Have you ever wondered to yourself, “is TikTok good for business?” And have you ever wondered how you can turn your brand viral on this legendary platform?
With so much competition on this platform, knowing how to promote your small business on TikTok is no easy task. The good news is though, that with the right strategies and some out-of-the-box TikTok marketing ideas, you can be successful with this quest.
Throughout the pandemic, many brands pivoted to follow various “TikTok strategy 2021” guides which were focused on TikTok marketing ideas that were applicable during the pandemic. With stay-at-home restrictions in place, the platform rose in popularity and had a surge of users. But just like with anything, people and apps evolve. That means if you were conducting searches such as “how to use TikTok for business 2021” now, what you would find would be outdated ideas. Now, not only is TikTok popular, but users make money off the platform – and you can too if you update your strategy.
Today, TikTok is considered to be just as popular (if not more popular) than Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, so brands across the globe have begun to use this app for their company’s marketing as well. Just like influencers have become viral on TikTok, brands have also gone viral, and the companies that haven’t are left wondering how they too can use TikTok for business in 2022.
If you want to learn more, you’ve come to the right place. Below we’ve compiled the top four TikTok marketing ideas to help you on your TikTok viral branding journey.
4 marketing ideas about how to use TikTok for business in 2022
- Become familiar with the app
If you aren’t familiar with TikTok yet, then you’ll want to become familiar before you start attempting to turn your brand viral.
To get started, follow these steps below:
- Download and sign-up for a business TikTok account (this is different than a personal account, but it’s easy to navigate – just go to “Edit Profile,” tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner, and then select “Manage Account”).
- Once you sign up, scroll through the two TikTok main feeds to become more familiar with the type of content that generates hype.
- Beyond simply scrolling, look more at the content comments, followers, and other TikTok features beyond the feed.
- And finally, spend some time actively using the app (beyond just scrolling and creating content) to get a feel of what posting is like and what the vibe of the app is.
If you have a business account, you’ll also want to utilize TikTok’s Business Center. This is a helpful tool that will help you organize and manage your business’s TikTok account by assisting you in managing your users, advertising, assets, and finances and tracking your marketing campaign performance for you!
If you have plans to use TikTok for marketing, then you must know the app inside and out. TikTok differs from other social media platforms since it’s not merely sharing an image or text. You’re sharing videos and coming up with content that users will be interested in. This is especially hard for businesses if you aren’t familiar with the platform and audience you are targeting.
- Be Funny
Since TikTok is a visual app that is used to create and share short video clips, users are regularly jumping on board with different challenges and trends. What appears to be the number one rule brands on TikTok 2021 followed throughout the pandemic, and what most users will encourage you to do, is make people laugh. Most users, if they aren’t on for business purposes, are on the app to get a chuckle out of the content.
There are many lessons to learn from some of the funniest, and most viral, TikToks of all time. Take Brittany Broski’s Kombucha Taste Test or “Bunny” the talking dog – each of these viral, funny, videos can teach you how to promote your small business on TikTok.
As you are crafting funny content, keep these below tips in mind:
- You must be entertaining in some way,
- Embrace comedy (and embrace comedy that may feel uncomfortable),
- Test out your content with a limited audience,
- And ensure that your content engages users by appealing to what your audience gravitates towards.
Before your brand’s TikToks go viral, it will need to engage your users in this way. TikTok is a platform that, for the most part, is built on humor. The funnier you are, the more chances you have at landing a spot on TikTok’s “For You Page’” and having your brand going viral.
- Show That You’re Genuine
The third way to go viral on your business or personal TikTok is by being genuine. Most of the business or personal TikToks that are viral have either included humor or showed someone being vulnerable, genuine, and honest. In a community that usually showcases a filtered reality, sometimes the dose of genuine content is what users like to see amidst all the filtered content circulating.
The impact of genuine content is long-lasting because genuine content:
- Shows your users that you’re human,
- Shows that you’re honest (and that you are an honest company),
- And shows that your brand is relatable.
Some ways that you can post genuine content are by:
- Sharing content about any hardship behind the company,
- Creating content about your fails as a business owner,
- And posting about ways that you’re struggling individually (or as a business) during the specific time you are posting.
People choose content that they can relate to, content that they can understand, and content that they can feel sympathetic towards. Although sometimes this can fail, it’s always worth a shot to appeal to users’ emotions and show the human side of your account.
- Hashtags
While Instagram has phased out using hashtags, for the most part, TikTok has done the exact opposite. Unlike Instagram, TikTok has stepped up its hashtag game. This is one of the main ways that companies can get their brands noticed – and with broader recognition, comes the possibility of going viral. Hashtags shouldn’t be a new concept to you if you’ve used them on Instagram and Twitter previously. With TikTok, you can bring all that experience that you have from hashtags on other social media platforms and use it to grow your brand on TikTok.
If you’re clueless about how to promote your small business on TikTok with hashtags, start with these below tips:
- Do your research to find relevant hashtags that are relevant to your brand and/or product (and take notice of which hashtags are popular).
- Don’t just use the popular hashtags you find. Be sure also to incorporate some less competitive ones where your brand will have less competition with that hashtag.
- Take stock of current hashtag trends and ensure the ones you are using are on-trend.
- If you notice any brand hashtags or hashtag challenges, get in on the fun and participate! This is one of the many TikTok marketing ideas that can help you go viral!
- Don’t be shy in listing a bunch of hashtags – the more you post, the more opportunities your brand will have with going viral.
A great place to start if you aren’t sure where to begin is by using one of the many popular TikTok hashtags. Using hashtags will make your content get to the “For You Page” and potentially go viral. TikTok makes using hashtags easy, showing related hashtags if you search for a hashtag.
As noted above, if you’re feeling adventurous with your marketing you can even attempt to join the realm of TikTok’s hashtag challenges. Brands can either participate in existing challenges or create their own. Check out the many hashtag challenges on the platform to learn more about them!
If when you started reading this article you weren’t sure how to use TikTok for business in 2022, hopefully, that’s not the case anymore! Every year platforms like TikTok evolve, but if you follow these strategies for your business or personal TikTok, you’ll brand will be sure to go viral in no time!
