It can be hard to keep up with all the changing trends and apps you need to understand to stay on top of social media. One app that has taken social media by storm is Tiktok. You’ve probably heard people say, “I saw that on Tiktok” or “Have you seen that new Tiktok trend?”. With everyone being at home way more than usual in 2020, it skyrocketed the downloads of Tiktok. People were looking for a fun new way to keep themselves occupied during the pandemic. In this blog post, we discuss what Tiktok is and what benefits it has to you as a business owner.

What is Tiktok?

If you’re in the rare group that still hasn’t heard of Tiktok, I’ll give you a quick summary. Tiktok is an app where people share short-form videos. These videos range from 15 seconds to 3 minutes in length. The topics are vast. You can find educational videos, comedies skits and anything else you could really imagine. Additionally, you can use music, filters, text and more to edit and make your videos unique. The app runs heavily on trends. Once a song, dance, comedy prank or recipe becomes popular on the app it is everywhere!

When I first heard about Tiktok I thought it was only 15-year-old’s doing dances and lip-syncing to songs. This stereotype stemmed from an app called “Musical.ly” that merged with Tiktok in 2018. Musical.ly was an app filled with dancing and lip-syncing but once it merged with Tiktok and its features, the app become much more than that. Thanks to this merger, the celebrities who started joining the app, and the pandemic, Tiktok’s popularity exploded. The app was ranked as the third fastest-growing brand of 2020 according to Morning Consult.

As I have been a regular user of the app since mid-2019, I have discovered that Tiktok is far more than dances and lip-syncing. Since the videos on the app range from educational to comedy to art to real-life situations to entertainment, there is something for everyone. Any niche you could imagine can be found on this app. I have genuinely learned so many things from watching videos on Tiktok.

The great thing about Tiktok is that its algorithm is so accurate. As you watch the videos shown to you on your “FYP”, an acronym for “for you page”, Tiktok is taking in data. They are tracking things like how much of the video you watched, if you pressed “like” on the video, if you commented on the video etc. This data helps Tiktok understand what your interests are and begins showing you more videos on those topics or videos including certain elements you have shown you enjoy. After a short period of time, you are hooked because you are being shown an endless stream of videos that you are very likely to be interested in. Of course, this can certainly turn into a negative thing if you let yourself spend too much time on the app that you aren’t living your real-life and getting your priorities done.

Algorithm

Now that you know a little bit more about Tiktok, let’s talk about why it is such a great tool for your small business. Firstly, the algorithm. As explained above, the Tiktok algorithm shows a user what they think they will enjoy based off the data they have collected from your watching habits. This benefits you as a business owner since you are more likely to have your content be accurately shown to people who will enjoy your business.

You are essentially having the opportunity to have your content be shown to millions of people for free. The potential for growth from this is exponential. If you master the short-form video style, observe current trends like music or challenges popular on Tiktok, and mix that into promoting your business, you will have the opportunity to gain followers faster than any other app available. It is because of this that it is much more common to see large amounts of accounts have millions of followers on Tiktok compared to the number of accounts that can achieve this on Instagram.

Having said this, there is a downside to Tiktok’s algorithm. Since it shows your content on the FYP page of virtually anyone on the app, there is the chance that it will fall onto someone’s page who does not like your content. This can sometimes unfortunately result in people leaving rude comments. However, this is a risk you have on any social media app. It is just a bit more common with Tiktok since your main page is full of videos from strangers you don’t follow.

Creative Content

Another great aspect of Tiktok is how easy it is to generate creative and interactive content. One example of how you can directly include people who interact with your content is by using their comments to create additional videos. Not quite sure what I mean? Allow me to explain. When you post on Tiktok and get comments on your videos, you are able to take a comment and paste it like a sticker in a response video.

For example, say you posted a video showing how your hair product helps to strengthen damaged hair. Then someone commented on that video asking “how often do you need to use this product to see results?”. Instead of just replying with a comment back to this user, you could alternatively create another Tiktok video to address this comment in further detail. Placing the comment you are responding to on the screen helps people to see that this is a response to another video and will likely go check out that original video as well. The sticker of the comment on your new video is clickable and will take the user back to the original video that the comment came from. This is a great way for you to interact with your customers!

Additionally, a great way for you to get content ideas on Tiktok is from the current trends on the app. There are always different trends coming and going that you can choose from. Often there are certain songs that are dominating the app. If you use one of these songs in your video, it can make it more likely for your video to be successful. Another kind of trend that can be popular on the app is when someone creates a video of them doing a challenge or something funny and people recreate it themselves. Customers love when companies are in tune with these trends and can incorporate them into their videos. Showing humour and understanding of the trending videos will also make your videos much more effective!

Ads

A unique opportunity with Tiktok as part of your social media strategy is that since they are a newer app, they haven’t incorporated ads as heavily as older apps like Facebook and Instagram have. This means that Tiktok is focusing on cultivating a large base of loyal users and will start integrating more ads as time goes on. So unlike Instagram currently where you need to be purchasing ads to get your content in front of your target audience, Tiktok is doing this for you on their own. For now, at least. It is inevitable that since Tiktok is a free app we will be seeing more ads and the need for business accounts to put in the money to see the same engagement in the future. So get going now before you need to start putting money into the app to see results!

Tiktok Is the Future of Social Media

Tiktok has certainly taken the social media world by storm and has become an app that you absolutely should be implementing in your social media strategy. It is hard to be constantly understanding new apps, but I am confident in the fact that Tiktok has revealed a huge leap in the direction social media is going. Short-form videos are the future. Instagram and Facebook have seen the huge success that Tiktok has had and have made noticeable changes to follow suit.

Instagram rolled out Reels in 2020 in response to Tiktok. Reels is Instagram’s version of these popular short-form videos. Another interesting change is that Facebook has integrated a feature straight for Instagram into their app. Can you guess what it is? Reels. This shows just how much Facebook and Instagram are watching their competitor. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, also announced on June 30^th, 2021 that they are moving towards being an app for e-commerce, messaging, and videos (The Verge). This is pretty crazy considering how different they have become since Instagram used to be a solely picture-sharing app.

So, if I can give you some advice, start taking short clips of videos when you would naturally think to take a photo. Building up these clips will allow you to have a great base to use for Tiktok’s. Join Tiktok and at first, just observe. Watch how people make their videos. Take note of songs you frequently hear. Analyze what is going on in the videos that are going viral. Then take your video clips and add in this new knowledge to create a Tiktok that is relevant and will resonate with your target audience. Let the algorithm do the rest! Best of luck with your Tiktok endeavours. I hope you are able to see the huge growth in a short period of time that so many other business owners have been able to get with this app! And if you don’t have the time to do this yourself, hire someone who can. Check out our Social Media Packages here.