TikTok Marketing for Small Businesses
Small businesses have a rare opportunity to get in early on TikTok marketing before it’s overwhelmed by big brands.
The Astronomical Growth of TikTok
Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere for the last year or so, you’ve probably heard of TikTok. TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms since Facebook. Launched in 2018, it already has a user base of 800 million people – more than double Twitter’s.
And it’s not slowing down – it’s topped the mobile app download charts in July and every other month this year (except for one when the COVID-19 pandemic vaulted Zoom to the top).
Marketing on TikTok
There aren’t very many businesses that have figured out how to use TikTok. That makes it perfect for nimble marketing efforts.
TikTok offers several platform-specific ways for advertisers to reach their intended audience. Advertising can take many forms, including:
- In-Feed Videos – Video ads are the most basic types of advertisements on the platform.
- Brand Takeovers – A full-screen video ad that displays when users launch the app.
- Hashtag Challenges – Displayed on the discovery page prompting users to create content that uses the brand’s chosen hashtag.
- Sponsored AR Content – Branded graphical elements, filters, lenses, and stickers.
- Custom Influencer Packages – Ads that run as pre-rolls on sponsored content.
Now, the first thing that small business marketers are going to notice about TikTok is that it’s extremely expensive compared to other social media platforms. That’s not to say that small businesses shouldn’t use paid advertising on TikTok, but a fair amount of caution is warranted. However, because they give little weight to account popularity, a small business can go viral on day one with engaging content that users like.
And perhaps best of all, once you’ve established a following on TikTok for your business, it becomes possible to run your own user content challenges instead of spending big bucks on a hashtag challenge campaign. In that way, you can engage with your followers and create even more opportunities to reach new audiences.
It’s Time to Engage
The most important lesson that small businesses can take away here is to try and exploit the lower-cost marketing methods that are still available on TikTok and do it as soon as possible. Those that wait are making the same mistake that led to many small businesses missing out on the rise of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And as they say, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it – so it’s time to get moving right away!