Two years ago Robin Kiera, CEO of Digitalscouting, a European insurance and marketing consultancy firm, decided to see what potential social media platform TikTok had for lead generation and insurance… 3.5 million ‘likes’ later he shares his experience.
Goofy videos, entertaining duets, fascinating tutorials, cute stuff caught on cam, you name it – TikTok, the video-sharing social network predominately used by under 25s, has all sorts of fun. In November 2019, we decided to give it a shot for the same exact reason, which was one of the best decisions we have ever made.
After six months of exerting consistent efforts, we have reached more than 60 million people in total based on the views our videos have received. We are receiving tons of internship applications from students, and even professionals. Gifts from banks, insurers, and other followers are being sent to our headquarters, almost daily. What’s more surprising is that CEOs of other agencies want to work for us for free to get first-hand experience on how we do things. We are also seeing some of our channels gaining traffic from TikTok, so our audience is getting younger and younger.
The addition of more millennials to our audience is an excellent catch from TikTok because they have long-term market potential, and have to be informed.
More than anything, the best result we achieved is the leads we are getting, which are reflected by our clients, who are also attaining the same results. We cannot stress this enough, you can sell on TikTok – we and our clients did.
Beginnings are not at all fun
So where did we begin? After a period of experimenting and not knowing what actually to do with this new hot thing, in July 2020 we went all-in after realising that TikTok could be another chance for the industry to get closer to customers and another breakthrough opportunity that might once again pass by without having its full potential tapped.
Beginnings are always the hardest, but that’s what kicks-off an exciting journey ahead. We had to start from scratch, from figuring out how the app’s functions work to gaining organic followers. The struggles just pile up quickly, especially now that we’re doing it for research and development purposes and considering that we are actually a strategy consulting and marketing firm supporting insurer, sales organisations and banks globally.
With a significant number of videos uploaded each day to TikTok, and the platform being dominated by a young, tech-savvy and creative generation, how were we able to reach 130,000 followers and 50 million views in just six months?
View Robin’s TikTok page (German language)
Here are the lessons we learned so far.
- People are interested in insurance and finance topics
We tried to produce videos about consulting and also insurance. Nobody cared. In fact my first viral video with over 200.000 views I produced by accident. I was annoyed by some users showing off rented Lamborghinis and acting as rich. Despite my calm Northern German nature, I found myself ranting and talking about real wealth and how to get it. And suddenly people started to listen about insurance and finance topics – but only if they related to daily problems. Now writing this, it seems like a no-brainer – but so many insurers don’t do it (like we did not do it at the beginning). One of the most important lessons we learned from this journey is that people are interested to know about retirement, getting rich, insurance, finance, and all those sorts of things – but not at first in financial or insurance products. Ironically, sooner than later the audience actually started to demand information on products that help them to achieve their dreams and goals.
TikTok may be known as a sanctuary for the younger generation, but contrary to the stereotype that a lot set for them, they are not entirely after the amusing side of TikTok. They are innate learners who are always curious and can be easily piqued. In fact, the hashtags #DIY and #Lifehacks are among the most popular topics on the app. This is a big opportunity for insurers.
TikTok is an instrument for a perfect formula of an attention-hacking strategy – relevant topics and an unconventional way of communicating.
- Just do it – and be strong
It may seem like cliché words of encouragement, but we will reiterate it again and again – just do it. Especially for small insurers, agents and brokers, TikTok is a good start. You don’t have to spend millions on ads to unleash the immense opportunity it holds. Maximize the app’s features. Give a brilliant mind to your organization’s responsibility and build a small team that would do it for a few hours a week.
Starting on TikTok requires a lot of patience and perseverance. It took us six weeks, producing 10-40 videos a day before seeing significant growth. It seems like TikTok was not in favor of us, but we never gave up until we reap something out of it.
- It’s all about the massive amount of action
Success doesn’t only take time but will also require hard work. Upload as many videos as you can in a quality that makes sense. Set targets that will keep you moving. If you were doing three to five videos yesterday, double it today, then triple it the following day. TikTok will still use them, even after a long time. TikTok’s “For You” feed recommendations pull from videos posted within the last 90 days.
One trick is: as soon as your fans and followers start to ask you questions, answer a lot of them. Your fans deliver you a seemingly endless stream of content ideas. For us, it’s not impossible to answer all questions, but we still try.
- High-quality videos matter
Plan and test things out to learn which content works for you. It is crucial to have high-quality videos. But high-quality on TikTok does not mean week-long production and millions for actors and team. It means 3-4 hours per video. When you and your team are trained, they probably can do it in half. High-quality videos are important to entertain your fan base and to increase the chances that your videos go viral.
Keep your viewers curious and engaged. The longer someone watches your video, the more TikTok will recommend it for other people to watch. When your video’s engagements continue to be high, TikTok will keep showing your video to more and more people.
- Branding is everything
Whatever kind of business, branding is everything. It is the identity that our customers come to know, and it is essential to set it right wherever you are, may it be on TikTok or any other social media channel. In an era of digital transformation, your brand will set you apart from the competition.
CEO of Diggi
We knew we’re harvesting the fruit of what we do when followers started calling me “CEO of Diggi” (German for “Bro” or “Mate”) and my followers called themselves Team Diggi. Social media indeed is a powerful tool that will give you the profit of what you invested.
The CEO of Diggi brand came not long after and gained a surprising amount of support. We even sold single cups for over 100 USD each! Who would have thought that a fashion brand from a 38-year-old insurance nerd born from TikTok could actually thrive? This is just the tip of the iceberg when we say that selling is possible on TikTok. Imagine the possibilities if you will start now.
So Tiktok is the next big thing – also for the insurance industry.
Your chances of success rise every day, so you better start now. If you need help setting up the gears, contact us