What Is TikTok?
TikTok is a popular social media platform that allows users to watch, create, and share short-form videos (usually from 15 seconds up to 10 minutes). The mobile app offers special effects and sounds, enabling users to explore creativity.
- TikTok is available in over 150 countries and has surpassed 1 billion active monthly users.
- TikTok is the third most prominent social media network worldwide, behind Facebook and Instagram.
- Over the past few years, TikTok has grown to become the first non-Facebook app to reach 3 billion global downloads. Not only does this platform boast the lion’s share of social media users, but the highly individualized algorithm has led to users spending an average of almost an hour and a half every day on TikTok.
- 47% of TikTok users are under 30, and only 11% are over 50.
- TikTok users are nearly split evenly by gender, with 51% of users skewing male and 49% female.
Should Small Businesses Use TikTok?
Originally, TikTok was used primarily by individuals, but it has also become a successful platform for businesses in the past couple of years. In 2020, TikTok launched TikTok for Business, an advertising and marketing management hub that allows brands to manage campaigns at every step, from ads to influencer outreach and optimization.
Research has found that TikTokers are 1.5x more likely to buy something they’ve discovered through the app immediately. So, creating a TikTok account if you run a business is a good idea! You may feel like you’re out of your element regarding the platform, but all types of businesses can thrive on TikTok.
3 Things Small Businesses Should Do Before They Create An Account
1. Research How Your Competitors Use TikTok
TikTok is a relatively new platform so few competitors may be on it. And even if they have a TikTok account, it may not be active. If that’s the case, find brands in adjacent industries and see how they use TikTok for marketing. Explore how they use trends and challenges to reach their target audiences. By paying attention to competitors and businesses in complementary markets, you can see what’s popular and what types of video content are ignored. The more you learn about best practices on TikTok, the more comfortable you’ll be in creating a strategy for how your business will market on TikTok.
2. Discover your target audience
Be cautious about vanity metrics. Many views are great, but only if those views translate into customers. After all, most businesses use TikTok to grow and not simply get lots of likes. Many likes from the wrong audience don’t help you meet your business goals.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does my business stand for?
- What products or services do potential customers on TikTok care about?
- What’s my unique selling proposition?
- What types of people most closely relate to my brand?
Use these self-reflective questions to help you create content that resonates with the right audience. If you already have customers, you already understand your audience. In such a case, the only question is whether this audience is active on TikTok.
3. What makes your business stand out?
Many similar businesses compete for people’s attention, and there’s tons of distracting content on TikTok. How can your business stand out? It would help if you found your unique selling proposition. Ask yourself:
- What makes my products or services different from my competitors?
- Why should people buy what I sell?
- How am I helping people with my products or services?
Discover what makes your brand unique and compelling and highlight this in every promotion or advertisement. Humanly tell your brand story.
How To Set Up A TikTok Account For Your Small Business
- Download the app and set up the account on the mobile device used to manage the account. Otherwise, switching from different mobile devices can be challenging, so we ask that you create the account instead of us to avoid getting locked out.
- Caution in switching to a business profile and filling out the fields such as website and email address will limit music selections, so think about this. Capitalizing on trends is easier on a personal account. But be cautious in using copyrighted music to sell any products. Once you gather a few followers, switching to a business account allows you to sell products.
- Use the brand’s social logo to use for the profile picture.
- Use your small business or “brand name” as the username for branding or consistency purposes; use the same username as your Instagram account. TikTok has a 24-character limit for usernames.
- You can add keywords and optimized text in the description section: “Use tag lines and description text that match other social sites. Consistency is key.
- TikTok favors regular content, so stick to a schedule, meaning if you decide to post 2x/week, it’ll be best to follow that cadence rather than posting sporadically.
- For content, viewers love seeing videos of pets and kids with popular TikTok songs. The app is excellent for providing suggested pieces that pair well with your video. It is a great app because it makes creating videos easier than other tools. Remember, it’s an informal social network, so have fun. I’ve seen success with videos showcasing staff, products, customers/pets, before and afters, and training videos.
