Launching another social media platform that you don’t know can seem overwhelming, but with TikTok’s popularity skyrocketing, now is the ideal time to get on board – and it’s not as daunting as you might think
Have you noticed your engagement on Facebook and Instagram decline over the past few years and thought you must be doing something wrong?
When Facebook and Instagram first launched, around 80% of followers got to see your posts, but it’s not like that anymore. The platforms’ algorithms now categorise by the interest of each individual user rather than chronologically and it’s estimated that only 1% of your Facebook followers see what you post and less than 9% on Instagram. You can expand your reach but you have to pay for it.
TikTok is different, it shows videos to existing followers and also expands reach to other users by appearing on a user’s ‘For You’ page, an area where new content is shown based on the kind of items they have viewed and liked in the past. Not only is it free, but it’s also easy to engage with new followers quickly and grow your customer base.
Are your customers on TikTok?
Research by data company Statisa shows that users spend more time on TikTok than any other platform at 80 minutes a session compared with 35 minutes on Facebook and 28 minutes on Instagram. Not only that, they spend more money; it is the number one platform for consumer spending right now.
Of the 1 billion daily users on TikTok, over 20% are aged 20-29, 21.7% 30-39, 20.3% 40-49, and 11% 50 years and above. Interestingly, more and more consumers in the 30+ demographic are joining the platform much more quickly than they ever did with Facebook, so if you thought TikTok was just for kids, think again.
What’s more, TikTok users are highly engaged with the content they see – 78% say they discovered a new product first on TikTok and 73% made a purchase because of something they viewed on the platform.
1,000 followers
The key to followers translating into sales is gaining your first 1,000 followers; this allows you to incorporate a clickable link in your bio so potential customers can buy directly through the platform. Until that point, you can only signpost followers to your website.
Fortunately, you don’t have to sing or dance to post to TikTok – unless you want to of course! Posting up a video of your ingredients being prepared, your food being fried or the final product is perfect. Just grab your phone and start videoing. Recording directly from your phone will give you a better result as the video quality in TikTok isn’t as great (and remember to post these to your other socials too).
Getting noticed
You want to hook the user within the first few seconds of a video to keep them from scrolling so hit them with something that jumps out. Your video will also get more reach if a user watches it in its entirety so go for shorter videos where possible.
When posting, use hashtags so TikTok can determine who sees your posts beyond just your followers. Focus these on what your video is about ie #fishandchips, who you are aiming at ie #students and also your location ie #cardiff. It’s best to use between five and seven hashtags as any more than this and TikTok can struggle to work out what your post is about and who should see it.
Hopefully this has given you a taster to get started. Do let us know how you get on.
