TikTok for Business: All You Need to Know in 2023

Most of the social media platforms were discredited by the masses initially. They said these are ‘fads’ which will quickly pass. They could not have been more wrong. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have become necessary parts of our personal and professional lives.

After being launched in 2018, TikTok took the whole social media world by storm. It originated from the app Musical.ly, bought by a Chinese company called ByteDance and given its current name and form. And now it has segregated itself into TikTok for business as well.

Some people might think of TikTok content to be pure entertainment fluff. But the sheer number of users the app has earned in such a short time is proof of why it is one of the most lucrative social media marketing tools.

Why Should You Use TikTok for Business?

The reason for it being liked globally is that TikTok has given creative freedom to the masses, especially the youth. The platform has revolutionized short-form video content the way no other social app ever had.

The numbers speak for the platform’s success. Here are some TikTok statistics worth mentioning:

• More than 90% of the users of this platform are below the age of 50 years.
• Its largest demographic is between 18-24 years old, out of which 60% are females and 40% males.
• The platform has a whopping 1 billion active users per month.
• An average user opens the app 8 times daily.
• The app has had over 3 billion installations worldwide.

This is precisely why TikTok for business is a place to be for brands. Also, there are several opportunities to increase TikTok views and expand the reach of your brand to a massive audience.

Also, discovering new content is made very easy by TikTok algorithms. This is highly useful to map out strategies for reaching one’s target audience. Creating content for TikTok is equally simple and requires almost little to no investment.

If you make the right type of content that people end up loving, it won’t take much time for you to get the right kind of attention. Take cues from the big players, who are making use of the potential of TikTok for business.

Use content marketing tools to plan and schedule posts efficiently and leverage the full potential of TikTok. You can start producing content on trending topics, following current hashtags, participating in challenges, playing around with styles and editing options, and much more. There are endless possibilities you can try out in the content department. There is nothing bizarre enough for this platform.

It is the best place to push the boundaries and go non-traditional. But a marketer has to think from a business point of view first and foremost. For that, you’ll need the correct type of account to begin with—a TikTok for business.

Set Up Your TikTok for Business Account

To utilize TikTok for business marketing, you will first need to have a basic TikTok account, which is easy enough to create. Then to convert it to a functioning business account, follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Step 2: Select “Switch to Pro Account”.

Step 3: Select “Business” between the given options.

Step 4: Pick the best-suited category for your brand and click on “Next”.

Step 5: Add an email id and a website URL to the profile.

And you are set to enjoy the benefits of TikTok for business. Now let’s start exploring TikTok town!

How to Use TikTok for Business?

There are various themes you can try out, multiple styles of content you can experiment with. TikTok allows videos anywhere between 15 to 60 seconds. Now you can go with funny and entertaining clips or snapshots of everyday lives at your firm. Instructionals or DIYs are also something people love to watch.

But before diving deep into the world of TikTok for business, you need a plan of action, a checklist of some sort. So here is a clear-cut map, a guide that will help you boost your marketing using this platform.

1. Get Familiar with the Platform

After entering into a new social platform, the first thing you need to do is get to know it inside out. And with a network like TikTok, with an endless flow of features and content, it takes a bit of scouring to get a feel of things.

Consume as much content as you can. It might give you insights into what style you want to pursue your brand. Test out the editing functions, the music library, filter, the length of content people prefer. This will show you things no article will.

Don’t forget to follow the accounts whose content you are loving. They just might return the love!

2. Watch the Competitors

Watching out for creative and inspiring social media campaigns by competitors is a wise step for any business, small or large. The same goes while using TikTok for business marketing.

Explore the type of content strategy your key competitors are putting on TikTok, follow any challenges they are starting, observe the trends they might be starting, their collaboration, etc.

Here’s an example of how two top fashion brands are following the same kind of trend. Louis Vuitton and Dior have posted and reposted clips of their customers unboxing their products. This format is common for fashion brands. Not only netizens but big influencers can also help you in such promotions.

3. Define your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience plays a crucial role in the success of your content. At this point, more than a billion people are actively using the app regularly. Yes, the majority are Gen-Z category, but many people above that age range too have gotten addicted to TikTok.

Shape your content for a clearly defined target group and watch those views and likes flood in!

4. Set Clear Goals

Now that you have mapped out the territory of TikTok for business, it’s time you got to work. Setting goals always gives you a clear perspective on what you want to achieve.

An excellent way to quantify your goals is to construct them SMART. That is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

This way, your objectives will be quantified and seem more realistic and feasible.

5. Plan, Create, & Curate Content

As people who dabble in social media and the digital world, know that content is the king. Hence now we come to the foremost step, content creation.

Having a basic schedule helps a lot. Make a content calendar and mark the dates you want to release your videos. You can make use of social media calendar tools to manage the task easily. Don’t miss out on the special days. It may seem like a festive holiday, but those are the times TikTokers work the most!

Keep these points in mind while making your videos:

• Make sure to shoot in evenly and well-lit spaces.
• Don’t make the theme too serious. Even TikTok for business marketing is a fun place.
• Use the modes and filters to enhance your visuals or add fun elements.
• Consider including captions and subtitles to make your content more accessible to all viewers.
• Choose an excellent soundtrack to go with your video.TikTok has an endless library of music.
• Add a description and relevant hashtags.
• Tag the people you and those you want to know.
• Decide whether you want people to remix and react.

These are the things to keep in mind when making your videos. And as you go on, new avenues will start to emerge to fuel your creativity.

But what if you are running out of newer ideas?

