You may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of opening a TikTok account for your small business, but doing so is a fantastic method to increase exposure for your brand and aid clients in developing an emotional connection to your firm.

With over 1 billion monthly users, it’s no wonder that companies of all sizes have shifted their marketing focus to incorporate TikTok. Compared to the general population, TikTokers are more than twice as likely to make an instantaneous purchase after discovering something they like on the app. If you own a business, you should absolutely sign up for TikTok.

It’s understandable if you feel out of place on TikTok, but the fact is that businesses of all stripes find success there. The Washington Post, an esteemed journalistic organisation, has also seen tremendous success by utilising the system. The Post’s TikTok gained 1 million subscribers lately, making headlines.

Launched in May 2019, the account quickly amassed over 280K followers in just the first six months. Dave Jorgensen, the “Washington Post TikTok Guy” on Twitter and a video producer, made all of the TikToks at first. He would make about 10 videos per week. Jorgensen’s goal was to “convey the news in a fresh way and reach new audiences,” so he made short videos about topics as diverse as the Trump administration, COVID-19, and health care. TikTok like these repackaged news in a way that appealed more to the younger generation.

The Post saw one of its fastest-ever growth rates on any social media platform thanks to this medium. In late 2021, the newspaper decided that TikTok was worth enough investment to warrant the creation of new posts. Now that they’ve got a whole crew working on the app, they go from putting out ten films a week to more than four in a single day. In order to “… further grow, innovate, and continue interacting with additional individuals who may not routinely consume traditional news,” as Micah Gelman, the paper’s director of Editorial Video, put it, the paper is increasing its TikTok.

Despite the fact that The Post was already a media behemoth before establishing its TikTok, even newer businesses have reaped significant benefits from using the app. Business Insider spoke with Jeremy Kim, co-founder of Nectar, a company that sells hard seltzer, about the importance of TikTok in the company’s marketing approach.

Kim first worried that he was too late to TikTok but chose to create a story time video about how he and a business partner established their company. Surprisingly to Kim, the video has garnered over 300,000 likes without any promotional efforts. Nectar’s internet presence, in addition to on-the-ground initiatives like pop-up shops, led to BevMo’s acquisition of the seltzer company. They’ve garnered over a million likes on their TikTok videos and have over 50,000 followers. By his success on the platform, Nectar demonstrates that there is no optimal time to begin using TikTok.

The success of both a prestigious newspaper catering to an older age and a mom-and-pop store on TikTok proves the app’s adaptability to any industry, regardless of the nature of the service or product being offered. Even if you feel like you’re coming in late, there’s still time to establish your brand on TikTok. The best material on TikTok comes from user submissions, which means that you may make films in-house and without spending a tonne of money on advertising. The vast majority of videos may be created fully on a mobile device.

If you’re thinking of making a TikTok for your company, here are some things to keep in mind:

Make Sure You Have A TikTok Account Set Up.

To maximise your company’s visibility on TikTok, it is recommended that you sign up for a free business account rather than using your personal account. To help businesses of all sizes expand their audiences, TikTok introduced TikTok Business in 2020. Advertisements can be purchased from a business account as well. A company account can be set up in a jiffy. After you’ve answered some questions about your company, you’ll be able to start uploading videos.

In addition to the standard features, a business account grants you access to the Commercial Music Library (CML), a collection of more than 500 songs that may be used in your films without having to pay any licencing fees.

The Business Account On TikTok Is Made For Companies Of All Sizes.

Discover which forms of content are most likely to resonate with your target demographic.

This is when things start to get interesting. After you’ve established your brand’s TikTok account, you can immediately begin making videos. TikTok is a platform that rewards originality, thus there is no right or wrong way to create videos for the app. Most of the time, the most shared videos on TikTok are also the ones that are the most genuine and creative.

Though it’s a good idea to take cues from successful companies, keep in mind that the path taken by another may not be optimal for your own. It’s fine to make mistakes as you experiment with different types of content before finding the sweet spot that brings in the most of your intended readers. In the process of creating videos, you’ll figure out what works best for your brand.

Some Examples Of Common Categories Of Tiktoks Are As Follows:

Provide An Insider’s View Of How Things Are Done

Offering a glimpse into how your company operates behind the scenes is a simple approach to generate content. This is not only a natural approach to generate TikToks, but it also helps buyers better understand your business. Instead of spending time and energy building something from scratch, you may simply draw attention to what you and your organisation are already accomplishing.

Vegan and gluten-free Nowhere Bakery frequently provides behind-the-scenes content, allowing customers to see how their favourite baked goods including cookies, brownies, and more are created. In this TikTok, the group prepares a number of sweet treats.

