Still not using TikTok for your business? What are you waiting for? You might be missing out on a great opportunity to expose your brand to your target audience.
If you're a professional service provider that owns your own business, capturing the attention of your target audience should be one of your top priorities. After all, the future of your business is dependent upon a steady stream of new clients. So if you are ignoring TikTok as a medium on which to promote your business brand, you might be missing an excellent opportunity to capitalize on one of today’s hottest trends. With over 450 million active users per month, and that number growing daily, it's probably one of the most effective social media marketing channels that you could consider today.
But the question that many entreprofessionals have been asking us:
Is TikTok good for a professional services business? More specifically, is it good for MY business? Will I find my target audience here?
A Lot Of People Are Using TikTok
Ready for a head-spinner? TikTok is one of the newer social media platforms. The original TikTok, owned by ByteDance, was released in 2016. However, the current version is really the combination of that original app and another app called Music.ly, created in 2014, and which was acquired by ByteDance in 2017. This new version of TikTok was just recently introduced internationally and is experiencing amazing growth. It has become the most downloaded social media app so far in 2020.
While it has often been considered a social media app for teenagers, about 50% of the users in the are aged 18-34. There are also individuals in their 40s, 50s, and60s that are using TikTok. While it is absolutely true that only about 1% of all TikTok users at this point are age 65 or older, more than 40% of those who engage regularly with the platform have annual household incomes greater than $100,000.
With so many people using this app every single day (including holidays), TikTok can be an excellent marketing tool for your business, and you can definitely find your target audience here. You just need to know your target audience really well in order to use this platform to communicate with them.
Getting Ahead Over Your Competitors With TikTok
But why, TikTok? Why not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat? We’re not suggesting that those other platforms should be ignored. In fact, there’s significant value in employing multiple channels within your digital marketing strategy. If you want to get ahead of the curve, however, and cultivate awareness of your brand amongst current strangers, sometimes you need to be a vanguard and not rely solely on what everyone else has been using to market their brand.
One way to do this is by making use of TikTok videos as a way to promote your business. Think of it as a medium that is still in its infancy. Just like the amazing success of some of the top YouTubers in the world, those that jumped feet first into that platform before most people understood its value are often the ones who benefitted most from its eventual reach into the target audiences of those vanguards.
TikTok As A Video Content Marketing Tool
TikTok has become a leading social media app for video content. It is used for creating dance clips, funny or lighthearted videos, and even product demos. More and more people are using this tool for marketing purposes. That's why TikTok is continuously growing. While 15 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot of time to convey a message, you’d be surprised by just how much information can be shared during the average TikTok clips. Also, similar to Instagram Stories, TikTok content creators can string together multiple TikTok videos to convey a larger story to entertain, educate, influence, and ultimately cultivate an audience, convert them into interested prospects and even position them to be closed into paying clients.
TikTok Best Practices To Effectively Promote A Professional Service Business
This year, TikTok has seen an amazing increase in its user base. It can absolutely now be viewed as one of the mainstream social media channels, but Tiktok isn't your regular cup of tea. It has a "one of a kind" approach in engaging its users. Through short videoclips a content creator focuses on storytelling, entertainment, product or service demos, and with accurate messaging that starts with knowing your target audience, content creators have motivated action on the part of those who are consuming that content. While it is a social media platform, you can’t rely on using the same strategies from other platforms to find success on TikTok, especially for professional services businesses.
To help you effectively promote your professional services business, the Vimagery Team has put together the following TikTok Best Practices:
1. Easy To Replicate Videos
How does one become famous on TikTok? Create easy to replicate videos! Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok users are a sucker for producing video content that essentially copies or builds upon other easy to replicate video content. Forget originality, some of the most successful content creators on TikTok capitalize on trending videos from other content creators. Yes, it’s an odd phenomenon, but those who are able to embrace this approach are seeing massive growth in their respective audiences.
One fantastic example of this is the #2spooky that has376.2M views in preparation for Halloween.
Tip: Creating a short video clip is an excellent way of cultivating awareness about your product or service. According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content. So, start using it now in your business and see how it gives you wonderful results.
2.Entertaining Video Content
For those familiar with TikTok, you know that the social media app is all about fun, entertainment, and creativity. If you plan on taking your business to the next level you should start creating entertaining video content. A side effect of the pandemic, is that many people are stuck at home. TikTok offers a bit of an escape from the monotony. The platform offers users a way to at least enjoy their days by watching some fun and lighthearted videos. Also, for now, there is no need for polished and professional videos. All you need is a mobile phone. Just take it out and start recording your most creative, funny, and wacky video clips.
Tip: While funny and wacky video clips are popular on TikTok, if this isn't your business style, don't go that route. It will only drive your target audience away. Instead, you can create a demo video, educational video, or sneak peek clip of your successful projects.
3.Hashtag Challenge
Another best practice on TikTok is the Hashtag Challenge. A hashtag challenge is a way of promoting your business by encouraging users to replicate your content and adding your brand hashtag. In this way, it cultivates business brand awareness and drives more traffic to your business. A good example is the #putacanonit by Redbull, where people were taking pictures with Redbull cans placed in bizarre positions.
Tip: A Hashtag Challenge doesn’t cost you a dime. Take advantage of this free opportunity to cultivate a larger audience.
Bottomline
Now that you know more about TikTok, don’t miss out on this still relatively new social media platform as an add on in your overall marketing channel list. Start creating video content today and publish it on TikTok. You don't even have to apply custom video effects or use an expensive video camera. Tiktok has some amazing video effects built in that are fun to use. A smartphone is all you need, and you can get started right now filming the content that will help you cultivate your audience, convert that audience into interested prospects, and ultimately position those prospects to be closed into paying clients.
----
If you're still struggling with whether to use TikTok for your business, allow us to help. Click here to see if you qualify for a Vimagery Strategy Session. Together, we can help you to gain an unfair advantage regarding your efforts to cultivate, convert, and close new clients in the weeks and months ahead.
