Love it or hate it there’s no doubt that anybody who wants to bring awareness to their business, charity or social enterprise needs to be present on Tik Tok at the moment.
Initially I only dabbled with it, thinking it was there as a side note, something I would do “when I had time” but like every good adult with ADHD before I knew it hours of my time were being taken watching cats doing ridiculous things, people dancing, stories of love, war, woe. You know those womens magazines you know you shouldn’t really be invested in? Take a Break, That’s Life! .. That to me is what Tik Tok represents in the current times. All of life is there. Laid out, raw and sadly laid out on a plate to be torn to pieces by the plethora of keyboard warriors who lurk eager to jump on the next trend.
So for that reason I am going to start with the reasons I really really hate Tik Tok. From my “older millennial” stance Tik Tok is a cess pit of bullying, opinions and question asking. Questions you certainly wouldn’t ask your Mom so why on earth do you think it’s okay to ask a stranger on the internet? I have been “lucky” to have several of my videos hit the fabled FYP page, this means your video gets pushed out on the front page on the app. As amazing as that might sound for exposure in my experience it’s been a heart thumping rollercoaster of emotions. For every nice comment you will be wasting your time deleting / blocking the trolls. Every time a video has hit FYP I have been met with a plethora of fake reviews, random emails (someone I blocked: because frankly they were rude, took time out of their day to email to finish the argument). The most frustrating, AGONISING thing for me about Tik Tok is the opinions. Mostly because I know they shouldn’t bother me .. but MORE because they DO. When you have your own business, especially when you put so much heart and soul into it the comments do hurt, and honestly some have even made me doubt myself.
From a business perspective I am on the fence about how useful a tool Tik Tok is for spreading the word about Lil’s Parlour. I am certainly gaining a lot more followers than on other platforms - but I can honestly say only a tiny percentage have ever led to sales or visitors to the shop. Tik Tok is about quick dopamine hits and I am not sure it allows you to build the same valuable relationships with your customers than on Instagram. I believe it’s fantastic for live shopping but that’s really not my bag. I don’t want a quick buck from behind a screen I am about building meaningful, long term relationships with my customers, many of whom become friends.
So now I am moving on to the love part - and honestly, I am struggling to find it. From a PR perspective you are certainly more likely to end up on the likes of “Lad Bible” or “Upworthy” through Tik Tok, they are constantly scouring the app for “free content” to share with their users. I also found myself on compendium of “best Tik Toks” on You Tube - but again, someone else was getting paid for using my content - is that fair? Probably not.
Finally - if you have landed here wondering how to build your brand using Tik Tok here are my top tips :
Tell a valuable story / share a useful tip / spill the tea.
Use a strong tag line that pulls people in within the first 10 seconds.
Use great lighting, natural light is best.
Use trending music - even if you have a business account you will have access to “viral” background music, this always works a charm for me.
Be consistent. I didn’t start to gain any traction using Tik Tok until I made my videos all in the same format.
Don’t worry too much about hashtags - FYP or FYP:) is probably all you need to get your video out there. Tik Tok seems to dislike hashtag heavy captions.
Don’t bother arguing with Tik Tok “comment trolls” . YOU. WON’T. WIN. They are professionals (LOL… )
And finally if it ever gets too heavy remember you can turn off comments at any time. Bye Bye negativity (although comments initially tend to push your video out - turn them off after an hour or so).
Use it as a marketing tool not a social network. Instagram and Facebook are way better for that.