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Tag: TikTok For Business

  • 6 Tips to Using TikTok Like a Pro and Reach New Audiences | Entrepreneur

    6 Tips to Using TikTok Like a Pro and Reach New Audiences | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Do you still think TikTok is just a platform for Gen Z to dance to the latest trends? Think again. With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok is a great way for your business to reach new audiences. From showcasing your products and services to engaging with your followers, here is how to use TikTok like a pro.

    Related: This Is Why Your Brand Should Be Using TikTok Right Now

    1. Define your audience and goals

    We do this at my company, Strategic Advisor Board, with a few easy steps. Start by researching your niche, analyzing your competitors and finding out what type of content your audience is interested in. Test various types of content until you find what resonates best with your audience — don’t just post content blindly.

    2. Create engaging content

    TikTok is an excellent platform for businesses to connect with audiences, which requires creating engaging content. To stand out, videos should be short, to the point, visually appealing and authentic. Your videos can also be more memorable by incorporating humor appropriate for your brand.

    Ensuring you have access to good-quality lighting and sound in your videos is crucial. Recording your videos in front of a window so you’re using natural light can work perfectly if you don’t have a ring light or other studio lighting. Pro tip: Using the camera on the back of your phone compared to the front camera (or selfie camera) will create higher-quality videos, and using a microphone — even a small lapel one — will improve your sound quality significantly.

    As a bonus, music, effects and filters can all enhance your TikTok content. Using music and effects in your TikTok videos are excellent ways to set the tone and mood, stay on brand and evoke your audience’s emotions.

    Creating engaging, shareable content is the key to building your business on TikTok. Companies can creatively showcase their brand and grow their presence on the platform by being relatable or polarizing, participating in trends or creating their own.

    Related: 3 Ways Your Brand Can Go Viral on TikTok

    3. Collaborate with influencers

    One way to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences is by finding and using influencers. Use TikTok’s search function to narrow your search for influencers whose content aligns with your brand’s personality and target audience.

    You also want to make sure you pay attention to how much engagement and views the influencer’s videos get. It’s best to work with a mix of influencers at various levels because this can help you best utilize your budget. Micro influencers have between 10,000 to 100,000 followers and macro influencers have over 100,000. Mega influencers are accounts with more than 1 million followers.

    You can negotiate compensation and collaboration terms based on their previous partnerships and engagement rates. Clearly define your campaign’s expectations and provide the information necessary to create engaging content. Assess the engagement parameters and adjust for future collaborations.

    If you can offer something exclusive to that specific influencer’s audience, such as a discount code, that could also help with engagement.

    4. Utilize TikTok ads

    There are several steps to take when creating a successful TikTok ad. When creating ads, you can target specific audiences based on factors such as age, gender, location, interests and behaviors. Make sure you use these options to zone in on your target audience and have a clear and concise call to action. Do you want the audience to visit your website, follow your account or make a purchase?

    You can choose from several types of TikTok ads to grow your business. Using In-Feed Ads is an excellent tool for promoting your services to a large audience. Try out a few different types and see what works best for you.

    Try challenges with your audience in order to create engaging ads. For example, Gymshark and e.l.f. Cosmetics earned over 3 billion views with their #Gymshark66 and #EyesLipsFace challenges. Get creative and use challenges to build your community and bring them closer together.

    Related: I Built Over 10 Million Followers on TikTok in 1 Year. Here’s How You Can, Too.

    5. Engage with your audience

    Building your brand presence on TikTok requires engaging with your audience. You can create meaningful connections with your followers by following these tips:

    • Responding to your audience’s comments sooner than later shows you value their input and engagement.
    • Utilizing tools such as polls and Q&A features can help increase audience engagement and shows you are listening to your audience and learning about their needs.
    • Sharing behind-the-scenes content can help make your brand more personable and show differentiation. Consider sharing funny deleted scenes or bloopers to add character to your content.
    • Engaging your audience with giveaways and contests is an excellent way to utilize user-generated content.

    Showing your audience you appreciate them and the time and feedback they give you will help you create a thriving TikTok community of loyal followers for your business.

    6. Promote your TikTok account

    Your TikTok account is running, but how do you promote it?

    Pull your fans from other platforms by promoting your videos on places like Instagram and Facebook. Add your TikTok handle to your bios on other platforms and mention that you will have exclusive content that can’t be found anywhere else. Utilize trending hashtags and music in your videos to capitalize on the most recent trends. To find what sounds are trending, I recommend searching for creator recommendations through hashtags like #trendingsound, #trendalert and #soundsforcontentcreators.

