Did you know that, as of the time of this writing, there are now more than 1.6 billion TikTok users worldwide? That’s impressive but wait until I tell you 1.1 billion of them are actively using the platform. In the US alone, there are more than 150 million users. It makes sense to use this platform when promoting your business because you already have that built-in audience.

There is so much potential here if you know how to use TikTok properly and leverage it to propel your business. But many business owners also know that it’s not always easy to gain followers on TikTok from scratch. It takes time to build a big following and that can mean countless hours of creating quality content and engaging with other users of this platform.

Don’t worry though because we’ll help you get started so you can maximize the potential of TikTok when it comes to promoting your business.

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Top Reasons to Use TikTok for Your Business Promotion

It’s been established that it’s a popular platform and that as a business owner, you should consider launching a promotional campaign on this platform. But specifically, how can it help your business? Here are just some of the reasons why you should use TikTok for business promotion and how it can help you:

#1. It Helps Increase Business and Brand Awareness

If you want to reach more people, you need to create more brand awareness. That can be done with any social media platform but TikTok makes it easier for businesses to establish and create an image for their brands in such a way that brand awareness becomes easier.

There are so many users online so it’s easy to get lost amidst a sea of businesses promoting heavily on social media. But TikTok can help you create an identity that is entirely yours and that will make your business more identifiable and recognizable.

#2. It Allows You to Address the Concerns and Queries of Your Target Audience

TikTok allows longer videos so if there are concerns that require a lengthier response, you can do so with this platform. You have more control over what you produce. You can also break your videos into different series and the next videos in the series are easily generated. TikTok’s algorithm can suggest the next videos, making it easier for your audience to watch the videos you have intended for them.

#3. You Can Team Up with Influencers

One way to boost your videos and get a broader reach is to work with influencers on the platform. There are many ways to do this such as working on them on a video or doing a duet stitch where you react to their videos or they react to yours. This can be a great way to target their following and get them to notice your brand.

#4. It Makes Way for Better Engagement with the Target Market

The platform allows for effective and efficient engagement with your target market. Duet stitches also enable them to share your videos on their feeds.

#5. It’s Easier to Come Up with Content

One of the advantages of TikTok is that it gives you more ideas for great content. The duet and stitch features are both user-generated content that you can use to gain more content ideas. By using these features, you will be able to create a marketing campaign and leverage the popularity of the original videos you are stitching or dueting with.

#6. You Can Reach Your Target Market Faster

While you can definitely establish an online presence on other social media platforms, reports say that TikTok is one of the best when it comes to user engagement. The average TikTok user spends about 33 minutes on the platform every day. It’s right next to the social media giant, Facebook when it comes to engagement. With how long the average person spends time on the platform, you have more opportunities to reach out and engage with your target market.

Strategies You Should Be Using When Promoting Your Business on TikTok

1. Spend Some Time on the Platform

Just like everything else you might do for promotions, you need to know and completely understand what you are using. What are the popular videos out there? How are people engaging in this platform? Which videos are viral and why are they viral?

You might want to do initial research if you are new to the platform just to get a better idea of how it works and how people use it. This will help you in formulating a more effective marketing strategy.

2. Know and Understand Your Target Market

Who is your target market? What are their habits? Before you start making content for your business account, you should have a complete understanding of who you are catering to. This will make it easier to determine when to post as well.

While TikTok mostly has teenagers as the users, more and more older people are turning to it for content and business promotion. However, if you are expanding to other countries, you might want to find out first if the platform is available there.

Once you know who your target market is, find out what their browsing habits are so you know when you will schedule your posts. Also, find out what kinds of videos they engage with.

3. See What Your Competition is Doing

There’s nothing wrong with knowing what the competitors are doing. This will give you more insight into your own marketing strategies as well. You can determine if you will take the same route or if you will try a different strategy.

You can use the same keywords to see what other similar brands are doing. Check their engagement and see what videos and content ideas worked out for them.

4. Establish Goals

What are your goals in marketing on TikTok? Do you want to reach out to your target market and build a good relationship with them or do you want to use this platform to increase sales? Do you just want to use TikTok as a way to inform your target market? Do you want to share helpful tips that can improve your brand’s image? These are the things you should know.

