How To… TikTok for Business

I’m going to fess up now… I am OBSESSED with TikTok! It took a while, but now I go to look at the app and 2 hours later, I’m still on there! (Might have overcooked the dinner the other night…!)

It seems that I am not the only one. Studies have shown that 35% of TikTok users say they spend less time watching television and listening to podcasts since joining the platform.

TikTok is popular with teens and Gen Z but there are influencers of all ages on there too. The average age of a TikTok user is between 15-25 years old. If your business is looking to target a younger audience, this is the platform for you.

More and more businesses are now jumping on the bandwagon with captivating and creative videos to get their brand noticed in a new way.

If you’re creative and want to find new ways of engaging a new, younger audience, it’s definitely worthwhile. With 1 BILLION active users, it’s the fastest growing social media platform and one that you should explore as a business.

1. Setting Up and Research

Setting up an account on TikTok is pretty easy. My advice with all of these blogs is to use a profile picture that your customers will instantly recognise.

You’ll be asked if you want to switch your account to a Pro Account and what category you fit into (particularly useful for when it comes to looking at the analytics). The usual fields of website, email address will need to be filled in, along with Instagram and YouTube accounts you’d like to link your Tiktok account to (optional).

If you’re completely new to TikTok, I would definitely recommend doing some research first before posting anything. Resarch your competition, but also what everyone else is doing – what are the latest trends that people are jumping onto? Play around with the editing features and latest filters too.

2. Planning and Goals

TikTok isn’t a social media platform that as a business, you can just post whenever you want saying whatever you want. It needs careful planning and goals set out from the very beginning.

What do you want to get out of TikTok?
What kind of content would you like to post?
Live videos, funny videos, educational, promotional?
Who is your target audience?

A content calendar is a good way of making sure you’re on top of all the important dates you don’t want to miss. Having written those down, you’ll have plenty of time to think about and create a great video.

3. Best time to post

You’ll notice on TikTok that there will be a ‘For You’ page which is personalised to your specific tastes, based on content you’ve interacted with. This means when your followers or potential followers login, they’ll be presented with your content if they have liked something similar in the past.

The For You page means it’s not really about when you post but actually how often. TikTok recommends posting 1-4 times a day which fits in with their algorithms and gets your content infront of more people. Making a video takes time and posting this amount might not work for every business. Make sure you keep an eye on engagement to see if this is right for you.

You are able to tell when most of your followers are online to make doubly sure you’re going to get their attention. This information can be found under your Profile, click the three lines on the top right, Creator Tools, and Analytics.

4. Leave the corporate image behind…

This platform is VERY different to the likes of LinkedIn and Twitter.

TikTok users want to see what a brand is all about. This means bringing the vibe of the company to the fore and being authentic (yes, I know many of you will be going, “ergh” at this phrase, but it’s so true!).

Check out Duolingo’s TikTok page. They make really entertaining and funny videos, going viral everytime they post.

Showing a different side to the company is one that will get you great engagment.

5.  How to tell if TikTok is working for your business

With all social media platforms, you want to know if it’s worthwhile.

You can measure your brand awareness by the following:

• Post Reach – how many people have seen your post since it went live
• Followers – how many followers have you gained over a certain time period
• Mentions – how many people are mentioning your brand compared to the competition

If your goal is to increase traffic to your website, has this happened since joining the platform?

6. Talk to your audience

As with all social media platforms, it’s vital that you are engaging with your audience. People love it when they get a reply from a company they follow, it shows there is a human being behind the posts and shows that you genuienly care about their opinion.

Not only do your followers get something out of this interaction, the business does too. Through this interaction, you’ll find out what content is working best and what they love most about your brand. Having a following that is completely engaged with your business is great for when you are about to launch a new product.

There you have it – some tips on how to get TikTok working for your business.

Check out the other How To blogs in this Social Media series here.

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