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Home Blog Marketing Your Business on TikTok
At first glance, business owners might write off TikTok as an app for teens to share dance challenges or makeup tutorials. However, there are very real opportunities on the app for businesses to connect with younger generations and grow their brands.
Furthermore, TikTok isn’t just a branding opportunity. You have the power to drive traffic to your products and increase your sales if your videos are engaging and relevant.
TikTok, like other social media platforms, is a useful channel to reach potential customers. Learn how to market your brand and attract business with engaging videos and added value on TikTok.
As with any marketing channel, success starts with research. Know who the target demographics are on TikTok and what they want from the content they engage with.
TikTok boasts more than 800 million monthly active users, with many viral videos shared across other channels like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This is a huge audience that you can tap into.
While only 9% of American-based internet users have used TikTok, 49% of teenagers have downloaded or used the app. The average daily time spent on TikTok is 45 minutes, which means users engage with dozens of videos each session, looking at 15-second clips and 60-second video strings.
Essentially, TikTok is an ideal app if you’re trying to reach younger audiences. While teens make up most of its user base, the rise in content creators means more audiences are curious about the tool and want to download it. For example, NPR’s Planet Money podcast has grown immensely popular on TikTok, attracting new listeners while piquing the curiosity of its existing listener base.
On TikTok—even more so than other social media channels—the focus should be on helping or entertaining the audience. While platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be used for customer service or business-related announcements, users turn to TikTok for entertainment or education.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that only brands in the entertainment industry can build up a following. Companies in finance, law, human resources, marketing, and various other fields can connect with users by sharing engaging content.
For example, Tori Dunlap, a nationally recognized millennial money and career expert, recently shared how she earned $60,000 in 6 weeks using TikTok. She created videos with sound financial advice and directed users to check out her related products—like a resume template or side-hustle course. The advice she shared has clearly struck a chord, with 1 video reaching more than 3.5 million views and 730,000 likes.
“Going viral and gaining 350,000 followers in such a short amount of time is proof that Gen Z is craving personal finance advice,” Dunlap says.
If you want to be successful, focus on creating quality content and providing something of value to viewers. Dunlap gained success by breaking down complex financial concepts and providing digestible bits of information. How can you help the TikTok community? What can you offer that would make someone want to keep engaging with you?
While the process of content creation might not be entirely new to you, the format for creating and uploading TikTok videos can be intimidating at first. Keep these tips in mind to increase your chances of success.
Finally, use the app—don’t just log in to upload a video. Spend time each day finding videos you like and getting to know trends. This is the best way to stay on top of them.
TikTok is still a relatively new app for users and content creators alike. This means there’s room to build your audience before the competition grows stiff. Download this tool and see what you like—and don’t like—in video content, then try to make a few clips of your own. You may discover that you enjoy this new content platform and your audience finds value in what you have to say.
Derek Miller is the CMO of Smack Apparel, the content guru at Great.com, the co-founder of Lofty Llama, and a marketing consultant for small businesses. He specializes in entrepreneurship, small business, and digital marketing, and his work has been featured in sites like Entrepreneur, GoDaddy, Score.org, and StartupCamp.
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