The Use of TikTok Ads as Digital Marketing Strategy to Increase

Product Sales at PT Hongzhou Official

Dinar Ayu Chandra Agustin and Prasetiyo

Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Digital Marketing, TikTok, TikTok Ads.

Abstract: Marketing activities that were originally carried out conventionally are now turning digital, which is often

referred to as digital marketing. Digital marketing is a digital-based technology marketing activity using the

internet. Among the many digital media available, TikTok is becoming a trend because it is the most

frequently used platform for digital marketing and online shopping activities. Therefore, many brands use the

application for marketing activities to support their business. Including PT Hongzhuo Official which uses the

Tiktok Ads feature in the TikTok application to increase sales. Therefore, this study aims to determine and

describe how the use of Tiktok as a digital marketing media for PT. Hongzhuo Official in increasing sales.

The method used is descriptive qualitative with data collection techniques by conducting observations,

interviews with Firiana, Andy Nur Wahyu and Niken as the digital marketing team of PT. Hongzhuo Official.

The data that has been obtained is then reduced, data presentation and conclusion drawing. The results showed

that PT Hongzhuo Official uses 2 features of Tiktok Ads, namely first, in feed videos in the form of marketing

videos in the form of mini drama entertainment, and videos regarding detailed product information

(demonstrations). Second, the hastag challenge, namely by adding #hongzhuo in every marketing video

content. With the use of these features, PT. Hongzhuo Official's products are increasingly recognized and able

to increase sales until 600%.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, business people prefer digital marketing

over traditional marketing because it can be done

anywhere and has a wide reach. It cannot be denied

that the Internet is now an essential part of our lives.

There are so many benefits that are felt when in

contact with the internet, including as a source of

various knowledge, entertainment, more efficient use

of time, communication media and has a major

contribution to the success of the internet. efficient

use of time, communication media and has a major

contribution in the success of the business world.

One of the digital marketing that is widely

practiced by the public is through social media. Social

media is a tool or method used by consumers to share

information in the form of text, images, audio, and

video with other people and companies or vice versa.

(Kotler & Keller, 2016)

One of the most widely used social media by

Indonesians is tiktok. It can be seen that Indonesia is

the second largest user in the world in July 2023,

which is 99.79 million. (Rizaty, 2023) Moreover,

Tiktok shop has a business facility called Tiktok For

Business to support business activities and company

marketing, where business people can access Tiktok

Ads Manager and Tiktok Business Center and have

an online store called Tiktokshop. (TikTok, 2023)

There are many successes obtained when using

the TikTok application for business, one of which is

UMKM promoting ice products in the form of video

marketing that can get billions of rupiah in profits.

Because many business people with various brands

and even public figures are trying new opportunities

through TikTok.

Several studies also indicate that companies that

actively utilize TikTok experience significant

increases in brand visibility and product sales. (Dewa

& Safitri, 2021) While previous research also

explains that creative and entertaining video content

on TikTok can easily attract and engage audiences,

and encourage consumer action in the form of

purchases. (Andhika, Hamzah, Pasaribu, & Putri,

2022)

One of the companies that also sees this

opportunity is PT Hongzuo, which is a company that

Agustin, D. and Prasetiyo, .

The Use of TikTok Ads as Digital Marketing Strategy to Increase Product Sales at PT Hongzhou Ofﬁcial.

DOI: 10.5220/0012579900003821

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 4th International Seminar and Call for Paper (ISCP UTA ’45 JAKARTA 2023), pages 26-31

ISBN: 978-989-758-691-0; ISSN: 2828-853X

provides home & living products. PT. Hongzuo uses

Tiktok social media with the account name

@hongzhuoofficial since 2021 and already has

915.5K followers and 2.6M likes. Based on

observations with similar brands. PT. Hongzuo is

among those who have the most development of

followers and the highest number of likes.

Figure 1: Akun tiktok PT. Hongzuo.

Based on this background, researchers are

interested in seeing and describing PT Hongzuo in

utilizing the TikTok application to increase sales of

its products.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a marketing activity that utilizes

the internet as a consequence of technological

development to be able to reach a wider market.

(Agustin, et al., 2023).

Digital Marketing is all forms of efforts made in

terms of marketing or marketing by utilizing internet-

connected devices with a variety of digital strategies

and media which in turn can communicate between

companies and experts: potential consumers through

online communication channels. (Kotler & Amstrog,

2016).

Thus it can be concluded that Digital marketing is

a marketing activity utilizing the internet and digital

media that does not just promote products but also

uses strategies and steps so that consumers get the

best information possible. Some examples of digital

marketing are as follows 1) website, 2) search engine

marketing, 3) email marketing, 4) Social media

Marketing 5) Online Advertising, 6) Video

Marketing. (Yasmin, Tasneem, & Kaniz, 2015)

Content is an important part of digital marketing,

content should be utilized as well as possible. It

usually contains information about the products and

services being marketed. The form can vary from

photos, videos, or texts that are tailored to the needs

of business managers.

