The Only Guide You Need To Use TikTok For Business

You cannot believe how many people are using TikTok nowadays. Just in Malaysia, there are approximately 14.69 million users as of early 2022😱

In its early stages, TikTok was seen as an exclusive platform for Gen Zs to showcase their dance talents and unique sense of humour.

However, with the rising number of users, brands began to jump on the bandwagon.

In a sense, where the people go, your brand goes, right?

Instant flashback to Digi’s addictive jingle; ‘I will follow you, wherever you may go~’ 🎶

Although the general public dubbed TikTok as the ‘Gen Z’ social media, the app is actually often used by users from all ages.

In fact, you’ll find that in Malaysia, 38.7% of TikTok users range between 25 to 34 years old, our loyal millennials 💪🏽. 18 to 24 year olds make up the majority of local users at 57.6% .

If that’s not convincing enough for you to turn to TikTok for business, here are a few more interesting statistics about this fast-paced social media platform.

1. Highest engagement rate surpassing Instagram 💯

As of early 2022, Tiktok surpassed Instagram in terms of engagement rate at an average of 5.95% while Instagram is at a decent 0.83%. This entails that TikTok users tend to interact more with shorter video content instead of pictures and captions on Instagram.

2. Ranked 7th among other social media platforms in 2021 🏆

Considering TikTok was released in 2016, this young platform managed to become the public’s favourite in a short amount of time when they started to gain fame in 2019. The platform surpassed Twitter, Pinterest, Telegram, Reddit, and Snapchat on active monthly users.

3. More than one billion users are active on TikTok on a monthly basis 😮‍💨

Compared to other social media giants like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, this fast-paced platform has consistently grown throughout the years, maintaining its status as the hippest platform of the Gen Z era.

With the ever-changing trends of today and the infinite amount of content available online, it can get quite overwhelming to start fresh on the platform.

So, consider this article as the only guide you’ll need to understand how TikTok for business works in 2022 – from setting up your business account to using TikTok shop and other TikTok features.

Let the games begin!

📢 What’s your objective of opening up a TikTok account? 📢

Knowing that TikTok is where people go for many reasons, what are you planning to bring to the table?

Make sure your objectives and goals are clearly identified before you move on to the next step.

When you start planning your content calendar, you’ll be able to focus on the main goal of the video as well as the overall channel.

Here are some objectives you can consider before starting your TikTok for business:

Raise brand awareness
Gain traction and lead traffic to website
Promote new app to download
Sell products on TikTok
Provide an educational or a quick hack platform
Connect and engage with audience
Engage with potential employees
Grow conversions

You may already have other social media platforms and a dedicated website, so what’s TikTok for? Why are you adding TikTok to your marketing toolkit?

When you’ve set a clear mindset for your TikTok account, you’re ready for what’s next 😆

🌟 Setting up TikTok for business account 🌟

Download the TikTok app on your phone
Sign up as a personal account. You can use your company’s email, Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.
Navigate to the lower right of your screen and click on ‘Profile’ and you’ll be able to see your profile overview. Fill in the necessary details of your business so that people can find your profile easily.
On the top right side of the profile, click on the three lines and go to ‘Settings and Privacy’.
Head to ‘Manage account’ in the list.
Tap on ‘Switch to Business Account’ and choose a suitable category according to the nature of your business.
You’re all set!

📝 Getting to know TikTok for business 📝

TikTok for business is not much different from the average personal account when it comes to creating content and posting videos.

To get you up to date, here are three top TikTok updates as of October 2022.

1. Starting from February 2022, you can upload up to 10 minutes of video on TikTok as opposed to the previous maximum of 3 minutes.

2. To optimise searches, TikTok is encouraging users to make full use of SEO alongside hashtags. They have increased the character limit for captions up to 2,200 characters.

3. TikTok now has built-in editing features just like CapCut. For novice editors, you won’t have to worry about paying or using other editing softwares anymore. Isn’t that great!

4. The latest feature is the ‘Nearby’ page that stands alongside ‘Following’ and ‘For You Page’ allows users to tap into content by people of close proximity.

📌 Optimise your TikTok profile 📌

Take this chance to make full use of your TikTok for business account.

