TikTok’s popularity has grown with younger generations since its start. Its popularity makes it impossible for companies and nonprofits to ignore. So, what is TikTok and how can your organization make this social media platform work? In this article, we’ll share details on how TikTok for Good is having a positive impact, and how your organization can use it to help raise funds and spread your mission.
TikTok: we’ve all heard of it. It’s a social media platform through which users can create 15-second videos and host live streams on their accounts. Primarily used by teenagers, the app has gone viral – used by corporations, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs alike.
TikTok is not just “another social media platform” – the app has been downloaded more than 2 billion times and engages more than 700 million active monthly users around the world.
TikTok for Good, on the other hand, is an initiative by TikTok to encourage the newer generation to have a positive impact on the world. Nonprofits are using it to grow their audience, gain donors, and raise awareness.
In this blog, we’ll talk about TikTok for Good and how you should leverage it to grow your nonprofit –
TikTok for Good is a program of TikTok offering 3 specific avenues through which organizations and individuals can use their presence on the application to raise awareness and donations. These are account management, advanced analytics, and promoted hashtags. Through Account Management services, TikTok supports nonprofits and individuals by assisting with best practices, managing user relationships, and offering guidance every step of the way until your goal has been reached.
The program’s advanced analytics service arm will provide your organization with analytics about your account and your videos to see how your audience develops and how your videos perform over time. Finally, with promoted hashtags, your organization can increase awareness for your cause, as millions of TikTok users can then create videos using your hashtag.
The majority of TikTok users are members of Generation Z – ages 16-24, a generation that is political, considerate, and ready to “change the world”. 32% of this generation reports giving their own money to charitable causes and in fact, Gen-Zer’s report to prefer to give via social media apps. This said, with the onset and persistence of COVID-19, individuals from other generations are now on Tik Tok as well.
Nonprofits should use this noble initiative TikTok for Good to target the younger generation. Having said that, the older generation is also spending their time on the app to watch and like the videos. That makes it an even bigger catch for nonprofits. For one, if you’re an animal shelter, you can make random videos of your animals playing, eating, or being cared for by volunteers. Such videos tug at people’s heartstrings. The same can be achieved with beneficiaries of other types of nonprofits as well.
So, what does all of this mean for your nonprofit? The fact that Tik Tok engages the younger crowd on a daily basis and has the attention of more than 700 million active users means that your nonprofit has the incredible opportunity to connect with a younger audience like never before!
Here are some strategies for engaging with Tik Tok users, growing your audience, and ultimately, increasing donations for your cause:
First and foremost, donation stickers are not currently available to all nonprofits – but this may change in the near future. Check now to see if your nonprofit is able to add a donation sticker to its TikTok. It’s the button on top of your videos that allows viewers to donate directly to your organization.
If your nonprofit is unable to just yet, in the meantime, do your best to increase your followers and engagement by following the other strategies here. Increasing your reach will put you on TikTok’s radar. It may allow you to open another revenue stream like the Donation Sticker sooner rather than later!
Tik Tok hashtag challenges allow your nonprofit to ‘challenge’ other users to take action for your cause. Be sure to craft a hashtag challenge with a clear and simple purpose or goal.
One great example of a TikTok challenge is the #keepthebeat challenge by the American Heart Association. TikTok users and their supporters were asked to make videos to the “Keep the Beat” tune and help the organization raise funds for their cause. The nonprofit also added text-to-give information to their appeal to make it easy for their followers to give.
Deciding on an engaging hashtag challenge is the first step of many towards ensuring that your mission reaches the maximum number of people out there.
Pro tip: Try to find an influencer to complete your challenge and share it on their own social media. It will expand your challenge’s visibility to a wider audience.
Experts agree that your nonprofit should post between 1-3 times per day to maximize your chances of building recognition on TikTok. More than 1 billion videos are viewed on TikTok every day. So, it’s important to do everything you can to stay in the game. We recommend recording and planning out your TikToks ahead of time to ensure you post at the most strategic times every day.
Connect with your audience through transparency and trust-building. Introduce your followers to everything you possibly can about your organization; from your programs, staff members, volunteers, and events to your beneficiaries and the specific ways in which donations make a huge difference for your organization. Bring your audience “behind the scenes” and ask them what they’d like to see on your TikTok!
Identify and feature a celebrity or well-known public figure to feature in your TikTok. And remember – “famous” doesn’t have to mean an A-list celebrity! Your nonprofit can have success featuring local ‘celebrities’ and figures. That can be from well-known news reporters and business owners to creatives, comedians, and experts on your cause.
Tap into your own personal network and those of your staff to find the right person. Regardless of whether your influencer has 500, 1,000, or 25,000 followers, they’ll be spreading the word to a whole new pool of people!
Similar to Facebook LIVE, TikTok LIVE allows creators to go live and interact with their audiences in real-time. You can interact in real-time, answer questions, and pose questions to your group. Showing your “authentic” side and why your cause matters so much to you will create a lasting impression on people.
You can use TikTok LIVE to do “behind the scenes” tours and sneak peeks. You can interview beneficiaries and staff members, update followers on the impact of a donation to your nonprofit. Follow this guide to learn more about TikTok LIVE.
The American Red Cross consistently shows the impact they have on the community and provides helpful informational videos about disaster preparedness, like how to save a dog if it’s choking or what to do if a tornado takes place. Their TikTok following is about 778.6K and the likes to their videos go up to 12.9M. Yes, that’s quite a number for engagement!
Malala Yousafzai appears directly in these TikTok videos, giving strength and hope to girls and inspiring them to become activists themselves. The Malala Fund shares real-life stories on how they’ve been able to empower and educate girls around the world. Their TikTok account consists of as many as 349.5K followers and their TikTok videos nearly get 4.1M likes.
That’s what you get for being active and effective on a social media platform like TikTok. The more your reach, the better your chances of having more people talk about your nonprofit and its programs.
United Way’s TikToks are catchy, fun, and informative. Their videos are backed with soulful music. They are consistently sharing organizational updates, thanking donors, discussing their current needs, and calling followers to engage with their cause. The organization has a followers base of 70.8K accounts and the likes they receive on their videos go up to 539.7K.
NOW is the time for your nonprofit to start using TikTok! The possibilities with TikTok for Good are endless; the application continues to grow as one of the most popular social media platforms of all time. Engage with target audiences you never would have before and make talking about your organization fun. Follow these strategies and you’ll be TikTok’in in no time at all!
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Raviraj heads the sales and marketing team at Donorbox. His growth-hacking abilities have helped Donorbox boost fundraising efforts for thousands of nonprofit organizations.
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