HOW LINCOLN GUINEA PIGS’ LUXURY HOTEL HIT OVER 140M VIEWS ON TIKTOK
Last month, the Lincoln Guinea Pigs’ Luxury Hotel hit over 140 million views on TikTok. Shared by hotel owners Sophie and Mark Mason, the video showcased 140 fluffy guinea pigs in a custom-built luxury facility. Dubbed “The Ritz”, the pad was equipped with air-conditioning, along with vegetable and salad platters as snacks. Cute! TikTok yields incredible power across digital and social channels. What starts off as a quick clip for a young audience (around 60% are Gen Z)* often ends up as mainstream content across the media. As a PR and influencer agency, we’re looking closely at TikTok sensations like the Lincoln Guinea Pigs’ Luxury Hotel to help us learn more about TikTok’s potential to grow brand awareness, visibility and drive engagement with online communities. We have a wave of insights and so we thought we’d share a few of them here.
What’s an example of viral content on social media?
There are a few content genres that work well on social media and one of those is pets. There is a huge appetite for cute clips of our little furry friends. From rabbits eating lettuce to dogs doing the zoomies, anything that takes our minds off the current economic climate and anxiety-inducing world events is a welcome relief. So, if you can get creative and tie pets into your content, there will be lots of views and likes – and done right, working with a PR and influencer agency, the next step is that viral success.
How do you create social trends around your brand?
The Lincoln Guinea Pigs’ Luxury Hotel shared content that imbues these sweet little pets with human characteristics. It’s this alternative view on everyday life that captures attention and engagement. Haribo’s adults talking like kids is another great example. Clips of “serious” adults talking like innocent children because they’ve eaten Haribo was shared by millions on social media. If you are keen to create a trend, think about how you can humanise your brand by inserting fun everyday experiences.
How can I make my TikTok content authentic?
Owners of the Lincoln Guinea Pigs’ Luxury Hotel, Sophie and Mark Mason also shared the backstory of ‘why’ they created the hotel which was to help owners take care of their pets, and it’s in such high demand they are planning to expand soon to create a hospital. It’s this authentic context for the content that also encourage engagement and sharing on social channels.
Ensure that your stories are authentic and consider who is going to benefit from sharing them. Can you support local community projects, families or people in need, or improve general health and wellbeing of those who receive the content? This will encourage your community to share your content even further.
How do you reach a wider audience on TikTok?
Candid and organic content has the potential to go viral, however it can often need some paid support to get the ball rolling. Again, working with a PR and influencer agency can help to guide you through boosting and paid campaigns alongside partnerships with influencers to get behind your creative. We recently partnered with a TikTok influencer who reached nearly 1M views in 48 hours, however by boosting the content, we reached 2.7M within the next two days.
How do you take TikTok content to media?
With audiences consuming media faster, with short bites of information, TikTok is being featured more by journalists who are looking to capture attention and share trends in real-time. Working with a PR and influencer agency, you can play content back into media pitches to get it featured by journalists and shared on top tier digital media sites. This helps extend the awareness, reach a wider audience and can give a brand more kudos as a trendsetter.
If you are interested in growing your business using TikTok, please contact our social and influencer team by emailing us info@cherishpr.com
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