TikTok for Business is an edgy and effective way to promote goods and services. Since videos are the only content you can publish on TikTok, you will find that marketing on the platform is very focused and targeted.
Because of these factors, brands have found great successes in publishing short clips that promote their products and ideas. You can find a range of niches marketing on the platform, including clothing, jewelry, handmade crafts, interior design services, and more.
In this post, we will review what does and doesn’t work on TikTok, and how you might capitalize on it to promote your own brand in 2022.
TikTok Marketing: Where It Can and Cannot Drive Results
While TikTok is very popular, you will find a wide variance between niches that can make it work and those which cannot.
Because of the format on this platform, you’ll have a good amount of creative license to run with. Sure, trends will change regularly including shooting techniques, challenges, and new scenarios to consider.
In the end, every one of these producers will be focused on generating short and entertaining TikTok videos that will engage the right target audience.
TikTok Marketing: Effective for the Mass Market and B2C
TikTok is an excellent option for those who work in B2C, i.e. the general consumer. This social network has a huge number of users, so you can definitely find your target audience on it.
Several B2C focused industries are driving results, including clothing and footwear stores, toys, handmade jewelry, beauty salons, and car services. Customers in all of these niches can be reached with well-targeted short videos.
Industries finding the most success with TikTok Marketing include:
- Public Catering: The food preparation process is great fodder for fun and dynamic content. People like hassle-free videos with simple messages.
- Clothing Stores: The TikTok audience is interested in trendy things and looks. And even better, clothes are great for demonstrating using video.
- Care Products and Cosmetics: Young people tend to experiment with style. Because of this trend, videos about researching or creating new make-up and testing cosmetics are earning a large volume of views.
- Services Sector: Psychologists, designers, and other specialists who can be useful to a mass audience are seeing good results by marketing their services on TikTok.
TikTok Marketing Not Advised for Special Niche Markets and B2B
Niche and rare products that don’t appeal to the large general market tend to fall short on TikTok. The same holds true for B2B (business-to-business), which can be better pursued via other social media platforms.
B2B pricing is typically much higher than in B2C, and the purchase process has a long consideration phase with multiple stakeholders in most cases. When you consider that many B2B products and services have fluid pricing which requires custom quotes, you can see how a video marketing platform like TikTok is a poor fit for driving revenue.
Summing up, TikTok Marketing is not recommended for these types of businesses:
- B2B
- Legal services
- Sale of franchises
- Trading with premium products
How To Make TikTok Marketing Videos That May Go Viral
TikTok is a social network fully focused on entertaining. Because of this, anything you publish should be funny and creative if you want to engage viewers fully.
What genre should you publish your video in to attract users and develop your brand?
Product Overview
Demonstrate the product from different angles. Focus the viewer’s attention on its benefits.
Show what you are especially proud of in your work.
The more information users get about the product, the sooner they will want to buy it.
Question and Answer (Q&A)
The Q&A format is a very popular rubric. In advance, collect relevant questions from subscribers and record the answers on camera.
To make it easier to watch, duplicate the questions and answers in subtitles.
Expert Advice
Post helpful tips and life hacks. If you’re an expert in your field, share your opinion on relevant topics.
Be sure to use an HD recorder in case you want to produce something like a tutorial video on how to use your software. TikTok itself doesn’t have such a feature.
A Peek Inside: “Get To Know The Team”
Introduce your team to your audience. Explain the role and mission of the people in the organization or let them introduce themselves.
Of course, no one forbids funny challenges with the participation of the team. Get creative with this one and see how it works out for you.
News
Keep your audience up to date with the latest events: regularly upload videos with news, promotions, and special offers. This approach increases subscriber loyalty and motivates them to buy from you.
Job Vacancies
If you are looking for people to join your team, make a video about current vacancies and publish them on the channel.
This tactic should be particularly effective for companies interested in young employees aiming to work remotely.
Facts
Tell interesting facts about your organization or your partners.
Show certificates or awards you’ve earned. Share some basic statistics such as the number of completed orders, the number of satisfied customers, etc.
By being transparent with data like this, you position your brand for increased loyalty among your customer base.
Overview of Web Store or Gallery
A portfolio or catalog is the best alternative to website pages. Highlight your store or samples of your work. Be sure to have top notch photography on the target pages that you plan to share or tour. It’s a must for video-based TikTok Marketing.
Reviews
Nothing convinces a potential customer to buy better than happy existing customers.
Share real impressions by customers in a video, even if it’s just scrolling through pictures with overlaid quotes.
And of course, you can get even more run out of glowing reviews from well known TikTok influencers. Never overlook this piece in your TikTok Marketing efforts.
How to Create an Organic Video for TikTok
TikTok Marketing is nothing new. People have been doing it for years now. Here are some great tips for how to manage the story, order, and messaging in your own videos.
Grab Attention Quickly
Be sure to craft the first few seconds of the video so you can hook the viewer from the start.
For example, you can demonstrate an unusual application of familiar things.
Maybe you want to make a video about how to make gummy worms using a garlic press.
Or perhaps you can share a trick for using a vacuum cleaner to pick up / pack small, soft toys.
We’ve already seen videos like this drive a high number of views, as well as comments, on TikTok.