2.2 Social Media: TikTok

TikTok is a social media platform that provides the

possibility for its users to be able to create short

videos with a duration of up to 3 minutes supported

by music features, filters, and various other creative

features. The following are the features on TikTok: 1)

Video upload, 2) Caption, 3) Comment, 4) Hashtag 6)

Like, 7) Live Streaming,

In addition, TikTok also has a TikTok ads feature,

which is a feature provided by TikTok to develop the

business you have through advertising on TikTok.

Tik Tok ads features also vary including In feed

video, Brand take over, Hastag challenge, Brandeed

Augmented Reality, and Top View Ads.

In several studies, it has been shown that TikTok

positively influences consumer behavior through

emotional, entertaining and informative videos so that

it can increase consumer buying interest. (Araujo,

Perater, Quicho, & Jr, 2022).

3 METHODS

This research method uses qualitative with

descriptive type to reveal, explain and describe how

PT. hongzuo in utilizing Tiktok to increase sales. The

data collection technique used is observation to see

and observe directly tiktok @hongzhuoofficial. The

next data collection is interviews. Informants in this

study are divided into 2 categories, namely key

informants and additional informants. The key

informant is Fitriana as the Digital Marketing Leader

@hongzhuoofficial. While supporting informants are

Andy Nur Wahyu as Graphic Design and editing

@hongzhuoofficial and Niken the manager & talent

of tiktok content @hongzhuoofficial.

After the data is collected, the next step is to

analyze the data by reducing the data and interpreting

the data, so that the data is ready to be presented and

produce conclusions. (Sugiyono, 2016).

The Use of TikTok Ads as Digital Marketing Strategy to Increase Product Sales at PT Hongzhou Ofﬁcial

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 PT. Hongzhuo Profile

PT Hongzhuo is a company that sells home & living

products that was established in 2019 until now.

Products sold with affordable prices and good quality.

PT Hongzhuo is based at Jl. Kapuk Kayu Besar Jl.

Rawamelati No.18B, RT.12/RW.1, Kamal Muara,

Kec. Penjaringan, Jkt Utara, Daerah Khusus Ibukota

Jakarta 14470.

Figure 2: PT. Hongzhuo Logo.

The marketing of the products is done online

either through Marketplace, Social Media and e-

commerce. The products sold consist of 3 categories

namely kitchen tools, home & living, baby & kids.

Figure 3: Contoh Produk.

Here is the Vision and Mission of PT Hongzhuo

Vision

"Building Branding With Distinctive Characteristics

That Can Be Well Received"

Mission

"Making kitchen and homeliving products with the

best quality at low prices so that they can be used by

many people"

4.2 TikTok Ads as a Digital Marketing

Media PT Hongzhuo

In accordance with the objectives of this study, one

form of digital marketing carried out by PT

Hongzhuo is using social media marketing. The

social media used varies, namely Instagram,

Facebook and TikTok.

Figure 4: Hongzhuo Social Media.

"For Instagram, there are only a few. About 1,742

followers, for fb we have started to be inactive.

Currently we are focusing on tiktok social media, with

followers now 919k followers." (interview with

Informant Andy, 2023)

TikTok is of concern to PT Hongzhuo because at

this time TikTok is a platform that dominates public

attention, this potential can reach a larger audience.

So that it is the right choice for marketing efforts and

increasing sales of company products.

In using Tiktok, PT Hongzhuo utilizes the Tiktok

Ads feature, which is a special feature provided by

TikTok for business people in providing services in

promotion. Of the 5 forms of Tiktok Ads, PT

Hongzhuo only uses 2 superior features, namely In

Feed Video and Hashtag challenge.

"Of the 5 types of TikTok ads, we only use two.

in-feed video and hastag challenge according to the

results of our team's analysis that the right TikTok

Ads features are 2 types.” (interview with Informant

Andy, 2023)

In-feed Video is an advertisement that will appear

on another user's account page or for your page

(FYP). This in feed video is of course in the form of

a promotional video. (Novita & Yuliani, 2022) In

general, this promotional video is almost the same as

other videos, even many users do not realize that the

ads in feed video is a promotional video. The

difference is that at the bottom of the video, there is a

promoted button that can direct users to the product

profile link of the ad maker. In feed video content also

has its own criteria in order to attract user attention.

In this case Hongzhuo calls infeed video an

inorganic video, while ordinary video content is

categorized as organic video.

