America, generating 28.8 million views through user-generated content that mirrored real beauty routines – proving that brands succeed when they let creators lead the narrative. Meanwhile, Vacation® Sunscreen took a different path by leaning into nostalgic ’80s vibes with their #ClassicWhip challenge and seamlessly integrating TikTok Shop, driving an impressive 80% of their Classic Whip sunscreen sales directly through the platform. These Tiktok case studies share a common thread: brands that thrive on TikTok understand it’s not about interrupting the discussion – it’s about becoming part of it through creativity, authenticity, and platform-native thinking.
For brands brave enough to enter TikTok’s disruptive ecosystem, success means abandoning traditional social media playbooks and learning an entirely new language. Rather than barging into the party with corporate messaging, smart brands observe the room first and follow these platform-native practices that separate authentic participants from obvious outsiders:
As a result, many brands have steered clear of the platform entirely – whether due to regulatory constraints in finance and healthcare sectors, the demanding video production cadence TikTok requires, or simply the availability of less disruptive alternatives like shorts, reels, and Pinterest idea pins. But is staying away a conscious strategy or just a convenient one? “Social is an environment with a formula – share curated content, create a personal brand, amass a following, reach influencer nirvana,” according to Sprout Social. “But TikTok disrupts that. That’s why it’s as frustrating as it is fascinating to break into for influencers and brands.” Particularly prime with this platform: Knowing when and how to say something, especially when resource constraints mean you can’t maintain the relentless content schedule TikTok rewards. As such, wading into the water and watching is how many business brands (including us) are finding their footing – or determining whether platforms with fewer regulatory hurdles and production demands might serve their audiences just as well.
TikTok’s disruptive nature leaves brands with more questions than answers, and that uncertainty often becomes a convenient excuse to avoid the platform altogether. But for those willing to wade into these unfamiliar waters, understanding the basics can mean the difference between authentic participation and falling behind. Here’s what brands often wonder about before taking the plunge:
How much do TikTok ads cost in 2025? Entry-level TikTok advertising starts around $5-$10 per CPM with a $500 minimum, but here’s the rub: throwing money at the platform without understanding its culture will have negative consequences. Most brands find their footing with between $1,000 and $5,000 monthly, treating it as tuition for learning the platform’s unique language.
What KPI should B2B brands track first on TikTok? Forget the follower count vanity metrics that rule other platforms: on TikTok, engagement rate reveals whether you’re actually part of the discussion or just talking to yourself. B2B brands that obsess over follower numbers miss the point entirely. It’s better to have 1,000 engaged professionals than 10,000 passive scrollers.
Should brands reuse Instagram Reels on TikTok? This is the equivalent of bringing store-bought cookies to a potluck: everyone knows, and everyone judges. TikTok’s community can smell recycled content from a mile away, and those telltale Instagram watermarks are the fastest way to announce you don’t actually belong here.
How do I find creators in my niche, as a brand? Rather than the old-school strategy of cold-calling influencers, smart brands observe the ecosystem first, searching niche hashtags, watching who consistently sparks genuine discourse, and using Creator Marketplace as a starting point. The best partnerships emerge from understanding who already owns the room before you try to work it.
After navigating TikTok’s disruptive landscape and examining what separates authentic participation from awkward intrusion, companies can use the following five insights when considering a TikTok brand strategy in 2025:
For information on creating an award-winning brand, marketing, and advertising campaigns, contact the brand experience experts at Adrenaline.
Adrenaline is an end-to-end brand experience company serving the financial industry. We move brands and businesses ahead by delivering on every aspect of their experience across digital and physical channels, from strategy through implementation. We create brands people love and engage audiences with story-led design and insights-driven marketing; and we design and build transformative brand experiences across branch networks, leading the construction of physical spaces that drive business advantage and make the brand experience real.
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