Are you struggling to secure relevant coverage in high-authority publications? It’s time to level up your Digital PR strategy by jumping on TikTok trends. With over 1.5 billion active monthly users, it’s one of the most powerful social media platforms that your brand can use to cut through competitor noise and become part of the conversation online.

Whether it’s a dance, fun challenge or sound effect, we’ve all seen trends that have got everyone talking, even outside of the app. While they can be fun, entertaining, or even dangerous, you might be wondering how you can use them to your advantage. That’s where we come in! In this blog, we’ll be highlighting the ways in which TikTok trends can elevate your Digital PR strategy, from demonstrating your expertise to capturing human-interest. Let’s get started…

#1 Relevance

On any given day, journalists can receive hundreds of pitches, many of which will be covering similar topics. Plus, with the latest stats showing there is over 328.77 million terabytes of data created each day, your audience may also be consuming a lot of content everyday.

As a result, there’s never been more of a need to create compelling, engaging Digital PR campaigns that capture the attention of both journalists and your audience. This is where TikTok trends come in!

TikTok trends can make your story relevant, timely and, ultimately, newsworthy. In fact, they are so valuable for journalists that they’re actively requesting expert comments about them regularly.

Why is relevance important?

It shows your audience that you have an in-depth understanding of the media landscape
You can position yourself at the forefront of your industry
It builds credibility and authority among your audience and journalists
If your campaign is relevant, it’s more likely to be shared and engaged with
You can resonate with your audience on an emotional level

Whether you’re sharing tips for following the latest makeup trend, speaking out against a dangerous pet trend or highlighting the benefits of a new fitness trend, leveraging viral TikTok trends ensures your brand stands out from competitors and aligns with your audience’s current needs and interests.

#2 Expertise

If you want to implement a successful Digital PR strategy, one of your core focuses needs to be building credibility and trust among both journalists and your target audience. This will help you build a connection with your audience and establish you as a leader in your industry, while also ensuring journalists return to you for more PR opportunities in the future.

You can do this by demonstrating your expertise, and commenting on viral TikTok trends is the perfect way to do so! You could:

Issue a warning about a trend if it could potentially be dangerous, misleading or harmful in any way
Give your overall expert opinion on the trend, mentioning benefits, drawbacks etc..
Discuss the impact that that trends is having or could have on your industry
Share tips on how to join in on the trend safely, effectively, affordably etc…

Helen O’Leary, Physiotherapist at Complete Pilates, put this into practice when she jumped on the recently resurfaced ‘old man test’ TikTok trend to offer tips about balancing for those wanting to join in. Her expert comments, coupled with a timely response to the trend, ensured she secured high-authority coverage in relevant publications such as Fit & Well. Find out more about why expert comments are gold for journalists.

Top Tip:

Have a dedicated expert to share opinions, advice or warnings about TikTok trends rather than speaking as your brand (e.g. “Morgan Rodway-Wing, Digital PR expert at Reflect Digital, has shared her thoughts” rather than “Reflect Digital have shared their thoughts”). According to the behavioural nudge, Authority Bias, people are more likely to be influenced by the opinions of an authority figure. While you’d be sharing the same information either way, having it come from an identifiable person of authority may resonate more with your audience.

#3 Data-Led

Whether you’re outreaching proactive Digital PR campaigns or fast-paced reactive pitches, using data to find unique angles that no one else has leveraged yet is crucial. TikTok trends, and TikTok more generally, provide a host of data insights that can be weaved into the narrative of your story.

There are two main ways you can extract useful data from TikTok trends and stand out from competitors:

As the trend is unfolding - What data is available to highlight that this trend is having an impact on people? Take a look at how many views videos using a particular hashtag have had, how many comments there have been, what the sentiment of the comments is, and whether the trend is creating search demand on Google (you can use Google Ads Keyword Planner or Google trends for this).
As a follow up to the trend - It’s important to get the timing right with this because, if you leave it too late, the trend will have passed and the buzz will be over. However, you could strike gold if you’re able to find data that offers journalists a new angle in the weeks after the trend first appears. For example, has the trend caused an influx in purchases for a specific product? Has there been any spin-off trends off the back of the main one?

One of the most popular TikTok trends of 2024 has been the ‘very demure’ trend, created by Jools Lebron. If this trend was relevant to your brand and you wanted to comment on it, you could use Google Ads Keyword Planner and Google Trends to see if there’s been any changes to consumer habits as a result of it. In this example, you can see that the trend has caused searches for specific products, such as makeup or clothing’ to rise hugely, which may interest beauty, lifestyle and cosmetic publications.