5. Create Unique Branding

Come up with an image that is unique to your brand so that people will easily pick you out from the other businesses in the same niche.

6. Have a Clear Content Plan

Brainstorm different content ideas and schedule them so you are posting regularly. The important thing is that you have a constant presence not just for your target market awaiting your next post but also for TikTok’s algorithm. Your profile will most likely show up in searches if you are more active.

7. Keep Track of Your Progress

Check the analytics. Which of your posted content has a good reach? Which one performed well? Which one generated positive comments from other users? If you know the pattern, you can easily replicate that with your other content.

8. Make Sure Others Can Stitch or Duet with Your Content

Create content that other users can stitch or duet with. This way, you can reach out to a broader audience – one that you might otherwise not be able to reach out to with your normal content strategies.

Fine-tune your content strategies as you go along. This is why it’s important to check your metrics and see how else you can improve. Don’t be disheartened if you haven’t seen great results at first. It usually takes time to build results and a following if you are using organic means.

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Common Mistakes Business Owners Make When Promoting on TikTok

Once you have your strategy in place, the next thing to do is to put it in place. However, you also need to tread carefully and avoid making the same mistakes other people have made.

Here are just some of the mistakes you should avoid making when promoting on TikTok:

Mistake #1: Creating Content Not Relevant to Your Brand.

While it’s good to join trends and use them to increase your reach, being mostly focused on them will deviate from what your brand is all about. You still need to make sure that your content stays true to what your brand is all about.

Create fresh content ideas as well. Make sure you have unique ideas to bring to the table because TikTok users are always looking for fresh content to consume.

Mistake #2: Using the Same Strategies You Used in Other Platforms.

Compared to platforms like Facebook, TikTok is still a fairly young app. This means that their data is not yet at the level of platforms that have been around for more than a decade. Take that into consideration before using the same strategies you have been using for the other platforms. Your approach should be applicable to a fairly new platform.

Mistake #3: Not Utilizing TikTok Features.

Maximizing TikTok’s features can help you get better reach for your videos. Aside from the features like the stitch and duet, you should also take advantage of hashtags. If your business has a physical address, make sure you also include the location.

TikTok has even made video creation a lot easier for content creators by offering in-app editing functions. Use integrated audio as well. Popular audio helps create user-generated content so you can fill up your schedule much faster.

Mistake #4: Taking a Rigid Approach to Content Creation.

Being all business-like on TikTok might be off-putting. You don’t want to come across as a brand that’s only focused on getting your products out there. You should focus first on relationship building by creating rapport with your audience. To do that, you need to create fun and engaging videos rather than stiff and overly informative ones. Make your videos appeal even to the younger crowd who will most likely share it with their older loved ones.

Mistake #5: Not Responding to Comments.

You don’t need to respond to every single comment users leave on your videos. However, it helps to respond to interesting comments and queries. This shows that your brand is approachable and people will love you more for it. Engaging with your audience also helps in bridging the gap between your business and your audience, which can make way for brand loyalty.

Mistake #6: Not Taking Advantage of Professional Help.

While you can certainly grow your account organically, you might want to get the help of professional advertisers who know the ins and outs of TikTok promotion. They can help you find your way in this ever-changing and constantly growing platform so you don’t miss out on advertising opportunities. Finding your voice in this platform is not easy, especially for new businesses, which is why having professional help can prevent you from wasting time on strategies that will not work for your particular brand.

Mistake #7: Failing to Keep Track of Your Results.

The reason why digital advertisers always stress the importance of monitoring results is because it allows you to see which of your strategies have worked and which ones have not. That way, you don’t have to waste time and resources on strategies that aren’t giving you the results you are looking for.

Mistake #8: Not Taking a Cue from Your Audience.

Your viewers will also give you ideas on what content to produce next. They might clamor for a specific type of content or they might want more information on a topic you have already discussed before. Make sure you are paying attention so that you can cater to their needs.

 

Conclusion

It’s important to have a solid understanding of your brand and the people you cater to. TikTok is all about creating a relationship with your audience and you can’t do that if you don’t know your brand well. So take the time to assess your business first to understand what direction you want to take and what image you want to project.