Is TikTok Right for Your Small Business?

Is TikTok right for your small business? Here’s an introduction to help you decide in 2022. 

You’ve seen them on the news, you may even be a fan yourself. But have you thought about how to use them to connect your small business with people who might just love to BUY from you?

What are they? TikTok videos—and a whole lot more. In fact, this arena has quickly grown into much more than just another song-and-dance app for tweens and teens! 

While the heart of TikTok is certainly the videos, some businesses are finding that the more-playful, more-inclusive, less-competitive culture and engagement tools the app offers is helping them grow connections with followers more easily than you might imagine. 

But before we get to the tools, let’s take a moment to catch you up on TikTok in 2022*.

Intro to the TikTok community

• Over 36% of its 1B (yes, 1,000,000,000) users are 35-54. https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-stats/
• Across the board, what users are looking for is funny, entertaining content. 
• Adult users spend 33 minutes per day on TikTok.
• Both users and creators turn to it because they feel good while using it—the majority of users around the world report that they feel they can be more “themselves” on this platform, and can relate to the content they find there. 
• And, 59% say they feel a sense of community while on the platform. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-shares-new-insights-into-why-people-use-the-app-and-how-it-celebrat/608617/
• Users tend to spend more time on TikTok, and interact with creators more (there’s that community experience again) than on other social venues.
• PLUS, it’s also the top app for consumer spending. 

Making the Go/No-Go Decision to Participate

Of course, as a business, you also have to weigh the benefits against the size of your potential buyer audience, the time you’d invest in strategy, content creation, and actively engaging… 

Before you make a decision, spend time on the app as a user. Follow businesses like yours, as well as other businesses accounts, to see what’s working, what’s not, and get ideas. 

If you decide to go forward, be sure you set goals (what do you want to achieve? what will success look like—both as a creator and as a business?).

Also create a realistic plan for how to be consistent—who will create and interact? Does someone in-house have time and ability, or will you outsource it?  

Tips for making the most of your TikTok activity

• Add captions — good use of captions helps people quickly grasp your message, add humor and make it more likely people will engage and remember your content
• Use the Q&A section that’s available on your profile to add questions that your followers can respond to.
• One of the most unique and exciting options is being able to respond to comments by video, vs just text—so be sure to do this!
• Have a clever tip? Share it! 
• Participate in popular challenges—it’s a great way to showcase your team’s personality and be “real” with followers.
• Incorporate trending songs, sounds and/or hashtags so you give your posts the greatest leverage.
• Be quick: skip the long preludes or setups. Share the message you want people to get in a bold way that’s true to YOU and your brand.
• Post often (and especially in the evening, when more people are watching).

Most important of all, PLEASE remember: this is not the place for commercials! The only exception MIGHT be if you’ve got a knack for creating entertaining concepts (think: Doritos superbowl spots) that highlight your business and/or benefits in a fun or moving way. But only occasionally, and only after really diving in and understanding the TikTok environment.

Finally, if you’d like to test advertising on TikTok, they make it relatively simple to get started, offering: 

• a Beginner’s Guide
• A Video Creation Kit (complete with templates that let you get started with your existing images),
• and an automated ad delivery tool for putting your ads out into the world.

Is TikTok right for your small business? Only you can say, but this overview should give you a good idea of what the app has to offer in 2022 – and if you’d like to dig deeper into its potential for your business, we’re here to help!