TikTok has evolved beyond its original viral dance challenges and comedic skirts, and it now has become an influential platform for businesses globally. With its fast-paced, highly engaging content format. TikTok for Business offers entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to grow their brands, connect with potential customers, and drive sales.
This article is perfect for any business owner who is unsure of how to use TikTok and will give a concise and easy-to-understand guide on how the platform works, and why you need TikTok for business.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to create and share short videos, their videos range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. The videos can be enhanced with music, effects, and popular filters to make the content look more interesting. At first, it was just a platform known for its fun, viral trends. TikTok has grown to accommodate businesses, brands, and creators of all kinds.
TikTok has an algorithm that promotes content that resonates with viewers based on engagement rather than follower count. This makes it easier for new users mainly entrepreneurs to gain the exposure they need. With over 1 billion active users worldwide, TikTok isn’t just for entertainment anymore but it is a marketing tool for entrepreneurs to use to promote their businesses, no matter the size.
According to ByteDance’s Ad resources, South Africa has over 17,46 million TikTok users aged 18 and above. As per statistics provided by ByteDance, the TikTok ads reached nearly 43,2% of all adults above 18 in South Africa. This shows that there’s a huge audience to which entrepreneurs can market their products and services.
Why TikTok is Good for Your Business?
If you’re an entrepreneur wondering whether TikTok is worth your time, here are several key reasons to consider the platform:
1. Massive Audience Reach
TikTok’s most effective element is the “For You” page (FYP) that drives viral content. This page displays user content that matches their interest, even if they don’t follow the creator. If your video is interesting enough, it can be placed on the FYP and can reach millions of users. This algorithmic advantage enables businesses to reach a large audience without necessarily having to spend money on paid advertisements.
2. Engagement and Authenticity
TikTok thrives because of its real, relatable, and authentic content. Users are mostly drawn to the behind-the-scenes content, product demonstrations, and user-generated. By showing the human side of your business such as customer testimonials, office hours, or how your product works, then people have a reason to trust you. Often, this creates customer loyalty, which is not only a valuable asset but key to long-term survival.
3. Young Audience
TikTok heavily relies on its popularity among the youth, particularly Gen Z and Millennial users. Research has indicated that these two groups are more likely to stumble onto products through TikTok and make buying decisions based on content shared on the platform. If your target audience is the younger generations, then using TikTok is a great way to get sales.
4. Cost-Effective Marketing
Marketing on TikTok is not expensive, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money. It gives the businesses ability to develop top-notch, interesting content at a very low cost. Rather than going for costly adverts, small businesses can reach many people by being innovative and coming up with good content.
5. Viral Potential
The actual strength of TikTok is its ability to go viral. Due to the algorithm, videos that capture the attention of the users can be shared widely. Which can make your brand or business reach more viewers in a matter of hours.
For bigger brands looking to use the on-platform marketing tools, TikTok offers:
- TopView ads that are placed at the top of a user’s feed
- In-Feed ads that play in full screen, are skippable and must be 60 seconds or less
- Brand takeover ads are unskippable videos similar to TopView ads
- Branded effects such as games, stickers, filters, special effects
TikTok is a powerful and inexpensive marketing tool that provides an opportunity to attract millions of people and have fun at the same time. As such, you can create a huge amount of engaging content for your business by using its viral potential, building real connections, and posting high-quality content. TikTok is one of the most effective social media platforms that every entrepreneur should use in their marketing plan whether they are beginners or not.
