In the past year TikTok has become the fastest growing social media platform. The mobile app has been downloaded over 3 billion times already and in 2021 it took the cherry as the most popular app.
An average user opens the TikTok app 21 times each day.
While over 25% of active users are young kids aged 10-19, the remaining 60% of user base is evenly distributed between age groups 20-29, 30-39 and 40-49 year old. Each group grabbing slightly over 20% share of the user base.
TikTok is a cheap tool to get attention and while the audience may not be as sophisticated as on other networks, it’s a good platform to expand to.
Create ads that deliver emotional message or get your fans to feel something, and you’re good to go.
Here are 25 creative ideas and examples what you can post on TikTok to promote your business…
- Spotlight your employees
Spotlighting employees puts a face to your brand and shows audiences the people behind the products and services they love. It also humanizes your business and shares an exciting and exclusive peek into your operation
- Product Demonstrations
Product demonstrations help your audience learn how to use your products in a digestible way. Instead of reading an instruction manual and deciphering pictures or being walked through the process over the phone, they can actually watch someone take the steps and follow along.
- Use trending sounds and hashtags.
Using trending sounds and hashtags helps you build brand awareness for your small business as your videos are visible to a broad audience. People browsing through the sound or hashtag will see all of the different videos that were uploaded and have the potential to land on your video, click on your profile, and learn more about what you offer.
- Fun / unusual use
Users love to have fun on TikTok. Try using your product or service in an unusual way or demonstrate how not to do something vs the right use. As long as your video is entertaining you should see a nice boost in organic engagement on your post.
- Success Story
There are lots of success stories on TikTok. What will yours be? Can you share your biggest achievement? Or what was something you accomplished in your small business that you are really proud of? Don’t be afraid to brag a little bit!
- About Your Business Name
Share how you came up with your business name! Most of your customers might not know the meaning of your company’s name. Share the story of how you came up with the name and what it means.
- A Favorite DIY
There are tons of DIY videos on TikTok and sharing one of your favorite DIYs is a great way for your customers to get to know you outside of work. Are there any DIYs you like to do in your spare time that you can share with your followers like how to garden, tie dye or draw?
- Announce a Sale
Who doesn’t love a sale? If you are having a limited time sale on your website, store or have discounted your services you should definitely share this with your customers on TikTok. Be sure to provide them with a clear CTA on how to take advantage of the sale.
- Stock Updates
Have you been working on a new product or service that is about to be released? Are you restocking one of your best sellers? Build excitement about any stock updates by announcing when the products will be available next.
- Share a Life Hack
TikTok is full of great life hacks! If you come across a life hack or business tip video that you like, recreate it and put your own spin on it.
- Host a Giveaway
Just like you would host a giveaway on Instagram or Facebook, you can easily host a giveaway on TikTok as well. Just be sure it is easy for people to enter to increase the number of people who participate.
- Share a Discount Code
Who says you can’t make sales from TikTok? If customers can easily order your products online, give your TikTok followers an exclusive discount code to encourage them to head to your website to redeem their discount code.
- Say Thank You
Don’t forget to say thank you to all of your customers, friends, family and local community members who help support your small business.
- Hype New Product Launches
TikTok is a great place for you to build hype around your products before you launch them. Doings so gives your followers a chance to get ready to buy it when it’s for sale and shows them that you’re running a growing business.
You can tease your products over several posts ahead of the launch, slowly showing off what makes them special and how they reflect your customers’ demands, in turn, building demand for them.
If you want to build awareness around an upcoming product launch and create excitement around it, giving your customers a sneak peek via TikTok is perfect.
- Identify Trends
If you’re really not sure what to post on TikTok, be sure to check out the trending sounds, challenges, and other memes for inspiration.
For this strategy to work you’ll need to dedicate some time each day to scrolling through TikTok in order to discover TikTok trends. If you get the time right and create a video around the start of a trend, your video is more likely to gain traction as users search for the trending sound or challenge.
Creator of basketball handbags, it’s by willa, used the “expectation vs. reality: small business edition” trend to showcase products in a fun way, such as comparing what she thought would be her best-seller versus what actually is, a product that started as a good idea but didn’t turn so great, and slow-moving products versus the fastest sellers.
- Show Your Products In Use
While you shouldn’t only be posting TikToks about your products or services, it’s important to showcase them occasionally.
