How to Boost TikTok Engagement with Deep Links and QR Codes

TikTok had an incredible year of growth in 2019. Emarketer reported on a study done in October 2019 that found 45% of US teens ages 13 to 17 had used the app in the past month, exceeding Facebook (39%) but lagging Snapchat (67%), Instagram (74%) and YouTube (90%). Even more impressive was that TikTok was downloaded 738 million times in 2019 making it the No. 2 app on Google Play and iTunes exceeding only WhatsApp at 849 million downloads. Even more impressive was that TikTok was downloaded 738 million times in 2019 making it the No. 2 app on Google Play and iTunes exceeding only WhatsApp at 849 million downloads.

If you already have a TikTok presence or if you, your marketing team or agency are thinking about diving into one of the world’s fastest growing social platforms, here are four tips for increasing your return on investment.

1. Link directly to your TikTok profile from different channels: Every TikTok profile and video has an associated link. You can grab this link from the address bar of your browser. Here’s TikTokTok profile link for the fashion brand Guess:

www.tiktok.com/@guess

The challenge with regular TikTok links is that they often cannot open the TikTok app directly to your profile depending on the context in which you click the link. You might be taken to the TikTok app but not your profile or you might be taken to the TikTok website where you need to login. In addition, the embedded browsers for Facebook and Instagram typically route all app traffic to the website making social advertising impossible.

Your TikTok content can viewed in the mobile browser but if your visitor tries to follow your profile or like your video they may be taken to the TikTok login screen where most people abandon. As a result, if you are promoting regular TikTok links from different marketing channels you might be getting a lot of views but not as many followers, likes or comments as you might expect.

Website logins are not only frustrating for your visitors but they also lead to lost followers and brand engagement which suppresses your return on investment in TikTok. Marketers simply need to update their TikTok links with a deep linking platform. You should not have to install anything and you should be able to test the deep link at no charge. This is an easy fix that takes only minutes and a solution you should implement for all your social content links including Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook.

2. Promote deep links to TikTok profiles and specific videos: Think about when it’s best to promote your TikTok profile vs. a specific video. Once you create the deep link to your profile, place it behind the TikTok icon on your website, email templates or in social advertising. Here is an example of a deep link to the TikTok profile for the fashion retailer Guess:

urlgeni.us/tiktok/Guess2020

If you have a weekly newsletter or want to tell the world about your latest TikTok video, consider promoting a deep link to a specific TikTok video from different marketing channels. Here is a deep link example to specific Guess TikTok video:

urlgeni.us/tiktok/Guess-Valentine

3. Link to your TikTok profile or video from QR codes: QR codes are back in fashion! More consumers than ever before are engaging with QR codes ever since the cameras in iOS and Android devices were updated with the ability to scan QR codes making scanning apps obsolete. Make sure your deep linking platform provides you with a corresponding QR code that you can use in any channel. You can use a QR code on screen or in printed marketing material to open the TikTok app directly to your profile or video. Creative use of QR codes will increase engagement and get your brand more followers.

4. Link to TikTok from your other social profiles: You can cross promote deep links to your TikTok profile or specific videos from other social profiles and content. For example, if you have fewer followers on TikTok vs. YouTube or Instagram, place a deep link to your TikTok profile or video in your Instagram or YouTube profile. This can be especially effective when you know your audience frequently uses both platforms. Just keep in mind, whether you can link to another platform like TikTok is up to the app in question. In 2017 for example, YouTube started restricting who can link to another social platform making the feature available only to those YouTubers that have 10,000 subscribers or more. Create a deep link to TikTok and test it outside of the other social network first. As a second step, test the deep link again from within the social network you are linking from to see any difference in behavior.

Using these app deep linking tips can help you get your audiene into the TikTok app more efficiently which will help you increase followers and engagement. Login screens, unnecessary landing pages and extra clicks are all examples of friction in the consumer journey that you can and need to avoid in order to maximize time and investment in video content.