ISCP UTA ’45 JAKARTA 2023 - THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR AND CALL FOR PAPER (ISCP) UTA ’45 JAKARTA

Figure 5: In feed video layer capture, Hongzhuo.

The next TikTok Ads feature used by PT

Hongzhuo is the hashtag challenge. Where PT

Hongzhuo provides a challenge for TikTok users to

include a predetermined hashtag. This is done to

increase the name Hongzhuo and its products. In

addition, PT Hongzhuo itself also embeds hashtags in

all PT Hongzhuo content both in organic and

inorganic videos.

The most frequently used hashtag is #hongzhuo,

which has 55.7M viewes.

Figure 6: Variety of hashtags used by hongzhuo.

4.3 PT Hongzhuo's Strategy in Using

TikTok Ads

In feed videos and hashtag challenges utilized by PT

Hongzhuo will only run if there is content being

produced. Hongszhuo's strategy in utilizing TikTok

Ads is divided into 2 types, namely entertainment

content, informative content.

Entertainment content is created with the aim of

building closeness with followers or users to improve

product image and consumer confidence, of course

the hope is to increase sales. This entertainment

content is made as natural as possible and does not

focus too much on the product, usually in the form of

stories or comedies.

"For the strategy of running TikTok ads itself, of

course we use content, there are 2 types of content,

namely entertainment content and product

information content. Now for this entertainment

content, our goal is at the same time soft selling, not

so much to emphasize the product, to attract

consumers to explore the product further)."

(interview with Informant Niken, 2023)

Soft selling is a form of indirect sales approach by

stimulating the feelings or emotions of the audience.

(Kurniawati, 2022)

Meanwhile, informative content is a follow-up

content to entertainment content. This content is

deliberately created and focused on providing

information about products in more detail, such as

prices, materials, how to use, where to buy, quality,

how to use, how to maintain and others with the aim

of increasing sales.

"So, this type of informative content is intended or

conceptualized specifically to provide product

information to potential customers or customers in

more detail. The focus is more on product sales or we

often call it short-term hard selling, usually we also

support it by providing discounts or limited bonuses,

so prospective customers or customers are interested

in buying as soon as possible, we are deliberately

directed there." (interview with Informant Andy,

2023).

Hard selling is often interpreted as the act and

technique of selling advertised products or services in

a to the point, as it is, direct, loud, and point to the

point. Hard selling will emphasize directly on the

point of the offer, nothing else besides the point of the

offer. (Agustrijianto, 2022)

In creating this content, PT Hongzhuo also has its

own strategy in creating its content, which is as

follows:

a. Make videos vertically with a resolution of 9: 16

PX according to the TikTok format

b. Using Hook tiktok with interesting and

surprising statements at the beginning of the

video

Figure 7: Example of Tiktok hook.

c. Short duration used

d. Following the trend that is currently busy on

tiktok

e. Utilizing user generated content by involving

artists.

The Use of TikTok Ads as Digital Marketing Strategy to Increase Product Sales at PT Hongzhou Ofﬁcial

Figure 8: Ragam hashtag yang digunakan hongzhuo.

4.4 The Impact of Using TikTok Ads as

a Digital Marketing Media

Based on the results of data analysis, the use of Tiktok

Ads as a digital marketing media for PT Hongzhuo

has a positive impact, namely

a. PT Hongzhuo's products are increasingly

recognized by the public, this can be seen from

the increasing number of viewers and likes

b. Can catch up and outperform competitor

products with similar products.

"at the beginning of making the tiktok account, we

really monitored its development, even competitors,

namely @xxxxx and @xxxxxx but after evaluating we

managed to outperform them. And our competitor

standards have changed from before" (interview with

Informant Andy, 2023).

c. There was a rapid increase in product sales.

However, researchers cannot display the original

documents because they are categorized as

confidential company documents. So that

researchers can only provide an overview

according to the results of interviews with

informants as follows:

Figure 9: Grafik peningkatan penjualan.

"Before using TikTok Ads, orders were stable

from 1000-2000. However, after using TikTok Ads

there was an increase to 5000-6000. These results are

not yet when the twin date event occurs, sales can

reach 12000 orders" (interview with Informant

Niken, 2023).

5 CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis and discussion that has been

carried out, it can be concluded that PT Hongzhuo

uses and utilizes Tiktok Ads as a digital marketing

media for its products, namely the In feed video and

hastag challenge features. To optimize these two

features, PT Hongzhuo uses two types of content,

namely entertainment content and informative

content, which have their respective functions.

Entertainment content carries out the softselling

function and informative content carries out the

hardselling function. After using Tiktok Ads as a

digital marketing media, PT Hongzhuo can increase

sales by 600%.

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The Use of TikTok Ads as Digital Marketing Strategy to Increase Product Sales at PT Hongzhou Ofﬁcial