TikTok is a new and confusing frontier for many business owners who fail to see the possibilities it offers. While it has a reputation for being a time-waster for teens and twenty-somethings, it represents a significant opportunity for enterprising business owners.
TikTok isn’t for everyone–if your demographic doesn’t overlap with the mostly young user base, it might not do much for you. However, if it does, you can increase brand awareness, build a following, advertise your products, provide customer service, and get live feedback from customers!
Influencer Marketing
Influencers do exactly that–influence. While you might not have the budget to get some of the app’s mega-stars that make tens of thousands of dollars per sponsored post, there are hundreds of small to mid-level influencers that have a niche following in your industry, and it’s a simple yet effective way to advertise your products and establish a following. With the influencer method, you don’t even need to have a creative team to come up with TikToks! However, it doesn’t hurt to have one.
Get Creative
With a business TikTok account, you can start making your own organic content in no time! You can truly create your own brand voice with limitless options for videos, whether you want to show off your products in use, give viewers a behind the scenes look at daily operations, or go completely out of the box with a memorable video, the world is your oyster. Brands are blowing up every day on TikTok for their ingenuity and humanization of their business. Whether you’re hopping on a trend or doing something completely original, the playing field is level for everyone.
Advertising On TikTok
Similar to Facebook and Instagram, TikTok has an advertising platform that allows businesses to bid for ad placement as users scroll through their feed. If you have some startup capital to spend, this is a great option, with plenty of brands seeing success advertising on TikTok. There are three basic types of ads on TikTok:
- In-Feed Ads: These are ads you make yourself and appear as users scroll through. They can be image ads and video ads, or spark ads, which is a boost of content you already have.
- Ads For Managed Brands: In-feed ads with additional formatting available to users who work with a TikTok sales representative, who you can contact online.
- Topview ads: These ads play when users first open the app, and cannot be skipped, similar to YouTube ads that play before a video.
Getting Started on TikTok
Don’t know how to get started? Look up your competitors to see if they’re already using TikTok. Look at their engagement numbers and see what has and hasn’t worked, and try to find influencers that have a niche in your line of work. By expanding your reach, you’ll have a complete picture of how to attack your TikTok marketing strategy.
