When you hear of the social media platform TikTok, you might still think that it's a platform for kids to post their dance videos. While plenty of that is on the platform, the number of companies and brands jumping into the mix is astonishing.
In this post, we'll take a good hard look at the social media platform that has taken the world by storm. We'll analyze user statistics, show off some of the companies crushing it already on the platform, and lastly, help you decide if it's worth it to get in now to help grow your B2B marketing plan. Ready? Let's do this.
TikTok Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind!
- TikTok surfaced as one of the fastest social media platforms back in 2016. Within four years, TikTok already had over three billion downloads!
- TikTok has held a steady one billion monthly ACTIVE users! TikTok videos have officially outperformed other social media platforms, including but not limited to Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, and Twitter.
- The US has seen an incredible growth rate of over 787.86% between 2018 and 2020.
- The platform's average session length per user is just over 10 minutes! In 2019 TikTok clocked 68 billion hours of watched content. TikTok is the number one highest engagement social media application to date.
- 47.4% of the TikTok demographics in the US are ages 10-29yrs old. Within the past 18 months, US adults have started making use of TikTok videos growing at a rate of 5.5 times!
- 90% of TikTok users access the mobile app daily.
B2B Marketing on TikTok: Is It Worth It?
Yes, without a doubt, we do believe that TikTok is worth it. There isn't currently any other platform online that provides easier access to your target audience with user-generated content. This means for you and your business to increase brand awareness without needing to build a considerable following of subscribers before seeing results, which on other platforms can take months or even years to acquire.
The TikTok Algorithm
The TikTok algorithm allows video content to go viral without needing a large fanbase or following. It is a platform that rewards good, creative, entertaining content, which should be your end goal for your TikTok marketing strategy. You can create straightforward, fast-paced video content on the fly in an interactive and responsive style that encourages users to engage and helps promote your brand voice.
TikTok Video Creation
Don't be fooled by thinking that because you're a business, you need to be creating content and spending thousands of dollars on editing and production. One of the most extraordinary things about TikTok is the love for 'home movie' style videos. We've seen some small businesses increase their brand awareness with creative video strategies using nothing more than an iPhone!
Influencer Marketing on TikTok
We believe that the ability to go 'viral' on TikTok is currently better than on any other social media site. Suppose your company can create TikTok content that evokes emotions such as laughter, suspense, cuteness, or entertainment. In that case, it's likely to gain views rapidly without needing to have a significant following on the platform. This is why so many people are adding TikTok to their digital marketing efforts.
B2B Social Media Strategy - How to do it Right
You might still be a bit timid about spending the time creating TikTok videos for your business growth. So let us show you a simple strategy you can follow to get your social media marketing on TikTok headed in the right direction.
Step 1. TikTok is a Personal Platform
Before creating any video content for TikTok, remember that this is a very human user-based platform. Your TikTok content needs to evoke an emotion within your target audience to capture as much engagement as possible. Users on TikTok are looking for a human-to-human style of interaction. Always create content for B2B that doesn't feel like just another sales pitch.
Step 2. Start Following Businesses You Want To Work With
Many small businesses don't feel they have the creativity to be on TikTok. One of the best ways to get ideas is to start following the companies you'd like to work with with your TikTok account. You'll quickly gain ideas, see popular trends, and develop your unique angle for your business's content strategy. Don't overthink this, and remember that this platform loves user-generated content, meaning you don't need substantial fancy production and editing to make TikTok marketing work for your business!
Step 3. Start Engaging on TikTok With Businesses
Once you have a list of companies you are following that you would like to work with, it's time to start engaging with them! Make your own company visible to them by commenting and liking their posts. Remember to be relevant and human! No one wants canned spam comments all over their posts, including businesses.
Secret Pro TikTok Hack
One way to get a company to recognize you fast is to stitch their content. You don't want to overdo this, but if done in moderation and creatively, this can get a company's attention extremely fast!
Step 4. Engage Younger Audiences
One of the fastest ways to raise brand awareness on TikTok is to engage younger audiences when appropriate. One of the easiest ways to do this is to watch for trending 'challenges' and adapt them to your business values. This can allow your company to ride the wave of trending viral videos and gain extensive exposure fast with your TikTok short-form video content.
Step 5. Stay Current on Marketing Trends and Popular Hashtags
One of TikTok's best practices is staying up to date on trending videos, following other companies' hashtag strategies, and keeping a close eye on creators who create unique entertaining or experimental content that captures their audience's attention.
