TikTok has grown far beyond an app for viral dances and funny videos—it’s become a global stage for creativity and connection.
For brands, it’s a playground bursting with possibilities, where storytelling meets trendsetting, and authenticity reigns supreme. It’s where they can break the mold, spark conversations, and build refreshingly real relationships.
For marketers, it’s a goldmine of creativity, offering the chance to engage with audiences in their turf. From clever hashtag challenges to thumb-stopping short videos, some brands have mastered the art of standing out.
In this blog, we’ll explore the best brands on TikTok, their winning strategies, and the marketing trends that reshape how they connect with audiences. 💪
Bonus: Create an ‘inspiration board’ of your favorite TikTok campaigns on ClickUp Whiteboards. It’s Free!
Best Brands on TikTok: Marketing Trends and Success Stories
Summarize this article for me please⏰ 60-Second Summary
- Leverage TikTok’s rapid growth, high engagement, and unique algorithm to boost content discovery
- Focus on fostering genuine connections, leveraging viral trends, and encouraging meaningful engagement to target Gen Z
- Learn from brands on TikTok like ClickUp, Gymshark, Ryanair, Taco Bell, and Netflix
- Enhance visuals using TikTok’s editing tools, such as filters and overlays
- Add relevant hashtags to boost visibility and participate in trending challenges
- Plan content schedules, marketing campaigns, and more with tools like ClickUp
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhy Are Brands Flocking to TikTok?
TikTok’s meteoric rise has positioned it as a hub for brands looking to capture younger audiences and explore innovative marketing strategies. Its unique features and highly engaged user base have made it a key player in social media marketing.
Let’s look at how TikTok helps brand marketing. 👀
Rapid growth and engagement
TikTok has experienced unprecedented growth, boasting over 1 billion monthly active users and a stellar engagement rate of 2.65%. It often overperforms other social media platforms like Instagram and X.
With TikTok users spending significant time creating, exploring, and engaging, the platform isn’t just being viewed—it’s actively shaping interactions. This high engagement level allows brands to capture attention and foster connections with their audience organically.
🧠 Fun Fact: The name ‘TikTok’ reflects its format, as videos are typically only a few seconds long, encouraging quick and engaging content.
Unique algorithm and discovery potential
TikTok’s algorithm maximizes content discovery, analyzing user preferences in real time to deliver personalized content. This capability engages users and helps brands achieve viral status through creative, resonant posts.
However, success depends on following a clear social media policy that aligns with community guidelines and brand values.
The platform’s user-generated content culture encourages authentic interactions, fostering genuine connections between brands and their audiences. This unique discovery mechanism leads to the rise of countless brand-driven trends, offering increased visibility and relevance.
🔍 Did You Know? TikTok’s algorithm is known for being one of the most sophisticated in social media. It analyzes user behavior, preferences, and emotions to curate content that keeps users engaged for a long period.
Access to Gen Z and millennial audiences
TikTok’s demographic inclines toward Generation Z and Millenials. These digitally savvy groups value authenticity, creativity, and innovation, all of which TikTok helps.
These brands leverage the platform, building trust, encouraging loyalty, and tapping into the purchasing power of younger generations, shaping consumer trends.
TikTok’s ecosystem also offers brands the tools they need to create meaningful engagement, expand their reach, and stay ahead of the evolving marketing trends.
🔍 Did You Know? To reach the younger audience, brands use relatable content like challenges, behind-the-scenes, or user-generated videos.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBrands Excelling on TikTok
Here’s an in-depth look at the distinct tactics, campaigns, and trends shaping the success of top-performing brands on TikTok.
Each brand employs a unique approach to resonate with its audience and maximize engagement. 🎯
1. ClickUp
ClickUp uses TikTok’s creativity-driven ecosystem to engage and inform younger, tech-savvy audiences. It taps into trending formats and relatable workplace humor, demonstrating how the app solves productivity challenges.
Campaigns like Work smarter, not harder, and Maximizing finance efficiency with ClickUp use popular sounds and memes to blend seamlessly with TikTok’s culture while subtly showcasing its features.