GWI found that more than 50% of TikTok users have uploaded their own content. So imagine the vast amount of content flooding the platform. Why not take advantage of it?

It would be best to keep a healthy ratio of original and user-generated content. The standard is 40% and 60%. Leverage the already existing and successful content to reap the benefits of TikTok for business.

Besides directly sharing the user-generated content, you can also go for reaction or duet videos. This is where you can create something new from the previous clip, adding your touch to it. This seamless collaboration of users has often resulted in some highly viral videos.

6. Engage En Masse

For any business or brand trying to crack it on social media, creating content is not enough by itself. You have to draw the people in, engage them and keep them interested.

Comments, like, and share fellow TikTokers’ content, go live, ask the audience’s opinions, and conduct polls, so they feel like their opinions are important to you. Just be proactive.

That said, if you have a large audience, you also have the option to hide comments on TikTok Live to stay away from distractions and maintain your focus.

Social media listening tools are a great help in monitoring what is being said about you on social platforms and other websites as well. Brand mentions, comments, specific keywords, you can keep a watch on them all to maintain better communication and easily “listen” to the audience’s opinion.

7. Watch Out for the Analytics

After doing your part as a creator, you would look for results. Analytics on TikTok for business, like any other platform, give you those stats which show whether your efforts are working or not.

TikTok for business marketing is incredibly insightful because it gives you sectional data.

• Overview: Video views, profile views, likes, comments, shares, and videos.
• Follower: Gender, top territories, the time when tiktok followers are most active, type of content most-watched, audios listened.
• Content: Trending videos, total video views, total play time, average time watched likes, comments, shares, watched the full video, reached the audience, view by section and region, etc.
• Live Tab: Total views, total time, new followers, top, viewer count, unique viewer, diamonds, etc.

Other than these, there are also hashtag views and engagement rates which you can take a look at are immensely useful for any TikToker.

8. Challenges

The craze of challenges arose after TikTok entered the picture. Any challenge that catches the crowd’s attention spreads like wildfire. And the whole world, even if they are not on the platform, knows about it.

So you can always start a new trend or challenge, then tag another user to bear the torch. If you have a good idea and enough people accept the challenge, it might just go viral. The added fun along the way is a bonus.

But remember, whereas a single post can make you go viral, it’s also possible that you might take some time to earn those views and followers. So just go with the flow and enjoy the process.

TikTok is one of the most famous social media channels in today’s time but remember, it is unlike any other platform out there. If you plan out your marketing strategy, it’ll boost your success the way no other social media channel could.

Advertising on TikTok

The platform introduced TikTok for business in 2020 and with it came paid advertisements. Since then, all the world brands have jumped on the bandwagon, using the highly penetrated platform and leveraging its success.

Here are the five types of ads TikTok for business offers its users:

• TopView: These appear once a day when the user opens the app.
• In-feed: Appear in the “For You” feed of the user.
• Branded Hashtag Challenges: Paid branded challenges which brands sponsor and inspire users to follow and make related videos.
• Brand Effects: Brand-related filters and stickers which people can use in their videos.
• Brand Takeovers: This ad is the first thing a user sees before any user content when opening the app.

These ads can be beneficial for your brand, provided you choose the format which achieves your objective in the right way. Paid advertisements have come as a great boon for social media marketers who can now access the huge audience base of the app through these ads.

TikTok for Business: Some Do’s and Don’ts

While this is a fun platform where people can experiment with various types of content and themes, you should always play it smart. Here are certain things you should keep in mind.

Do’s

• Do keep it creative and fun. TikTok is an entertainment platform.
• Always shoot in portrait (vertical) orientation.
• Try to make your content in well-lit spaces.
• Use music, as it’s a big part of TikTok content identity and helps make videos entertaining.
• Get on the trend bandwagon. Participate in challenges and create new ones, and tag others.
• Interact with the TikTok community.
• Collaborate with influencers. It’ll help increase your reach and give you credibility.
• Be authentic. Following trends is fine, but making something fresh and original builds a unique identity.
• Be regular. It is essential to have a consistent flow of content coming. It will help you get noticed in the initial days and keep your followers’ attention later.
• Use social media management tools to give you an extra edge by looking after all the aspects of your activities, such as engagement monitoring.

Don’ts

• Don’t mix TikTok content with content for other platforms. The tone and nature of this platform are completely different from Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. The same content won’t work here.
• Don’t try to target the whole audience. Focusing on a specific section makes your marketing more effective.
• Don’t be all well-constructed and perfect. People also like to see spontaneous and candid videos.
• Don’t worry about using fancy equipment.
• Don’t make straight away sales ads. You won’t garner any attention that way.
• Don’t get embroiled in the comment section wars. Engagement is great but useless squabbling is not.

Conclusion

Since being started, TikTok has been one of the most downloaded and used social media platforms. Naturally, everyone wants a piece of the pie. Many brands have successfully used the app to skyrocket their business or personal brands to the moon.

Charli D’Amelio, the most followed TikToker as of January 2023, had earned 17 million USD in 2021 from TikTok revenue. This shows that even an individual who correctly plays the content strategy game can become as big as any organization.

Just stay active and keep yourself updated with what is working on the app. The attention span of people online changes in a snap. So the lifetime of any trend and the runtime of videos keep getting shorter and shorter by the day. So be dynamic and keep changing with the trends.

We hope this article helped you get a bit of an idea on how to get started on TikTok. Keep an eye out for more useful stuff on social media tricks and tools. If you have any interesting insights for the netizens, please consider writing for us.