*This article is reprinted from DIGIDAY+, a paid service of DIGIDAY[Japanese version]for next-generation leaders responsible for branding.
American Express (Amex) is among the companies using TikTok to reach out to Gen Z and niche communities.
Small Business Saturday, led by Amex, was held on the 26th of last month to help revitalize the local economy. Earlier, Amex opened an official brand account on TikTok and ran a campaign to encourage shopping at small and medium-sized and independent retailers.
TikTok Usage Increases Among Small Businesses
TikTok has recently emerged as a marketing channel for small businesses. Marianne Rausch, vice president of Small Business Saturdays & Shops Small, Amex’s global advertising and brand management division, said the partnership with TikTok allows the company to “acquire new customers from small retailers. It makes sense to support “appeal to demographics.”
The TikTok platform has fueled media investment by small businesses, with #ShopSmall hashtag videos having nearly 5 billion views. In addition to its paid and organic strategies, Amex is also working on measures to connect Generation Z TikTok users with small and medium-sized retailers through the #ShopSmall campaign in partnership with TikTok (Amex’s investment in TikTok is as of the time of publication. Unknown due to lack of information).
The initiative is aimed at encouraging purchases at small and medium-sized retailers and increasing sales on Small Business Saturdays. Dubbed the #ShopSmall Accelerator, businesses who sign up for the program will get access to best practice examples and advice from some of the biggest creators on TikTok. In addition, new registrants who purchase the equivalent of $50 (about 7,000 yen) in TikTok ads will receive a $100 (about 14,000 yen) ad credit that can be used from the next time onwards.
“Small businesses are increasingly using TikTok because they find it fun and easy to market,” said Sofia Hernandez, head of global business marketing at TikTok. . “All they need is a cell phone and an idea.”
So far, Amex has spent $142 million in digital advertising in 2022, according to ad tracking data from Pathmatics. That’s a significant drop from 2021, which was $222 million (about ¥31.1 billion).
According to data released by Kantar, Amex’s advertising spending in the first half of 2022 (January to June) will be $135 million (approximately ¥18.9 billion), compared with $248 million (approximately ¥18.9 billion) in the same period in 2021. 34.7 billion yen) (social media advertising expenditures are included in the data released by Pathmatics, but excluded from Kantar’s data. Pathmatics also aggregates traditional TV advertising expenditures. not).
Amex’s ShopSmall campaign measures were first introduced after the 2008 financial crisis (the Lehman shock), and after the measures during the economic recovery period after the pandemic, they have started again this time. In 2022, the company is using QR codes and outdoor advertising to promote small and medium-sized retailers.
Leveraging the features of TikTok to emphasize its presence
More and more companies are using the TikTok platform for marketing. Among them, Amex is a latecomer. In September 2022, Penguin Random House partnered with TikTok to launch the #BookTok community, where users can display and showcase books published by the company in videos. Social publishing app Wattpad is using #BookTok as a tool to drive organic growth (see small business TikTok case study here).
Mac McKelvey, founder and CEO of marketing firm Salient MG, said the marketing trend is likely to continue for some time as TikTok’s advertising capabilities expand.
“When these types of campaigns are built into the functionality of the TikTok platform, we will see direct-to-consumer (D2C) and consumer commerce brands ramping up their advertising on TikTok. There will be more and more,” McKelvey predicts.
“Amex’s paid/organic initiatives on TikTok and its community-building program are moving in the right direction, leveraging TikTok’s strengths to build brand presence,” McKelvey added.
“Amex is taking measures from three perspectives: paid, organic, and TikTok. Because we can.”
It is unknown at this point how successful the TikTok measures will be. But Amex said the brand activation using Small Business Saturday “had a specific purpose.”
Mr Rausch said: “Our intent was to listen to small business owners, identify their needs and concerns, and establish a program that reflects those needs.”
[original text]
(Text: Kimeko McCoy, Translation: SI Japan, Editing: Chisato Kuroda)
Source: BusinessInsider
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