TikTok for business? TikTok marketing strategy? But isn’t that the social media platform just for young people sharing dance moves? Well, it was until business owners discovered its limitless potential.
To learn about the untapped potential of TikTok that can accelerate anyone’s social media marketing strategy I’ve been speaking with Megan Vincetta from Alcimi.
Megan is a professional content creator who provides strategies and support for TikTok and Instagram. She’s created over 6 million TikTok engagements and is so passionate about what she does that she can’t help but inspire others to start their own TikTok journey.
Before I unleash some TikTok tips and astonishing facts about the most downloaded app of 2021, let’s take a quick look at the many benefits you could be enjoying:
- It helps you get exposure globally, you can grow followers relatively quickly as it’s one of the newer platforms.
- It makes life easier with its easy to navigate video creation tools.
- It’s feature-rich meaning you can easily achieve a unique look to suit your brand.
It helps you to find new audiences and introduces your brand to people who enjoy the type of content you are sharing.
Observers and creators
There are generally two types of people on TikTok; those who are there to consume the content and those who create videos to showcase what they do.
Observers are there to be entertained, to soak up new facts and learn about topics. If you can delight them with your own engaging content, you can influence them to take a positive action. That could be in the form of a like, a comment or a share to help you achieve greater reach. And ultimately that positive action could be to buy your goods or pay to use your service.
Megan has every reason to shout about the potential of TikTok. Above you’ll see one of Megan’s accounts, ‘how_to_british’, a fun approach that embraces the uniqueness of us Brits and our language. It’s a relatively simple concept, but just look at the stats!
What is TikTok exactly?
You’ll probably already know that it’s one of the latest social media platforms to arrive on the scene. Its aim is to share video content about anything and everything and have something for everyone.
Just go for it
If ever you’ve thought to yourself, “TikTok isn’t for my business” then you may want to reconsider as there is untapped potential that your competitors may snap up.
Megan’s advice is to go for it. It’s not as saturated as the other social media platforms so now is the time to make your voice heard.
- Don’t overthink it. Just create some short and simple videos that you know your target audience will enjoy watching.
- Really get across your message in an engaging way.
- Practice using the tools and experiment with the filters.
- Capture your audience’s attention in the first 3 seconds.
- Find something that’s trending and relevant to what you do and run with that.
- Be generous with your knowledge!
And like all the other platforms, try using all the available tools, experiment with your messaging, mix up the images, etc. and see which ones attract the most engagement.
Attention spans and length of TikTok videos
The length of TikTok videos can vary from 5 seconds to 3 minutes. But be mindful, this isn’t YouTube! The best performing TikTok videos tend to me the short and snappy ones – the ones that convey a quick message in an entertaining, engaging, and succinct way.
The algorithms of TikTok will reward your videos when they get watched in their entirety, so the shorter they are, the more likely they’ll get watch until the end. Aim to make 8 second videos at the beginning of your journey.
You’re aiming for users to interact as well as to watch all of the video to increase your reach. If the followers that receive your video view and interact with it then TikTok will share it to more of your followers and wider. This cycle continues and the numbers quickly grow.
What is TikTok for business and how do you sell on TikTok?
It’s about creating content that is engaging and that resonates with your intended audience. And the more generous you are with your knowledge the more likely your followers will turn to your business when they need you. Your profile can include a link to your website, or any web page, so people looking at your profile will be able to click through to your website.
It’s okay to showcase your product or service in the last couple of seconds of any video too. As long as the message isn’t too salesy, it will be received well. Although you can’t put links on your videos.
There is an option to have your very own TikTok shop. When a business sets up TikTok shopping, a shopping tab is added to their profile. Products may also appear in the TikTok shop section. This means that your customers are only one click away from buying from you! Fantastic for online retailers.
Discover new things
You can discover anything about any topic. For example, let’s say you’re after some cooking tips, all you do is use the right hashtags. Type #LearnWithTikTok followed by #cooking in the ‘search accounts’ bar to start exploring.
Go on and experiment and see what comes up. This will also get your creative juices flowing and give you some ideas on the kind of content you could be using that will attract potential clients.
TikTok Tips for Small Business: Exploring TikTok features for optimum outcome
If you’re new to TikTok don’t expect your first video to go viral. My first video had 29 views, I had just one TikTok follower – my daughter! My sixth video had 658 TikTok views, which wasn’t bad considering I only had 11 followers. Here’s my TikTok profile have a look and give it a follow! www.tiktok.com/@socialmediaexec
The more effort you put into your content, the more you’ll get out of it, and it really is worth persevering and finding the right formula that works for you. And once you’ve found it, your opportunity to go viral on TikTok will become greater.
Creating a video on something that’s hugely popular may be a mistake in your first few months as so many other creators will be doing the same thing. Remember, consumers love unique content! Head to the Discovery Page where you can see topics which have had lots of views – if you see something that is just starting to trend this is your moment to shine.
Have fun getting to know the app video editing features, there really is a lot to explore and you can borrow sounds from other people too.
TikTok facts:
- TikTok is downloaded 1million times a month in the UK
- There are over 4.14 billion users
- The average user spends 52 minutes on the app
- 50% of TikTok users are over the age of 34
In 2022 these figures are likely to rise!
Top TikTok tips to grow your audience
You don’t need to get hung up on the number of followers that you have. What you need to do to achieve great visibility or to become a viral sensation is to work on increasing the number of likes, shares, and comments that you get – these are the things that matter the most. Top tips include:
- Don’t make ads, videos that are salesy will not do well on TikTok. Entertain and educate.
- Look at what’s trending and put your own unique spin on it
- Captivate people to watch within the first 3 seconds
- Vertical video performs the best, with good lighting and sound
- Keep it short, particularly if you’re new to TikTok
To encourage interaction, make the consumer feel as if they’re having a conversation with you. Talk to them directly and make them feel special. Unlike its rivals, TikTok invest heavily in features that benefit businesses. It actually wants you to do well and grow your business. You’ll see that for yourself once you get familiar with the tools.
When you reach over 1000 followers, the kind folk of TikTok will invite you to online workshops and seminars to learn even more. Your success is their success.
Want to follow the experts and get more inspiration and tips?
Looking for daily inspiration for those TikTok videos
No problem! I’ve designed this Special Days of the Year wall planner just for you. It’s the perfect size for popping up on your office wall and everyday has an awareness day or event listed for inspiration.I guarantee it will boost your social media marketing strategy and inspire you to craft an engaging TikTok video in no time at all.
Head over to my online shop and get yours before they run out. or click on the button below.
Bye for now,
Becs