There’s no better way to introduce your team than with some behind-the-scenes footage! Since Nowhere Bakery is run solely by women, they use TikTok videos to promote themselves and their founder, Saphira. Saphira also shows the mundane aspects of running a bakery through behind-the-scenes movies, such as this TikTok in which she packs hundreds of cookie boxes.

By giving your audience a glimpse into the process behind the scenes, you may strengthen their emotional connection to your business.

Educate Your Clientele On A New Talent

If you own a business, you’re already an authority in your sector; take use of this by making instructional videos about your offerings.

A hugely popular TikTok channel, ScheckEats, is run by Jeremy Check, who shares simple recipes for a wide variety of cuisines. Scheck’s TikTok account, which he created in 2020, has more than two million followers. Scheck, a student at Cornell University, writes for his peers by, for example, sharing his attempt to recreate Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap.

One thing that sets him apart from other food-related TikTokers is the educational purpose of his “how to” films, which are aimed at college students and designed to teach them the fundamentals of cooking.

See Scheck instruct his fans on how to make caramelised onions:

Here, Scheck provides his followers with yet another useful college hack by instructing them in the art of brewing coffee at home, notably cold brew, which is a literal lifeline for most college students.

No matter what you sell or create, you should think about making instructional or “how to” videos for your target demographic.

Make A Series Of It.

The novelist and entrepreneur Nabela Nour already had a sizable fanbase on YouTube before she became viral on @nabela. However, in a video from the year 2021, Nour revealed why she had stopped posting there and why her audience had shifted to TikTok instead. Nour, in particular, launched a new series on TikTok dubbed “Pockets of Peace.” The series’ premise was straightforward: in the midst of the pandemic, she would share the good things that happened to her throughout the day.

Despite their vast differences in subject matter, all of the “Pockets of Peace” videos are peaceful in tone and set to soothing music. The series went viral, and Nour’s TikTok channel now has more than seven million subscribers, far more than she had in her years of YouTube uploading combined.

Throughout the TikToks, we see Nour engaging in mundane chores like going on a date with her spouse, making a cake, and cleaning out her guest room.

Nour’s lifestyle and home brand, Saara & Begum, was constantly referenced in “Pockets of Peace,” primarily through the frequent inclusion of shots of Nour’s kitchen and decor. The first of Nour’s products, a line of candles, was previewed via a TikTok video.

You don’t have to go to the same lengths that Nour did with his videos. If you can come up with a clever concept that fits in with your brand’s personality, you may save yourself a lot of time and effort in the long run by planning a series.

You need help getting the series started, but you have no idea where to start. Some ideas are provided below:

• Get the group involved: Involving your workers is a simple method to generate content, whether it’s someone introducing themselves, talking about a new product, or explaining what they do in the company.
• What do you want customers to experience as a result of purchasing your goods and services? This is an important question to consider while formulating your company’s mission and goals. See if you can bottle that feeling for your viewers in your films. If aromatherapy is your goal as a candle business, you might produce videos explaining the therapeutic benefits of your products. In contrast, a yoga studio may make a TikTok series about meditation to help its clients relax.
• Solicit feedback from your audience and find out what they want to see from you. Using the interactive elements of social media to get feedback from customers is a great approach to figure out what content will work best for your series.

Keep Your Word

Once you’ve decided on the type of content you want to make for TikTok, strive to be as consistent as possible. Regular updates will make your brand more memorable to consumers and boost engagement. TikTok’s algorithm rewards users who consistently upload new videos and have built a reputation as leaders in their field, so your films should all have something in common.

It’s fine to mix up the types of postings on your feed, but some topics are bound to get more attention than others. The Washington Post’s sketch-based news videos were the most popular, and Nabela Nour’s peaceful TikTok attracted a large following. Find your specialty, then fill your TikToks with the appropriate hashtags.

Consistent posting can be challenging for anyone, but especially small business owners who wear many hats. To help you establish a routine with your account, here are some pointers:

Create A Schedule For Your Social Media Posts.

Create a calendar for your social media updates to help you stay on top of everything! Using a calendar, you can plan out not only when and how often you’ll be posting to channels like TikTok, but also what kinds of content you’ll be sharing. Your social media feed will feel more unified if you can see each individual post.

For starters, try using Buffer’s social media calendar to see your weekly and monthly content all laid out in one place.

Produce In Bulk What You Need

After you’ve established a routine for uploading videos to TikTok, the fun part begins: making content! You probably have to change your plans frequently as a business owner, as you have to deal with a wide variety of duties as they come up. You can save yourself the hassle of having to find time to make a TikTok every day by setting out whole days or even weeks to crank out multiple videos at once.

You can schedule days in advance to film several TikTok at once, and then set aside yet another day for editing. By the end of these sessions, you’ll have enough material for multiple days’ worth of posts instead of just one.