    Get exposure to other TikTok accounts in your niche by cross-promoting with them. Make arrangements with other account creators to promote their content if they promote yours. This is different from a paid sponsorship and can be done for free.

    Use other popular videos and create a stitch with them. A stitch is when you use a part of another creator’s video and put your video together with it. You can agree or disagree on the original content and explain why you stand where you do. Get creative, have fun and promote your account now — or regret it later.

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    Jason Miller

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  • 3 TikTok Trends Brands Must Pay Attention To | Entrepreneur

    3 TikTok Trends Brands Must Pay Attention To | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    While there are mixed opinions about TikTok, there is no denying that it has earned a place among the top social media channels. Trends on TikTok shift quickly, but agile content creators can make money from their profiles.

    Not only was TikTok the most downloaded app in 2022, but also kids spent 62% more time watching TikTok videos than they did YouTube. In addition, it’s noteworthy that Gen Z is the app’s largest demographic, with at least 45 million users in that age range accessing TikTok at least once per month.

    At its current growth rate, TikTok has already surpassed Instagram in popularity and will also outstrip Snapchat. This means it’s essential for brands, content creators and marketers to stay on top of TikTok trends to monetize the roughly 95 minutes a day that the average TikTok user spends watching videos.

    Here are a few trends to pay attention to:

    Related: Looking for New Ecommerce Customers? TikTok Might Be the Best Place to Start.

    1. The platform is becoming a sales hub for both brands and influencers

    Research from ConvertSocial has found that sales through TikTok’s platform have increased by nearly 400%. One part of this massive surge in sales is because influencers are taking full advantage of advertising and sales opportunities, mainly where affiliate marketing and paid partnerships are concerned.

    Additionally, small businesses have also jumped on TikTok as a way to actively establish sales chains that are targeted to younger audiences. These small businesses are creating strong presences, developing their brand identity based on what appeals to these younger users and leveraging that to expand their customer base.

    One of the most important factors surrounding this impressive sales growth is that its primary user base has now aged into a bracket where it has considerable spending power. The 10-19 range makes up 32.5% of TikTok’s users, while those aged 20-39 comprise just under 46% of active users. This translates to more purchasing power and a greater interest in products and services with a higher ticket value.

    Related: 5 Ways That Gen Z Differs from Millennials That You Must Take Into Account When Promoting Your Business

    2. Over half of TikTok’s users are women with substantial purchasing power

    In a Statista survey as of January 2023, roughly 54% of the global TikTok user base identifies as female. With over a billion users and 670 million downloads in 2022, this is a huge market that most brands are leaving largely untapped.

    Believe it or not, only about 18% of marketers fully utilize TikTok as an advertising channel. However, there is an impressive pool of talented social media influencers on the platform who are willing to collaborate with brands to launch successful marketing campaigns, so marketers need to start taking TikTok more seriously to generate revenue.

    When you add that women either control or influence at least 85% of consumer spending and account for about $10 trillion of U.S. financial assets, brands should pay attention to what female TikTok consumers are interested in buying.

    3. TikTok monetization has yet to hit the saturation point for influencers

    Content creators and influencers are well-versed in using platforms like Instagram and YouTube for affiliate marketing and creating a sales funnel. These monetization methods have been done to death via webinars, blog posts, courses and how-to articles.

    However, the same is not true for TikTok, partly because it is still a relatively new phenomenon and partly because influencers’ methods to make money are more complex than those of Instagram or YouTube.

    For instance, most creators must either heavily promote their affiliate codes or frequently change a link in their profile to keep up with what they’re selling. On other platforms, there are more opportunities to place a clickable link somewhere, which makes the selling process more manageable.

    This dovetails with another trend: brand partnerships. Recent ConvertSocial data shows that TikTok bloggers’ income from brand partnerships has grown by 58% in the past year, which proves that the platform’s influencers are figuring out that utilizing the power of a brand alongside traditional affiliate marketing mechanics is a winning strategy for them.

    Related: Taco Bell Just Premiered ‘Mexican Pizza: The Musical’ on Tik Tok, Starring Dolly Parton and Doja Cat

    Here’s the forecast for TikTok’s marketing prospects

    In 2023, one of the best things a brand can do is take TikTok more seriously regarding its audience’s spending power. Most TikTok users can pay for goods and services they see on the platform, so brands can and should leverage this as a lucrative sales channel.

