3 Tips for Getting Your Nonprofit Started with TikTok

With TikTok being the second most downloaded iPhone app in 2020, the social media app has become exceptionally popular over the last few years. And because TikTok is particularly popular with Millennials and Gen Z users, it becomes another great social media platform that your organization can use to connect with your younger supporters. If you’re considering starting a TikTok for your organization, follow these steps to help get you started! 

1. Create Great Content

While TikTok got its start with short clips of singing and dances, the content being shared today has evolved. Many individuals use the platform in a way to receive entertaining, helpful, or educational information in 15 second to 3-minute video clips. Nonprofits can use the platform as a way to highlight their beneficiaries, share educational information, and even provide a look “behind the scenes.” For example, The Sacramento History Museum’s TikTok began regularly highlighting the use of their historic printing press and to date have gained over 1.8 million followers.

With this in mind, lean in to the educational side of TikTok and create posts to share educational information or information about the work that your organization does. For example, nonprofit Project Home Again created a quick clip to introduce their organization and mission to new followers. As a great first step, follow other great Nonprofit organizations using TikTok to get inspired and see what type of content they’re posting!  

2. Get on Trend!

A key component of TikTok is trending songs, sounds, and hashtags. Songs and sounds are created through TikTok and users of the app associate these particular sounds with an emotion or action. For example, Natalie Taylor’s song Surrender is associated with beautiful, inspiring videos, like how Oregon Zoo used it for a video of one of their elephants in the water. Another example is how Catskill Animal Sanctuary used a trending sound where users answer questions to highlight one of their beneficiaries, Patty.  

To make sure your videos are being seen and have high engagement rate, take a look at the trending sounds and songs and create a TikTok for them and use the trending hashtags. Usually, these sounds and songs will be short, so the video won’t need to be long either, but by following trending songs, sounds, and hashtags, you increase the visibility of your posts to other users on the platform. 

3. Post Often at the Right Times

To make sure your videos reach audiences, it’s important to post high-quality content frequently and at the right times. The goal is to post content when your nonprofit’s followers are online, which may vary slightly from nonprofit to nonprofit, but generally the best times to post are 9am Tuesdays and 12pm Thursdays.  

Posting frequently widens your net and gives you more probability that your videos will be seen. While posting frequently to a new social media platform may seem daunting, don’t forget that video clips can be short and simple, 15 – 30 seconds long, and you can repurpose old video content that you’ve used on other social media platforms. Additionally, new trends are always coming up, giving inspiration and ideas for new things to post.  

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If you’re ready to get started with TikTok, use these tips to get started. It’s a great and fun way to connect with your audience and build visibility for the great work that your organization does!  Our goal at GiveSmart is to help nonprofit organizations create and manage successful digital fundraising campaigns, raise more money and retain donors longer. Request a free demo with one of our fundraising experts to learn, step by step, how GiveSmart can simply help set up your campaigns while transforming your results.