ClickUp also collaborates with influencers and uses visually appealing, easy-to-understand content, such as short tutorials or workflow hacks, that aligns with visual storytelling.
For instance, check out ClickUp’s viral video on the best reaction to a product release ever!
📌 Takeaway: ClickUp leverages trending content, relatable workplace humor, and storytelling to naturally highlight its features while connecting with audiences.
2. Chipotle
Chipotle, a popular Mexican food chain, connects with its users through interactive campaigns that combine sustainability and community engagement.
Its ‘Real Foodprint Tracker’ lets users see their orders’ environmental benefits, promoted through creative campaigns featuring Bill Nye.
Additionally, past challenges, such as ‘The #ChipotleRoyalty Challenge,’ invite fans to showcase their go-to orders with the best featured on Chipotle’s menu. The brand has also partnered with influencers like David Dobrik to amplify its reach.
For instance, a viral video from Chipotle named it’s a lifestyle that showcases their burrito and bowl offerings.
📌 Takeaway: Chipotle builds brand loyalty with sustainability campaigns, user-generated content (UGC), and celebrity partnerships.
3. Ryanair
Ryanair’s TikTok strategy uses humor and relatability to engage a younger audience. It embraces a playful tone and leverages trending audio to turn its low-budget reputation into a comedic asset.
The airline uses humorous filters, particularly the anthropomorphic plane face, which has become a viral staple to make its content recognizable. It also focuses on relatable scenarios and self-deprecating jokes that appeal to a Gen Z audience.
📌 Takeaway: Ryanair uses humor and relatability to market to Millennials and Gen Zs while employing unique and memorable visuals.
🧠 Fun Fact: Zach King’s broomstick video is the most viewed TikTok ever, garnering over 2.3 billion views.
4. NBA
The NBA was one of TikTok’s earliest adopters, mastering its unique engagement style. While their Instagram focuses on game highlights, the association’s TikTok takes a more engaging and relatable approach.
They blend humor, memes, and motivational content, creating a space for basketball fans, especially Gen Z, to connect with the sport. NBA also posts dramatic workout videos with trending audio and team mascots showing off their dance moves.
📌 Takeaway: The NBA combines humor, memes, and inspiration to engage basketball fans while showcasing player and mascot personalities.
5. Gymshark
Gymshark has garnered over 4.4 million followers and 65.7 million likes across TikTok. The fitness brand uses influencer marketing to drive a robust community. It creates relatable, high-quality content that speaks directly to the online fitness community.
Rather than relying on overtly promotional ads, Gymshark focuses on UGC. It centers around entertainment, fostering an organic connection with the audience.
📌 Takeaway: Gymshark strengthens its community through authentic user-generated content and influencer collaborations.
6. Red Bull
Red Bull, a flagship energy drink company established in 1987, uses the TikTok platform to connect with a younger audience. This demographic otherwise gravitates toward competitors like Monster or Tenzing, making TikTok a strategic marketing tool for the brand.
Their TikTok strategy is centered on brand-building rather than direct product promotion.
With over 6.7 million followers, Red Bull’s TikTok features captivating, longer-format video content highlighting action sports, adventurous feats, and unique brand stories.
📌 Takeaway: Red Bull focuses on storytelling and action-packed visuals instead of direct product promotion to build a strong connection with its audience.
7. Taco Bell
Taco Bell creates short, fun, relatable videos that resonate with its audience. It often incorporates humor and pop culture references.
The company incentivizes users by encouraging them to sign up for rewards and win free food, seamlessly blending entertainment with customer engagement.
Collaborations with creators like British fashion icon Victor Kunda and the quirky ‘Mexican Pizza: The Musical’ further amplify Taco Bell’s presence. The company also produces vertical video formats for TV ads and runs hashtag challenges around specific menu items.
📌 Takeaway: Taco Bell keeps it fun and engaging with humor, influencer collaborations, and interactive TikTok features like hashtag challenges.