    However, it would also be irresponsible not to mention the concerns about certain regulatory risks that some governments, particularly the United States, have raised because TikTok is a Chinese creation owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. While this has yet to stop over a billion people worldwide from using the app, it is a good idea for companies to capitalize on TikTok’s popularity with eyes wide open and plenty of protections in place.

    Overall, TikTok’s popularity is slated to continue its impressive rise, and the revenue-generating opportunities look pretty positive for the coming year. As the platform releases new advertising tools, influencers gain a stronger grasp of marketing mechanics, and more brands begin entering the space; tremendous opportunities await.

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    Ksana Liapkova

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  • 5 Key Benefits of Posting Reels on Instagram

    5 Key Benefits of Posting Reels on Instagram

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As social media platforms continue to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of users, Instagram has introduced a feature called Reels. This feature, which allows users to create 15-second video clips set to music, has quickly gained popularity since its introduction in August 2020.

    The ability to edit videos in a new, innovative and extremely user-friendly way has gifted millions of Instagram users a new skill and creative outlet for producing content in ways they were unable to before. Though Instagram was not the first platform to introduce these fast-paced videos, its design has the unique ability to reward a majority of uploads with hundreds to thousands of views — it keeps users hooked! It is 2023, and Instagram Reels have become a significant part of the platform and offer several benefits for users.

    Related: 7 Instagram Reels Ideas to Better Connect With Your Audience

    1. Wider audience

    One of the most significant benefits of Instagram Reels is the ability to reach a wider audience. When a user creates a Reel, it appears in a dedicated section where users can discover and engage with new content. This means that even if a user has a small following, their Reels have the potential to be seen by a much larger audience. This can be especially useful for businesses and influencers looking to expand their reach on the platform.

    Related: Why Instagram Is Every Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Tool

    2. Drive traffic

    In addition to providing a creative outlet, Instagram Reels can also be a great way to drive traffic to a user’s profile. When someone discovers a Reel they enjoy, they may be more likely to check out the rest of the user’s content. This can lead to an increase in followers and engagement on the user’s profile.

    3. Promote products

    Instagram Reels are also an excellent tool for businesses looking to promote their products or services. Since Reels are set to music, businesses can create catchy and memorable content that is easy for users to share. This can be especially effective for products or services that are visually appealing, as Reels allow businesses to showcase their products engagingly and interactively.

    4. Brand awareness

    Reels are great for content creators to show off their creativity and talents; and for viewers seeking fast entertainment, but they can be handy for businesses that want to increase their reach and brand awareness. There have already been countless brands that have become mainstream solely by promoting their business through platforms like Reels and Tiktok. With an audience this wide, it’s crucial for all businesses to have some sort of presence on these apps because they can lead to an easy reach to new audiences, and best of all, it’s free!

    Related: 6 Innovative Ways to Increase Brand Awareness

    5. Hashtags

    Instagram creates large communities with similar interests by using hashtags. Hashtags are a way to organize specific videos into niche categories that will be appreciated by an audience that actively searches for them.

    For instance, if you are a pastry chef, you might want to use #baking to have a higher chance for your video to be shown to people who already enjoy baking and pastries. This will lead to more likes, shares and views on your video. You are not limited to a certain number of hashtags, so your video could include hashtags: #cakes, #cooking, #bakery, #pastry. You can even get very specific, like #pastryphotography to target a particular audience.

    Related: #WhyweuseHashtag

    How can you use Reels to your advantage and promote your profile or business?

    First, you must understand how trends work and why specific videos get more views than others. While it’s true that Instagram Reels hand out views as if the world was about to end, if your video doesn’t align with the algorithm, it will never see the success you’re hoping for.

    Try using reels as a viewer; you might notice that most videos are not entirely original. You will probably realize that many clips have the same content and audio with only slight variations. This is because the algorithm encourages creators to copy and build off of one another’s content; this can be demonstrated with the “Duet” feature on TikTok, where a user copies another clip’s audio and context and creates a similar video in response or to parody to the first.

    So, to align with the algorithm, try adding trending music with a related design and context set-up but with your own content and creative touch.

