On TikTok, it feels like anyone can become a star overnight! If you're itching to take your events to the next level, posting on TikTok might just be your golden ticket. Whether it's adding your own flair to the latest trends or teaming up with fellow creators, this guide is sure to help your events shine even brighter as they cross users' For You page. Ready to learn more? Let's explore the art of leveraging this powerful social media platform, and kickstart your event promotion on TikTok!

Strategising your TikTok event content

To get the most out of your TikTok event marketing, you'll want to do a bit of planning first. Depending on what your awesome event is, first you'll need to figure out your TikTok event niche, whether that be festivals, pop-up experiences, or fundraiser. Then, take some time to explore and engage videos from other TikTok creators in that niche. As you do so, note any ideas you come across that you may want to try yourself! You should also jot down any popular hashtags in your niche's posts – these'll be great additions to your captions later.

Fleshing out your content goals and plan

As with any successful event marketing endeavour, you'll want to set some content goals upfront. Are you trying to drive more awareness to your organisation as a whole? Or perhaps you're focused on boosting ticket sales for a specific event that's on the calendar? Pinpoint important dates you'll want to draw attention to with your TikToks, such as when you'll unveil your guest lineup, when tickets go on sale, and of course, the big event day. You can also plan the types of videos you'll capture during your events to build FOMO (fear of missing out) for future content.

To grow the most on TikTok, consistency is key. To help you with this and to keep track of your target post dates, put together a content calendar to help you schedule when you'll create and post your videos. This'll help you figure out the best times each week to post too. Need some extra hands? Consider inviting some of your event staff in on the fun to help you with your social media!

How to create viral-worthy TikTok event content

Time to get creative and jumpstart your event marketing on TikTok! From the moment you first start filming to when you hit post, we'll show you some key ingredients to setting your posts up for success:

1. Film high-quality videos

The beauty of TikTok is you simply need a phone camera to get started. No fancy equipment required – unless you want to! That said, make sure to always film your videos vertically and consider using a tripod or asking a friend to help film for you. Similar to capturing high-quality event photography, be mindful of your lighting and use natural light to your advantage as much as possible, ensuring your TikToks always look great. Pro tip: for iPhone users, you can auto-lock your focus and exposure for maximum control of the lighting in your videos.

2. Hook your viewers

You only have between 1-4 seconds to grab your viewers' attention before they keep scrolling, so the hook at the beginning of your video is essential to drawing people in and making them want to watch to the end. This could be a simple yet clever line of text, a voiceover, or an eye-catching video transition (just to name a few). If you're giving advice, mention a numbered list so people watch to hear all the items on your list. Need more ideas? See what other creators are doing in the first three seconds of their videos and draw inspiration from them.

3. Make engaging content

What helps TikTok push your videos to more people? Having people watch your videos to the end (if not multiple times!) and engaging with your content by liking, commenting, and sharing. To help keep viewers' attention the whole time, your TikToks should ideally be between 15-30 seconds long, and no more than 60 seconds. Include quick transitions, effects, and text throughout your videos to keep things interesting. The key is to just be yourself! People will resonate most with your TikTok event content if it's genuine. So, find what works for you and what your audience seems most engaged with, then create more content in that vein.

4. Try some trends

Keep an eye out for trends, challenges, or memes that you can be a part of! As you scroll through your For You page, save viral videos and trending sounds to use in your own videos. When you film your TikToks, you can also explore trending effects and songs to incorporate as well. Try using hilarious sound bites over your TikTok with a funny caption over the top of it, or create Stitches and Duets with popular videos. TikTok is all about experimenting and trying stuff out, so don't be afraid to put your own twist on popular trends!

5. Master your captions

Your TikTok caption serves two purposes. One, it'll help hook viewers into your video, so use emojis, witty phrases, or questions to keep the conversation going in the comments. Two, the text in your caption makes it easier for people to find your videos when they search for related keywords. This is because TikTok has become more of a search engine for content, considering millions of TikToks are posted every day. Therefore, include keywords in your caption and in your TikTok's cover image too. You'll also want to use a geolocation tag to target people in your event's area, and tag any relevant accounts in your TikToks, like your event sponsors!

Bonus tip: Rather than manually post your videos, you're now able to upload and schedule your TikToks on your desktop!

Utilising TikTok paid ads

Want to kick your TikTok event marketing up a notch? In addition to posting organic content, you can launch paid TikTok ads after creating a business account. By doing so, you'll be able to better target viewers in your event's niche and boost your ticket sales. A particularly powerful tool that TikTok has is its Creator Marketplace. This allows you to partner with TikTok influencers who already have an established fanbase of over 10,000 followers who can help you promote your events. They could hype up your events, offer exclusive discount codes to your tickets, wear your event merch in their videos, and more. You could even invite influencers to come to your event and document their experience. That way, they can share it with their adoring fans, or maybe even share it live!

TikTok Lives

The live streaming feature is a hidden gem of TikTok! By regularly going live, ideally 1-2 times per week, you give your event's TikTok account the chance to reach even more people and interact one-on-one with your followers. For each livestream, set a Live goal to encourage viewers to give you Live Gifts as a token of their appreciation (and as an extra revenue stream!). For your lives, try hosting Q&A sessions, going behind the scenes at your venue, playing fun games with your special guests backstage, doing an interactive workshop, inviting your artists to play some live music, and more. You could also live stream snippets of your event day on TikTok to increase that FOMO for people who aren't there. You could partner with your sponsors, special guests, and other TikTok creators to bring some new energy to your live streams too! Plus, by going live within 1-2 hours of posting a TikTok, you'll help drive more views and engagement to that video.

(Bonus!) More best practices

That's not all! Similar to your Instagram marketing strategy, you should regularly post quick images or video clips to your TikTok stories (they'll stay up for only 24 hours). As a simple yet powerful way to build engagement on your posts, dedicate some time to engaging with other content and creators in your TikTok event niche by liking, commenting, following, etc. Encourage your attendees to create TikToks at your events and to tag you in them. You may even consider hosting a contest for people who post TikToks they've made at your events or use a campaign-specific hashtag!

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Now you're better equipped than ever to tackle your TikTok event marketing! Remember, every social media platform requires a unique strategy, so your approach to achieving these goals on TikTok will differ from how you tackle other platforms like or Instagram. Social media is all about trying out tons of ideas until you find something that sticks and builds your fanbase of loyal event-goers, so have fun experimenting!