- Good lighting is essential! Use natural sunlight wherever possible, and if you’re shooting in areas that don’t receive the best natural light, consider investing in a ring light or softbox.
- Keep it vertical! TikTok videos should always be filmed using a vertical, 9:16 aspect ratio.
- Utilize creative briefs! A good brief will help you organize your shot list and ensure you include all the important elements for that specific piece of content. Useful items to include in your brief could be a script, on-screen text for each shot, or example photos of how you want each shot to appear.
- Include special effects! Dynamic editing helps keep your audience’s attention, so be sure you’re making good use of special effects and transitions while editing! CapCut is a free video editing software that allows you to implement special effects into your content, so be sure to use these features to your advantage.
Examples of our small business client accounts for inspiration:
@thepetbeastro We all know the puppy dog eyes well and sometimes it’s nice to be able to give in! There are always safe ways to make your pet feel included! Turkey Feast preorders are live on our website and in store! Get yours while supplies last! #thanksgiving #fyp #dogsoftiktok
TikTok Content Ideas For Small Businesses
When you share a video on TikTok, you welcome the TikTok community into your creative space. From likes and favorites to comments and shares, your video can touch many people’s lives and bring joy to the TikTok community and beyond.
Help people get to know you. Humanizes your brand by sharing behind-the-scenes footage.
- Introduce yourself and your team with a fun theme song that captures the essence of your business.
- Meet the team videos.
- Perks of working at your business (recruitment tool).
- Does your company have a unique name? Create a video explaining why you chose that name and the story behind it.
- How your business got started.
- Your heart, why you do what you do and what keeps you going.
- What are your core values and beliefs? What goals does your business have.
- Give followers a cheeky tour of your workplace so they can see where the magic happens.
- Share a day in the life of your team.
- TikTok is a great place to share inspirational stories. Do you have a success story about how you started your business?
- Instead of telling people about how great your product or service is, see if valued customers would like to share a few words about it on video.
- Lots of small businesses have pets running around. TikTok users love cute animal videos
- Charities you have worked with. Does your business donate time, money, or products to your community? Share that and why it’s important.
- Holiday messages.
- Thank your followers.
@campbowwowscs Best kinds of problems 🙂 #doggydaycare #doggiedaycare #dogproblems #dogsoftiktok #dog #doglover #dogs #campbowwow
Product/Service Education
- Unboxing new inventory or packaging orders.
- Designing products, labels, and marketing.
- Organizing inventory or merchandising new displays.
- How something goes online.
- Product how-tos.
- Software or supplies that your business uses.
- Best-selling products or services.
- Show off any excellent details on products that are unique and different.
- Share your workspace and any artwork.
- Announce promotions, specials, events, or contests.
- Time lapses of how a product gets boxed and shipped – the entire process of something from start to finish.
- How to use products or services.
- New product or service launches.
@thepetbeastro We love these award winning, hand crafted, and cat nip infused cat toys! Some of these are old favorites but some are brand new to The Pet Beastro! #cattoy #fyp #cats
Help Others
- Obstacles you overcame.
- Things you wish you knew before you started and what you learned along the way.
- The process of growth, advice.
- Feature other businesses in your community.
- Shop local and how your business helps the community.
- Want to inspire others to start their own business? Provide tutorials on how to do that.
TikTok Dos & Don’ts for Small Businesses
13 Small Business Dos:
- Be you. Don’t be inauthentic or forced. Don’t worry about it being perfect.
- Use your branding. Don’t go crazy on fonts, colors, etc.
- Have fun with it! Seriously, the more fun you have, the more fun your videos will be!
- Take advantage of trends! TikTok’s copycat culture thrives from people recreating similar videos with their twists. If there is a trend you can tailor to your business, do it! But do it before the trend fades.
- Start a trend! TikTok is always looking for the next big thing, which could be your video!
- Be consistent! Consistent content is important because it gives people a reason to follow you, but the more arrows you throw to a dart board, the better your chance of hitting a bullseye! Daily posting is best. But if that seems daunting, start with 2-3 days a week. If you want to grow your page – 3 videos a day is best!