    Try Instagram Reels for yourself, using these new insights about the platform! These quick and addicting videos have an audience as big as the sea. They bring together communities with matching interests and could grant you recognition and free business impressions. Don’t get frustrated if your videos don’t go viral starting out. After all, Instagram reels are meant to be fun, so just put out what you think is worth watching and let the algorithm find an audience for you!

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    Sean Boyle

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  • Did #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt Give Amazon the “Social Commerce” Push It Needed?

    Did #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt Give Amazon the “Social Commerce” Push It Needed?

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    For a long time, Amazon has been known as a search engine for people ready to buy. Over the last year, with new features such as Amazon Live, they seem to have gradually positioned themselves as a discovery-based platform. That’s traditionally been the realm of search engines such as Google and social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

    It seems that social media platforms and online marketplaces are each heading in each other’s direction. If consumers are lucky, they’ll meet somewhere in the middle and end up making the way that we all shop in 2023 more streamlined and fun.

    Related: What Brands Need to Know About Social Commerce

    Here’s what I’m really talking about.

    Over the last few years, influencer marketing has become a critical (and very valuable) part of online commerce. The influencer marketing business model has exploded from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $13.8 billion in 2021. Industry analysts predict that this year it will reach $16.4 billion.

    And where do all those influencers call home? TikTok, that’s where.

    OK, not just TikTok, but also other short-video-format heavy platforms such as Facebook and YouTube as well. Accelerated by the restrictions imposed by the long pandemic, they have all contributed to an exciting new way of effortlessly transitioning from social media engagement directly to shopping for favorite, influencer-recommended products.

    TikTok signaled their eCommerce intentions with a recent announcement about a new partnership program designed to assist US merchants with advertising on their app by positioning the TikTok For Business Ads Manager as a home base for their TikTok-based marketing.

    Related: 3 Ways TikTok Can Improve Your Marketing Strategy

    TikTok For Business allows merchants to create and manage TikTok campaigns without leaving their own native eCommerce platforms.

    As importantly, they can do it by engaging with users right out at the tip of the spear, those users interacting with high-profile marketing trends.

    Now, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has become both a trending hashtag and a place where products become viral eCommerce legends.

    TikTok for Business is ground zero for influencers and online sellers looking to find what people are talking about, and, more importantly, buying.

    The growing #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag movement doesn’t beg customers to make purchases. Instead, it just shows how cool these trending new products are. And it’s working! TikTok also has a “For You Page” that they say is intended to work as an online “matchmaker” between content and a curated audience.

    At the same time, the same thing is happening on Amazon’s marketplace but in reverse!

    Amazon just launched Inspire, “a new, personalized in-app shopping feed designed to make it easy to explore new products, discover ideas, and seamlessly shop content created by other customers, influencers, and brands (you) love.”

    Sound familiar?

    It should. It’s very similar to the experience that a TikTok user would have. Browsers (and not necessarily shoppers) could scroll through curated photos and videos tailored to their selected interests and engagement.

    Related: When It Comes to Social Media, TikTok Can Maximize Your ROI

    What’s groundbreaking about this new app is Amazon’s seeming willingness to create a platform for users who might not even be interested in shopping. That’s a business model that I’m not sure Jeff Bezos saw on the horizon.

    Users of the Inspire app can swipe through the content to simply see what’s out there, get inspired by something new, cool, or crazy, and of course, make purchases with just a few clicks.

    Amazon, along with several other large Ecommerce marketplaces, has decided that the long-held acceptance that their platforms were unapologetically for “shopping” had run its course. Now, they’re building entertaining ecosystems that also allow for shopping.

    Amazon’s Inspire isn’t available for desktop applications. Instead hinting at the intended functionality as well as the demographic, it’s only available as an app for IOS and Android.

    Amazon says it will roll out to select customers in the U.S. in early December, with the projected goal of completing U.S. accessibility completed in a few months.

    Marketplace Pulse recently referenced “Prime Day is the best example of social commerce,” with videos tagged #primeday2022 viewed over 52 million times on TikTok.

    It seems that very soon, a better representation of “social commerce” might just be groups of Amazon Inspire users passing their phones back and forth, alternately “liking” and making purchases from a marketplace formerly known for its single-minded focus, and let’s admit it, lack of fun.

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    Brian Burt

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  • Is Joining TikTok Worth It for B2B Businesses?

    Is Joining TikTok Worth It for B2B Businesses?

