Social media is a great channel for small businesses to raise awareness, build a profile and get in front of customers. Free to use and with a willing audience just waiting to take a look at your content, social media gives you a reach that no other channel can. Many small businesses use traditional channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook, but have you thought that your next piece of business could come from TikTok? Whether you’re tackling social media on your own, or looking for social media marketing assistance, here’s how you could use TikTok to your commercial advantage.
Some TikTok statistics
As bigger, long-established businesses have discovered, the more ‘traditional’ social media channels have been abandoned by younger audiences. If you want to reach a vibrant, fun and early-adopting audience, TikTok is the place to be – and here’s why:
- It’s had more than 1.65 billion downloads
- The average user opens the app 8 times a day and stays on for longer than 5 minutes each time
- It has a 60-40 female-male split of users
- It operates globally, including in China
- It’s becoming increasingly used by businesses who see an opportunity to market differently
Before you start using TikTok, answer some straightforward questions:
Is this the right platform for me? You might dismiss TikTok initially, because you know your kids use it, or you don’t think it’s serious enough for your business. And yet big brands are on TikTok and doing well – because they see that it’s a great way to generate awareness, to reflect the ‘real’ side of your brand and to attract customers that are unlikely to see you elsewhere.
Have I got the time for another channel? TikTok is quick and easy to use – you can video live to the site or record a quick video to upload later. TikTok users don’t expect slick, corporate videos – they like real life, fun and a sense of humour. If you’re thinking about outsourcing social media services, ask your provider if they can work with TikTok.
How much does it cost? Like most social channels, TikTok is free to download, sign up to and use. So any additional costs will just be in your time – you don’t need specialist video equipment, because everything can be done on a decent smartphone.
What benefits will TikTok bring?
TikTok gives your business the chance to show its human face. Business brands are often faceless and, increasingly, customers want to see more about the company, the people who work there and the things they care about. This helps to build a deeper relationship and is more likely to convert potential buyers to customers. You can measure your success too – giving you a much better idea on return on investment than you get from many traditional marketing channels. In terms of deciding the strategy for social media management for business success, TikTok represents a way to reach a new, engaged audience and raise your profile.
How to get started
Like most social media channels, it’s easy to get started with TikTok. Just download the free app from your app store, and create an account. Once you have done this, you can go to the ‘manage my account’ option and select ‘Switch to Pro Account’. You can then choose to open a business account to access a range of useful features.
Once you’ve set up your account, here are the things that our virtual social media support team suggest you do next:
Get used to how the platform works – take some time to look around, read the TikTok guides and become comfortable with how things work.
Look at other brand videos – check out the things that other businesses are posting on TikTok. Do this with big brands and with smaller companies. This will give you a good idea of the types of thing you can post, and what is getting noticed. Think about how you can use these ideas to promote your own brand.
Check out TikTok’s subcultures – there are a lot of different interest groups on TikTok. Have a look to see what’s happening in areas that might be related to your business, or to things that your staff are interested in. That way, you can target similar audiences.
Investigate hashtags – like other platforms, hashtags help users find the type of content they want to see. Look at the hashtags that might be most useful to your business.
Find your way around the business dashboard – as well as access to license-free music, and analytics on your videos, there’s also a lot of help and advice for business users. Find out as much as you can about the resources and tools you can use to create the best content.
Get a strategy and get started! Take the time to think about what you want to achieve with TikTok, how often you are able to post, how you are going to interact, and what sort of content you can produce. Then take a deep breath and post your first video! Remember that social media is about the long term – you’ll need to build an audience and ‘going viral’ is a rare event. And if you need to, enlist the support of a social media assistant who can help you upload and manage engagement so that you can use TikTok consistently and successfully.
If this guide has made you think that it’s time to check out what TikTok can do for you, and you think you might need some social media marketing assistance, why not call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above to find out more?