In case you've been under a metaphorical rock (or just taking some you time, hey I don't judge) you've probably noticed that this week is Brandweek.
The five-day Brandweek Masters Live conference, the biggest event we host here at Adweek, has been a phenomenal experience—one surprisingly made even better by the fact we had to make it a virtual gathering this year.
Thanks to the remote nature of an event usually held in Palm Springs or Miami, we've been able to include dozens of presenters and thousands of attendees from around the world. We've already adapted our plans for future Brandweek events to bring the best of this year's lessons into later years, so expect to see it become even more accessible moving forward.
Wednesday and today are exciting ones for me, as I got to chat yesterday with TikTok's global head of business marketing, Katie Puris (and today will take the virtual stage alongside Adweek's 2020 Brand Visionary, Ryan Reynolds).
Puris had a lot of solid advice for brands considering a dive into TikTok. You can see the highlights in this article by my colleague David Cohen, editor of our Social Pro Daily blog.
While our conversation covered a lot of ground, I'd say her tips boiled down to two key points:
1. Leave perfection at the door when you come into TikTok. Sure, marketers always give lip service to "authenticity" but in the end they still expect their agencies and teams to only post highly polished marketing pieces.
On TikTok, such content is especially jarring, given that users have come to expect videos that are rough around the edges and focused on a message, not necessarily an aesthetic. "There's so much marketers can learn from how people show up," she told the Brandweek audience.
2. Don't just co-opt memes. While marketers can definitely learn from TikTok users and how they create viral content, that doesn't mean brands should spend every day playing meme curator and trying to shapeshift into whatever is popular. Learn the skills, but create content that's true to your brand.
"What's most important for a marketer is to get back to their core, their brand values, what they stand for, what they believe in," Puris said. "Because they really can show up in much more depth on TikTok. This is a community that is embracing brands in a way that I don't think marketing has really seen before."
I hope you'll be joining the rest of Brandweek, because today is Ryan Reynolds Day! I'll be asking him all about his marketing work on Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile and delving into how he balances a personal brand with a growing client portfolio looking to tap into his social marketing magic.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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