Episode 234 / Grettel Clark / Ottobock / Senior Performance Marketing Specialist
TikTok is King: What Marketers Need to Know
Grettel Clark, Senior Performance Marketing Specialist at Ottobock, believes that brands looking to make a genuine connection with younger audiences need to switch to TikTok if they want to succeed.
TikTok is king, Grettel says. Right now, it’s the ultimate marketing tool for small businesses, content creators, but also big corporations. Any type of marketing strategy can flourish on the platform, for three reasons:
Reach
The amount of people who view your TikTok content determine how successful it becomes. Brands don’t go viral through likes or shares, unlike on other platforms. This means that the algorithm rewards truly useful and relevant content for those audiences that it’s geared towards. A brand’s reach on TikTok is therefore not only genuine, but also more addressable than on any other social media platform.
Community
TikTok lends itself to discovering “your people” and communicating with them. Consumers have genuine interactions with brands, even if not in real time. There’s a unique bonding experience that other platforms don’t offer.
Multi-platform tool
It’s no secret that every social platform is trying to copy what TikTok is doing. Its appeal is so wide, you could repurpose content that’s TikTok native with more success than the opposite way.
Grettel has chosen TikTok as her Shiny New Object, but, as with any trend or tool, it may not prove to work equally as efficiently for everyone. TikTok is becoming a “one stop shop” for social media, news, search engine, and online shopping. But it needs to make sense for your brand and align with your values and goals. Listen to more tips on how to use it in the full episode.
Transcript
The following gives you a good idea of what was said, but it’s not 100% accurate.
Grettel Clark 0:00
What marketers aren't taking advantage of is... TikTok is kind of like the one stop shop for all these social media outlets. It's taking a little bit of what every other platform is doing.
Tom Ollerton 0:48
Hello, and welcome to the shiny new object podcast. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of the creative effectiveness attic platform, automated creative and this is a podcast where I get to interview industry leaders and interesting people who have a vision for the future of our industry. And this week is no different. I want to call with Grettel Clark, who is senior performance marketing specialist at Ottobock. Grettel, for anyone who doesn't know who you are and what you do. Could you give the audience a bit of a background?
Grettel Clark 1:29
Of course, thank you. So well, I'm Grettel. I am the senior performance marketing specialist at Ottobock. And Ottobock is a medical device company that manufactures prosthetics and orthotics. And just a little bit of background on myself, I would say I'm recently new to the marketing world, I do not have a degree in marketing, if anything, it's a little bit of the opposite. I have a degree in health promotion. And for people who don't know, that's under like kinesiology, physical therapy. So I grew up with that realm. And then I was able to switch over, I'd say, early on in my career, into world of marketing, and it kind of happened by chance. I was working in one of my previous companies, where I was just there as a work house associate. And this was during COVID. Right. So I mean, you had to take up what you could. And then it was through there that I actually was able to give my ideas on what the team should be doing for social media, because it was a small team was like a group of 10. And from that role, I was brought on there as like the social media specialist, and I got introduced into the world of marketing. And from that, I fell in love with marketing, just because with marketing, it's truly about understanding the people. And ever since then I've been wanting to know more, what can I do to connect with people to essentially pass on the message of whatever the company's trying to send out. And so that's a little bit of my background. Even though I've only been in the industry for like, I would say, three years, I've learned a lot, a lot of hands on experience and kind of truly trying to understand and get to know what it means to do marketing.
Tom Ollerton 3:28
Well, look, I'm really looking forward to hearing your perspective. We have people on this podcast, all from people who've been in 20 years, 30 years and three years. So great to have you on the show. And so one thing though, you said you haven't got a marketing degree...I was just trying to work out if anyone on this podcast, has indeed had a marketing degree, I'm sure there's one or two, but it's certainly not the norm. So knowing that you didn't start out in this industry, and you've taken the opportunity and you've moved across, what advice would you give to the younger version of yourself, the student who is looking to make it in this industry,
Grettel Clark 4:03
Of course, it's like this is one that I thought about often because, again, like I've only been doing this for three years max, but I feel like I have a pretty good gist on what it means to be in the world of marketing. And I think for that you have to have a good understanding of people. So you have to understand their behaviors, their thought processes, their mentality. And ultimately, if you understand how to read people, you can predict the best way to market them. I think it's just that means having to stay up to date with like all the latest innovations, how people are moving grooving, I think for me, it's like the best example that I have is like I for a brief while I was a personal trainer. And so as a personal trainer, you have to understand people to market yourself to sell yourself right and And most importantly, you have to be able to build rapport or trust with your clients quickly because if they don't trust you, they're not going to stick around. But if you can develop that instantly, and by instantly I mean usually like within the hour, like these are people that are going to stick with you, honestly, throughout their lives. And so I think with that, if you have that ability to understand people's thinking, you will be a very good marketer.
