Get Started With TikTok For Business

Introduction

TikTok is a short video social media platform that engages users with interactive-style videos, audio and text transitions. It's the fastest-growing social platform with over 1 billion monthly active users. This userbase provides ample opportunity for business owners to engage with their target audience using trending topics, music and interesting content with great editing tools. In this guide, we’ll look at how TikTok could be a vital part of your social media marketing strategy and highlight how to get started and grow your TikTok business account.

Why is TikTok important?

TikTok is an important addition to your marketing strategy. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Promote your business with trends: TikTok is an app that shows you lots of trends and gives you the chance to be creative. It also has a great algorithm that shows users trending videos relevant to their interests, making it easy to create content that is relevant and on-brand to your industry without having to do too much research.

2. It increases awareness: For small businesses, TikTok’s algorithm is a powerful tool that can help you get to a wider audience and increase awareness for your products. Although TikTok has 1 billion users, it's able to silo & recommend videos based on location, trends and interests.

3. Spurs creativity: Because of the various interesting trends, you get to show your products riding on these fun and interesting trends. This creates opportunities to create endless pieces of content.

4. User-generated content: People value brands that are authentic and user-generated content is the best way to convince your audience to take action. TikTok is the biggest platform that supports user-generated content and it drives content growth organically. You can encourage your customers to make videos of your products and pos

5. Opportunity for video marketing: The growing appeal of video marketing isn't likely to decline any time soon. According to a study, 86% of consumers want to see more videos from brands. TikTok is a fantastic option to increase the exposure of your video content. It offers a simple way to include video in your current marketing strategy.

What to Know Before You Create a TikTok Account

Brands and organizations are using TikTok in new and creative ways to improve their marketing outcomes. Before jumping on the TikTok bandwagon, small business owners should consider a few factors. Below are 4 things you should know before creating a TikTok account for your business:

1. Determine if TikTok is right for your audience. Knowing your audience is crucial. By speaking to your customers, you can learn if they use TikTok and how they consume information on the internet. If your target audience is older and they use Facebook or some other social network, this platform might not be suitable for your business.

2. Use TikTok: This will help you decide if it's right for your small business. You can start by reading more about the TikTok algorithm and learn how you can help your content get a wider reach. To stay informed, watch videos, follow your favourite creators, and see what your competitors are doing. 

3. Create a marketing plan: To succeed on TikTok, you need a marketing plan, just like any other social media platform. To create a good plan, include your platform goals, target audience, content ideas, and success criteria.

4. Determine if you have enough resources: Making videos for social media marketing takes time and effort. Making TikTok videos is inexpensive, but it does require time to master the platform, generate ideas, stay current with trends, produce high-quality videos, and interact with viewers.

How To Create A TikTok Business Account

1. Visit TikTok Business Centre.

2. Click on Get Started.

3. Login with your personal account.

   

4. Choose your business category and select Become a Business.

   

5. You have successfully created a business account!

   

6. You can go ahead and set up your business profile by clicking the image on the far right and selecting View Profile.

   

7. Select Edit Profile.

   

Using the TikTok Business Centre

1. Go to https://business.tiktok.com/ 

   

2. Click Login

3. You should already have a TikTok account so log in with TikTok.

   

4. You’ll be asked if you want to Authorize TikTok For Business to access your TikTok account. Select Authorize.

   

5. Select Confirm.

   

6. Add your email and enter your verification code.

   

7. Enter your business center name, and time zone, then click create.

   

8. You’ve successfully created a Tiktok Business Center.

   

Best Practices for Using TikTok Business Centre 

1. Collaborate with influencers and other brands to boost brand awareness. TikTok’s Creator Marketplace connects you with content creators and popular brands. Using experienced content creators and brands can help take your brand to the next level. They can show products, offer promotions, and attach merchandise links to their posts. For brands, you can partner with those that complement what you offer. 

2. Use vertical videos: Because TikTok feeds are vertical, you should make your videos for vertical viewing. You don’t want your audience to always rotate their devices. A study found that vertical videos get 40.1% more views than square or horizontal videos.

3. Make your content look good: Videos with nice edits and filters get over 40% more views. You want your audience to enjoy your videos so much that they get to share them on other platforms. 

