TikTok is currently the fastest-growing social media platform in the world, with over 800 million active users worldwide. TikTok has a ton of marketing potential – influences from J-Lo to the United Nations have been getting creative with the platform.
If you’re a small or medium business owner looking to grow your presence on TikTok, read on to gain a better understanding of the platform and to discover our 7 tips on how to build a following.
Understanding TikTok
Before jumping on the latest social media bandwagon, first ask yourself if this is the right platform for your market. According to findings from Hootsuite, TikTok is most popular with teenagers – with 41% of its audience aged between 16 and 24 years old.
If your target audience is on the younger side — teenagers and young adults — now is the time to start your brand’s TikTok account. TikTok is still relatively new and growing, so now is a unique opportunity to establish yourself in your niche. Short videos work best on the platform. Initially, all videos could only be up to 15 seconds long, but the company recently extended the limit to 60 seconds when you string 4 15-second segments together. TikTok’s most viral video content includes music videos, lip-syncing and hashtag challenges.
For full insights on how to use TikTok for your business, check out our guide here.
How to grow your following
Before we provide you with practical tips on how to grow your following, it’s important to note that acquiring the right followers, is better than amassing thousands of the wrong ones. ‘Buying’ followers is never worth it, due to the lack of transparency as well as the lack of engagement you’ll receive from it.
If you build the right following, the right way — you will have the opportunity to build a community of brand evangelists on the platform
1. Work with influencers
Much like Instagram, TikTok is a visual platform that lends itself well to influencer endorsement.
Start by seeking out the right influencers — someone who is aligned with your brand values who you can see connecting well with your audience.
Look to build long-term influencer partnerships, where you can work to build engagement and collaborate on making great content over time. This will greatly help to expand your reach – especially if the influencer already has a large following. Just remember, as with all platforms, transparency is important, and be sure to follow the proper guidelines when working with #sponsored content.
2. Interact with your audience
It is crucial for small businesses to engage with their audience on all social media platforms that they’re active on.
TikTok is a very interactive platform, allowing you to leave comments on videos you enjoy, as well as share your own content and interact with your own audience in the comments. 83% of TikTok users have already uploaded a video, which provides lots of opportunities to get actively involved.
3. Create great content
As is true of all social networks – content is king. One of the best ways to grow your audience is to provide great content that your followers will like, comment and want to share.
A social media manager should be on top of the latest trends, and be looking for relevant topical stories to share. Creating quality content is also important – keep in mind that while TikTok videos are generally spontaneous and fun, your content should still be quality and relevant. There are plenty of video tools available that you can create standout content with – including our Boosted video maker..
4. Share videos frequently
If you want to grow your following, then you should be posting frequently. Strive to post 3-5 times a week – this will help gain you traction over time.
To put it simply, when people follow you, they expect content. If you fail to post regularly, you put yourself at the risk of losing followers. Stay on top of this by creating a content calendar for your brand.
5. Post at the right time
It’s crucial to consider when your audience will be scrolling through TikTok. You want to post your content when your audience is actually online. Typically on social media, the best times to post are during commuting hours, during lunchtime and after work – as well as weekends.
The perfect time to post, as always, depends on your own personal audience. Influencer Marketing Hub analyzed 10,000 TikTok posts and engagement rates worldwide, and found that the best times to post varied widely each day of the week. In fact, if you look at their infographic, you’ll see that the best times to post hardly even overlap from one day to the next. Check out our guide When is the Best Time to Publish Videos on TikTok for full insights.
6. Use the Right Hashtags
For a platform made famous by hashtag challenges, using the right hashtags should play a big part in your TikTok marketing strategy.
Keep in mind that you should be using hashtags relevant to your product/brand, instead of only using hashtags that are trending. We created a Guide to Hashtags on TikTok that you can use to delve deeper into the topic – it covers how to find the best hashtags and will tell you everything you need to know about hashtag challenges.
7. Experiment with music
Don’t forget that TikTok is an app that is built on music! Use this to your advantage, and research the top songs trending on Spotify to stay relevant. You can also review the ‘For you’ section on TikTok to see which songs your audience endorses and uses to make fun videos.
We hope that you enjoyed these 7 tips for gaining more of the right TikTok followers for your small business. Keep our TikTok Video Length & Video Formatting Guide at hand for when you begin to create your TikTok video content.