Tom Ollerton 5:29
It's really interesting to hear you say that because yesterday, I recorded a podcast with a guy called Qaiser Bachani who I don't remember his exact job title, but very, very senior in Mondelez and he said a very similar thing like his... the word that he kept on coming back to was empathy, understanding, or being inspired and interested by the end consumer themselves. So it's how both of you mirror each other at different ends of your career is is fascinating.
Moving on, so what's your best marketing tip? What is the bit of advice that has really landed with you that you felt makes your marketing job much better?
Grettel Clark 6:10
Oh, my gosh, okay, I've been thinking about this one for a while now, ever since we talked ever since reached out to me, is my top marketing tip is Tiktok is King right now. I mean, tick tock has a chokehold on the masses with like millions of users spending hours a day on a platform, like TikTok is the ultimate marketing tool. And again, it doesn't matter if you're a small business content creator, a large corporation. Honestly I think TikTok alone can handle the bulk of your marketing needs. So with that, I want to say I have like three points as to why tikTok is the ultimate marketing tool. And I think those three points are just going off of reach, community, and a multi platform tool. So kind of breaking down those points with reach, like, TikTok has mastered the art of reach and reach just in case for everyone else in the marketing world who isn't as into the know, reach is just the amount of individual people be viewing your content. And I think what makes people blow up on Tiktok really isn't the amount of likes or followers they have, but just the number of views a video has. And I think this is the best case where it shows that if you have interesting content, people will watch those videos, it's like once time, multiple times they'll send to their friends, like they don't necessarily have to engage with it. But if they like it, they'll watch it. And that's your proof that you have to show that whatever content you have is good. And I think views combined with like a super algorithm makes it much easier to reach niche audiences. So kind of going back to what I was speaking to earlier, it's like sometimes it's very hard to find a specific group of people. But it's like TikTok does a really good job of finding those people and putting your content in front of them. Tom, are you on TikTok?
Tom Ollerton 8:15
Yes, I am absolutely on TikTok but not very successfully, we the mistake that I make is repurposing non Tiktok organic content with content on other channels to see how it worked. But in reality, the best channel for my business to reach our audience is LinkedIn. So that's where we put like 99% of our effort, we have a bit of a brief play with tikTok.
Grettel Clark 8:40
But even then, like, as, you know, a TikTok user, I want to say like, Have you ever seen a TikTok which is like specifically applies to you where you're just like, you know, like, this is very specific to me. It's a little bit weird.
Tom Ollerton 8:55
Yeah, so I wouldn't say so. In a b2b land. I don't think I've ever seen some, like, business content. I thought, well, that's a weird, but yeah, so yeah, that personally, 100% As a parent, a musician. Yeah, absolutely.
Grettel Clark 9:11
Yeah, it's like, that's the power of like the Tiktok algorithm. And so it's like, that's why its like reach is such an important thing that TikTok and I think overall, just marketing in general, having that ability to connect exactly who you want. And then the next point I want to make is communities like TikTok does a really, really good job of fostering community. I think the platform itself sets up people to have a conversation back and forth with each other, even if it's not in real time or directly. I think people can respond to comments, react, live stream, even like stitch each other's video. And while all that's happening, it's like other people can watch the back and forth. So it's like, I don't know about you, but I'm a very nosy person, and I love listening to the drama Just like all the people reacting to each other's videos, commenting kind of going back and forth, there's a little Tiktok beef. It's like, in general, as humans, we love to see people are interacting with each other. And I think that's why there's that strong sense of community kind of following in with all the sub communities under TikTok.
Tom Ollerton 10:29
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And you mentioned the you see it as a multi platform opportunity. So tell me about that.
Grettel Clark 11:11
Yes. So my last point is, Tik Tok is a multi platform tool. It's no secret that every other social network and platform is copying what Tik Tok is doing. I mean, we see it all the time with Instagram with YouTube, and I can't even think of who else. But what marketers aren't taking advantage of is TikTok is kind of like the one stop shop for all these social media outlets. And it's like TikTok, and it can function as a search engine, a news station and online shop. It has discussion forums in the comments like Reddit, and you can also share photos and images like Instagram, you can get reviews, recommendations and how to videos like YouTube. So I mean, it, it's taking a little bit of what every other platform is doing. And it's incorporated it into itself, whether it did it on purpose or unknowingly. Like, I've been there from the early ages of TikTok, and I've seen how much it's evolved. And I can say it's like, for me TikTok has become the love language. So it's like, what I do is I take videos that I find throughout the day that I think are like funny or cute or interesting. And then I send them to my husband. And at the end of the day. It's like we watched those videos together.
Tom Ollerton 12:31
Right? I need to know more about this. So you make tiktoks, broadcast them and then and then discuss them with your your other half.
Grettel Clark 12:40
Yes, yes. And so usually it's other people's Tiktoks. I haven't made a TikTok of my own in a while just because I cringed by, you know me dancing in a video.
