Back in 2020, the question was ‘should we be on TikTok?’ But now, the question is ‘how can we accelerate our growth on TikTok?’
With a reputation for demanding daily posting, it’s no wonder many businesses have hesitated to jump on the TikTok bandwagon. In fact, your Marketing Manager is probably silently cursing us for even bringing up the topic. But the truth is, no other social channel offers anything close to the same growth opportunity as TikTok.
Despite the similarities in content between TikTok and Instagram, the algorithms behind each platform couldn’t be more different. TikTok’s algorithm prioritises content over connections, meaning a brand with 200 followers has just as much chance of going viral as one with 100,000 followers. This levels the playing field significantly, since a post is pushed to non-followers based purely on its own engagement, not the account behind it.
Organic reach on TikTok is therefore a lot easier to achieve, making it a powerful tool for brand awareness, provided your audience is actually on the platform. Success on TikTok simply comes down to posting consistently, showing real faces and real spaces, and responding to comments, fast.
Which Brands Should Be On TikTok?
If you’re a B2B brand selling heavy industrial machinery or white-label fintech products, feel free to sit this one out. TikTok works best for brands speaking directly to consumers, particularly those below the age of 34, who make up 66% of TikTok’s global user base and spend the most time on the platform. It’s most effective for brands whose products, services, or stories translate naturally into short-form video, so think fashion, beauty, F&B, fitness, real estate, entertainment, and hospitality brands.
What Makes TikTok So Effective at Driving Business?
Virality isn’t the only thing making TikTok such an effective discovery tool for brands in the UAE though, there’s also the concept of TikTok SEO. As a generation of digital natives with short attention spans and a strong preference for visual storytelling, it’s no surprise that Gen Z are skipping Google altogether and heading straight to TikTok to discover food, travel, and product recommendations. Brands therefore need to do more than entertain if they want to maximise their discovery, they need to make sure every individual piece of content is optimised with keywords, just as it would be for traditional SEO.
TikTok’s algorithm picks up on keywords in captions, audio transcripts, on-screen text, and hashtags, using these to display your content to consumers searching relevant queries. Brands need to know their audience, what they’re searching for, and where their own USPs fit in. Those who applyTikTok SEO tactics correctly will see better reach, more frequent viral content, and stronger engagement across their profile.
What Kind of Content Does Well on TikTok?
The biggest mistake brands can make on TikTok is treating it like Instagram, with polished visuals and careful captions. TikTok rewards the opposite, with authenticity beating aesthetics every single time. Behind-the-scenes content and direct-to-camera talking videos build trust and emotional connection by showing the people behind the brand.
Content that uses trending sounds will also perform better, since TikTok actively boosts these videos. Pairing these audios with visuals that are distinctly local, like a Burj Khalifa view, JBR backdrop, or Dubai Mall setting, will boost watch time among a local audience and drive engagement further still. The algorithm also picks up on the location and demographics of the people engaging with your video, and pushes your content to more of the same, so the reach you’re generating is among the right crowd.
Almost every high-performing TikTok video follows the same formula. It hooks the audience in the first two seconds with a bold claim, a provocative question, or the end result shown upfront. From there, it’s fast, high-energy, and to the point. It typically closes on a clear CTA, such as follow for more, check the profile for part two, or comment your question below.
Tips For Higher Discovery Rates
A realistic posting schedule for brands is 3 to 5 times a week, the sweet spot for steady long-term growth without sacrificing strategy or brand voice. It’s consistency, not frequency, that drives growth, as TikTok rewards accounts that post at regular intervals by pushing their content further across the For You Page. As for timing, weekday evenings are your best bet, when people of all ages are most likely to be scrolling.
TikTok’s algorithm is the most democratic of all the social media platforms, evaluating every video on content signals alone, rather than account age, followers, ad spend history, or previous content performance. What it does care about is video completion rate, rewatches, engagement metrics, shares, and the use of trending audio. Looping videos, satisfying content, engaging voiceovers, and strong hooks all help to maximise these metrics.
Brands Getting it Right on TikTok
It’s impossible to write a blog about successful TikTok marketing without mentioning the iconic budget airline, Ryanair. The airline has fully embraced Gen Z humour, turning snark, chaos, and self-deprecation into a social media strategy that consistently goes viral for roasting itself and trolling passengers. Casting aside the notion that the customer is always right, Ryanair leans fully into its reputation for bare-minimum comfort and penny-pinching, using it as raw material for an always-on content strategy.
There’s no high-end production or hard sell in sight, just a team of quick-witted Gen Zs with a few TikTok effects and a comment section full of ammunition. The brand is completely unapologetic about charging passengers for absolutely everything, mocking customers who complain but are too broke to fly with another airline, and gloating about having window seats with no windows. Ryanair adapted its strategy to feel native to the chaotic nature of the platform and the unhinged humour of its target demographic, building a loyal following among young budget travellers who keep coming back despite the no-frills service.
We realise that not every brand can adopt Ryanair's highly questionable tone of voice and identity, so let’s look at another airline that has let its hair down in a different way on the platform,Emirates. On Instagram, its feed is polished and professionally filmed, but on TikTok, the brand goes behind-the-scenes, withday in the life videos of its cabin crew,trends that fit the brand rather than feeling forced, andmake-up tutorials of the iconic red lip. Emirates proves that even brands targeting a more affluent demographic can adapt for TikTok, building an authentic connection through content that shows personality without cheapening the brand.
How Can a Social Media Agency in Dubai Help?
UAE-based campaigns often need a little more nuance than European or American campaigns. Language is the most obvious consideration, with Arabic-first copywriting essential to resonate with the country’s significant Arab population. But cultural sensitivities, local humour, and regional etiquette matter just as much, all of which shape whether local audiences respond positively and drive further reach.
Working with a local social media agency in Dubai, one that can handle your social media strategy, content creation, posting schedule, and community engagement, takes the strain off your brand’s own team and ensures consistency never goes amiss. For consumer brands, TikTok is an essential platform, and a missed opportunity for those not currently on it. If the workload isn’t manageable in-house, enlist the services of an experienced agency rather than posting the occasional video that reaches almost no one and chips away at your brand image instead of strengthening it.