The easiest way to do so is to show how your product is used. Of course, what you sell will determine what you can do with it, but ideas include:
- How to incorporate your skincare products into a daily routine
- How to brew the perfect cup of coffee with your beans
- How to style different outfits with your clothes
- How to take care of your leather products
People want an idea of what using your products would be like for them, so showcasing them in action is the perfect way to let them know.
To prove the durability of their stickers, Oakley Lane created a video of putting one of them through a stress test involving water and tearing, proving to any doubters that it really is the ultimate sticker.
- Use the Q&A Feature
TikTok has always allowed you to reply to a comment or question with a video that includes the comment as an overlay. However, more recently has rolled out its Q&A feature that, when enabled, lets your audience mark their comment as a question that makes it quick and easy for you to reply in a video or comment.
Answering questions in the form of a TikTok video is a great way to interact with your audience and create content that’s relevant to your followers.
Cosmetics Brand, Adore Money Minks, used the Q&A feature to reply to a customer who wanted to know if they could return lipgloss if they were unsatisfied with it, explaining that, due to sanitary reasons, all sales are final
- Show the Human Element
While this social media platform has its fair share of high-quality TikToks, a lot of content on TikTok features people simply talking to the camera and sharing things about themselves. This means that you don’t need to have influencer levels of confidence in front of the camera to create TikToks that’ll resonate with your target audience.
People love to know there’s a real person behind the brand, and sharing things about yourself is a lot more engaging than a constant stream of products.
While you might find this uncomfortable at first, the more TikTok videos you make, the more comfortable you’ll get in front of the camera.
To get started, you could share a story about how you got the idea for your first product or what it took to start your business.
You also don’t always have to talk about yourself for your audience to get to know you. If you appear in your other TikTok videos, such as when you showcase a product or go behind the scenes, your audience will also start seeing the human side of your brand.
In the example below, Maisie, the owner of the custom tote shop TOTESFORYOUU, describes how she accidentally ordered thread much bigger than she’d anticipated. Not only does the video give insight into how she creates her products and which are her most popular products, but it also shows that she’s a human who makes little mistakes like everyone else.
- Give Behind the Scenes Access
A look into what goes on behind the scenes is one of the most popular types of TikTok videos among small business owners.
These types of videos give your customers an idea of what it takes to keep your business running and to get their products out the door.
While you don’t have to go into detail about all the things you do for your business, lifting the veil on how you run your business shows your audience that there’s an actual human behind your brand and gives an insight into its inner workings.
No matter what stage your business is in, there is something you can talk about. This can include the likes of:
- How you celebrate sales milestones or anniversaries
- How you create new products
- How you organize your office or workspace
- How you prepare for pop events
To give her audience an idea of what goes into creating her hand-made wigs, Hogaychy created a TikTok video that breaks down the exact process, giving viewers an insight into the care she puts into her products.
- Pack an Order
A particular form of behind-the-scenes posts showing how you pack an order gives your potential customers an idea of what they can expect when they order from you and see the personal touch you add to each order.
People love to see how business owners go the extra mile with orders, so if you include the likes of thank you notes, free items, or unique packaging, your video will resonate more.
If a customer has agreed to it, you could even create a video of you packing their specific order as a bonus for them. Just be sure to keep your customer’s personal information like their address, credit card details, or full name out of the video!
As you can see in the example below, the creator of eco-friendly, reusable, fun & stylish drinking straws, Mermaid Straw, did just that, by showing what went into a specific customer’s order, how she packages things, plus a thank you to the customer at the end, adding a personal touch.
- Product Demonstrations
Show customers how your product works. For example, a company that sells furniture could demonstrate how easy it is to put together. Or a gaming company could show their product in action.
- Before and After Videos
This type of video would showcase a transformation based on your product or service. For example, a makeup company could showcase a quick makeover using its products.
- Create Your Own Challenge
For maximum brand awareness, consider creating your own challenge. To do this, you need to think creatively and come up with TikTok content ideas that have the potential to draw your audience’s attention.
- Celebrate Special Occasions
A simple way to increase your chances of going viral is to target special occasions and holidays. If you’re into selling pet food, for example, occasions such as national dog day will be perfect to post animal videos and connect with TikTok users. Similarly, an organic food business owner may benefit from leveraging the national avocado day.
- Educational Videos
This may sound surprising, but TikTok is also a great platform to post educational content. Of course, your live videos cannot be too long or the audience will lose interest. But you can consider posting a series of educational videos to share tips and hacks.
