Promotion period: December 2024 - now
Platforms: TikTok
🔹 Adaptation to the American audience: tea is perceived differently in the United States than in Ukraine. Iced tea, functional tea (with effects: for energy, sleep, etc.) and a ceremonial approach to brewing are popular here. It was important for us to reach a new American audience and create content that would be relevant.
🔹 Increased awareness: the brand has just started its work in the US market.
TikTok formats: it was important to create content that caught the attention in the first seconds and was in line with trends.
🔹 Virality: we had to find topics that would appeal to the audience and test what worked best.
🔹 TikTok functionality: the main work with the project is done through the platform: Business Center, Seller Center, Affiliate Center, Ads Manager, so it was a new challenge for us. We researched the platform, tested the hypotheses of these centers, and studied all TikTok resources through tutorials and presentations from the TikTok platform itself.
At the start, we noticed that the brand did not have a clear identity for the United States, and the content was not adapted to the platform.
We started the project with a detailed market analysis to understand the preferences of the American audience and what mechanics work in the tea niche.
Based on the research, we developed a strategy that defined the brand's positioning, key areas of communication, analyzed competitors in the US market, and the main content sections. Next, we tested hypotheses and tracked what works best on TikTok for the brand.
We have identified the main goals:
1) LOVARE USA is more than just tea. It's about aesthetics, comfort, and atmosphere that become part of a daily ritual.
2) We paid special attention to engaging the community through UGC creators and influencers, as the American audience trusts the recommendations of ordinary users more. That's why we relied on collaborations with microbloggers who have a loyal audience and can organically integrate the product into their content.
3) In order to grow organically, it was important to use viral mechanics: TikTok trends, popular sounds, and relevant video formats.
At the same time, we tested advertising and the Seller Center functionality. It immediately became clear that standard advertising approaches from other social networks would not work here, so we started experimenting with formats. The best results were shown by ads based on popular organic videos - such videos looked natural, inspired more trust, and received good engagement in terms of the number of views, comments, and saves.
4) Working with the Seller Center was an important part of the process, because without a properly configured store, even the best advertising will not have the desired effect. We tried to optimize product cards to attract customers. We also began testing the Affiliate Center program, which allows TikTok influencers to promote products and receive a percentage of sales, where we had to analyze the blogger's page, his or her statistics, and whether such cooperation would be beneficial for the LOVARE brand.
As a result, we built a strategy that combined advertising, viral content, and community outreach. This allowed us to increase brand awareness.
When we started working on the project, the page had no content, no audience activity, and no interaction history. We realized that for successful promotion, we needed not only to run ads but also to fill the profile with quality content that would be interesting and relevant to the American audience.
Therefore, we developed a content strategy and shot 20+ videos in different scenarios. We tested trending TikTok formats, created viral videos, and aesthetic videos that conveyed the brand's atmosphere. Stable posting helped not only fill the page but also gradually attract an active audience.
Now the profile looks completely different: It has a clear visual concept, an active video feed, and growing engagement rates. The statistics also show positive changes - regular content helps to increase reach, engagement, and overall brand awareness.
Examples of content:
🎥 Tea Recipe
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkv9rKXF/
🎥 Тrend «Dubai chocolate»
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkv9U3jp/
🎥 Tea ASMR
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkv9LpD2/
TikTok's Affiliate Center is an opportunity for bloggers to promote products and receive a commission from each sale. This is a profitable format for the brand, because instead of standard advertising, the product is recommended by real people who are trusted by the audience. We realized that the American audience trusts recommendations from ordinary users more, so we actively integrated this tool into our promotion strategy.
First, we set up an account in the Affiliate Center, uploaded products, filled in descriptions, and added visual materials.
We also searched for and attracted bloggers.
We work in two directions:
Organic engagement - we wait for people to choose a product through the platform.
We search for relevant TikTok creators working in the food, tea, cosmetics, aesthetics, and lifestyle niche and offered them cooperation. Since the brand's page has only recently started active posting, we were only able to find creators with up to 10 thousand subscribers.
As a result, the Affiliate Center has become one of the key channels for attracting new audiences and sales. This allowed us to increase brand trust and awareness, attract loyal customers, and scale sales without spending on advertising.
TikTok is a dynamic platform where algorithms can change literally every day, and technical nuances often hinder promotion.
🔸 Blocking TikTok and TikTok Shop
One of the biggest problems that has significantly affected the work is the blocking of TikTok in the United States. In addition, there was a separate problem with TikTok Shop, when the platform temporarily disabled the function of selling goods due to issues with the verification of the store's account. This meant that customers simply could not find products, and the advertising that was supposed to lead to the shop did not work effectively.
How we solved this problem:
- We contacted TikTok's technical support to get re-verified.
- We studied TikTok Shop policies and requirements to understand what could have caused the block.
🔸 Products were not displayed in the video
Products in TikTok Shop were not displayed in the video, although they were linked to the account. This has a critical impact on sales, because the main advantage of TikTok Shop is the ability to add a link to the product right below the video so that the user can buy it immediately.
What we did:
— We studied the functionality of the account and checked all possible settings.
— We tested different formats for adding products to the content.
🔸 Unstable TikTok algorithms
TikTok is known for its unpredictability, because one video can get only 500 views, and another - 500K for no obvious reason. We tested different approaches, video structure, and the use of trending sounds and formats to understand what works best for our niche.
Despite all these challenges, we managed to solve most of the problems and adapt to working on the platform, which ultimately helped us achieve page engagement.
🔹 The main traffic comes through the product card, which indicates a high interest in the product.
🔹 Video content occupies a significant share and we continue to optimize formats: selecting more engaging creatives, analyzing the effectiveness of different types of content.
🔹 Cooperation with creators has shown positive results: we have tested several formats, selected the most effective influencers, and adapted our approach to the local market.
🔹 Sales on TikTok have grown significantly thanks to effective advertising campaigns and the introduction of a new content format on the page. We tested different advertising options, and the following video formats worked best: ASMR and tea recipes.
The most viral videos are launched by launching them additionally for advertising:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkvxFwn3/
This video received 22 saves and 24 reposts
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkv9wryk/
This video has 16 saves and 25 reposts
We can say that TikTok has become an effective channel for promoting LOVARE USA, especially in the format of video content. The main traffic comes through the product card, which confirms the high interest of the audience.
To improve the results, we continue to test the capabilities of this platform and create unique trending content.