Build To A Punchline
Keep the intrigue until the very end. For example, you can sit for the whole video with a towel on your head and tell how you dyed your hair and experienced a bunch of challenges. Then close the video by showing the result of your effort at the very end.
Hold Attention Throughout The Video
You want eyeballs to stay engaged with your content, so create it with this goal in mind. Add unusual plot twists. Use fast-paced footage. And don’t stretch the ending – it should be fast.
Keep Videos Short and Punchy
Avoid publishing videos that go on for long enough to lose the viewers’ interest. If you can keep your videos to 15 seconds or shorter, you’ll see far better results.
Cut out any extraneous parts. Weave in dynamic transitions.
If you’re not sure how to do all of this editing, find a user-friendly editor like the ones from WeVideo or Clideo.
Bring Them Back For More
While a “one and done” video strategy can work, consider taking another approach. Some brands opt to create series of videos.
As you end one video, you can leave in a cliffhanger for the next episode. This works fantastically well on television, and it’s a trick that mirrors nicely on TikTok as well.
Pro Tips For TikTok Marketing Success
While the content in the video is important, you also need to optimize how you present it. Here are a few elements you should aim to nail from the start.
Get The Background Right
No matter what topic you choose to cover, be sure the background is suitable to the topic itself.
If you are making a video about baking, do it in a kitchen.
Making a video about drawing or painting? Put it in a studio, or have an easel handy to illustrate your work a’la Bob Ross.
Make sure that viewers understand what the channel topic is about. This is beneficial for the TikTok algorithms.
Use the same background for multiple videos. Put this background on the channel preview. This is a great way to successively gain views and attract customers.
Hashtags are an important component of a successful TikTok Marketing strategy. Be sure to use powerful hashtag options.
You should also flag relevant trends or popular challenges that are related to your video in any way.
Use hashtags to briefly describe the content of the video. Try using hashtags referencing the soundtrack itself. This tactic can attract other TikTok publishers who need sounds for their own videos.
Don’t be afraid to pick funny hashtags. Even things like #atleastsomeoneviewshashtags can bring you some extra views.
When you’re just starting out, you can use low-frequency hashtags. As your account grows and more viewers engage with you, you’ll see an increase in the frequency these hashtags are searched for.
This can open you up to a much larger audience over time. Thus, users will easily navigate the channel content or find it on TikTok search.
Avoid Dubious Content
Aim to keep your content safe for all audiences. For example, avoid using profanity and 18+ words in your clips.
Of course, there is an exception to every rule. If your business is related to a topic, even it the topic is racy, you can work around this by swapping letters out for symbols or using synonyms.
Adult stores, for example, still manage to get plenty of views and comments using this approach.
And one rule you should never, ever break: Never call for violence of any kind. This gaff will get you banned, at least temporarily but possible forever.
Respond To Feedback
Never leave your viewership hanging. Strive to reply to each and every comment.
Don’t avoid responding to any comments that are negative. Engage with critics, well-wishers, confused viewers, etc.
When viewers see you engaging, they’ll be more likely to return and watch more of your content. The best way to drive loyalty on TikTok is for you, yourself, to be an active and engaged member of the community.
Follow the Trends
There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Take popular trends and use them.
This is almost too easy to be true. Look for things like trendy music tracks, popular dance moves, or similar
Use whatever is relevant in pop culture. Or even better, push the boundaries and identify your own budding trend.
If you can get this one right, you’ll position yourself to stand out in the market.
Post on a Regular Basis
Before uploading your first video, shoot ten more and upload one daily.
Nobody knows exactly how TikTok algorithms work. But we do know that publishing a lot of content in short bursts doesn’t.
If you follow this approach at the start, you could very well see some amazing results. Each of the first video, fifth, and tenth videos published might make it into worldwide recommendations.
By regularly posting new clips, you will be helping TikTok index videos faster. This feeds their algorithm and its goal of finding most suitable audiences for each of them.
Collaborate with Influencers
If you want to reach a large audience as quickly and effortlessly as possible, find a way to get yourself noticed by one of the top TikTok influencers.
Each of these individuals comes equipped with a sizable and loyal target audience. They also know how to generate relevant content for their viewers, as well as how to correctly present promotional content.
Advertising with influencers can be expensive. However, with the right choice of influencer, your brand will be able to deliver good return on investment for every dollar spent.
Consider Buying Paid Ads on TikTok
This year, TikTok presented its own ad platform, TikTok Ads Manager.
The ad platform offers easy-to-use tools to launch campaigns directly from the TikTok dashboard.
Conclusion
TikTok Marketing can help you promote products and services to yet another effective communication channel.
If you decide to go down this path, be sure you choose the right way to present content. You need to find the balance between entertaining and selling, which is often difficult to maneuver.
Be sure you publish videos that highlight your professionalism and expertise. You want the target audience to see you as a leader in your field, one whom is fully capable of helping solve whatever problem you use to market to them.
As more brands venture onto TikTok for marketing purposes, we will see increasing costs for TikTok Marketing and advertising campaigns.
Therefore, get busy on TikTok as soon as possible if your primary target audience spends time on the platform. Especially for younger audiences, this can be the most effective way to reach a large number of them in 2022.
Feature image sourced from Unsplash with no attribution required.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
Egor Blokhin
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