TikTok Marketing Examples: 11 Brands Killing It

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No matter your business, you can’t afford to bore your audience on TikTok.

Otherwise, you’ll get no love on the platform.

To prevent that, I’ve compiled 11 TikTok marketing examples that can inspire your strategy.

These are brands across various industries, so you’ll see how each business adapts to the platform.

Let’s dive in.

Inspiring TikTok Marketing Examples

1. Duolingo

Duolingo is the most popular app for learning languages.

But beyond its funny app notifications, Duolingo brings the humor to TikTok.

With over 17 million followers, the brand has been able to reach a large audience on TikTok.

One of its recent campaigns is the faked death of Duo, the company’s mascot. This created a lot of interactions around the brand.

Beyond the humorous content, Duolingo is a master of engagement. You’ll often find the company giving witty replies to comments. Duolingo also posts comments on other accounts’ TikTok posts.

What can you learn from Duolingo?

You have to take calculated risks to create content that stands out.

In another blog post, I explored Duolingo’s social media marketing strategy and what businesses can learn from it. 

What Duolingo does right

• Fun content that promotes its language lessons
• Replying to comments on its posts and posting comments on other accounts’ posts

2. ClickUp

ClickUp is a project management software company.

And as you know, project management is not the most interesting topic.

Most people go on TikTok to run away from work. Not to see posts about project management.

So, how has ClickUp approached its TikTok marketing?

By publishing posts about work. But with a heavy dose of humor.

Good luck explaining to your grandma that you’re a scrum master.

ClickUp publishes some of the funniest content I see on TikTok. Maybe this is because I can relate to these posts.

Any worker will easily relate to ClickUp’s TikTok content.

And with TikTok content, the company can raise brand awareness. 

What ClickUp does right

• Uses humor to create relatable content about work
• Uses content to build brand awareness for ClickUp

3. GoPro

Whether you want to climb Mount Everest or ride a big wave in the Atlantic Ocean, GoPro cameras can help you capture adventures.

When you visit its TikTok page, you’ll see many adventurous content from the camera users.

How does GoPro get these beautiful content pieces?

First, the company features user-generated content (UGC) on its page. These are posts published on social media using one of the many GoPro hashtags.

Apart from that, GoPro calls for content submission from its users for a chance to win one of its awards.

You’ll often see GoPro feature content from award winners.

Then, GoPro supports many athletes worldwide. The company also features content from these athletes.

With these content sources, GoPro has an endless flow of content to publish on TikTok.

Not just that, but the company can also use these TikTok posts to attract its ideal users: adventure seekers.

What GoPro does right

• Features user-generated content (UGC)
• Collects content through awards
• Signs up GoPro athletes who promote the brand with their content

4. Ryanair

Ryanair is an ultra low-cost airline based in Ireland.

And with low costs, you can expect some compromise compared to other airlines.

That said, Ryanair is not afraid to make jokes about its practices and even customers.

For Ryanair, flying should be fun.

But one thing I see in their TikTok posts is that their jokes align with their business: flying.

So, you’ll see jokes about affordable flying.

Or funny content about the various destinations customers can fly to.

With their TikTok content, none of their followers are in doubt about the services they provide.

Even when you use humor in your TikTok content, ensure it promotes your business interests.

What Ryanair does right

• Publishes fun content about affordable flying
• Promotes various locations worldwide 

5. Gymshark

Fitness goes beyond losing weight. It’s about caring for where we live – the body – and living a disciplined life.

As a fitness apparel company, Gymshark wants everyone to take their fitness seriously.

Gymshark wants everyone to go to the gym. And use its products.

One of the TikTok marketing tactics Gymshark uses is to engage fitness influencers. 

You’ll see content from Gymshark athletes across various sports like boxing, running, and bodybuilding.

Gymshark also shares fitness motivation content to encourage consistency in its followers’ fitness journeys.

After all, it’s easy for people to postpone that journey to the gym or even the 10 pushups at home.

Beyond these, you’ll also find fitness tips.

When you combine these, Gymshark can easily build trust in its audience and encourage them to check out its products.

What Gymshark does right

• Features content from fitness influencers (Gymshark athletes)
• Motivate audience to take their fitness seriously
• Shares fitness tips with audience

6. Red Bull

Red Bull is the most popular energy drink company in the world.

To reach its ideal customers, Red Bull is involved in many sports and extreme sports. For example, there’s a Red Bull racing team in Formula 1.

This involvement also includes partnerships with athletes across multiple sports.

On its TikTok page, you’ll find a lot of content about extreme sports performances.

A lot of these content pieces are created by Red Bull athletes.

This way, Red Bull connects itself with sports, which is the best place to reach its customers.

What Red Bull does right

• Features content from Red Bull athletes who are influencers

7. Scrub Daddy

Scrub Daddy manufactures versatile sponges for home cleaning.

The company publishes funny TikTok posts about cleaning.

But beyond that, these posts also feature Scrub Daddy sponges.

So, within the humor, Scrub Daddy promotes its product to millions of followers.

What Scrub Daddy does right

• Uses humor to promote its cleaning sponges

8. Spikeball

Spikeball is a team sport played by 2 teams of 2 players.

The company’s account on TikTok publishes content of people playing Spikeball in various unconventional locations.

For example, people playing Spikeball during graduation or in the middle of a swimming pool.

The brand uses its content to position playing Spikeball as a fun activity.

Beyond that, it also shows current and potential users various fun ways to play the sport.

What Spikeball does right

• Uses content to show different use cases of Spikeball
• Features user-generated content (UGC)

9. Semrush

Semrush is an SEO and online marketing tool.

But like project management, SEO is a very serious topic.

So, how does Semrush approach its TikTok content?

By creating content about the fun side of marketing (Hello Chris).

Because Semrush creates content that most marketers can relate to, its posts usually attract good engagement. 

And Semrush does well with funny replies to comments, which further increases engagement.

This relatable content and audience engagement expose the brand to more people.

What Semrush does right

• Publishes funny content that’s relatable to marketers
• Replies to audience comments

10. National Geographic

National Geographic delivers content about scientific exploration and discovery to our doorsteps.

Personally, I discover new animals and new information about the animals I already know.

Going through its TikTok page, you’ll find rare stories about incredible animals around the world.

Then, you’ll see behind-the-scenes videos of its photographers to get a glimpse of how the videos and images are captured.

You’ll also find content about popular historical events like the Titanic accident and tuberculosis.

Overall, National Geographic’s TikTok content shows various aspects of its work. 

What National Geographic does right

• Publishes rare stories about animals
• Shares behind-the-scenes content of its photographers
• Shares historical content

11. Toyota

Millions of people around the world use Toyota vehicles for their reliability and fuel economy.

Toyota uses its TikTok content to further consolidate this reputation.

The auto manufacturer shows various use cases for its vehicles. So, you can see a video of a mother using it for their daily commute or a camper traveling deep into the forest.

Toyota also engages UGC creators who create content that mirrors the daily lives of Toyota users.

So, if you want to promote your products, one effective way is to engage UGC creators.

What Toyota does right

• Uses TikTok content to show different product use cases
• Engages UGC creators to create content about its vehicles

Conclusion

TikTok is a fun social media network.

But these TikTok marketing examples – across various industries – have shown that you can reach your audience on this social network, no matter how sleep-inducing your industry is.

So, what’s the next step?

Check out these examples and pick elements of their strategies to apply to your TikTok marketing strategy.