As a small business, one always has to wonder how to best market themselves. Compared to large corporations, small businesses do not have the ability to simply call upon their marketing team to promote a new product.
Instead, small business owners, are tasked with the job of understanding their current market themselves.
To understand how to market yourselves it’s important to understand who your target market is. Teenagers? Adults in their early 40s? Suburban moms? Either way, without the proper research on this target market, creating marketing strategies can be difficult.
The rise of social media in the early 2000s has created a network of sites used around the world. Facebook was the first worldwide social media phenomena when launched to the public in 2006. Since then, new inventors and companies have come up with social networks of their own in hopes of beating out competitors.
Thus enter TikTok in 2016. The app was originally a spawn of Musical.ly, another famous networking app. Since being created in 2016 the company sees about 1 billion viewers on average, with many of these users looking for new companies to spend their money on.
So how can you as a small business utilize the newest social media phenomenon to your advantage?
Three main factors should be taken into consideration when using TikTok as a marketing tool:
- Current social media trends
- The type of content posted
- Paid Advertisements
- Audience reach and user views
Lets dive into these four factors.
#Trends
New trends pop up on TikTok weekly and many people rush to participate in this new trend. Some trends include showing the behind the scenes of their business, which viewers often find interesting.
Point of View (POV) is a popular trend used on TikTok, as it allows viewers to feel as though they are engaging with the company. Oftentimes, tasks such as opening a small business is something that many people do not have experience with; creating such videos can give viewers a ‘new reality’.
Participating in popular trends can make you stand out as a small business. Ensuring that you are up to date with the current market and their likes will help you target them at a much easier rate. Simply looking through popular TikTok sounds or hashtags can give you an idea on which trends are most current.
Now, social media influencers are becoming the new celebrities of the 21st century. Taking into consideration of using social media influencers
Content
The key to standing out, is creating the right content that stands out from other businesses. Using trends, as stated above, is just one way to stand out, but the content is the real winner in coming out successful.
With so many people and businesses using social media as a tool to showcase themselves to the world, it is important to come up with as much original content as possible. Within this content, the companies mission should be clearly expressed. Create a common brand that will be shown throughout each of your videos. All of your videos should have a common goal, to gain more consumers. Straying away from this common goal can be confusing and result in viewers not understanding your brand.
With this, trying to be as organic as possible when first uploading content can be beneficial in gaining a large consumer audience. Organic content simply means using key words that will allow consumers to find your brand on their own rather through paid advertisements.
In the age of Web 3.0, consumers can easily spot when someone is being dishonest. One simple Google search or negative review can immediately have a new consumer turn away. Make sure that whatever content is being posted can be backed up by company actions.
Giving a back story, such as the video above, can allow customers to feel empathy towards your business and want to investigate more and sometimes even invest. Eventually this organic content can lead to paid advertisements to continue to gain exposure.
Paid Advertisements
Though we highlighted the importance of organic content, you can never go wrong with a sprinkle of paid advertisements.
These allow for you to ensure that your content is seen by users, as you are paying for advertisements on the site.
But paid advertisements do not come from just commercials or prompted videos on someones FYP (For You Page), they also come in the form of social media influencers or celebrities.
Nowadays, if your company does not have a celebrity or influencer linked to it, the chances of brand recognition are slim. Web 3.0 has created a mass society in which reliance on those with fame is at an all time high.
Take companies such as Nike for example, every campaign you see, a celebrity can be seen, thus brand recognition is increased. Using such a tactic allows for your company to be showcased to your endorsee’s audience, giving you a bigger crowd than before.
Audience Reach and the TikTok Algorithm
One of the most important factors is understanding TikTok and its algorithm is fundamental in ensuring success on the app.
The TikTok algorithm is one that is talked about often as it builds users FYP. The algorithm takes into account the likes of an account, interactions, location and more.
Using the algorithm to a companies advantage by using key words. Trending key words can allow your business to show up at the right time and place.
To make your videos stand out, make sure to make your first few seconds count!
Users are more likely to continue scrolling after the first few seconds if their interests have not been peaked. Start each video off with a selling point to keep the audience hooked.
Going hand and hand with this, make sure that the videos you are posting are not too long. Too long of videos, again, can draw away audience attention, thus they easily get bored.
From the Image above we can see the five main steps of the TikTok algorithm.
Sticking out with hashtags, captions, and keywords can help your company continue to expose itself to new audiences and consumers.
Social media marketing may take weeks to months to be successful especially for a start up business, so take that into consideration. It may seem hard now, but remember to always think about the future.
TikTok is one of the top social media sites, especially for advertising, but don’t be afraid to advertise on other social media sites! Instagram and Facebook prove to be successful for many other small businesses in the past.
Category: Blogging, Social Media Marketing 101