Hi! My name is Leea Sarvela, and I am one of Media A La Carte’s summer interns! I am excited to share my take on utilizing trends on TikTok to captivate your audience, from my own experience as an avid TikTok watcher.
It is so easy to scroll on TikTok; time seems to fly by when you’re on the For You Page. But what makes you stop to watch? There are many tactics that people use on TikTok, such as an interesting hook that keeps you glued to your phone, a story that makes you want to know more, or the desire to watch something from start to finish. So many different niches can use these tactics, which is why they can work for any type of account.
Some of my absolute favorite videos to watch, that no matter what I’m doing I have to stop to watch, are cake decorating videos. Not only is my attention drawn to the actual cake being decorated, but many times, there is a story being told in the voiceover of the video.
This is a win-win for my short attention span and keeps me from scrolling because I am actively watching something from start to finish, which is so satisfying, but I’m also listening to a story. Most of the time the decorator is recounting a story of a previous order or customer interaction and since I’m nosey, I want to stick around to hear what happens. In my opinion, these are the best types of videos … until they make you wait for a part 2 that hasn’t been posted yet.
That brings me to the next point, using videos as a series with multiple parts can be great, but only when it’s used sparingly. I think that videos with multiple parts have a time and place, but with TikTok’s 3-minute video feature, I don’t like to watch videos that are 10 seconds each in a “series” when the interesting content could have easily fit into one video. However, I will click on the user’s profile for a second part if the first video leaves me on a major cliffhanger. For example, if I’m watching a cake decorating video and the storyline has been about a customer who asks for a cake, gets the cake they asked for, and ends with “and they came into the bakery furious” - this leaves me wanting to know more about what happened and watching part two satisfied my curiosity.
So if you’re not a bakery or cake decorating business, how can you recreate this? Well, this format can really fit any niche. Show behind the scenes footage of your business, and use the voiceover feature to tell a story to your audience. Talk about one of your favorite customer interactions, must-haves for your business, what your favorite product is that you sell, etc. You can get so creative with this!
In a study done by Semrush, they analyzed the first three seconds of hundreds of different TikTok videos. They performed this study to see what kind of video hooks kept the audience interested and engaged. They found that 1 in 3 viral videos has someone talking in the first 3 seconds. This is huge because it means that you can make a connection with your audience right away, simply by talking.
Another one of my favorite kind of videos is watching someone (Hannah Harell to be specific) get ready. She is one of my favorite influencers and has such an “it girl” aesthetic. She will post Get Ready With Me videos all the time, and they always land on my FYP. Her videos range from short to more in-depth, depending on how much of a rush she is in to leave the house. Somehow, even if she is in a rush, she pulls off a super cute outfit that I can only hope to recreate one day.
This style of video is great, especially if you already have a following because it shows the audience an inside view of something in your life. You can make it as extensive or as short as you want. You can do a full GRWM from full makeup glam or just show your process of picking out an outfit. It tends to engage your audience because they know they will see the final product at the end of the video. Bonus points if you tell a story while you’re getting ready too!
With all that being said, everyone has their personal preferences in videos that stop their scroll. But if you’re on TikTok trying to capture a younger audience, using these ideas might help you get a higher retention rate, more engagement, and as a result - more sales!
