377TikTok is no longer just a "short video platform," but rather the main battleground for brands and users to build emotional connections and achieve both brand awareness and sales. But faced with a flood of homogeneous content, how can you make users remember your brand? The answer is not to throw money at advertising, but to use "lightweight" tactics—low cost, high creativity, and strong interaction—to deeply ingrain your brand image in people's minds. We've distilled five core tactics from real cases to help merchants shift from "selling products" to "building a brand."
Image source: TikTok
Replace "symbolization" with "personalization" to bring your brand to life
Users won't develop feelings for a cold logo, but they will remember a character with personality. Duolingo's mascot "Duo" is a typical example. This green owl has become a "drama queen" on TikTok: chasing employees who use Google Translate, dancing to trending TV show BGMs, and even teasing users with "Have you studied a foreign language today?" Through personified interaction, Duolingo's TikTok account grew from zero followers to 3.4 million, with an average video view count of over 3 million, and almost zero ad spend.
Key points:
Shape a personality: Duo is designed as a humorous, sharp-tongued but genuine character, with comment section interactions full of "human touch";
Integrate into pop culture: Combining with "Squid Game" BGM, Dua Lipa and other celebrity trends, making the content more shareable.
Image source: TikTok
Find the right product positioning and build awareness with a "single-point breakthrough"
The premise of branding is that the product is "moving" enough. Beauty brand ONLYOU quickly broke through in the Indonesian market with a cost-effective foundation. They found that the local hot and humid climate made users pay more attention to "waterproof and sweatproof" features, so they priced the product at 25-45 RMB, focusing on the combination of "concealing + whitening + UV protection." By having TikTok influencers showcase looks for students, office workers, etc., and combining with ad placements, they topped Indonesia's foundation sales in just 60 days, then expanded their product matrix to build brand stickiness.
Key points:
Localized research: The team stayed in Indonesia for 6 months, studying climate and price sensitivity;
Influencer content blitz: Collaborated with Indonesian beauty bloggers, publishing 50 tutorials per day;
Synergy of organic + paid traffic: First use influencer content to penetrate minds, then amplify exposure with VSA ads
Image source: TikTok for Business
Lightweight interaction: turn users into "co-creators" of the brand
TikTok users don't like being lectured, but they love to "play together." Slipper brand PUXI once went viral thanks to a user-generated "stepping-on-poop feeling" video, with weekly sales increasing by 500%. Afterwards, PUXI established a "pyramid influencer model": top influencers create buzz, mid-tier influencers scale up, and ordinary users build word-of-mouth, forming a closed loop of communication. For example, in the Thai market, PUXI encouraged users to comment with the "555" (Thai for "hahaha") emoji, linking the product to happy scenarios.
Key points:
Tap into user creativity: Content from ordinary users is often more authentic and has greater viral potential than professional content;
Design interactive hooks: such as challenges, sticker effects, and live room raffles;
Quickly replicate viral content: Once effective content is validated, mass-produce similar videos to cover the traffic pool
Image source: TikTok
The essence of branding is "long-termism"
On TikTok, branding is not a blitzkrieg, but a protracted war. Whether it's Duolingo's "personalized operations," ONLYOU's "single product breakthrough," or PUXI's "user co-creation," the core is to continuously deliver value through lightweight tactics, turning users from "product buyers" into "brand recognizers." As one top TikTok merchant summed up: "When you stop obsessing over GMV and start thinking about how to get users to spread the word proactively, your brand will naturally come alive."
