With more than a billion monthly active users, TikTok has grown from an app used by teenagers doing dance challenges to a social media powerhouse loved by brands and consumers alike.

A recent Adobe Express study revealed one in ten Generation Zs, those born between 1997 and 2012, are more likely to use TikTok than Google as a search engine.

Moreover, viewers trust brands featured there 41% more than they do elsewhere, while nearly a third (31%) are more likely to be loyal to them after seeing an ad on TikTok.

And with the average user spending a staggering 95 minutes per day on the app, TikTok is not a platform to ignore. So how should travel agents use it, and how can they optimise their TikTok marketing?

Here are a few pointers.

Use sound in your videos

It’s the feature that made the platform popular, and a trend that changed user behaviour on other channels (Instagram trending audio being the best example). Some 90% of TikTok users think sound is vital to the TikTok user experience.

Don’t fear creators and influencers

Work with creators and influencers to produce the most engaging content. TikTok users trust real people and the experiences they have more than they trust branded content. Micro-influencers, those with fewer than 100,000 followers, are a cost-effective way to get your content in front of a new audience.

Create content specifically for TikTok

While it might be tempting just to replicate content created for other platforms, in order for content to gain traction, it has to be optimised for TikTok. Use trending audio, templates and formats or challenges to increase engagement, ones that reflect your brand personality and values. Note Hays Travel’s approach to giveaways, which are all focused around what they’d say is their most important asset – their people.

Inspire your customers

British Airways Holidays recently partnered with travel trends forecasting agency Globetrender on research which found 23% of UK consumers use TikTok for holiday inspiration.

Of those, almost one in five (18%) said they had booked a trip as a direct response to content they have seen on the platform. The report states those aged 18-24 were the ones most influenced by the platform, with two-thirds (66%) using it for holiday inspiration.

Of those, around a quarter (24%) booked a trip as a direct result of content they consumed.

Agents are better placed than anyone to exploit the inspirational nature of travel content to reach an audience ready and wanting to be inspired.

Try posting wanderlust-inducing content showcasing destinations or stays in desirable destinations.

Tell a story

Agents have a captive audience that spends more than an hour-and-a-half on the platform a day, on average. Test short- and long-form content to ensure you’re serving the audience what they want to see.

Stay creative

TikTok has evolved and added new features, but creativity remains at the heart of all content. This, again, can be made easier by working with content creators, a great example being Booking.com’s Brooklyn Beckham campaign to promote their Genius programme. But experimenting for your audience is worth the investment.

Utilise your skills in search

Given TikTok’s new function as a search engine, cater to those searching for informative content around popular destinations. Seek out popular hashtags and try to produce content in line with them – millions of people use TikTok to plan their next trip so create content which can influence their decisions.

As with any social media platform, our advice with TikTok is threefold. First, experiment with it yourself – it’s impossible to build a community or produce engaging content without knowing these platforms’ native functionalities and user behaviour.

Second, not everyone has a Brooklyn Beckham budget, but it can be as simple as researching the topics relevant to your brand or agency specialisms, see how people interact with them, and work out how you can add to those conversations.

And finally, think carefully about why you’re considering using TikTok in the first place – are your customers really there and engaged, or do you think you should be because your competitors are?

"Keeping up with the Joneses" is never a great basis for a marketing strategy.

Marta Safin is a social media strategist who has worked with global travel brands for 15 years, helping them develop their marketing efforts to drive brand awareness and foster customer loyalty. She’s a member of the Llama collective of travel marketing specialists, helping brands all over the world to sharpen their marketing.