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TikTok Trends B2B and B2C Marketers Should Watch in 2022

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TikTok Trends B2B and B2C Marketers Should Watch in 2022

According to Hubspot Blog Research, 44% of marketers currently leverage TikTok.

As the short-form video platform continues to grow, some brands are struggling to figure out where they fit in. In fact, a 2022 report by InVideo shows that around 50% of brands like Google and IKEA still aren’t leveraging the platform.

In this article, we’ll cover the top TikTok trends at a brand marketing level, how to find trends on the platform, and tips for joining them.

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Top TikTok Trends

1. More businesses are exploring the platform.

According to HubSpot Blog Research, TikTok is the number one platform marketers are increasing their investments in for 2022.

For a long time, businesses didn’t take TikTok seriously. They saw it as a platform for Gen-Z to make short, funny videos.

However, when its popularity (and user growth) peaked in 2020, businesses gave it a second look.

Today, marketers say it’s the fourth most effective social media platform behind Instagram, FB, and YouTube. That puts it ahead of established platforms like Twitter and Pinterest.

What makes TikTok special is its ability to build community. In fact, 78% of users agree that the best brands on TikTok are ones that work together with users, according to TikTok’s 2021 “What’s Next” report.

The report also found 67% of users feel inspired to shop even when they weren’t originally planning to.

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Brands are starting to realize that while users may first go on the platform for funny videos, they stay for the authenticity and community building – which are great pillars for brand loyalty.

2. TikTok users are consuming less of other content.

What would you do with your audience’s undivided attention?

According to Kantar research, 46% of users engage with content on the platform without any other distractions.

More specifically, 41% of Gen Z TikTok users say they listen to fewer podcasts after joining TikTok and 33% say they watch less TV.

This is an incredible opportunity for social media marketers to capitalize on this attention to reel in their audience and drive more engagement.

3. Sounds are more important than hashtags.

On no other social media platform does sound play such a pivotal role.

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88% of people on TikTok report that the sound on the platform is central to the overall app experience, according to TikTok’s “What’s Next” report.

The report also revealed that sounds saw 47% higher video view rates on 2021 from the “For You” page when compared to hashtags.

Furthermore, Invideo’s TikTok Brand Marketing Report found that 80% of the top videos had music, with upbeat songs being the most popular TikTok music choice by far.

With this in mind, brands should prioritize the use of sounds when posting on the platform. While hashtags are effective in helping you reach your target audience, choosing the right sound will likely be more effective.

How to Find TikTok Trends

1. The “Discover” Tab

One of the best ways to find trends on Tiktok is through the “Discover” tab.

tiktok discover tab to find trends

On this tab, you can scroll through popular sounds, hashtags, and topics along with a preview of the top videos within the category.

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tiktok discover tab to find trends

You can also see how many videos fall within that category, which gives you an insight into which trends are rising and which ones have already blown up.

2. The “For You” Page

TikTok’s “For You” page is like Instagram’s Explore page. It looks different for every user based on the content they engage with the most.

With that said, it’s also where trending topics make their rounds.

tiktok for you page to find trends

If a video has hundreds of thousands of likes or views, it’s worth digging a bit to see if it’s related to a particular trend. Your first step should be checking the sound, located on the bottom left corner of the video.

tiktok for you page

Once you click on it, you’ll see the name of the song, the number of videos that use it, and scroll to see the videos that feature it. With all this information, you’ll know how popular a sound is and how other users are leveraging it.

3. The “Search” Tab

TikTok’s search tab is another great way to discover new trends.

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Before you start typing in the search bar, TikTok auto-populates suggested searches based on trending topics.

tiktok search bar to find trends

All you have to do is then click on relevant searches and see what videos have been created surrounding these topics.

4. The #TrendAlert Hashtag

Now, let’s say you leverage all the strategies mentioned above and you’re still struggling to identify trends.

Well, there are a ton of users on TikTok who are already on top of it. All you have to do is follow them or the hashtag #TrendAlert.

@strategisewithcare #socialmediamanageruk #trendalert #contentcreatortips #smallbusinesstips_ #trendpredictions #trendingnow #tiktoktips #trendalert2022 #contentideas ♬ original sound – Betelgeusethestar

As shown in the video, you can leverage this hashtag to discover new trends and how to use them.

How to Do TikTok Trends

1. Jump in early.

The thing about trends is that they come and go very quickly. If you don’t jump in early, you might miss the boat altogether.

So, as soon as you identify a TikTok trend you want to participate in, start brainstorming some ideas.

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Keep in mind that you don’t need fancy videography to succeed on the platform. Often, all it takes is some creative thinking, good lighting, some lip-syncing skills, and a phone.

Authenticity is essential on a platform like TikTok. If you keep that at the forefront, your odds of success are that much higher.

2. Find a relatable angle.

On TikTok, you only have up to three minutes to make an impression but a good chunk of videos that go viral are 30 seconds or less.

This means you have a short ramp-up period to get viewers to stop and watch your video. One way to do this? Create relatable content.

@thelipbar I mean… it’s hard to resist our #fastface makeup system 😍 #thelipbar #easymakeup #vegan #vegancosmetics #fyp #foryou ♬ original sound – Makayla

Think about the challenges your audience faces on a day-to-day. That’s a great place to get inspiration from.

You can also get inspired by your competitors and the content they’re creating.

3. Know when to bow out.

Every day, there’s a new TikTok trend.

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With this in mind, not every trend is worth joining in. This could be because it doesn’t align with your brand voice and values, or because you missed the boat.

Whatever the reason, avoid joining trends long after they’ve peaked. At that point, users may be over the trend and actively avoid it. It can also make your brand seem out of touch.

TikTok trends are always evolving. If you leverage the tools mentioned here, you can join the trends as they happen and reach an ever-growing audience.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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