One of the most common tips you’ll get as a small business owner is being active on social media. This resource is invaluable. It’s open to all (usually for free) and gives you a chance to engage with your customers, stay informed about their likes and dislikes, and seek out potential customers. If you aren’t already taking advantage of that, it’s never too late to get started!
Facebook and Instagram are great places to start on social media, but if you’re feeling adventurous with your content creation, feel free to head over to TikTok! Since 2018, the app has paved the way for some users to rise to the hall of fame and has been one of the most popular platforms for short-form video content since Vine.
If you aren’t familiar with TikTok, here’s the rundown. TikTok was previously known as Musical.ly, a short-form video streaming and sharing app where users primarily showed off their lip-syncing and dancing skills. It contained a large library of popular music snippets and sounds for users to utilize when creating content. After the app was bought out in 2018, the short-form video concept remained the same, but with more broad brands of content. You’re still able to utilize the library of sounds and song snippets it offers, along with special effects, video filters, and even sounds from other users.
The app recently added features that allow users to be more engaged with each other in the form of reaction-based content and their digital well-being feature. All of these features combined with celebrity endorsements, localized content, and easy sharing options have allowed brands to leverage the space on a global scale. TikTok is a fun and addictive app that has the potential to become the next big social media marketing platform. Get ahead of your competitors and get started with these tips!
Get Involved in the current trends
For anyone seeking out their 15 minutes of fame on TikTok, the most common tip you’ll get is to hop on the trends. There’s a new trend on TikTok practically every week. These trends can range from dances to memes to challenges and more. Many popular creators on TikTok will customize trends to better fit their aesthetic or brand. It can be easy to create content that sticks to your overall message. Using trending sounds and slightly altering the message is by far one of the most common ways to do this. Simply record your video and tap the “Add Sound” button at the top of your screen. From there, you can search for specific sounds or choose from the trending list conveniently provided by TikTok. Add any additional content you’d like to customize! You can add captions, stickers, filters, and so much more.
Consistently post high-quality content
Like most other social media platforms, consistency is super important in staying relevant. Many users on TikTok will binge-watch their favorite creators and having a lot of content for them to consume is more likely to get you a follow. If you are really serious about making it on TikTok, we recommend posting once a day. That sounds like a lot, but for TikTok, you can’t really post too much. With TikTok leaning more toward short-form content, we only recommend this if you post shorter videos. There is an option on TikTok where you can extend your video to a whole three minutes! If this is the content you tend to post more regularly then you can cut down the number of times you post. However, no matter how many times a week you post, always make sure you are posting relevant and high-quality content. You don’t have to have pro-level videos, but keep in mind what type of quality you like to see when you’re scrolling through TikTok.
Create follow up content quickly
You’ve done it. You created a video that got you lots of traction and engagement and the people want more! Make new content and make it fast. Engagement speed is an important factor in being in favor of the algorithm. Not only that, but your fans will be happy to see you’ve engaged back with them so quickly. This will push any additional videos you make further and maximize your reach. A frequent tactic that users will utilize is starting a story and ending it with a cliffhanger. This definitely gets users engaged and wanting more, but the longer you wait to post a follow up the faster you’ll lose engagement. Many users will use the comment section as a way to ask what happens next. Be sure to keep up to date on what people are saying in the comment section to know when you should be following up on past videos. You can also use the stitch or duet features in the share options of your videos to provide instant context to any new viewers. This ensures you are covering all your bases.
Network with other TikTokers
Networking on social platforms is just as important as networking in everyday business. Be sure to reach out to your fellow TikTokers and come up with fun ways to collaborate! You can reach out to people in your industry or go completely outside of the box to create something really unique. It may sound cliche to say “think outside the box”, but never underestimate the power of your ability to come up with something new. Keeping up with trends can definitely be useful, but you can also be the one to start them!
Find your niche
You’ll find the frequent flyers talking about being on certain “sides” of TikTok. These are basically different genres of content that will appear on their feed often if they have a lot of engagement with it or similar topics. There’s dancing TikTok, cooking TikTok, organizing TikTok, even cow TikTok. No matter what kind of TikTok you are, find out what it is and stick to it. Even if it’s something you’ve never seen before, it can still be popular. If you’re following the tips above you have the potential to do well in whatever niche you’d like.
As you go on your TikTok journey just remember that some videos will do well and others won’t. If you aren’t seeing the results you want right away, don’t be discouraged! Every new like, view, and comment is one step closer to viral. Keep experimenting and stay involved! You’ll find there’s so much to discover on the app so don’t be afraid to pull inspiration from your peers. We hope these TikTok tips help and if they do let us know!