8. Netflix
Netflix uses its TikTok account to build excitement for shows through storytelling, trending sounds, and exclusive sneak peeks. It shares clips and teasers from content to generate buzz, giving viewers behind-the-scenes access. Plus, it creates bite-sized, TikTok-friendly trailers to hook audiences.
Additionally, Netflix leverages fan engagement by featuring interactive content like duets, Q&As, and polls.
Popular characters often take center stage in its videos, keeping fans invested in their favorite shows and sparking excitement for upcoming seasons.
📌 Takeaway: Netflix turns its shows into personal, shareable TikTok stories with sneak peeks, fan interactions, and trending sounds.
9. Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon’s TikTok strategy thrives on influencer collaborations and creative engagement. It empowers influencers to craft content that aligns with their strengths while adhering to brand messaging.
The brand promotes new shows and events using popular trends, hashtags, and viral challenges. Multi-part series and trending audio enhance audience retention.
Nickelodeon also cross-promotes TikTok videos across platforms to maximize reach.
📌 Takeaway: Nickelodeon stays trend-savvy with influencer partnerships, viral challenges, and multi-platform content integration.
10. Spikeball
Spikeball shares genuine stories through user-generated and professional content, often showing players and their pets enjoying the game.
It also educates followers about the game, using its content to boost engagement and product sales. Their efforts have resulted in 1.3 million followers, 24.8 million likes, and over 200 million views.
📌 Takeaway: Spikeball blends authenticity and platform-specific storytelling to create engaging content aligned with its audience.
🔍 Did You Know? TikTok was originally known as Musical.ly before merging with the app in 2017. This rebranding helped it gain traction and attract a larger audience.
11. Duolingo
Duolingo embraces an ‘unhinged’ marketing style characterized by humor, relatability, and trend-savvy content starring its mascot, Duo.
It uses trend jacking as a tactic, jumping on viral trends, from pop culture references like the Squid Game to celebrity memes. Duolingo’s ongoing feud with Google Translate creates a recurring theme that followers eagerly anticipate as well.
📌 Takeaway: Duolingo keeps viewers hooked with humor, trend-jacking, and a relatable mascot-led storytelling style.
12. Scrub Daddy
Scrub Daddy has relied on UGC to make its products a TikTok sensation. It encourages fans to share cleaning hacks featuring the Scrub Daddy sponge with cleaning challenges on the platform.
Additionally, it has visually satisfying ASMR content, such as the ‘before-and-after cleaning transformations,’ keeping viewers engaged.
📌 Takeaway: Scrub Daddy makes cleaning fun and satisfying with user-generated content and visually engaging ASMR transformations.
13. The Washington Post
The Washington Post, one of the most recognized newspapers in the U.S., makes dry news topics engaging and more accessible. Their TikTok account reframes complex stories like France raising the retirement age or the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank into bite-sized, relatable, and often funny yet educational videos.
With over 1.8 million followers, they blend journalistic rigor with a fun, conversational tone for younger audiences.
📌 Takeaway: The Washington Post simplifies complex news into fun, bite-sized videos that are relatable and easy to share.
14. Fenty Beauty
Fenty Beauty, a skincare and cosmetics label owned by pop singer Rihanna, is a great example of beauty brands getting their TikTok strategy right.
Despite her popularity, the brand’s founder remains somewhat in the background, making the content reliant mostly on top beauty influencers to review products. This approach adds an element of exclusivity and prestige while the content is professionally produced with smooth transitions and creative edits that align with TikTok’s style.
📌 Takeaway: Fenty Beauty creates bold content by teaming up with top beauty influencers for authentic product reviews.
15. Nike
Nike’s TikTok strategy is simple yet effective.
Instead of relying on elaborate bios or fancy feed designs, the brand highlights its products and iconic status reputation, offering value-driven content beyond sneakers.
From fitness tips and lifestyle inspiration to charity-focused messages, Nike delivers content that resonates with its audience. They use transitions and video effects but in a laid-back, natural style.
📌 Takeaway: Nike showcases its brand prestige with inspirational content that seamlessly blends fitness tips, lifestyle themes, and viral video effects.
💡 Pro Tip: A great TikTok growth hack is to create videos under 15 seconds. These are among the highest performers, as they capture attention quickly and encourage viewers to watch the entire video.
