Why POD sellers should invest in TikTok?
Those who start building brands on TikTok will probably know the phrase “Don’t make ads, make TikToks.” Creatives play an important–make-or-break even–role in building a brand on this platform. You can spend substantial amounts of money on advertising. However, if your creatives are neither interesting nor suitable for the platform, your brand isn’t likely to succeed on TikTok.
So, what makes a good TikTok creative and why does it matter?
Virality
TikTok is unique thanks to its virality – the rate at which a keyword, a hashtag, a product, or a video on TikTok becomes well known in a community, a nation, or even globally. A viral creative doesn’t have to be too flashy but should be proper and creative enough.
Virality on TikTok is a good place for merchants to start creating trending content that attracts viewers and interaction.
Let’s take a recent example into account – the phrase “Roman Empire" which has accumulated 1.2B views up to now. You might think to yourself: “How the hell would TikTokers go crazy about the Roman Empire?" Well, this phrase doesn’t refer to the actual “Roman Empire” but something that a person is obsessed with and usually thinks about (just like some people are obsessed about the Roman Empire and how everything can remind them of this ancient empire).
Just by using this phrase and idea in your creatives, you will be able to capture the attention of TikTok users and create a constant connection with them!
Audience’s trust
TikTok always prioritizes creatives that are original and highly authentic. Even though merchants can always use stock videos from loyalty-free resources like Pexels, TikTok always prefers videos that are organic, self-filmed, showcasing real products, real people, and real emotions. Such content tends to perform better and can help increase the audience’s trust and conversion rate as well.
Multiplatform use
Vertical short videos with the standard ratio of 16:9 are super popular now thanks to the success of TikTok. Video following this format can be used on TikTok as well as repurposed to post on other platforms, such as Facebook Reel, Instagram Reel, stories, or Snapchat.
With the right investment and tweaking for each platform, this content strategy can help merchants spread their presence across different platforms, gain momentum, and increase revenue.
Better ads performance
Running ads on TikTok is not about pouring as much money as possible and hoping it works out. The success of your ad—its distribution and conversions—depends on various factors, including your target audience, product, and the quality of your landing page. The most important factor that affects ad performances is the creative.
A creative that is properly filmed and already performs well on the platform will help improve ad performance metrics and increase the conversion rate.
TikTok content tips for POD sellers: What to remember?
TikTok is the best platform when it comes to triggering purchasing decisions, with the most tangible proof being the hashtag “TikTokMadeMeBuyIt – including videos from creators all over the world sharing about their experiences and purchases from TikTok. This hashtag has accumulated more than 10 billion views worldwide (figures from May 2022), indicating the importance of TikTok to the audience when making a purchase.
Another survey from Kantar also indicated that 43% of TikTok users have bought something from TikTok, thanks to the platform’s recommendation.
These figures indicate that TikTok is a major touchpoint in the customer journey. To make the most out of this highly potential breeding ground for marketing, businesses including POD sellers are shifting their focus to creating content on this platform.
However, not everyone can succeed on TikTok. Why? Because they don’t have a tight grip on the best practices used on the platform. So, what are the winning keys for print-on-demand sellers to win on TikTok?
Understand your audience
Even a good creative won’t make it on TikTok if it’s not relevant to the audience. Before going all in on the fancy setup or complex editing, the first thing you should pay attention to is finding out who is your audience, what they like/dislike, and what triggers their emotions to make a purchase.
For example, if you’re selling a mug with the printed text “World’s Best Daughter", chances are the parents are the ones who buy the product, not the daughter. On your Tiktok video, you should limit the use of trendy content, slang, noisy music, and fast transitions, because your target audience (in this case, the parents) is not fond of these types of content, and isn’t likely to make it to the end of the video, not to mention making the desired purchase.
Follow trending content and use hashtags
TikTok is where lots of major trends proliferate. “Why is Roman Empire hot recently?", “What is delulu?" – these are just a fraction of the trends emerging from TikTok.
Researching and applying these trends will help the creative reach its audience organically, resonating with the “relatable" feeling and spreading the brand image.
Use real products for shooting video
Print-on-demand products are all produced, packaged, and shipped by a third party – the print-on-demand supplier. That’s why most print-on-demand sellers don’t have access to the physical products.
Even so, to create convincing, high-conversion creatives, you can’t rely on mockup images alone. You can order sample products from your print-on-demand providers to film your own product videos. However, this option might be a bit complicated and time-consuming due to the process of making orders and shipping.
Another better and more convenient option is to use media services or ask for support from your print-on-demand providers. At Merchize, we also provide special assistance for our sellers to get the best shots of their products.
Setup and edit
To create videos that are relevant to the viewers from your target markets, there should be a lot of thought going into the setup. How to set it up? What type of decorations should be used? How to adjust the lighting? All of this should be considered carefully to create videos that make the viewers feel familiar and resonate with.
The majority of POD sellers all want their creative on TikTok to reach an international audience,
particularly those in America and Europe – the major markets for print-on-demand products. Even if you’re not located in these places, make sure the background or setup of your videos is similar to the scenes in these countries.
In addition, to build trust with the audience, your videos should look well-edited. Even though professional editing is not needed, some sort of editing, even simple, is a must-do for sellers when making creatives, maybe with quick and easy apps like CapCut.
Understand the platform
Any creative will be thoroughly screened by TikTok. For the video to be distributed properly on TikTok, creators and merchants must be very detail-oriented when filming the creative to adhere to TikTok’s strict Community Guidelines, for example, no violent scene, no third-party logo, and no gun-shaped objects, etc.
For example, a character in your creative is wearing a bag that contains an uncensored Nike logo. This creative will most likely be classified as “copyright violations", especially when you use this creative for advertising, even though you are not intentionally promoting a Nike product in your creative.
Above are some tips that, brands and creators, especially POD sellers, must be aware of when starting with TikTok.
In case you’re still having a hard time starting with TikTok and seeking detailed consultation, you can take into account Podia, Merchize’s partners. and With this collaboration, we expect to help sellers produce high-converting videos, set up effective advertising campaigns on TikTok, and utilize this platform to boost sales up.
Ecomdy x Merchize Support sellers on their TikTok journey!
