How to use Tik Tok to promote and disseminate short video advertisements?

Any place with traffic is a suitable advertising platform. This year, the place with the most traffic is probably Tik Tok. As a short video platform, Tik Tok became popular among young people’s WeChat Moments in the middle of this year, following the popular song “The Rap of China”. Sensitive advertisers immediately seized on this trend. As the relevant person in charge of Tik Tok said in an interview, many brands saw the growth and tone of Tik Tok, and advertising demand followed.

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Big brands have all settled in, and multiple data show that as a native advertising platform, Douyin is a great choice in terms of both product scale and tone. Brands that are good at following trends will probably soon be able to create their own advertisements on Douyin.

So how do you use Tik Tok for advertising?

You have to know how to play Tik Tok first. The essence of Douyin is still short videos, so many people who don’t understand Douyin treat Douyin videos as ordinary short videos, including some brand advertisers who have already settled in the platform and put ordinary videos on the Douyin platform, thinking that they are keeping up with the trend. Obviously, it is not. So how do you play it called Douyin?

Let’s first take a look at the TikTok platform

Douyin has a large number of new generation users, including those born in the 1990s, 1995s, 2000s and even 2010s. This group of people will be the main consumers now and even in the next ten years. This is also why major brands are optimistic about Douyin. In the minds of users, the word "Tik Tok" represents youth, innovation, rebellion, and unconventionality. The most important basis for the spread of Tik Tok is the creativity of the short videos. Creativity is valuable innovation, and innovation is the connection between the key points of products, platforms, and technologies. Therefore, good ideas must be in line with the product, the form of expression, and the characteristics of the platform. The technical features of Douyin are: 1. Short; 2. Creative video; 3. You can switch lenses during video shooting. It is precisely because of this lens switching function that many effects that we can only see in movies and TV dramas can now be achieved by ourselves without professional equipment. This is the most distinctive and attractive technical feature of Douyin. The characteristic of the Tik Tok platform is that once a new idea comes out, users will follow suit.

Therefore, the best creative ideas for the Tik Tok platform should utilize the special effects that can be achieved by switching lenses, while being easy for users to imitate. That is, to make users as excited as possible and then imitate their own videos, create big topics, and build brand favorability. To give a simple example, let’s take a look at Airbnb’s TikTok ad.

Airbnb on TikTok

This video was edited and imported directly, but just because his editing used the built-in cutting function of Tik Tok and utilized the montage technique, the appeal of this advertisement was more than doubled. This cutting-shot and montage technology that was previously far away from us can now be created by ourselves thanks to TikTok. Many people think that video advertising is too professional and dare not touch it. In fact, as video ads have evolved from TVCs to video stickers, and then to video information streams in apps, the requirements for shooting equipment have become lower and lower, from professional camcorders to digital SLRs, and now to mobile phone video cameras. On the TikTok platform, even editing can be done directly during shooting. In other words, in addition to the functions of general short video platforms, the TikTok platform's filter effects, cutting shots during shooting, simple sound editing, and fast and slow motion are enough to support the creativity of a small advertisement... Isn't it attractive?

So how do you use TikTok to create ads similar to Airbnb’s?

Let’s get familiar with the TikTok interface

As you can see, Tik Tok’s operating interface is very simple and it is easy to start recording videos.

But simply recording it cannot achieve the communication effect we want. We also need to know some simple tips. In order to let everyone understand these techniques more intuitively, I destroyed my image and spent 20 minutes recording a rough TikTok video as a case study:

In this short video, I used camera movement, montage, fast motion, etc. Now let’s break down these little techniques together!

Technique 1: Camera Movement

Camera movement is a common technique in film shooting. Simply put, it is to create a stronger dynamic effect by moving the lens. For example, the following shot:

When watching a movie, most people only think that the Hulk's fist is very powerful, but in fact it is just that the camera simulates a dynamic movement, which gives the audience such an illusion... After I tell you the trick, look carefully again and find that you have found that the camera has moved slightly?

It's just like when we are driving, if our car is not moving and the car next to us starts slowly, we will have the illusion of the car sliding. The same is true for camera movement. By creating movement in the same or opposite direction as the person or hand movement, people will think that the state has changed. Now, we can use Tik Tok to create such an effect and make short videos with a sense of vibration. The effect is very brilliant. For example, in the beginning of my short video as a case study, you might think I was sitting up from the bed...

But in reality I just sat upright on the sofa. The reason why it gives you the visual feeling of "getting up" is that while I am sitting upright, I am holding a mobile phone in my other hand and moving the lens downward from a high place. In other words, the user does not psychologically perceive or realize the movement of the camera (the camera is the user's eyes, and since it does not move, his brain assumes that the camera does not move). He only thinks that I am moving - you can try it, this kind of short video designed with a sense of vibration will produce very impressive results.

