One of the most crucial things you have to do in business nowadays is to be updated with social media and be where consumers and your potential customers are. Being on TikTok is one such step that can really help grow your brand. So, let’s go through an easy lesson on how to sell on TikTok. And by the end, you’ll see that TikTok isn’t just another social media site, but an opportunity.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is obviously a social media platform, as you most probably already know. Its specialty is the short videos (up to 3 minutes) that users create, watch and share, that can be about everything and anything. Its massive popularity has even spurred up similar content formats on other social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
But most importantly for us today, the platform launched TikTok for Business back in 2020. This gave merchants the ability to connect their ecommerce stores to TikTok, reaching new audiences and driving more sales for their business. You can run TikTok ads, sync product catalogs and for your customers, create a seamless shopping experience.
Why should you promote and sell the product on TikTok
There’s good reason(s) why you’re reading this. And there’s good reason(s) why going on TikTok is good for business.
A lot of people on a massive platform
TikTok’s growth and cultural ubiquity are the main reasons it’s the perfect place for your brand. Bringing your brand to TikTok means millions of users worldwide will take notice of your business. Put simply, TikTok has become an, if not the epicenter of culture. Most trends from fashion and food, to social issues and advocacies, start on the app before traveling everywhere else.
Younger audience for your business
Since it’s a platform that revolves around trends, songs, and dance challenges, TikTok has 60% of its users being Gen Zs, and engagement rates are through the roof compared to the likes of Twitter and Facebook. If you’re trying to reach a younger audience and think your business could benefit from the exposure, then TikTok is where it’s at.
Very low budget for easy marketing
TikTok’s clout, while unique, isn’t the only thing that’s great about it. The fact is users on social media sites like TikTok don’t really like too much slick advertising, preferring interesting and organic materials instead. You don’t need a big team to make waves on TikTok, which means an equally low budget.
How to start selling on TikTok?
We’ve set up the why. Now let’s see the how for when you want to start selling on TikTok.
1. Choose the right product
It’s important to start on the right foot. The right start is selecting the best product to represent your brand.
Research the target market
Like we mentioned, TikTok is a mainstay for the younger generation – millennials and Gen Z. Of course, if they’re your target audience then TikTok is perfect for it. But even if you want to include or just focus on those aged 30 and above, the app can still be a good tool for your branding. What TikTok can promise you is a big enough audience for your business.
Determine your niche
Specificity is always important for a business. Relating to pinpointing your target demographic, choose a niche area that your brand and products serve. Dig deep into TikTok. Search up on hashtags that you can leverage to get your products noticed and see the type of content that draws in big view counts and attention.
Learn which product sells
A simple look into what’s trending on TikTok can easily help you see what sells on the app and what can be a good fit for the platform. TikTok has a list of prohibited items from being sold but not one on what can be sold. Scanning through this list can also help you out when researching the appropriate products to sell.
2. Create your TikTok business account
You can create your account through TikTok’s website on a browser or through the app. If you don’t already have an account, click on the “Log in” button, which will then give you the “Sign up” option on the pop-up.
You’ll now want to prime your account to commercial success by changing it to a Business Account in the settings. Switching to a business account will get you access to some specific features; data on performance and your audience, a business content guide, video showcase, commercial music library and web business suite.
3. Set up your profile
Now it’s about setting up your profile with the necessary details. Remember that it’s important to:
Write a summary on the brand
Tell people and TikTok users about your brand and business. Define what your brand is all about and why and how you can be the brand for them. Be concise and convincing with what your brand can offer consumers with your products.
Put the company or brand link website
If you have a website of your own or if you’ve set up shop on some other ecommerce platform, also be sure to provide links to them. You may be selling on TikTok, but leading your customers to your other sites can encourage more sales.
Post the proper photo profile
Beyond words, visuals also play a role in representing what your brand is all about. A business account also needs its own proper profile photo. Your logo should be one that’s most recognizable to customers.
4. Link your shop or products to your TikTok account
By connecting your TikTok to your ecommerce sites, you can now or tag your content with specific products and their pages on your online store so users can easily buy what they see and what they like. This is key to helping keep your brand awareness strong.
5. Start to create engaging content
Social media is about connecting people. So, creating content that is engaging and encourages engagement is of the utmost importance. Also assisting you to engage with your audience at the same time. Some ideas we can help you out with:
- Make your own brand hashtag challenges. Make it easy and memorable to get people in on it
- Use music that’s trending
- Create easy educational how-to videos
- Hop on the viral bandwagon and join special occasions
- Run contests
6. Encourage user-generated content (UGC)
There’s a popular phrase: “TikTok made me buy it…”
That’s how much sway the app can have on people. And for the most part it’s all thanks to UGCs. They’re practically free advertising, granted you’ve convinced some ordinary users of your product and they rave about it on videos just because they’re that into it. UGCs can simply be challenges, memes and viral videos.
7. Partnerships and Utilizing Influencer Marketing
Creator-focused platforms like TikTok bring out influencers, who you can partner with and leverage their popularity to promote your brand and products. This is called influencer marketing. Partnering with influencers is just an extra boost to your branding, to get those consumers that you might not think of or you can’t seem to get sales from.
8. Use paid advertising on TikTok
Finally, if you have some extra budget, paid ads are still a thing with TikTok. Ads are also a way for your customers to buy your products right away. Ads can take on multiple forms;
- In-feed native video – ads shown before a video starts playing (similar to YouTube)
- Brand takeover – ads are on display as soon as users open the app
- Top view ads – these appear at the top of users’ “For you” page
- Branded lenses – positioning your brand in filters for videos
- Hashtag challenges – invite the TikTok community to make videos on the topic and they’ll mark them with the hashtag
Set up shop with us
And that’s all the 8 easy steps you need to follow to start and get selling on TikTok! But to actually sell and to direct people to become customers, you’re going to need an actual store for people to buy from. So let us help you with getting your online shop up and running, here at Yezza! Upload an unlimited number of products and get selling as you sleep!
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