Tom Ollerton 12:54
Right? So you're, you're just, you like and bookmark or whatever, are the Tiktoks that you like, and then that's how that's how you communicate back in your relationship.
Grettel Clark 13:04
And it's like, I'm not the only one. Surprisingly, I found other people do this.
Tom Ollerton 13:08
Oh, my wife just constantly sends me Tiktoks. Like, every time I open Tiktok like, oh, this like I've got homework to do. Like, whether it's health, parenting, whatever it is, yes. So 100% Completely understand that perspective. So your shiny new object can reveal that really is Tik Tok as the ultimate marketing tool. And you've, you've laid out your argument for why it should be very much a consideration for marketers, but I would like to know, what's the dark side? What can it not do? I mean, as far as I'm aware, you can't advertise alcohol, so if you're an alcohol brand, then you're going to struggle. So that is one tiny part of it. But what else should marketers be worried about?
Grettel Clark 13:49
I think marketers should be worrying about is not using it the way it should be used. And I think what I mean by that is one they're not developing a strategy specifically for TikTok because it's, it's its own Enigma, it's its own thing. And I think the type of audience on there, too. It's a younger generation. I mean, the content is, even though it can be informative, it can be newsworthy, it's really content that kind of serves no purpose, it serves for the purpose of like, entertainment for entertainment sake. And I think two areas are two companies that do like a really good job of owning the TikTok strategy is Duolingo on like the organic side and then Axe body spray for the paid side. And if you want to know what they're doing, I highly suggest you go check out their TikTok pages. I really don't know how else to describe it, but they are owning the game and truly creating content that reaches out to what TikTok is, but going back to your question, the dark side is, if you don't understand kind of the type of style that Tiktok is for content, then you're not going to do good, your content is going to fail. I think if you try to approach people too directly, you're not going to be utilizing the way it should be used. And so ultimately, that could be money that is not well spent. If anything, it will be wasted.
Tom Ollerton 15:30
So what's your view on the fact that there will be very few people that are on TikTok only, right? There'll be people who use TikTok more, but that TikTok audience is still addressable on Instagram, for example, or even, maybe even Facebook, maybe even x / Twitter, and so on. And these platforms have fairly established paid norms? I guess. So a brand could follow best practice on the platforms that I just mentioned and deliver ads that work or paid content that works versus distracting away from that channel where the audience already is to learn a whole new skill, which is talking a TikTok native language?
Grettel Clark 16:16
Oh, it is, it is. And I think the point is, I'm not trying to say that you completely get rid of these other platforms, I mean, they themselves had withstood the test of time, plenty of people have more than one platform that they use. But it's an area that I don't think enough people are taking advantage of. And that's why I'm like strongly stressing that it can be the ultimate marketing tool. And you can get away with repurposing the content from TikTok into the other platforms and vice versa. So, it wouldn't be necessarily making more work on yourself. But I don't think people are doing enough to put themselves out on Tik Tok. And again, this is speaking to TikTok is mainly for the younger generation. It doesn't mean it's excluding an older generation. But they you always have to put one foot in the future.
Tom Ollerton 17:14
Yeah. And unfortunately, I don't have those stats to hand but I'm 46 this year, and fairly heavy user, I would say, I know lots of people of my age group who are so yeah, I sort of push back on that a little bit, although I'm sure that there are stats to prove me completely wrong. And my experience so what's the easiest way to get started, right? You're a brand that hasn't got on Tik Tok. You've not crossed that threshold yet. You're looking at the kinds of things that blow up on tick tock, anything? And How on earth does my brand fit into that craziness? Where do you start? What? What do you do on day one?
Grettel Clark 17:47
Oh, my God, that's, that is a million dollar question that ultimately depends on who you are as your brand, as your company as your business. And I think this can be said throughout all the types of content that can be done, but just be genuine to yourself. I think out of all the platforms, TikTok is one where that is easily translated, if you show your brand for what it is for yourself as the type of person you are. It's like there are, I don't know 1000s, if not tens of thousands of other people out there, who are just like you, who like the things that you like, who would support your small business and truly, with tick tock, it only takes one viral video. And you've captured the attention of I don't know, again, those 1000s 10 1000s hundreds of 1000s of users.
Tom Ollerton 18:50
Well, look, unfortunately, we are running out of time now. So girl, you've made an incredibly powerful case for tick tock, and thank you for sharing that with such conviction. If someone wants to talk to you about tick tock or performance marketing for a medical device, where would you like people to reach out to you? And what makes the kind of message that you will reply to?
Grettel Clark 19:12
Oh, my goodness, okay, yes, they can reach out to me on LinkedIn. And it's like, they want to send me a direct message or even just comment on one of my posts with just like, Hey, I heard you like TikTok. I will instantly reply. You have my attention. Brilliant.
Tom Ollerton 19:33
That's the perfect bit of advice. Grettel, thank you so much for your time.
Grettel Clark 19:39
Thank you, Tom.
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