16. Maybelline
Maybelline uses influencers and trends to make its product line a TikTok favorite. The brand creates tutorials helmed by beauty influencers to create step-by-step makeup videos.
Additionally, it adapts popular challenges on the platform to showcase products.
📌 Takeaway: Maybelline combines step-by-step tutorials with viral trends to make its product line a TikTok staple.
17. Dunkin Donuts
Dunkin Donuts taps into the Gen Z audience with creative influencer collaborations. Partnering with TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, Dunkin launched exclusive drinks bearing her name, amplifying brand awareness among her massive following.
Dunkin also sent branded merchandise to TikTok creators who were already fans, fostering authentic engagement.
The brand further demonstrated its understanding of the platform’s culture by introducing vibrant, Instagrammable products like the Sugarplum Macchiato.
📌 Takeaway: Dunkin Donuts amplifies engagement with influencer-driven campaigns, personalized merchandise, and trendy product innovations.
18. Pumpkin
Pumpkin, a pet insurance company, flips the script on traditional insurance marketing. It uses TikTok to share adorable pet images and practical tips on pet care.
Combining engaging short-form videos, a cohesive narrative, and high-quality visuals, the brand positions itself as an informative resource and an advocate for pet well-being.
📌 Takeaway: Pumpkin shares adorable pet content and practical care tips to balance informative storytelling with emotional appeal.
🔍 Did You Know? Brands that use popular sounds and audio tracks significantly boost discoverability. To stay current, check TikTok’s trending sounds section.
19. Pretty Little Thing
Pretty Little Thing (PLT), a popular clothing brand, has carved out a strong social media presence on TikTok. It employs influencer collaborations, visually appealing content, and engaging campaigns. The brand’s strategy includes partnering with influencers and using vibrant pink tones and high-quality visuals to reinforce brand identity.
The brand also hosts interactive contests for its followers.
PLT has executed campaigns like #PinkFridayWithPLT, a twist on Black Friday featuring significant discounts and a $10K giveaway. Another successful campaign was the #BritneyChallenge, where they recreated iconic Britney Spears outfits for Halloween.
📌 Takeaway: PLT engages followers with interactive campaigns, influencer partnerships, and striking brand visuals.
20. Crocs
Crocs taps into current fashion trends and influencer-driven marketing to maintain its iconic status. It collaborates with fashion influencers, emphasizing how its signature footwear complements modern, stylish outfits.
The brand also participates in viral TikTok challenges, allowing it to demonstrate its products’ versatility in a fun, relatable way.
📌 Takeaway: Crocs stays relevant and fresh with fashion influencers and TikTok challenges, highlighting its versatility and style for younger audiences.
🔍 Did You Know? In China, TikTok is known as Douyin. It operates as a separate version tailored for local users.
Summarize this article for me pleaseInnovative Campaign Examples
TikTok campaigns add some much-needed fun to conventional marketing. Brands can experiment with creative hashtag challenges and impactful influencer collaborations.
In this section, we’ll look at some TikTok brand campaigns that left a mark on the platform. 📃
Nissan
To promote its new SUV, the Ariya, Nissan launched an interactive campaign inviting TikTok users to participate in an AR filter game focused on pronunciation. The company launched its first-ever TikTok campaign with 1,500 creators to get the job done.
Developed by TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York, the campaign included ‘Pronunciation Lessons’ videos featuring celebrities teaching viewers to correctly say commonly mispronounced names—including ‘Ariya.’
It featured creators including Tua Tagovailoa, Anna Faris, Idina Menzel, Bam Adebayo, Josh Duhamel, and QuinnXCII.
The hashtag #HowDoYouSayAriya achieved a remarkable 122.5 million views, while the campaign’s compilation video attracted 22.9 million views, highlighting its widespread appeal.
📌 Takeaways: Engaging with AR technology, celebrity endorsements, and TikTok creators can drive significant audience interaction and visibility.
e.l.f Cosmetics
e.l.f Cosmetics tapped into TikTok’s audience’s adoration of catchy dance and music, creating two original jingles—Eyes. Lips. Face. and Eyes. Lips. Face. Safe. These went viral, inspiring users to dance both online and in real-life venues like clubs.