Aside from posting creative and engaging content, ensure your profile is optimised to its fullest potential to gain more traction for your brand.

1. Align TikTok profile to your brand image

The foundation of your TikTok profile should align with your brand image. Use a simple username, straightforward bio and your brand logo to ensure the account’s credibility.

2. Link to other social media accounts or website

TikTok allows you to include only 1 link in your bio, so make sure to make it count! Where would you want your audience to go next after visiting your TikTok profile?

If you’re really looking into optimising your TikTok account, use link-in-bio tools like Linktree, LinkFolio, Lnk.Bio etc. You’ll be able to supercharge your account and you can even use the link for other platforms.

Image credit: Linktree

3. Label your videos

Make sure to insert a suitable thumbnail for your videos.

More often than not, TikTok users will visit your profile to see what other types of content you have on your account.

By providing thumbnails, your audience will be able to locate the content they’re looking for instead of having to go through each video individually.

Take a look at Dr Clear Aligners’ feed on TikTok! It’s a quick scroll to recall a specific video with the ready-available thumbnails.

Image credit: Dr Clear Aligners

4. Don’t skip out on CTAs

Let’s be real here. CTAs or Call-To-Action phrases are most of the time ignored by the majority of the internet population (aside from content creators themselves). However, you cannot deny that it works!

Having listened to CTA’s a certain number of times, you yourself won’t even realise when you’ve been eaten up by the need to ‘like and subscribe’ to pages.

It’s especially addictive when you apply a catchy phrase as your CTA.

@thekeirajones Save this for later so you’re never left hanging without a CTA! #tiktokgrowth #tiktokmarketing #tiktoktips #tiktoklover #tiktokbusiness #onlinemarketingstrategy #TikTokchallenge #tiktokfamous #smallbiztok #contentcreatorsofinstagram #contentcreationtips #contentcreationstrategy #contentmarketer #contenttips #ctaexamples #cta #calltoaction ♬ Cmonnn (Hit It One Time) – 5Star

5. Keywords are your lifeline

As I mentioned earlier in this article, TikTok’s latest update is encouraging users to utilise proper keywords for their content.

Not only should you include your keyword in captions, include them in your videos as well, be it in spoken or written form.

TikTok’s algorithm will classify your videos according to the set keywords which will lead to the right audience.

💪🏽 Trusting TikTok’s algorithm to reach your target audience 💪🏽

One of the main pillars of every business strategy is knowing your target audience. But at the same time, to thrive on TikTok, you also have to appeal to the public interest.

So how exactly do you reach your target audience when there’s millions of content being posted as we speak?

The answer lies with your trust in TikTok’s algorithm.

😱 What the actual Maths? 😱

TikTok’s algorithm is a wonderful creation of technology. That’s exactly what sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms.

No two users in TikTok will have the same ‘For You Page’ despite being friends or followers.

However, the probability of seeing posts that are liked or reposted by friends are higher than none at all if you share the same interests.

Like any other tight-lipped social media platforms, no one aside from TikTok’s employees (and maybe a handful of expert programmers) knows exactly how TikTok’s algorithm works 🤫

But as people’s trust in social networks’ internal workings has waned, the majority of platforms have now made their algorithms’ fundamental principles public.

In other words, half a secret’s out! Let’s dig right into it 😆

1. As mentioned earlier, recommendations are often (but not always) based on user interaction with other users, liked videos, content created, shared videos etc.

2. On the other hand, videos will also be recommended depending on users’ searches on Discovery. This includes video captions, sounds used, included hashtags, effects used in video and overall video information.

3. Device and account settings are also a big part of TikTok’s algorithm. Users’ setup of language preference, country of accommodation, preferred categories, and other settings will lead users to specific types of content.

What makes a video NOT RECOMMENDED in TikTok’s algorithm:

Duplicated content
Content that goes against the community guidelines and gets shadowbanned
Content the audience has already seen or skipped
Content that is flagged as spam

The best part for new TikTok accounts is that even if you have yet to build an empire of followers, TikTok’s recommendations are not based on follower count or previous videos.

Having a solid follower base is definitely an advantage to getting your content the attention it needs.

But if you continuously share high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, you will also have an equal chance of becoming popular on TikTok, just like any other account.