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The video platform TikTok, created in 2016 as a continuation of Musical.ly, has gained exponential popularity in the past few years — garnering around 1 billion monthly active users. Its videos, which were once only used for dances and memes, have since adapted to a wider audience spanning ages, interests and even platforms. Business-to-consumer businesses have already adapted to TikTok, with companies such as DuoLingo and RyanAir finding great success on the app.

    But can TikTok be taken seriously enough to be used with business-to-business companies? Here’s how the app is being used for B2B businesses today and why this might be the next social media channel for you to add to your marketing strategy.

    Related: Here’s Why Not Being on TikTok Is a Huge Mistake

    TikTok for business

    When used correctly, TikTok can target a niche audience on a small, controllable entry-level budget. As competition on the platform is relatively low for many niches, it offers B2B marketers the opportunity to control the narrative for their subject matter topic.

    Because there aren’t many B2B businesses on the app, the low competition gives you an innovative opportunity and allows for more experimentation. For example, B2B marketers can tap into their business’s niche — and get decent organic views and engagements. According to Social Insider, TikTok’s average engagement rate is 5.96%. Meaning, that the engagement on TikTok far outweighs the decreasing engagement numbers from Instagram and Facebook.

    When it comes to B2B, marketers use TikTok for three main reasons:

    • Networking: Industry-specific content attracts others to your business, allowing communities to form. Locally specific hashtags such as #SmallBusinessBerlin and #FurDich (For You page) ensure that people within your area see your content.
    • Brand awareness: TikTok’s authenticity and attraction to content that isn’t over-curated give your brand a more dimensional perspective. Additionally, the low barrier to entry and high possibility of visibility can lead to high exposure with minimal effort.
    • Lead generation: Short videos, favored on the platform, pique the interest of your target audience and lead viewers to your business page. Video playlists then encourage viewers to interact with your brand and lead them to your website for more information.

    But is your B2B company the right match for TikTok?

    Related: I’ve Helped Over 50 Businesses Scale Their TikTok Followings. Here’s What I Taught Them.

    TikTok for your brand

    TikTok is a young, experimental platform, and there are still many unknowns. As a marketer, make sure to enter with the right mindset. That is how you will get the most out of the platform.

    If all of this sounds interesting to you still, here are a few more parameters to determine if TikTok is the right choice for your brand.

    1. You create unique, experimental content. What works and doesn’t work is a guessing game. Take the time to see what content fits your brand and attracts people.
    2. You can wait longer periods of time to see results. Just as you don’t know for sure what will work, you don’t know when it will work. The unpredictable algorithm can leave you with 100 views one day, and 1 mil views the next.
    3. You want to be on-trend. TikTok cycles through trends much faster than any other platform. To succeed, you will need to dedicate time to understanding new trends and applying them to your brand.
    4. You will engage on a personal level. TikTok is not for perfect, curated content. People want to see a relatable side of your brand. Connect with them on that level and loyal followers/customers will accumulate.
    5. You can handle a bit of cyberbullying. TikTok is not for the weak — you cannot get positive attention without also dealing with a few trolls.

    Related: 10 Telling Examples of the Power of B2B Influencer Marketing

    Making it work for your business

    So you’ve decided TikTok is right for your business and are ready to dive into the platform.

    However, maybe you’re just a bit daunted by the app and don’t know where to begin. Here are the basic criteria for what the algorithm favors — and that will give you the nudge towards success.

    • Hook the audience within three seconds.
    • Use trending audio.
    • Focus on a niche.
    • Experiment with new features.
    • Favor short attention spans: Use seamless loops, easily digestible content, etc.
    • Create accessible content: Used closed captions and on-screen text.
    • Engage with others: Comment and like other people’s posts.

    And as social media exists for people. Here are a few criteria to follow to ensure that you’re creating engaging content for your audience.

    • Post valuable content. Create tutorials, hacks, how-tos, etc.
    • Post authentic content. Show your humility and what makes your brand unique. For B2B, this is often done by focusing on a singular person rather than a whole company.
    • Repost user-generated content. Duet other creators, stitch videos and give more information or provide your own take on original videos

    Ultimately, TikTok can be a difficult platform to do well for B2B marketing — it takes a bit of creativity and experimentation to succeed. However, the app is constantly evolving and attracting new people. It offers marketers the unique opportunity to get their brand known quickly and in a creative way. To stay ahead of the curve, it can pay off to invest in the app today.

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    Megan Thudium

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