Building on this momentum, they launched a reality show named Eyes. Lips. Famous. The top winners would get a beauty camp experience, a year of free products, and $5,000 in sponsorship.
📌 Takeaways: Using viral music, combining digital and real-life engagement, and extending campaign narratives creatively.
ASOS
ASOS launched its standout #AySauce campaign across the U.S. and the United Kingdom, partnering with 25 creators to inspire audiences to showcase their favorite three outfits.
The three-week campaign primarily targeted socially active younger demographics and offered participants the chance for their content to be featured on TikTok’s TopView, explore results, and ASOS ads.
Beyond this initiative, ASOS invested in in-feed ads and collaborated with Byte to create augmented experiences like virtual filters and branded effects, amplifying its reach and interactivity.
📌 Takeaways: Combining creator partnerships with AR features and interactive challenges fosters high levels of participation and brand awareness.
Summarize this article for me pleaseIncreasing Brand Reach on TikTok
To increase brand reach on TikTok, you must create authentic, engaging content that aligns with trending themes and resonates with your user persona. You can also explore partnerships and advertising tools like in-feed ads, branded effects, and hashtag challenges.
It’s not as challenging as it sounds. Let’s look at some basic strategies you can add to your marketing checklist to amplify your reach. 💫
Leverage TikTok’s algorithm
Tap into TikTok’s powerful algorithm by creating attention-grabbing videos that spark interactions like shares and comments.
The algorithm prioritizes content based on user interactions, video information, and device settings. Here are some basic ways to optimize your reach:
- Create engaging content that captures attention in the first few seconds
- Encourage interactions, including likes, comments, and shares, to boost content visibility
- Post consistently to show that you are an active user
Try TikTok analytics tools to monitor content performance and drive improvement. Analyze metrics such as views, likes, shares, and target audience demographics to understand what works best and refine strategies over time.
Use TikTok’s editing tools
The app’s built-in editing tools help create visually engaging content that resonates with your audience. External tools like CapCut and Movavi Video Editor offer a wide range of templates, effects, and seamless music integration to craft high-quality videos.
Enhance your visuals with features like filters, transitions, and text overlays to make your content more dynamic and professional.
🤝 Friendly Reminder: To reach new audiences, create short, high-quality videos with strong visuals, clear captions, and immediate engagement (like eye-catching intros) to improve your chances of appearing on the ‘For You’ page.
Create engaging content
You must create engaging content to keep your audience hooked. But how? Focus on:
- Storytelling
- Tutorials and how-to videos
- Humor and trends
ClickUp Brain is a versatile social media AI tool that helps you streamline content creation. It provides a centralized hub for ideas, insights, and inspiration. Whether you’re brainstorming creative videos, TikTok ideas, writing captions, or designing hashtag strategies, the AI-powered assistant simplifies the process.
All you have to do is enter a content idea or topic into ClickUp Brain, and it’ll give you tailored suggestions such as catchy headlines, video concepts, and trends that resonate with your audience.
⚙️ Bonus: Learn how to automate content creation using AI.
Partner with influencers
Collaborate with TikTok influencers who align with your brand’s values and audience. Influencers have established trust with their followers, making their testimonials powerful. You can use:
- Sponsored content
- Branded challenges
- Influencer takeovers
💡 Pro Tip: You can create ‘Duets’ where you can perform alongside another video and ‘Stitch’ to incorporate clips from others into their content. This fosters collaboration and interaction among creators.
Capitalize on trends and hashtags
Hashtags are powerful TikTok marketing tools for categorizing content and engaging with trends. Including three to five well-chosen hashtags in your captions strikes the perfect balance to maximize visibility without cluttering your post.
Focus on tags that align with your brand voice and trending content. Use tools like TikTok’s Creative Center, autocomplete features, and competitor analysis to find relevant hashtags.
💡 Pro Tip: Experiment with different hashtag combinations while maintaining relevance to boost your reach effectively.