4. Make short videos: When it comes to TikTok, less is more. To keep viewers engaged, your videos must grab their attention right away. If they get bored, they'll move on to the next interesting video. That's why TikTok suggests shorter videos, with the main message introduced after 5 seconds. 

5. Use TikTok analytics: You have to pay attention to your videos’ analytics but you can only do this if you switch to a business account. It will help pinpoint your most engaged videos and show you the best time to post each day. You get to figure out your trending videos, average watch time, video views, and growth rate.

How To Improve TikTok Content

If you are new to TikTok, navigating the app might be confusing. The funny thing is that content that goes viral on other platforms might not work for TikTok. If you want your brand to get recognized and sell more, learn how to make a video go viral on TikTok. Below are ways you can create content for TikTok.

1. Use Hashtags: One of the elements that influences the For You page is the use of hashtags. Using hashtags ensures that your intended audience sees your content. It can be hard to find the right hashtags for TikTok because there are so many options and a limit of 100 characters. But with proper research, you’ll get it right. 

2. Infuse TikTok Trends: TikTok is the birthplace of many social media trends. To go viral on TikTok, you need to follow the latest trends because it's a trend-focused platform. Fortunately, it's easy to find out what's popular on TikTok. To get more ideas, visit the For You page on the app. You can also check out the popular challenges and hashtags on the Discover tab.

3. Be authentic: To create content for TikTok, it's important to be authentic. While it's great to use trends and viral music, creating original content is also crucial. You can be original by putting out your own content with your perspective.

4. Add popular songs to your TikTok videos: TikTok can influence music and audio trends, so you have many options to choose from. To find trending sounds on TikTok, you can scroll through the For You page, use the search box, or check the sound collection. You can also check the Billboard Hot 100 chart and listen to Spotify's TikTok playlists.

5. Plan content: Even though it’s simple to film and publish TikTok videos, it can be tasking to come up with a great content idea. Examples of content ideas include tutorial videos, behind-the-scene videos, fun facts about your business, or Q&A videos.

How To Create Your First TikTok Ad

TikTok ads are content that a brand owner or content creator pays to show to a target audience. The aim of the content is to spread awareness about the company or sell a particular product or service. When it comes to TikTok ads, there are three levels of organization. They are:

1. TikTok Ad: A single advertisement (usually in the form of a video).

2. TikTok Ad Group: A collection of TikTok ads.

3. TikTok Campaign: A collection of TikTok ad groups.

It’s important to note that to create an Ad on Tiktok, you need a Tiktok Ads Manager account. If you don’t have one, you can create one with your Tiktok business account details. Once that is sorted out, follow the steps below to create an ad:

1. Input Ad Name: This will help you differentiate ads in your group. 

2. Select Ad Format, which is the video format. 

3. Input Ad Details: These include the media itself, thumbnails, links, and texts/captions.

4. Preview Your content.

5. Click Submit.

TikTok ad specs

1. Ratio: 9:16, 1:1, or 16:9.

2. Minimum resolution: 540x960px, 640x640px, or 960x540px.

3. Video file type: .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, or .avi.

4. Video length: 5 to 60 seconds (We recommend 9 to 15 seconds for best results).

5. Video file size: 500MB maximum.

How to Use TikTok's Creator Marketplace To Find Influencers

TikTok's Creator Marketplace is an online community of business owners, creators and influencers who collaborate to create videos that resonate with audiences.

If you have a TikTok Ads Manager account, you can enter the account details to log in to the Creator Marketplace platform. If you don't have one, follow the steps below:

1. Input all the required information. For example, your name, business email address, and phone number. 

2. Verify your account by clicking on the link in the verification email TikTok sends you.  

3. After verification, customize your profile. To personalize your profile, use your company logo as your picture. Also, add links to your brand's website and social media accounts. Don't forget to include a good description. 

4. After that, you can browse the TikTok Creator Marketplace, search for creators who match your target audience, and reach out to them for a potential collaboration.

Conclusion

As you’ve learned, Tiktok is an amazing app that offers you the chance to create interesting and visually appealing content, engage your audience, and measure performance. Using TikTok as a small business owner can change your business, especially if other platforms aren't giving you good results. However, note that your success with the app will take time, dedication and exploration of different strategies. 

• Social Media
• Marketing