TikTok is massive. These words describe perfectly the light-hearted app you catch yourself scrolling through endlessly after a long day at work or during your mundane commute in the subway.
Everyone from influencers, celebrities, teens, and your grandma are on TikTok. On the surface, the platform seems like a place for funny relatable videos, lip-syncing and the famous TikTok dance videos, or the occasional cringe-worthy content that makes you question everything.
A lot of business-oriented people still think that there is no place for showcasing their products and services but there’s so much potential for their business to utilize the app and reach their audience in a creative and fun way.
What is TikTok and how much do people use the platform?
TikTok bills itself as an app where short mobile videos are the main focus of the features. Videos can be anywhere from 5 to 60 seconds. The main draw of the app is that anyone can become famous or an influencer from the comfort of their bedroom.
Users can easily add eye-catching filters and effects and you’re also given a huge library of music you can access to add to your videos.
The algorithm uses AI to provide users with recommendations on which videos they should watch based on their past viewings which makes it easy for users to discover new content, and this also makes it easy to create viral sensations.
The app has over 2 billion yes billion downloads and it has more than 800 million active users worldwide and is growing day by day.
The main demographic of users are teenagers and young adults aka Gen Z and Millennials. 32.5% of TikTok users in the US are aged between 10 and 19 years old, and 29.5% are between 20 to 29 years.
The sheer volume of users there can provide access to a huge untapped audience and it appears that it’s much easier for video content to become viral on TikTok than on other video-sharing social media channels.
There are over 150 different countries, and viral videos on the platform can reach all over the world. If you’re looking at reaching international markets, then TikTok is an effective platform for reaching new markets.
Why you should care about TikTok?
You might be sitting and thinking why do I need another social media platform for my business I’m already full with the other ones, and that is a completely valid concern. But we can argue that is an investment worthwhile because TikTok is a relatively new platform with a focus on gaining and attracting more users rather than heavily monetizing the platform, therefore it can be easy for marketers to make the most out of TikTok by spending the most on content and garner maximum reach in a short period.
You can leverage the most popular content and use it to your advantage when creating your own content.
How to start your business on TikTok?
If you finally decided to give it a try and move into the dark side the best advice would be to try to understand and explore the platform before you start building up your content. You would need to see what other competitors and brands are doing because following your LinkedIn or Facebook strategy won’t get you far on there.
Here are some things to do before you become a full-blown TikToker.
1. Understand your target audience – Take some time to understand what your competitors are doing and who your target audience is and what content they enjoy.
2. Create your own videos – Sounds pretty standard. No one will ask you to reinvent the wheel. It’s working just fine so stick to the formula. Brainstorm ideas and get inspired by everyone else and get a phone camera (nothing fancy), and start recording. You may add music filters and other fun effects to make your video more engaging.
3. Repurpose old content – If you already have produced content for your other social media channels don’t be afraid to post it on TikTok.
While TikTok is a place for more entertaining and lighthearted content your brand needs to have a clear image it conveys throughout all social media platforms. Your overall brand needs to be concise and not completely different from place to place.
4. Create a regular posting schedule – Posting regularly on TikTok is the best way the increase your chance for your content to become “seen” or even better “viral”.
Some of your content wont get as many views as you hoped for but once in a while, you will hit the jackpot where a video that you didn’t put much effort it or you least expected goes viral and gets you new followers and engagement. That way you can use links in your profile so more people can click on your website or Facebook page.
So we can say that you can look at the best times to post on TikTok that will guarantee you a lot of engagement.
5. Use hashtags – If you want to get discovered you need to research which hashtags are trending, what hashtags your target audience clicks on and what hashtags relate to your business the most.
Hashtags have to make sense for your videos not just because it’s the most popular and trending ones. Users who click on your videos on unrelated hashtags will get annoyed and disappointed and the chance of them going back to your page falls to zero.
6. Be creative – TikTok allows you to be creative and make your own content which can be seen as an investment for your brand. If you create interesting, fun, and educating content that sparks conversation about social issues or relevant topics, it will help drive the engagement up.
Making the step forward
We are happy to share these tips and information about the platform and the ball is in your hands now. If you have ever thought about starting your TikTok we hope that this blog post has helped you make that decision.
