How to Grow Your Business on TikTok
Learn How to Grow Your Business on Tik Tok using this FREE Guide.
Guest post by Madison Schramm
TikTok is the fastest growing social media app, surpassing Facebook and Instagram by a decade. It has around 1 billion monthly users and the highest ranking engagement time at 10.8 minutes. There are a lot of elements that go into crafting a viral TikTok and getting the hang of using the app in general. With a video based platform, the creativity is endless and people are constantly looking for more content to consume. Now, let’s learn How to Grow Your Business on TikTok in six easy steps.
Check our previous post about Social Media Ads here.
Switch from a Personal to a Business Account
Typically, a personal account would be a better option to work with since a business account limits what songs you can use for your videos (and trending audios are key). But TikTok just recently implemented in-app shopping for all business users. This allows you to link your store for people to shop right from your account as well as live shopping–so embrace your inner QVC star. A link to your store is one the many easy ways to use TikTok to grow your business. This is an optional step, but if you feel an in-app store would benefit your business, follow these steps below to make the switch.
Switching your account to business is very simple.
First, you’ll hit the three lines at the top of your profile page.
Next, choose the “manage account” tab.
Then, select “switch to a business account.”
Now the fun part! You can choose which category aligns best with your business.
And voila, you’re officially a business TikTok account!
Craft the Perfect Profile
A general rule for breaking out onto any new social media platform is to keep your business profile the same on every account. This creates cohesion and shows your brand is put together and established. It can also help users identify you across different platforms! Use the same username, profile picture and colors with all of your social media accounts.
Here’s an example of one of my favorite jewelry brands, Adina’s Jewels. They use the same profile picture and content style across all their platforms.
When it comes to your bio, your business’ slogan, something witty or light is the best option. TikTok is a more creative and fun business environment so reflect that on your page as best you can. Good copy here will attract users and keep their attention so your can grow your business on Tik Tok.
One of the perks that comes with switching to a business TikTok account is having a link in your bio. Utilize this as a way to give easy access to your business’ website, about page or other social media platforms. I would recommend using an app like Milkshake which allows you to create one link to all your URLs.
Understanding the Algorithm
TikTok is unlike other social media platforms in the sense that almost any content can go viral at any given moment. The TikTok algorithm can be confusing, but a good way to begin to understand it is to pay attention to what audios are being used the most. To break down what audios are, they’re the sounds used in the background of your TikTok. Every so often a particular sound will be trending, gaining more views and being pushed to peoples “for you page” (users TikTok feed).
Staying current and up-to-date is extremely important on TikTok. Though it’s fast-moving and ever present content consumption is great, it also means that trends rise and fall in the blink of an eye.
Finding your Business’ Niche
What is your brand about? What does your business represent? These are some good questions to ask yourself when determining your niche. Since there are so many other users on TikTok, highlighting what sets you apart is extremely important. In other words: why should one follow “Suzie Bakes” when they already follow “Cakes By Carlos?”
Get Familiar with The App
Like starting fresh with anything, getting familiar and understanding how to use TikTok is a key element into creating good content. In order to use TikTok to grow your business your will need quality in your videos, instead of quantity. Though there is no right or wrong way to actually use this app, there are a few things that can make the experience more engaging and eye catching to your followers and prospective customers.
Recording
On TikTok, you have the option of recording up to a 15 second, 60 second or 3 minute video. Currently, it seems like the 7 second mark videos are what’s being pushed in the algorithm and what users are interacting with the most. To determine which videos are most popular, you’ll have to either look at trending audios or popular hashtags. Or you can literally just search “trending sounds” and the top three most popular audios will come up!
Audios
Arguably, one of the most important parts to a successful TikTok is the audio you chose to use. Picking trending sounds boosts your content and lands you on more users “for you page.” The best way to find what’s trending is to just use the app! Scroll through your feed and pay attention to what videos are being pushed, the sound they’re using and any buzzword hashtags that may have been in their caption.
Someone great to follow is @sydneyonsocials. She’s always posting what sounds are trending and also gives amazing tips on how to boost your engagement and grow your TikTok account.
Hashtags
Though hashtags have been helpful on other social media platforms, I haven’t seen them work quite like they do on TikTok. A while back there used to be specific trending hashtags that would come up as a suggestion to use in your caption. Now I notice that using a hashtag that directly relates to your video is doing better.
How do you determine a hashtag? Ask yourself what is your video about, what do you want people to take away from watching your video and what category does it fall under. Let’s say you’re a pizza parlor. Your video is about making a pizza, you want people to take away that you use fresh and all natural ingredients and it falls under the category of food. Your hashtags are: #Recipe #Cooking #Fresh #Organic #Food #PizzaLover.
If you want to find other trending hashtags just go to your “discover” page to find a list of the most popular hashtags that day.
Creating Good Content
What to Film
The most popular videos on TikTok typically fall under the “how to” category. Showing your audience how to use your product or how to do something related to your business is a good place to start your first video.
Story-time or discussion videos are also popular on the app. A way to spin that in a business perspective is to tell your business’ story. Who are you? How did you start? Why did you start? These are all good questions to format an introduction video.
How to Create
Recording with good lighting and a high quality phone camera is very important to creating the perfect video. Who wants to watch a video that looks like it was filmed on a potato? Editing with apps like Splice or Vixer also gives your TikTok an extra element of professionalism and entertainment.
If you need help creating content or finding ideas, get some help here.
Those are just a few tips on the many ins and outs if your want to grow your business on TikTok. It all really boils down to staying consistent and true to yourself and your brand. Last piece of advice: authenticity and relatability is very much valued on this platform.
Thanks for learning more about Social Media Marketing using this article on How to Grow Your Business on TikTok. If you need help growing your business with digital marketing please contact our team at Momentum!
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