TikTok, since its debut in 2016, has been a platform that some businesses love and others loathe. Even the businesses that use it to its full capacity started off with skepticism about whether it was appropriate for businesses to use. Fast forward to today, many businesses are seeing huge success with incorporating TikTok into their social media marketing strategies, particularly in raising brand awareness. A successful TikTok strategy looks completely different from business to business, which is why – just like any other marketing strategy – it’s necessary for businesses to create a strategic content plan before advertising with TikTok.
But the real question that business owners are asking, particularly those of smaller businesses, is whether TikTok can be beneficial to them. TikTok can be transformative for small businesses, as long as it’s used in the right way. You can’t expect to hop onto a few viral trends here and there and expect to see any progress. That’s not to say businesses shouldn’t leverage TikTok trends as part of their growth strategies, but without a clear, well-planned strategy, success on TikTok will be limited. To help you use TikTok for real business growth, here are proven strategies local businesses can use.
Optimise Your Content For Local Search
TikTok has become more than just an entertainment platform, with the majority of its users now using the network as a search engine too. TikTok knows exactly what its users are looking for when they use the app, which is why it’s continuously evolving its algorithm to favour content that is SEO optimised and helps users find exactly what they’re searching for. For local businesses, this is extremely helpful to know and keep track of, as they can easily optimize their profiles and content to attract audiences searching for businesses in their precise area.
To optimize content for local SEO, businesses should naturally include local keywords and terms throughout both their TikTok business profiles and the content they share. As well as in captions, local keywords can also be mentioned in spoken audio and through TikTok’s own location tags, for the same benefits. Once your content is optimized for local SEO, any TikTok users who search the name of your area will likely be suggested your business page and videos. As well as gaining the interest of new customers directly through TikTok, local businesses can also use the platform to improve SEO efforts for their own websites. TikTok videos can appear in search engine results pages, which means effectively optimising your videos and profile with local keywords is more important than ever before.
TikTok Ads Targeted At Local Audiences
Most small businesses like to avoid ads at all costs. Mainly because, as soon as they hear the word, they associate it with spending unnecessary amounts of money, with no real return on investment. It’s time to challenge these outdated opinions, especially with platforms that enable hyper-targeted advertising and measurable financial returns. TikTok Ads Manager is easy to use and can be set up for local businesses in a matter of minutes. There are a few tips to follow when running TikTok ads, but once you’ve mastered these, you could be just days away from seeing ad success.
TikTok ads for local and global businesses look similar in the sense that each ad will be created around a specific goal or target. Let’s look at one of REFY Beauty’s recent TikTok ads, promoting different shades of their popular lip liner. The video featured a real Refy customer as part of a UGC campaign who demonstrated how best to apply their lip products and finished by commenting on how they found the products’ consistency and pigmentation. This video’s campaign objective would have been to increase TikTok conversions, as the video focused on a persuasive product demonstration, as well as social proof when the customer talked positively about the brand and its product. For small businesses, the same principles apply. Choosing your campaign objective in TikTok Ads Manager is the crucial first step when setting up your ads. Getting the wrong objective can limit the campaign’s ability to achieve the results you’re looking for.
The next step after choosing your campaign objective is to choose your ad budget. Small businesses can decide to spend as little or as much on their TikTok ads as they think necessary, but it’s always recommended to start off small and increase spending if you see positive results. If you’re unsure of how much to spend on advertising, you should consider the value that each customer brings to your business. In general, the higher the value of the customer, the more businesses can spend on their advertising. TikTok’s ads manager might appear complex and intimidating to some small businesses, which is why they should aim to make a TikTok, rather than make an ad. Authentic, human-centred content consistently outperforms AI or overly-edited creative, so remember to be real and most importantly, be yourself!
Prioritise Brand Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful marketing tactic that’s effective across a variety of social media platforms, including TikTok. The businesses that are seeing the most success with TikTok are using storytelling to sell their products and services authentically, rather than aggressively, as traditional marketing methods used to. Creating a video, or a series of videos, that has a genuine narrative helps TikTok audiences to feel more engaged and interested in the content they see – often they will look for similar videos you share. Storytelling content also helps brands stand out not just among their competitors but also among creators and individuals who share content on TikTok. As soon as viewers form an emotional connection with your brand or message, they’re far more likely to keep watching instead of scrolling away after just a few seconds. Many brands in both the B2B and B2C industries use TikTok to share entertaining, lighthearted content that communicates their brand stories.
Don’t just showcase the highlights of operating your business. Sharing the real moments – the successes and the challenges – helps your audience connect with your brand on a more genuine level. Storytelling content can also be beneficial in UGC content, which businesses can use to improve reach and engagement metrics on their content. User-generated content is significantly more affordable than influencer marketing and allows business owners to have more control over the content that’s shared to TikTok audiences. Another reason why businesses should use UGC content in their TikTok marketing strategy is that the content can be reshared across a number of other platforms, such as meta ads, website content and email marketing. As well as full creative control, UGC content on TikTok is strongly associated with high conversion rates because it gives audiences the reassurance they need to make confident purchasing decisions.