- Understand what makes TikTok videos reach more people! TikTok’s algorithm can be somewhat confusing; however, understanding it will help you when creating videos. The Key Performance Indicators for the success of a video are Watch time, Shares, Comments, and Likes, which are essential to keep in mind when making a TikTok.
- Use Hashtags! It’s free for any user to add a collection of hashtags to their TikToks before posting them, but creating Branded Hashtags must be done through the TikTok Ads Manager. Think of Branded Hashtags as reserving a specific hashtag for a designated period; businesses who utilize this ad have exclusive access to the hashtag.
- Focus on watch time! Watch time is huge for the TikTok algorithm; the longer people watch your videos, the more people TikTok will push it out too. When making a video, try to put the best parts first to increase that average watch time!
- Keep it short! This is important because the most successful TikTok videos are usually > 20 seconds. Keeping your videos short and sweet will not only help your performance but also help you be able to create more videos and create a consistent schedule.
- Have your superstar staff and customers! That’s right, some team members and customers were made for TikTok fame! Whether it be a team member with matching funny outfits, a customer raving about you, a dog with an underbite or a funny bark, or a kid acting silly, people will fall in love with them, and don’t be afraid to show them off!
- Use names! This allows people to not only know your team but can also help strengthen a connection with that customer and the TikTok page and identify them in the comments!
- Measure! TikTok Business Accounts and standard TikTok accounts can access analytics, but the business manager has more detailed insights on audiences, post-performance breakdowns, and marketing dashboards. You want to see what is working so you can do more of that and what isn’t so you stop wasting time.
6 Small Business Don’ts:
- Create harmful content! Your brand should be a positive influence, not a negative one. Don’t be a complainer.
- Use profanity! A great variety of trends tend to have audio that uses profanity; this is something that we need to steer clear of. You are making videos that will reflect the brand; therefore, you have to be aware of what you put out there and what impression it will give people of the brand.
- Partner with influencers until they have been properly vetted. Not everyone has your best interest in mind. Be careful who you hire to help your small business.
- Post-low-quality content just for the sake of posting it! Creating consistent quality content over quantity is key to success.
- Get discouraged! If a video doesn’t perform as well as you hoped, don’t let that discourage you. I’ve had too many flops to count that I thought would hit big; it happens, don’t let it get you down!
- Violate the TikTok community guidelines! This could get you kicked off the platform.
Struggling with TikTok content for your brand? Fear not; we’ve got a foolproof plan!
- Dodge the For You Feed
- Resist the temptation to emulate others.
- Instead, keep a daily journal about your product passions for authentic inspiration.
- Begin with Baby Steps
- Practice on camera without pressure.
- Record test videos daily to refine skills before going public.
- Humanize Your Approach
- Embrace imperfections for an authentic touch.
- Use natural gestures and phrases unique to you.
- Patience is Key
- Commit to a 30-day test period.
- Post varied content without fixating on views.
- Reflect on each video, noting your enjoyment and audience response.
- Refine and Repeat
- Identify your preferred formats and topics.
- Focus on 3–4 consistent styles for the next month.
Ease into TikTok success, uncover your true voice, and confidently connect with your customers and audience.
Additional TikTok Tools
- https://support.tiktok.com/en/
- https://boosted.lihttps://support.tiktok.com/en/ghtricks.com/7-tips-for-small-businesses-to-hack-the-tiktok-algorithm/
- https://www.crystalmediaco.com/3-tiktok-trends-you-dont-want-to-skip-in-2022/#section1
- https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-tiktok-hashtags
- https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/TheMarketersGuidetoTikTok-V3.pdf?utm_campaign=NAM%2520Acq%2520%255Ben%255D%2520%257C%2520The%2520Marketer%2527s%2520Guide%2520to%2520TikTok%2520for%2520Business%2520%257C%25202022&utm_medium=email&utm_content=214934477&utm_source=hs_email&hubs_signup-url=offers.hubspot.com/thank-you/marketers-guide-to-tiktok&hubs_signup-cta=typ-download
- Special thanks to Justin Gapski from Camp Bow Wow St. Clair Shores for contributing to the dos and don’ts section.