#4 Human-Interest

One of the most important ways that jumping on TikTok trends can level up your Digital PR tactics is by appealing to human-interest. If you can tap into human emotion, you’ll create stories that are engaging, relatable and more memorable for both journalists and your audience.

Why is human-interest so important?

You can directly connect with your audience and capture their attention
Human-interest stories can drive action and advocacy. As well as improving your backlink profile, you can also encourage positive change!
The articles are more likely to have high engagement rates, which journalists love. This may encourage them to use your for other expert comments in the future
Your story will use the power of emotion to stand out from competitors

One of our best Digital PR campaigns of 2023 came from Everypaw Pet Insurance, who leveraged a reactive TikTok trend where dogs were having their fur dyed by pet owners. Reacting quickly to the trend, Dr Anna Foreman, Everypaw’s in-house Vet appealed to human interest by sharing the dangers of dyeing pet fur and highlighting the consequences the trend could have.

By using emotion as the driving force of the piece, as well as sharing actionable insights, the campaign gained 38 pieces of coverage and 29 backlinks in high-authority publications such as The Mirror, the Daily Mail and The Sun.

#5 Video Search

It’s no secret that the world of digital is ever-evolving, and this is certainly the case for search as recent research shows that 74% of Gen Z users actually prefer TikTok’s search capabilities over Google. Many industry experts believe that the future of search is video, which is why we’re seeing more businesses pivoting toward channels such as TikTok.

However, it’s not just businesses reaching new audiences on TikTok, news publications and individual journalists are doing it too!

With almost 14 million followers, the Daily Mail posts multiple news updates everyday, keeping users informed with short, snappy videos.

Victoria Derbyshire also posts news updates on her TikTok account, breaking down complicated news stories into easy-to-digest, bitesize clips.

Why is this important for your Digital PR campaigns?

Many news publications and journalists create videos about the latest TikTok trends and look for expert comments to enhance them
TikTok can have a more immediate reach than news articles
While being featured on a new publication’s TikTok won’t improve your backlink profile, it’s a more direct route to connecting with your audience which can increase brand awareness

Whether you’re commenting on the TikToks or featuring in them, you’ll be establishing yourself as an authority figure and building trust through your Digital PR efforts.

Quick Tips for Leveraging TikTok Trends Successfully

Want to , here are three quick tips that will help you secure high authority coverage with TikTok trends:

Be Quick - If you can jump on a TikTok trend before competitors, you’re more likely to secure coverage. If you wait too long, your pitch will be outdated and get lost in the sea of other brands also trying to leverage that particular trend.
Be Relevant - Only comment on TikTok trends that have a relevance to your brand. Otherwise, any coverage you secure may not connect you with the right audiences, preventing you from building brand awareness.
Be Purposeful - What is your narrative? If you don’t have anything to say about a trend (e.g. an expert opinion on the pros or cons of it), your pitch won’t have a purpose and will be unlikely to secure you coverage. Always bring it back to how your brand can enlighten, educate or inform people about the trend (e.g. dangers, benefits, tips for users taking part in the trend).

Key Takeaways

By successfully jumping on TikTok trends and using them as a source of data, you will establish yourself as relevant, authoritative and trustworthy to both journalists and your target audience. As a result, you will be more likely to build strong relationships with journalists, increase brand awareness and improve your backlink profile. You should harness the power of TikTok trends because:

It gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise on a particular topic, offering opinions, tips, advice, or warnings to enlighten your audience.
Journalists receive hundreds of pitches a day, so TikTok trends can ensure you have the most relevant, data-led pitch that cuts through the noise.
If you want to connect with your audience, talking about TikTok trends appeals to human-interest so will be more likely to capture their attention.
More news outlets and journalists are using TikTok as a news-sharing platform. If you can speak about viral trends, you may be able to secure coverage in online publications and also be featured on news TikTok accounts, furthering your reach.

Do you want to unleash the power of TikTok for SEO and Digital PR? Get in touch with us today to learn more about how our Digital PR specialists can support you with identifying relevant TikTok trends, creating compelling pitches and securing high authority coverage!

MEET THE
AUTHOR.

MORGAN RODWAY-WING

Wordsmith Morgan joined the Reflect Digital team fresh out of University and is learning about the world of digital marketing while supporting the SEO team with highly engaging content. With a background in website administration and social media, she also brings a broader perspective to her clients.

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