UGC Agency CEO Tim Duncaan’s Tips For TikTok Marketing

Tim Duncaan is the CEO of Hi Agency, an Organic Growth Expert, and a TikTok Marketing Partner. Tim’s agency has filmed TikTok videos for 62 brands, generating over 500 million views and 1 million followers.

Recently the Kimp Team had a chance to pick Tim’s brain about his experience with the game changing platform. Find out more below!

1) Please briefly introduce yourself and your role. What are some of the biggest brands you have worked with? 

My name is Tim, I am the CEO of Hi Agency. We’ve been working on TikTok for two years now; for this time, we’ve been lucky to work with more than 100 brands, create over 10,000 TikTok videos and obtain some kind of a specialization in account management, including developing market strategies, writing scripts, editing and posting videos for big brands, such as Sephora, Huawei, and Yandex.

2) TikTok has grown to be one of the most important channels for brands worldwide, especially in terms of customer acquisition and engagement. Why do you think that is? And what makes it different from Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts in your experience?

TikTok revealed itself to the world as a brand new format of media consumption: What you watch is not just your friends’ short videos, but an algorithmically generated content base on which you have zero impact. By which I mean, after 40 minutes of scrolling through TikTok for the first time, the recs will be what you’ll definitely enjoy to watch. This algorithm is terrific.

Vertical videos are another great advantage. You can watch them on public transport, at work, or at the meal table—wherever you want to, unlike many other platforms, but just as entertainingly. 

The TikTok algorithm continues to be unique even after the Instagram Reels release: It is a good algorithm, but just not as good as what TikTok has to offer.

3) In your Twitter blog, you talk about a brand that grew to an audience of 438,000+ under your agency. Can you tell us what kind of videos you created for the brand and what elements in the videos were most key to their success?

Sure. The brand we’ve been making videos for is Dolce Milk. The video formats include:

• Trends
• Customer talk videos
• Raffles and contests
• Mall pranks
• Life pro tips
• Q&A

The key factor of your success on TikTok is the Hook. If you manage to get your viewer hooked in the first three seconds of your video, then this video has very good chances for organic growth. And if it’s boring, it will be swiped down.

I’m talking more about this on my Twitter, where I’m also giving tips on how to attract your target audience. Here’s some of them:

• Use short phrases instead of long and complex sentences.
• Change your shot every 3 seconds so that your viewers won’t get bored (If not possible, use “Zoom In & Out” for constant dynamism).
• Add what you’re saying to the subtitles.
• Speak fast, but clearly.
• Add something funny or ridiculous to the background; your viewers will positively comment upon this.

4) Do you ideate/create/edit TikTok marketing videos for your clients? If so, can you share a bit about your creative/editing process?

As for editing video, we’re just trying to keep it simple: no excessive visuals. A mobile app is normally enough for making TikTok Videos. The main thing is to keep the dynamism of your video, leaving your viewers not for a second.

5) Can you run us through your process of developing the TikTok marketing strategy for your clients? How does their visual/brand identity factor into the strategy?

80% of your success depends on the ever first step in account management: competitor analysis. Below are the nine questions that we as a marketing agency need to answer in terms of competitor analysis. If you want to manage your account by yourself, make sure to answer them.

• How often do your competitors post?
• What are the five most frequent topics of your competitors?
• Which of these topics get the most views on an ongoing basis?
• What are the top five videos of every competitor for the last month?
• How’s every account unique?
• How many competitors do you have as a whole?
• What marketing pro tips do your competitors use?
• What’s the average video length?

As soon as all questions are answered, you can easily draw up your own content plan. And you won’t go wrong with that, because if the mechanics work well for one account, they will work for another account as well.

And be sure you follow your brand identity: use the same color palettes and fonts where possible.

6) Do you think small business owners who are camera shy can create faceless reels and still grow on TikTok? If yes, what are your tips for creating such videos?

Personally speaking, I don’t think I’m into those kinds of videos, because they make zero interaction between the audience and the business. But I know those videos can get a lot of views and make sales.

Tip #1: Just don’t be shy and trust me, after making 30–40 videos you’ll become so much more confident that this will affect both your life and your business.

Tip #2: If you are aiming to make faceless videos, watch at least 5–10 videos of such a topic and try to copy them along with following your brand identity.

7) “TikTok is not for all brands” is a statement many business owners believe in. What is your take on this? Are there specific types of brands or niches that TikTok is most effective for?

I guess TikTok is all-inclusive by now…A platform that has over 1 billion monthly active users can’t be just unsuitable for anyone. The main thing is how you interact with your audience. B2B and B2G are the most difficult specialties, but I suppose even in niches like these, creative approaches can be found.

8) What is your favorite TikTok trend for businesses, and why? Do you think following trends can help brands grow here? 

Trends are definitely a must-use for marketing. This is the way to stay in touch with your customers, to say nothing of their effect on sales. It’s difficult for me to say what my favorite trend is… “I’m Just a Kid” was a popular sound about a year ago, and I guess that’s the sweetest and kindest trend ever. We made a few videos for our clients using that sound back then and that was awesome!

9) According to you, what is the one thing brands must know if they want to excel at TikTok marketing and growth?

The thing I repeat every day: A video that has 1 million views can get the same number if you make it on time! So don’t be afraid to copy other people’s content, especially if you’re new to the platform. Only by copying quality content can you get a lot of views.

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