TikTok.
Are we talking about:
A. The sound of the clock in the last minutes of your workday.
B. The hit song by pop sensation Ke$ha.
C. The video hosting service with over 1 billion users.
Hint: it's not A or B.
We recently sat down with Nina Skoko, Global Partner Marketing at TikTok, to learn how one of the world's largest social media platforms runs its events.
Nina's mission for TikTok’s partner events is straightforward: create two-way education between TikTok and its partner ecosystem. TikTok's partners consist of leaders in industries like creative, e-commerce, campaign management, and more who help companies get started and grow on TikTok. For example, Kantar helps teams measure performance, Canva offers creative services, and Shopify allows companies to sell on the platform.
From her start at the Wall Street Journal to her transition to television at CBS to her current post at TikTok, Nina has found a common thread in the events she hosts, regardless of the company. "People want to hear good stories. People want to feel connections. People want to be entertained."
When planning an event, Nina thinks about every touchpoint her guests will experience. So, it makes sense her pre-event planning centers around one important question: "How can I plan an experiential campaign so every interaction with my customers will be a great experience?"
She starts from the beginning with the event invite. "The event starts with your first (Splash) email and when they go to that first (Splash) page." Nina thinks of the event page as more than just a means to collect RSVPs. It's a critical brand impression with her audience. Even if a guest can't attend, she wants them to have a positive experience so they're more likely to attend in the future. Every part of Nina’s event, from the branding of the page and digital touchpoints to the event’s mission statement, is focused on delighting her audience.
"The event page should be a welcome mat. If they can't come, it should still be a great experience."
TikTok's mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. Nina explained, "Everything we do needs to live and breathe that mission. And TikTok is a community platform. So, I want to hear what [partners] expect. Are there certain topics [they] want to hear?"
Cue the event registration form. It’s Nina's favorite tool for asking partners about the pain points they're experiencing, topics they're interested in, and ways TikTok can improve their relationship with them. She takes these responses and uses them to iron out the finer details of her event and set up her future content strategy.
In her words, it lets partners "create the events with us." And because of that, Nina knows she’s delivering event experiences that give partners exactly what they want and need to do their jobs better.
"I love the Splash forms because that's my chance to get to know you a little bit better."
"Creators fuel our platform. They are everything. And to be honest, they know more about TikTok than we do. We learn from creators all the time."
Nina told us she invites TikTok creators to all her events to help teach partners more about the platform.
Moral of this story? Follow Nina's lead and invite your power users to your events. They'll show other existing customers how to use your product or service better, and you might even learn a new thing or two, too. Plus, if you host events for prospective buyers, they’ll be provided tangible examples of how they can use your product to gain success. There’s nothing more powerful than having references who know the ins and outs of your product and can speak to its value.
Tip: In Splash's 2023 Events Outlook Report, we found that marketers host 84% of their events for current customers, while only 41% are reserved for prospective buyers. If you haven’t dipped into that 41% bucket, hosting a mixer between potential customers and existing ones might just be the next event to put on the books.
"Why gatekeep the experts? We bring the experts out. Creators are really the lifeblood of our platform."
Nina shared a simple sentiment that should echo in the halls of every event marketer's mind, "Your event should be an opportunity to create content."
Take Cannes, for example. Nina and her team set up a content studio for recording videos alongside their panels and workshops. They collected so many videos her team is still rolling them out four months later. They even made sure all the content was about evergreen topics so nothing they recorded would go stale.
When it comes to post-event content, Nina re-skins her event page and loads it up with all the recordings, articles, pictures, etc., from her event to share with attendees. But she also uses post-event content to bring the event to anyone who couldn't attend. She tries to "create emotive and impactful connections through different channels" to make them feel like they were there.
Her strategy is one we should all follow. Anyone who couldn’t attend should still get so much value from your post-event content that they're already counting down the days for your next event.
We understand that most companies can't use their own platform to create content like TikTok, so here are a few tips for those who need them:
Capture mini on-site case studies like video tutorials and quotes.
Assign a designated notetaker to jot down customer questions and requests.
Pair up guests in similar industries with similar goals and challenges. Thoughtful networking leads to new connections and learnings guests will want to share with their online network.
"No one wants to get an email anymore with a thousand links. My Splash page lives on forever, and I can keep seeing if people are coming back and looking at the articles and clicking."
Nina's a seasoned global marketer, so she’s learned what it takes to successfully launch programs across the globe.
Scaling events would be much easier if we could copy and paste a program with zero edits. But the reality is the same content isn't going to land across every audience in every region, whether it be a difference in product offering or place in the funnel. Whatever the case, remember that your local teams are experts in their community. Ask them and you shall receive the answers you need to scale in their market.
Every event should feel tailored for each attendee, whoever and wherever they are. This means understanding and respecting cultural nuances is non-negotiable. For instance, handshakes aren't the preferred greeting worldwide, and football in one country looks a lot different in another.
Organization. Organisation. One letter makes a world of difference for people in different areas. "If you take American spelling to another market that uses British spelling, your audience will immediately recognize you created the content for someone else."
If you miss one or all of these, you risk losing your audience’s trust and consequently tarnish your brand. We all know that once trust is broken, it's a constant uphill battle to restore it.
"I've worked in Global Marketing for a long time. There's nothing worse than taking one asset from one market, putting it in another, and assuming it will work. Spoiler: it won't."
Nina's parting advice is crucial to any event program's success: have the right tools in place to measure impact. For her, this means identifying pre-event goals so she knows what to track and where. For instance, she uses Splash to capture quantitative metrics around registrations and check-ins and gather qualitative insights like attendee satisfaction through post-event surveys.
Nina pressed this importance by saying event marketers should be able to confidently say they did everything they could to measure impact because, candidly, reporting on ROI is hard. She explained that once you can measure success, you'll feel empowered to suggest whether to do an event again, try a different approach, or skip the event altogether in the future. And because of that, you'll be able to create an event marketing strategy that positively represents your brand and drives business growth.
"It's okay to say,' You know what, we tried it, there was success, we saw impact. Maybe we try another event, perhaps we try another format, maybe we try an adjacent event to an industry event.' It gives you more confidence in your event management to make those strategic decisions and you're not just phoning it in, you're coming up with a true strategy."
“I don’t think I’ll take a job if they don’t have Splash.”