🔎 Take a peek at your competition 🔍

No one likes copycats. But if you’re ✨inspired✨ by another video, it’s not entirely harmful!

In my opinion, it’s the very basis of trends – using famous content as inspiration to spark new ideas.

For instance, the latest trend of a girl singing with a close up shot also known as ‘begitu syulit’ trend has taken over the internet overnight.

Even local radio stations are jumping in and making videos using the sound.

@era.je Tolong cari Rehan ni guys! Makin syulit ni 😅 @MunaaBella💚AnyeongChingu! @fazziqmuqris #sharERA #DaebakERA #fyp ♬ suara asli – Powerengers bunting – Intan Lembata bunting

Because of their creativity, it sparked the creativity of other content creators which led to the sound going viral. Amazing how content creators see things and every chance they get, they’ll grab it without a doubt!

If your business rival is on TikTok already, go and peek at their content 👀 It’s a little know-how trick to see what kind of content works and which types of content will attract your target audience.

With thousands of content being posted every day, you can count influencers and public figures as a competitor in the battle to stand out from the crowd.

Or… you can recruit them for influencer marketing 😎

Partnering with influencers and KOLs 📲

You cannot deny the power these influencers have in this internet era when it comes to marketing. You and I both, really.

They provide one of the best platforms to get your brand name to the public, especially if you’re looking for a one-time promotion as opposed to long-term contracts with brand ambassadors.

Have a look at some of the KOLs we’ve worked with for our clientele:

@berrycofficial Join #BerryCWipeIt ♬ original sound – berryC

👉🏼 Find out more on influencer marketing here 👈🏼

Content pillars for your content calendar

If you noticed, brands like Shopee and BerryC have an array of content that is not just based on pure humour and entertainment.

Image credit: Shopee and BerryC

TikTok for business doesn’t mean you can only post boring factual content all the time. Loosen up and maximise your feed using some of these pillars of content.

Image credit: Americanoize

Entertainment: The most common type of content you can find on TikTok
Inspiration: Samples of photos and videos of your work
Education: Instructional, factual content that aims to educate
Promotion: For specific occasions or promotions like Merdeka Day, Malaysia Day, Mid Autumn Festival etc
Connection: Push out content that is relatable with your target audience be it in terms of culture, current local issue or relatable job struggles

Although, take not that some of the so-called boring and factual videos actually do work:

@scha_jalil WAJIB! #takaful #izzgrouptiktok #brosistakaful #tipskewangan #flywithejaaz #melajuformula ♬ suara asli – andre

Advertising with TikTok for Business 🔗

Nowadays, the first thing users will see every time they pop on TikTok is a sponsored video. And every few swipes after that would lead to another sponsored content.

Similar to Instagram, you can boost your videos so that it appears on more FYPs and ultimately raise brand awareness via paid reach.

With available features on TikTok like the little yellow bag above the caption section, many brands have jumped on this digital marketing trend and are thriving.

Exploring TikTok analytics 📊📈📉

After spending some time on TikTok and experimenting around with your content, it’s time to find out which type of content works. And which doesn’t.

It is vital to understand that in the TikTok world, there are good days and bad days. This entails the amount of traction your account is getting.

@drclearaligners Its a tough tough world out there 😔✊🏼 #officelife #contentcreator #drclearaligners ♬ original sound – Keara Sullivan

Some videos might get more views than others and as a business owner, it’s important to look at the numbers objectively.

Use TikTok’s built-in analytics to check your audience’s demographics, which videos are getting more attention, how many of those users are checking out your profile and many more.

With these data, you’ll be able to plan out what’s next for your content calendar.

Key Takeaway 🔑

For a quick recap, these are the main points we’ve covered in this article!

Determine the objective of your TikTok account
Set up TikTok for business
Get to know TikTok’s latest update
Optimise your TikTok profile
What to know about TikTok’s algorithm
Content pillars you can work with
Advertise with TikTok and use their built-in analytics feature

Although there are clear pros to the increasing number of active users on TikTok, it also means that your brand could be in danger of diluting in the sea of content.

Take a step further to stand out from the crowd by consulting brand agencies on specific techniques to grow your business 🔍

Hoping this guide will ignite your passion for TikTok, may the force of viral be with you!