You don’t have to be a business that caters to Gen Z in order to be able to find a home amongst the 1 billion plus users on the video sharing platform. Let’s take a look at the why and how of marketing your small business on TikTok.
I am a 50 year old white guy. I also have a TikTok account. And the trends are starting to show that I am not alone.
I did something with my TikTok account that I don’t often do with other apps I download: I synced it with my contacts and Facebook page. Let’s call it an experiment. The result was only slightly surprising: a lot of my friends and colleagues are also on TikTok. Something new is happening. An older demographic is starting to grow on TikTok, and at a relatively fast pace.
This is why I say it is a great time to get your small business on TikTok, regardless of which generation(s) your business typically markets to.
We all know that Gen Z and Millennials have been binging content on the platform for years now. That made it kind of risky for some businesses to expend time and effort to learn the ins and outs of TikTok as a marketing platform. But as the user base grows and becomes a more diverse group, even businesses that didn’t want to seem cringe-y in the eyes of a younger audience can now find their niche on TikTok.
In fact, I believe that small businesses actually have an advantage on TikTok. Here are a few of reasons why.
Being authentic is a huge key to success on TikTok. A small business on TikTok has a far better chance of connecting with an audience without having it seem to be a cynical money grab. Huge corporations will have a much harder time doing that.
Putting your best face forward is another TikTok must. A large majority of the videos on TikTok contain a person talking to the camera, or at least a voiceover. Small businesses have a face (or faces) already out there interacting with the public, even if that face is not the owner. Short of hiring an expensive spokesperson, a corporation doesn’t necessarily have that kind of person already queued up.
TikTok makes organic reach easy to attain. Yes, there are paid advertising opportunities available on TikTok. But, considering the premium placed on being authentic on the app, having your posts tagged with a “sponsored” box seems like more of a detriment than a solid marketing strategy. As a small business on TikTok you can niche down and really work on content that speaks directly to your audience.
Lastly, video creation doesn’t have to be super slick and shiny on TikTok. In fact, most of the videos on the platform have a bit of a rough feel to them. Yes, there will be a learning curve involved in figuring out how to use the features included in the app. Once you crack that code, however, your videos don’t need to have a professional touch in order to be served up along with everyone else’s content. It levels the playing field between corporate marketing departments with deep pockets and the little guy out there DIYing his way onto the scene.
Ready to get your small business on TikTok?
Research, research, research.
The first step in your small business TikTok marketing journey has got to be research. Start out by just spending time on the app, watching what is going on. See what others are doing. You’ll begin to pick up on the different styles of videos that are being created.
Next, do a search to see if anyone else in the same line of business as you is already creating content. This will give you an idea of how popular your industry is on the platform and some insight into the different approaches that people are using to promote their businesses.
Search for hashtags that you, or others in your industry, are going to use. Hashtags are a key driver in TikTok’s algorithm. They will help to get your content pushed out to users who don’t know you exist (yet). Compile a list of relevant hashtags, but be sure you don’t just pick the most popular ones. You’ll have a better chance of competing for attention with some mildly popular tags (especially early on).
Plan out your content.
This step is crucial. You want to be posting to the app consistently. Avoid the temptation of putting out your first TikTok and sitting back to watch the views and likes come rolling in. You need to have your next moves all mapped out. This platform moves quickly. Having a plan for your first several videos will take the pressure off in the long run.
Decide what style videos you want to do. As a small business on TikTok, you should never simply create ad-like content. You need to give the audience what it is looking for, namely entertainment. Show your audience a personal side of your business. Here are a few examples of the different approaches I have seen used successfully on TikTok.
- Behind The Scenes: Show your team doing their jobs or the different processes that go into making your product. This works especially well with handmade products. People love to see the process of creating things.
- FAQs: Answer the key questions that people have about your business or products. Alternatively, you can show different uses for your products that some people may not intuitively figure out on their own.
- Infotainment: Share facts and entertaining tidbits about your business or products. If you have more of a service based business, this could be where you show off some of your expertise.
Script out your moves. Maybe you’re a great improvisor, but most people aren’t. Having your lines scripted out will help you keep your delivery tight. The same thing goes for any video content you plan to use. Determine ahead of time what angles and moves that you will make with your camera or phone. Don’t make anything up on the fly.
Create your TikToks
This is where the fun starts. You’ve got your plan and you’re ready to shoot your video. Set up a block of time on your schedule dedicated to content creation. You’re far more likely to follow through on your content plan if you have time freed up ahead of time, rather than waiting for an open moment to come along.
Create your videos in batches. You are going to want to feed the TikTok algorithm plenty of content to work with, and having multiple videos set up and ready to be uploaded into the app will guarantee that you can do just that. You can film longer form videos and then break them up into shorter, TikTok sized clips in order to create a whole series of TikToks.
Keep your TikToks short. Another aspect of the TikTok algorithm that you need to keep in mind is that it rewards you for the length of time people watch your videos. Therefore, it becomes easier to get someone to watch your complete video if it is brief and gets to the point quickly. Hook your audience early, get to your point, and get out.
Use the functionality and features of TikTok. While recording your video ahead of time is a good idea, don’t go all out and add text, graphics or music to your video. TitTok wants you to use their editing features as much as possible and will reward you for doing so. Or, more specifically, they will push your content out less if you do not use their app’s features.
There’s plenty more to learn when it comes to creating a successful TikTok account for your business.
These are just some of the basics that can get you started on the road to TikTok marketing mastery. Have fun with it. Getting your small business on TikTok can create a lot of chances for engagement with your ideal customers.
The TikTok experience is becoming more diverse. People of all ages, lifestyles and interests are spending big chunks of their time each day on the app.
This is the perfect time for your business to consider shifting some of it’s marketing attention to TikTok. Your audience is there, no matter how niche the segment of the world you serve. There’s tremendous potential for being discovered by people who may not have otherwise found you in the noisy, vast online universe. With some careful planning and a good amount of creative energy, you can become someone’s new favorite TikTok creator.