Technique 2: Montage

Montage was originally an architectural term, which means "editing" in French. In film and television, it means using the switching of lenses to create the effect of changes in time and space between sound, images, light and shadow. Here’s another picture for everyone to enjoy:

This is in "City Hunter". There is only one shot of the male protagonist riding an elephant from childhood to adulthood. The shot of the child is used to shake to the darkness, and the darkness is edited to shake out to the adult, completing the growth process - this is a typical montage technique. In practice, there are many effects that can be achieved with montage. For example, the Airbnb advertisement we mentioned at the beginning uses the Airbnb interface on the mobile phone as the point for switching shots to create a montage effect. Simply put, the montage technique takes advantage of the inherent continuity of human vision. When the same object appears in two shots but the scenes are different, we will have a feeling of background switching. Many magic tricks take advantage of the visual errors of the human eye. Constantly changing the background or foreground while keeping the subject (which can be an object or a person) unchanged will give people a very fashionable, fast-paced and cool feeling. For example, the Airbnb advertisement starts with a scenic spot on the APP interface. When you take away the phone, the scenic spot appears in front of you. The camera follows the person and the Airbnb APP interface comes into view again. The interface changes to another scenic spot. When you move the phone screen away, the scenery in front of you has changed.

So how do you create a montage shot on TikTok? Here are the steps:

First preset how to switch between the two shots. If conditions permit, you can also draw a storyboard script; click "Start" on the start interface to shoot, and push the lens into dark colors during the process (or push in other colors or objects, and start the next screen from the same color or object as the end of this shot); after preparing the next shot, start from the ending color of the previous shot, move the lens out to the panoramic view, and you have completed a montage.

The second half of our demonstration video mainly relies on two montage techniques to create a magic effect:

In the first shot, the heroine is drinking Coke in a sloppy state, and the camera stays at the bottom of the Coke and pauses; in the second shot, the camera starts from the bottom of the Coke, and the heroine drinks the Coke in a refined state; the above is a magic. It’s simple, isn’t it? We can even extend the topic to include, for example, whether such magical changes are caused by drinking Coke? What kind of magical experience will happen when drinking Coke? This is to initiate a challenge and increase the spread.

Technique 3: Fast and slow motion

Tik Tok videos can only be recorded for a maximum of 15 seconds (of course this length is not short, WeChat videos only accept a maximum of 10 seconds). So in order to fit in as much plot as possible, quick shot is often needed. For example, the short video of the person transforming by drinking Coke just now used the “extremely fast” setting. But most of the time what we need is slowness, which represents dreams. For example, slow-motion close-ups of food often appear in "A Bite of China".

The moment of smashing the cake was shot in slow motion, and then the scene was switched to the normal speed of the child eating. The satisfaction of a foodie spread in my heart as the scene switched...

Tip 4: Audio Editing

In the comments of the Chevrolet Malibu XL’s Douyin advertisement, one user said that he “listened to one advertisement more than 20 times” - which shows the importance of audio to the entire video. In Tik Tok, the coordination of sound, rhythm, and picture is very important. In practice, you can choose appropriate background sound clips according to the tone and rhythm of your video. Like the video I just made, there are finger snapping sounds throughout the whole video, which matches the finger snapping when I transform into someone wearing sunglasses, and in the transformation part there also happens to be a "uh" voice accompanying the surprised expression.

Tip 5: Lens Effects

There are a series of lens effects in Tik Tok, such as out-of-body experience, which has a strong visual impact and is very suitable for the sudden zooming in and out of the lens; using illusions when switching lenses or panning lenses also has a very special effect...Specifically, you can add it to a certain segment of the video before uploading it. These filter effects can make the small flaws of the lens that we produce without a script supervisor, professional photography and editing less obvious, and can also make the lens more dynamic.

For example, the picture above uses Tik Tok's shake, hallucination, BlackMagic, 70s, out-of-body experience, and X-Signal effects from left to right.

Tip 6: Stay on topic at the end

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Douyin is worthy of many brands to try to create their own advertisements. So when recording a short video for your own product, you can leave 1 to 2 seconds at the end to give a close-up shot of the product or brand logo, like the picture below: In general, shooting a creative short video on Douyin, whether it is magic or time travel, takes a short time and has a low cost. If you have a satisfactory video, you can also insert it into the official Weibo and WeChat for promotion. As the relevant person in charge of Douyin said, Douyin is a very suitable place for brand awareness and goodwill promotion.

How can brands spread their own advertisements on Douyin?

When uploading advertisements on TikTok and wanting them to go viral, in addition to the video itself being creative, it also needs to cater to the tastes of TikTok users. According to the tests I have done in the past two days, videos that are easy to attract favor on Douyin need to meet the following conditions:

1. Try to follow the hot spots

Tik Tok has popular challenges every day. By shooting the popular challenges of the day and marking them when uploading, you can increase the video's exposure.

2. The video itself is exquisitely shot

Tik Tok itself is a non-professional short video platform, and users have a high tolerance for rough videos. However, relatively refined videos will still win more favor. For example, beautiful backgrounds, good lighting, etc. are all options that can make the video look more refined.

3. Sending time

From my experience, the effects are better when sending videos in the morning, afternoon and evening on weekends. Short videos sent on weekdays, if they do not have particularly outstanding creativity, may easily fall into the sea. You can refer to the timeline of users using the APP for details.

4. Fun

The general public, especially the majority of TikTok users, like to watch interesting and talented short videos, so try to combine advertising with talent shows or creative ideas.

5. If you are creative enough, you can initiate your own challenge

On the TikTok platform, users are always competing to imitate interesting things. If your creativity is enough to inspire imitation, then users will help you increase your popularity on their own initiative.

To sum up, as long as you make good use of all the skills of the Douyin platform, you can shoot a lot of interesting things to promote your products, and most importantly, it’s low-cost! As long as you are creative, you may be able to catch up with this wave of short video dissemination and increase the brand's favorability among young users.

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