How to Use TikTok for Business the Right Way

TikTok offers businesses an excellent platform to build brand awareness and connect with customers in a low-pressure, entertaining environment.

The platform has matured from its pre-teen dance-challenge beginnings into one of the largest social media apps on the planet. While this evolution is great, making a splash on such a massive platform can be challenging.

By-the-Numbers: TikTok Statistics

Before developing a TikTok strategy, find out if this is a swimming pool you want to dive into (it probably is). Despite being a decade younger, TikTok has more than 3 times as many monthly active users as Twitter, eclipsing the 1 billion mark in 2021. That’s less than Facebook and YouTube, but nearly on par with Instagram’s 1.4 billion MAU.

TikTok demographics skew younger, with 62% of its US-based users under the age of 30. However, the share of older users is steadily increasing.

The most valuable aspect of TikTok for business is how much time those users spend on the app. The average TikToker spends 95 minutes per day on the app, opening about eight times daily. That’s more time than the average American spends commuting to work and it’s eating into America’s long and storied appetite for binging on TV.

The numbers don’t lie: TikTok is an intelligent place to position your brand and connect with consumers. But what do the top brands on TikTok do to stand out?

Related: Social Media Marketing Terms You Need to Know

A Winning TikTok Strategy for Business

Be warned, TikTok is a bigger time investment than other social media platforms, which is why some of the best brands on TikTok work with a dedicated agency (hey, that’s us!). At Oneupweb, we’ve found that concepting, shooting and editing videos can take between one and five hours – that’s a lot of effort on top of your team’s existing responsibilities.

Here are our top TikTok tips for businesses in a hurry!

Make a content calendar.

Plan out your TikTok calendar alongside your other social efforts. You’ll likely find a few opportunities to cross-post TikTok and Instagram Reels, although we recommend creating at least a few platform-specific posts per month.

Get engaged.

Social media is a conversation. Aside from creating exceptional content, connect with your followers by responding to comments, answering real follower questions in your videos, liking other posts and going live!

Create content in batches.

If you’re setting aside time to shoot a video, shoot two. Or three. Make the most of your time to capture as much content as possible in a single setting and give yourself a nice pile of footage to splice, combine and edit. This is even more important if you have to pull in an extra hand or two from other internal teams.

Set realistic goals.

Set a clear goal for your TikTok account and establish key performance indicators to measure progress. We recommend metrics like:

• Increasing follower count by 10% per quarter
• Maintaining 5% engagement rate
• Increasing monthly video views by 5%

Don’t sell.

TikTok is entertainment – full stop. While you can talk about a product or service, don’t get pushy. Focus on creating funny-yet-informative content that establishes brand trust and loyalty. The conversions will follow.

Get help.

In addition to hiring a digital agency with social media chops, try TikTok influencer marketing. We can help you identify the right TikTok creators to reach your target audience, increase brand awareness and grow your presence for the long haul.

The Benefits of TikTok for Business

Instead of another list of TikTok pros and cons, we’ve created a more helpful way to determine if TikTok is right for you.

A video with 10,000 views today doesn’t turn into 10,000 transactions tomorrow, but it will keep your brand top of mind when it’s time to buy.

Hello, We Want to Be Your TikTok Team

Our dedicated social media team has generated millions of video views for a diverse range of clients. Not only will you love working with our hilarious cast of characters, but you’ll also get access to a vertically integrated digital marketing team with paid media experts, SEO wizards and graphic designers with a penchant for blowing minds.

Tackle TikTok with the pros. Get in touch or call 231-922-9977 today. (Tomorrow is okay, too!)