This is, without a doubt, one of the easiest ways to grow on TikTok! Don't reinvent the wheel! Observe what's working and get a good response from other companies and mimic the content to make it your own and fit your own business.
Successful B2B Brands on TikTok - 8 Companies Doing it Right!
There are already many successful B2C brands on TikTok. B2B TikTok marketing is just now becoming a thing! Let's look at some of the marketing teams that are doing it right! So that small business owners and companies looking to do B2B marketing can jump on the TikTok bandwagon and take full advantage of getting noticed by potential clients.
1.ZOOM
Everyone knows what ZOOM is over the craziness of the past few years. With more and more people working from home, ZOOM took over video conferencing with a vengeance. One of the reasons I love Zoom on TikTok is that they have mastered the art of showing off new features while entertaining their audience with humor. They have a large target audience of work-at-home professionals who engage with them well. Their videos range from making sure the 'mute' button is muted to professionals wearing dress shirts while wearing shorts that the camera can't see. These videos get a lot of engagement because they are relatable and make their audience laugh and smile.
2. Grammarly
Grammarly has done an exceptional job by teaming up with prominent TikTok influencers to create entertaining content that speaks to professionals that need to check their grammar. This is another company with a large audience of writers, teachers, managers, and even Company CEOs looking to check their grammar before sending off that email to their team! Way to go, Grammarly; you mastered a TikTok marketing strategy that works for you!
3. Apex Motion Control
Apex motion control is a company that builds robots in the food industry. This company has mastered the art of trends. They have had multiple viral videos based around trending music and sounds, challenges, and humor. They have had some very creative content that other social media platforms wouldn't have rewarded as TikTok has. They have done a great job building brand awareness and riding the TikTok waves!
4. Shopify
Shopify has done a great job reaching many different sub-niches they want to work with. Everyone from aspiring entrepreneurs to retail and small business success stories has been displayed on their TikTok. Shopify has done a fantastic job building brand awareness and niching down to smaller business-related audiences that would benefit from their products and solutions.
5. CANVA
A free-to-use online graphic design tool company has made exceptional content for their TikTok account. They reach their potential customers by having small clips of valuable content when it comes to graphic design. They went for quality content that speaks directly to the needs of their audience. This style of content creation has helped CANVA grow tremendously and go from generating leads to free users to paid pro accounts. Way to go, CANVA!
6. Adobe Creative Software
Adobe has made substantial use of TikTok influencer marketing. They have done a great job getting influencers to show off their software to their vast and different audiences. This has allowed Adobe to break into new audiences and markets and bring Adobe to other users who might have never considered using their software before. They have turned TikTok into an exceptional marketing tool.
7. Microsoft 365
Microsoft has allowed its users to create content for their channel using the stitch feature discussed earlier in this post. People on the TikTok platform love the stitch feature and good on Microsoft for picking up on a trend and making it work for them and their accounts. They have also done a great job of staying relevant by posting short videos with the latest industry news available for their viewers to digest new material quickly and easily. In doing this, they have a good engagement rating and have expanded their audience and client size using the TikTok platform.
8. Square
The company square has done something unique in reposting TikToks from its current client base. This company has done a great job at using already available content and repurposing it without needing to spend the time to create new content. We imagine they did this initially to test TikTok, which seems to be working for them. Many of their small business clientele have created videos for their TikTok account.
B2B marketing on TikTok: Final Thoughts
Regarding B2B social media marketing on TikTok, it's 100% possible. A few key takeaways to remember are as follows:
- TikTok loves user-generated content creation because it is a unique platform. With some creative bandwidth, your business can grow and build a marketing strategy that targets other companies that could benefit from your products or services.
- After joining TikTok, it's time to find companies you want to follow for inspiration and content creation ideas. Creating entertaining content and working with TikTok trends is a must when achieving success on this platform.
- New audiences and different age groups are joining TikTok daily, which you can utilize and build your B2B brands around.
- The TikTok algorithm loves engagement! If you can create content that keeps viewers watching, your videos will appear on more and more individual feeds. It only takes one great short video to go viral!
- TikTok can become a great way to generate leads without needing a huge following to promote to. You can grow a TikTok account quite fast compared to other platforms or social media sites.
Sources: backlinko,suttida.com
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