Engage actively with followers
Interact with your audience by replying to comments, participating in challenges, or hosting live sessions. Building genuine connections strengthens loyalty and fosters growth.
You can also connect with your audience by:
- Acknowledging user-generated content
- Starting conversations with questions or polls
- Creating content based on feedback
Plan content and create a posting schedule
Maintain consistency and stay organized in your posting schedule by using social media project management tools.
One such excellent app is ClickUp Marketing Software. 🤩
It’ll help you plan content calendars, track progress, and ensure timely posting, which is essential for maintaining engagement on TikTok.
Let’s look at some of its features to support your TikTok strategy. ⚒️
ClickUp Docs
ClickUp Docs is the ultimate collaboration tool for teams working on TikTok content. It centralizes the process of reviewing and refining ideas in one place.
With its cloud-based flexibility, you can create, edit, and share documents to organize campaign plans, draft video scripts, or create content calendars.
The nested pages feature lets you structure reviews hierarchically, breaking down long TikTok campaigns into manageable sections like creative briefs, hashtag lists, and post schedules.
You can also collaborate with your team in real time to ensure everyone stays aligned.
When preparing TikTok campaigns, teams can embed video drafts, analytics, or specific tasks directly into Docs for review.
ClickUp Chat
ClickUp Chat is the perfect tool to discuss your TikTok strategy with your team. You can collaborate directly on trending TikTok challenges, video ideas, or influencer collaborations on the platform.
Further, link these conversations to tasks such as scheduling posts, creating video content, or analyzing engagement metrics.
With its AI-powered features, you can automate task creation from your conversations, saving crucial time.
ClickUp Assign Comments
As you collaborate with your team on creating TikTok content, you can use ClickUp Assign Comments to assign specific tasks or feedback to responsible team members. This happens within Docs to keep everything streamlined.
For instance, if someone needs to review a video before it’s posted or approve a caption, you can assign that comment to them, ensuring quick follow-up and accountability.
ClickUp Dashboards
ClickUp Dashboards provide a clear way to monitor and enhance your TikTok campaigns with customizable cards. These cards let you track key performance metrics such as views, engagement, and follower growth.
It visualizes this data with graphs and charts to spot trends and identify the best-performing content, allowing you to adjust your strategy in real time.
You can personalize Dashboards to reflect campaign goals; they update automatically to ensure you’re working with the latest data.
ClickUp Modern Social Media Calendar Template
The ClickUp Modern Social Media Calendar is an excellent way to easily manage your TikTok campaigns. Whether you’re running a single account or multiple TikTok campaigns, this social media template helps you stay on top of every post and performance metric.
It also embeds data visualization tools to measure success. Not just TikTok, it organizes and plans content across different social media channels.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChallenges and Drawbacks of TikTok Marketing
While TikTok offers great opportunities for engaging younger audiences, it’s not without its challenges. From high advertising costs to content-specific demands, navigating the platform needs careful consideration.
Let’s look at some of its drawbacks. 👇
- High advertising costs: Minimum ad spend starts at $500, with cost per mille (CPM) rates around $10, making it less accessible for small businesses
- Narrow demographic reach: Predominantly younger audience limits engagement for brands targeting older demographics
- Content production demands: Exclusive reliance on video content increases production costs and complexity
- Reputational risks: Association with controversial trends or misaligned content can damage brand image
- Content moderation: Exposure to inappropriate material or viral challenges poses additional risks for brands
Summarize this article for me pleaseWin TikTok Campaigns With ClickUp
TikTok continues to drive online marketing efforts as brands try to stay ahead of trends to thrive on the platform. From viral campaigns to clever collaborations, success on TikTok demands creativity, consistency, and adaptability; all of these require consistent planning and organization.
ClickUp is a versatile tool that simplifies your workflow by providing an all-in-one platform. With features like Docs for content creation, Brain for brainstorming ideas, and Chat for seamless communication, managing your TikTok strategy has never been easier.
The clock is ticking. What are you waiting for?
Sign up to ClickUp for free today! ✅
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
