TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in the United States. It was more than a billion users globally and increased its user base in the U.S. by 123% in 2020 alone. With its growing popularity, more and more businesses of all sizes are turning to this social media network to promote their products and services. And TikTok has taken notice – creating a TikTok for Business platform.

If you’re curious about how to use Tik Tok for Business to help grow your company, it’s important to understand how it works and if it’s the right fit for you.

Can TikTok Be Used for Businesses?

TikTok can absolutely be used for business. The biggest brands in the world are on the platform, including:

NBA
The Washington Post
McDonald’s
Red Bull
Chipotle
And many, many more

These industry-leading companies use TikTok to reach larger, more diverse audiences.

Is a Business TikTok Worth It?

TikTok for Business can absolutely be worth it – with the right strategy and audience. The platform has hundreds of millions of daily active users and an extensive user base of young people.

They also recently launched TikTok Shopping which offers in-app shopping opportunities to users similar to Instagram. It allows you to sell your products directly on the platform.

Finally, TikTok is also an extremely viral platform. If your business begins participating in viral trends, it could build an audience for itself and start attracting more customers than what would be possible on other platforms.

TikTok for Business: Getting Started

Now that we know why TikTok for business makes sense let’s look at how to get started. It’s easier than you might expect.

1. Starting Your Business Account

The first step is creating your account, whether you’re a large corporation or using TikTok for a small business. You do this by downloading the app and following the normal signup process that you would use if you were making a personal account.

Once you finish signing up, tap on the Me button and click Edit Profile. Then tap the three dots in the right-hand corner and press Manage Account.

Finally, tap on Switch to Pro Account, and at that point, you’ll see the option to change your account into a business account.

After that, make sure to update your profile page with your website so that people can visit it easily after discovering you.

2. Map Out Your TikTok Marketing Strategy

Next, you want to figure out what you hope to achieve on TikTok – and how you will achieve it. Your goals might include:

selling more products,
getting more people to your website, or
solidifying your brand identity, among others.

Whatever your goals are, you will need to have a good understanding of your target audience to reach them.

That’s why it’s a good idea to start by researching what’s trending and who the major accounts are in your industry. Ideally, you’ll want to focus on the competition and determine what they’re doing effectively – or ineffectively. Use it to your advantage and create takeaways for your social media marketing strategy. You’ll also want to consider reading up on the algorithm to ensure you’re getting the most out of the platform.

Finally, create a social media calendar to ensure you’re posting to your account consistently.

3. Create Captivating Content

Now you’re ready to begin creating content that helps your business shine. Try to create content around hashtags that are already popular so that you’re benefitting from an existing audience.

Items such as tutorials, how-to videos, and collaborations with other creators also tend to do well on TikTok.

But whatever you create, it’ll be essential to ensure that your videos look and sound good. Otherwise, your content may be too jarring for someone to engage with, and you won’t see the traction you want.

4. Engage with Your Audience

Once you’ve built up an audience, consistently engaging with members is crucial to retaining and growing your account, engagement, and brand. TikTok provides many excellent ways to achieve this.

Answering questions from members in your future TikToks is an excellent way to gain more engagement and awareness. You can also experiment with polls and interactive live streaming if you really want to stand out from the crowd.

5. Measure Your Performance

Finally, TikTok is a newer platform, and you may not get it right the first time – which is true of attempting marketing on any social network. However, as long as you’re measuring your performance and adapting based on the data you see, you’ll get it right.

TikTok has a built-in analytics page to help you review and research data. You can use it to track your performance over time to assess the relative performance of different types of TikTok posts and ads.

TikTok Advertising: Are Ads Worth It?

Advertising your business on TikTok is another option that’s worth considering. Unlike many ads on many other channels, the majority of TikTok users view ads on the platform as fun, engaging, and positive. It’s also an excellent way to reach young users and young women specifically.

That means TikTok ads could definitely be worth using if this is the demographic that you’re trying to target.

Types of Ads

There are many different ways to advertise on TikTok, including:

In-feed ads
Image or video ads
Boosts for organic content
Carousel ads
Full-screen ads

You also can partner with influencers, which can be especially beneficial if you’re using TikTok for small businesses and you want to benefit from accessing an existing creator’s audience.

What to Consider

Although paid ads can effectively reach more people with your content, you don’t need to use them to succeed on TikTok. It’s possible to do well on the platform without paying a dime.

The question really comes down to your goals and your budget.

It makes the most sense to advertise on TikTok if your goals involve reaching a younger audience. But if that’s not for you, then paid ads may not be as effective.

Also, you only have a specific budget you can spend on marketing. You’ll have to decide whether that money is best spent on TikTok or another channel, like PPC ads or SEO.

Taking Your Next Steps

Before you formally invest in TikTok posting and Ads, you’ll want to take a deep dive into your target audience and goals. Work on building your strategy – how you’ll use the platform to create engagement and awareness, how often you’ll post, and if you’ll be utilizing ads. Determine your budget and how you’ll track your performance. You’ll want to ensure you’re attracting the right people for your brand.

If you need help developing your strategy – and possibly even executing it – consider partnering with a marketing firm, such as Oyova. We help businesses create social media and paid ads strategies focused on their target audiences and can successfully execute what’s needed to drive more business for your business. Contact us today for a consultation and discover how we can help you.