It’s a major coup for TikTok, which is sponsoring a major sporting competition for the first time. The championships have been long-awaited, and the competition is already hotting up with the leading bookmakers already preparing promotions and offers to use during the tournament this summer.
According to UEFA’s official press release, TikTok is due to be a “new kind of partner” for the Euro 2020 championships. TikTok’s new partnership with UEFA should also help cement the platform as a new place for football fans to record and share their love of the so-called “beautiful game”. Aside from raising awareness of TikTok as a service to new users, TikTok will also become a new medium of exposure for football content creators that may have previously looked to social media like YouTube and Facebook.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA, believes their partnership with TikTok will enable the tournament to connect with football fans that may not be able to travel to watch their respective nations in action. Mr. Epstein described TikTok as one of the “most talked-about digital entertainment platforms” in the last 12 months and the sponsorship will enable TikTok to share the “passion around one of the world’s premier sporting events”.
To build on its new relationship with UEFA and Euro 2020, TikTok is already said to be developing a range of exciting ideas for fan engagement. It is likely that TikTok LIVEs and Sounds will be the order of the day, enabling fans to stream live content. Meanwhile hashtag challenges and the use of augmented reality (AR) effects within Euro 2020-related videos will also bring the tournament to a younger demographic. UEFA is also set to grant TikTok access to its vast archive of digital assets to help the brand create innovative and engaging content montages before, during and after the tournament’s biggest games.
How to leverage TikTok for your brand
Live sporting events like UEFA Euro 2020 are just one of many ways to leverage the marketing power of TikTok for brands and organisations. TikTok is one of the most popular apps for download on the planet right now. More importantly, it’s a global platform, with support for 75 languages and is available in over 150 nations.
If you are wondering how best to utilise TikTok and establish your brand on the platform in advance of Euro 2020, we’ve put together some suggestions to help inspire your business to create engaging and shareable short-form content:
- Create authentic content with personality
Your brand’s TikTok videos needn’t be 100% professional. As a matter of fact, most of the best TikTok videos are created using smartphone videos. The key is using these short-form videos to communicate your brand’s personality, enabling viewers to connect with you and build trust. - The power of hashtags to optimise your video content
It’s important to optimise your TikTok content in the same way as you would optimise landing pages for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes. TikTok SEO means hand-picking hashtags that are found by your target demographic. Hashtags appear in the 100-character caption, so you are limited to number you can use. - Find influencers that can expand your reach
If your business lacks the follower base to drive engagement with your short-form videos, consider partnering with TikTok influencers and content creators that do. Feel free to message influencers that would be a good fit with your brand. This is more of a quantity over quality game, but can yield big rewards in the shape of new followers. - Pay to display ads within the TikTok app
TikTok is already following in the footsteps of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by monetising its platform. Brands can develop paid-for ads to be displayed in multiple ways within the app. First and foremost, they can be played between user-generated content. Secondly, brands can pay for ‘takeovers’ of users feeds and there are even hashtag challenges that can give your business exposure on the ‘Discover’ page of the TikTok platform.