With a viral video, over half a million total likes and nearly 10,000 followers, the city of Holland’s TikTok account is helping connect a new audience with city government.
TikTok, which originated in China and became available worldwide after merging with Musical.ly in 2018, has since amassed 2 billion users who engage in its short-form video-sharing concept. Today, many companies and brands take advantage of TikTok as a viable marketing tool.
The city in the Netherlands created an account on the platform in 2021. But it wasn’t until this summer that two interns decided to start taking TikTok seriously and post videos on a regular basis.
“Two of our interns, Mariah and Jada, spent the summer doing things for TikTok that were related to the city, but also finding that groove with the younger audience,” said Eric Bruskotter, the city’s multimedia specialist.
When it came to finding that rhythm, Bruskotter said it reminded them to find a balance between a fun and professional social media presence.
“I told them, ‘It’s city government TikTok, so as long as it’s safe and you don’t do anything to make us look bad, I’m okay with it,’” he said, adding: “’and if the mayor is okay with this , then that’s more power to you.’”
Mayor Nathan Bocks, who was elected to office in November 2019, has since been featured in several of the city’s TikTok videos, including his most popular to date.
A video now viral August features Bocks agreeing to have his face painted, though the design turned out to be that of a yellow-colored Minion character from the “Despicable Me” film franchise. The prank was a popular trend on the app at the time.
Although Bocks’ stunned expression after the mirror reveal was amusing, the video’s viral appeal occurred in the following clip, which showed Bocks in front of a small crowd at the city council chambers while the text “… and had a city council meeting right after.” appeared on the screen. In the clip, Bocks kicked off the meeting before shaking his head, as business appeared to be continuing as usual while he was still decked out in Minion face paint.
At press time, the video has amassed 2.1 million views and over 400,000 likes. Commenters have expressed a mix of humorous disbelief and West Michigan pride in the mayor’s willingness to jump on the trend.
However, while the mayor agreed to make a funny TikTok video, he knew what was going on and didn’t actually show up to a city council meeting looking like a Minion.
“We got him to play it and it looked like he was going to a meeting, but then I edited a bit to make it look like he was at an actual council meeting,” Bruskotter said, noting that he “just spliced the video together.”
The video, of course, took off, and according to Bruskotter, several people reached out and wanted to know more about the mock meeting.
With the success of the video, Bruskotter began to realize that the platform could be a viable way for the city to interact with residents and other users online.
Kristin Kirsch, the city’s multimedia specialist, joined the team shortly before the viral video was posted and now works to guide the city’s TikTok strategy.
According to Kirsch, the team tries to stay on top of video trends and make use of popular sound bites in the app. From pop superstar Taylor Swift to “The Office” to “Stranger Things,” various lyrics and pop culture references have been incorporated into videos that showcase Holland’s appeal.
And while trends are certainly a nice part of the process, Kirsch sees this as a necessary aspect of TikTok’s strategy.
“If you don’t stay on top of the trends and use these sound bites when they come out, you’re not going to get the views or audience engagement,” Kirsch said.
Like many TikTok users, he finds the ongoing process of understanding the app’s algorithm a challenging but also a rewarding part of using the platform.
“Sometimes it’s really amazing to see what videos take off and what videos don’t. Sometimes I put a lot of effort into the videos and then they don’t work as well, and then sometimes the super simple ones go viral,” Kirsch said. “But it’s also really gratifying to see all the comments coming in and the people interacting with them.”
Kirsch estimated that he spends about half of his week dedicated to TikTok. He can sometimes get help from former summer interns and has also repurposed some of the TikTok videos for use on other platforms like YouTube or Twitter.
With the city’s growing success on TikTok, Kirsch said the team has helped both the Netherlands Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Netherlands Board of Public Works get started with TikTok.
“They reached out to us and it’s been a lot of fun collaborating with them and helping them launch their TikTok accounts,” Kirsch said.
Bruskotter recommends that companies, or local governments in particular, try to think outside the box when it comes to social media.
“Sometimes with the government, it seems like you have to be dry and direct… but you just have to have fun with it,” he said. “Don’t try to just be informative, figure out a way to be entertaining with it.”
Ultimately, he said the goal of the city’s social media presence across the different platforms is to engage with residents and highlight all that the Netherlands has to offer.
“I feel like our social networks have grown tremendously in the last decade, and I think that’s very important to be transparent as a city,” he said. “That’s what the city in the Netherlands is trying to do, be a very transparent government entity that works for the people. We like to try to highlight all the good things that we achieve in the city and the good things that happen in the city. I think the team does a good job with that.”
This story can be found in the November 14 issue of the Grand Rapids Business Journal. To get more stories like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe here.
Source: news.google.com