TikTok Marketing: How To Use The Platform For Your Business

If you are looking to expand your business reach and grow your social following, moving onto TikTok is a great new resource for digital marketers.

If you are looking to expand your business reach and grow your social following, moving on to TikTok is a great new resource for digital marketers. And we have created the ultimate guide in using the platform for your business.

What is TikTok all about?

TikTok is a relatively new social media app where we see short snippets of videos from people everywhere, making it a user-generated platform. You can continuously scroll through endless short videos with no limits and can even tailor your feed to what you prefer to see. Anyone can post a video with an account and grow their following, exchange likes and share videos on different platforms with their friends.

If you use the platform, you are probably well aware of how one quick visit on the app soon turns to over an hour spent scrolling through videos for entertainment and before you know it, another hour has gone by and another after that.

The primary purpose of TikTok is to entertain youth demographics and meet the demand for video content, with many modern-day trends stemming from this platform. Usually, users tend to enjoy funny videos, but everyone has a different preference.

Organic TikTok Marketing

Marketing on TikTok has become more and more popular as 2024 has progressed. Although there are a variety of paid advertising options on the social media platform, before we discuss them we would like to discuss optimising your profile so you can market organically. First and foremost is making sure your bio has a CTA included and you add a link to your website. With TikTok, you can now advertise your eCommerce products through their shop tab if you have a shopify store. To do this you will need to download the TikTok app for Shopify and then set up from there.

Another way to market organically is through your content on TikTok. This includes making content that lines up with current trends and using relevant hashtags in the caption of your videos. Remember to engage with your community through your videos and other similar competitors’ content.

Is TikTok Relevant To Your Business?

There is a big misconception that only young people use this platform. And, while it is true that the majority of accounts belong to young adults, the truth is, there are a variety of ages using TikTok now. As the platform has grown, a greater diversity of people has taken to using it.

One main reason people use TikTok is to seek enjoyment and follow the latest trends. This very reason is how you can determine whether it is relevant to your business, understanding that you have to keep up with mainstream consumer trends to incorporate your business into the social media site effectively.

Is your business a serious and professional entity? Do not pack your bags and leave just yet! It is a case of being exposed to the right people, but as you are probably aware, this could be a smaller portion of potential customers compared to the more creative and entertainment side of TikTok. It is your business decision to determine whether it is worth the time, money and effort.

Pssst… it very much could still be worthy of some thought if you continue to read our guide, we will show you how to optimise your potential over on TikTok!

Increase Conversions With TikTok Advertising

The platform is growing, so there are now a few different TikTok advertising options to consider. Leaving your brand with an array of alternatives to choose from. Below we will discuss which methods could increase your conversions.

Advertising

Native Advertising

Native advertising in TikTok allows branded promotional content to be included in the feed of a user, commonly known as the For You page. These native advertisements typically contain links that drive to a homepage at the bottom but could drive to specific landing pages, or products, enabling you to tailor campaigns to in-market audience groups. With this option, a brand can bid on the ads, similar to Google Ads, giving you the ability to specifically narrow down your target market.

If your brand can target the right people, native advertising can lead to more interest, clicks and conversions for your business. Learn all about conversion rate optimisation here. Combine your knowledge of customers and target demographics with high-quality, eye-catching video content to succeed on TikTok’s native advertising. Do you need help defining your audiences?

Takeover

Another method of advertising is known as a takeover. As soon as a user opens the app, the first thing they will see is a full display of an ad you have chosen to run. Users will only see one of these per day as, putting yourself in a viewer’s shoes, seeing many ads when you just want to scroll for entertainment can be annoying. Due to this, the cost to run these types of advertisements is very expensive. This is something to take into consideration when evaluating whether you think it will be a reasonable spend for the company to invest in this form of advertising. As effective it may be, you only really get one shot to tempt someone to go through to your website or app download page.

Sponsored Hashtags

These are a form of advertisement on TikTok where brands create a challenge using a creative hashtag name and encourage people to take part in the challenge. This is a popular form of advertisement due to its ability to significantly increase reach. When someone clicks on a hashtag that is sponsored, they will be taken to a page containing the description of the challenge, a brand logo, the popular videos relating to that challenge, and most likely a link through to a website or other conversion type. To further your sponsored hashtags impression share, you can pay to show on the discovery banner within TikTok. However, there is another way that hashtags can be used similarly to this, only at a fraction of the cost.

We won’t keep you waiting, let me explain below…

Hashtag Challenges

These are very similar to the sponsored hashtags mentioned above; however, you don’t need the budget. While you won’t get the coverage and reach of sponsored hashtags, you can still gain brand awareness on an epic scale. If your brand is trying to get its name out there, but you have a limited social media marketing budget, then this may be the digital marketing practice for you.

Creating a hashtag challenge is a way to encourage user-generated content, benefiting your brand by way of positive reviews and product showcases. The more people you reach with your challenge, the more likely you are to increase website visits and possibly conversions.

Influencer Promotion

Influencer promotion is where brands pay popular influencers to promote your product or service in their videos on TikTok. This usually consists of some type of hashtag challenge too, as it promotes user-generated content, so coupling two activities in one campaign could see your business benefit.

While influencer campaigns are at the top of everyone’s digital marketing strategy, and nor should they be, influencer promotion on TikTok really shines on this platform. The social media site has a large pool of popular influencers with huge followings who have fans that are crazy for just about anything they peddle. They’re seen as a lot of people’s idols and enabling an influencer to promote your brand could turn their fans into your new customers.

It can’t hurt your brand to do some research on popular influencers who may fit your purpose and reach out to them. Too many businesses make the mistake of using an influencer to promote them without actually researching whether the audience is the correct fit. Another downside to this is that influencers are human. They make mistakes, which could potentially have knock-on effects on your brand.

If you consider influencer promotion, be cautious about the influencers you consider and do your research on their background and online presence.

Branded Lenses

Branded lenses are customised stickers, filters and lenses that individuals can use which contains your branding on them, yet another type of advertisement with the possibility of user-generated content! Involving a community in your brand is the best thing on Tik-Tok that you can do for your business.

Using good-quality, branded lenses can increase engagement, which equals more conversions for you. This brand new personalisation method allows your brand to show who you are through custom filters. Making this option a creative form of advertisement for your business.

Engagement

Placing your brand on this platform means you can’t just follow the same approach you take to other social media such as Twitter or Instagram. TikTok is very different, it requires you to show content with a light-hearted approach while taking on the latest trends.

Engaging on TikTok means taking advantage of hashtags and tagging similar accounts in your industry to your content. Communicating with others is also very important, being able to make conversation will make someone feel a lot more valued by your brand.

So, there you have it! These are all the best ways we believe you could utilise this platform for your business. If you have lingering questions in your mind such as, “what is the purpose of TikTok,” or, “is TikTok good for business,” then we hoped this article has helped you gain an answer to that. It isn’t easy when you are new to TikTok, so we don’t want you to feel as though you have been thrown in the deep end. The amount of people using TikTok for enjoyment is way more than most other platforms, taking your business to it could be just what you need. Don’t be afraid to try out TikTok marketing… we can always help you with it!

Contact us today if you are seeking help in growing your social media platforms or check out our service page to see briefly what we can do for you!

We tailor every approach to who we work with. We believe your company has to be the central focus of all marketing strategy.