Imagine a platform where people actively seek out your expertise and want to engage with you… That’s what TikTok has to offer!
I totally understand that TikTok can be scary and sounds like a very loud and time-consuming platform. I’ll be completely honest with you, if you’d asked me 18 months ago, I’d probably have agreed with you. But I gave it a chance, I learnt what made it special, and it’s now one of my favourite platforms! So what makes it so good?
TikTok has a space for everything
TikTok moves fast! This is definitely a space where trends thrive and quick content is powerful. It’s estimated that 16 thousand videos are uploaded every single minute. I know what you’re thinking: that’s far too much noise to compete with!
Well, surprisingly, the shelf-life of your content actually isn’t that low, and people will keep finding your posts for months (if not years!). Why? Because people use it as a search engine. A lot of users have started to favour asking TikTok rather than Google when they want to learn something. That’s right; your ideal client is actively searching for your support.
And it’s you’re a product-based business, you’ll be pleased to know that a lot of people actually scroll through the shop more than their own feed. They are actively looking for bargains and want to support small businesses!
TikTok is very good at separating content into specific niches. When you first start using TikTok, you’ll notice that you’re feed is very random and very loud, but over time, it will start showing you really relevant content.
BookTok is probably the most famous niche, but there is a niche for absolutely everything!
You just show up as yourself
There’s a misconception that TikTok is all about silly dances, posting three times a day and talking to the camera as much as you can. This isn’t true. TikTok is a space for imperfect content, showing up as you are and connecting with the person behind the business.
Yes, you’ve got to be consistent, but you don’t have to post every single day, and there are some huge accounts that have remained completely faceless. In fact, if you’re a product-based business, you can get others to promote your products for you and really don’t have to post very often at all! Book a Powerhour with me so I can help you get this set up!
Of course, if you’re posting for the first time this week and reach 500 people, you’ve reached fewer people than someone who’s posted every day and reached 500 people each time. But you’ve still reached 500 more people than you would have done is you hadn’t posted at all.
This is a platform that celebrates individuality, where people don’t expect perfection and where your message is heard even if your post isn’t perfect.
I have a TikTok account that I use to share my drawings and connect with artists. Once I decided to use it consistently so I could grow it into a nano-influencer account, the results were staggering (see image!). I still don’t post every day, and I am mostly faceless.
People are on TikTok to chat
TikTok is all about the conversations. It’s a platform where a lot of people choose not to follow their friends or family. For many, it’s a space to talk about difficult conversations and to be vulnerable. People want to learn, they want to chat with you, and they want to connect with like-minded people.
This is particularly obvious when you look at Lives. On most platforms, you go live for a particular reason, you’ve got a specific topic you need to talk about, and you expect people to watch it start to finish. There’s a structure. On TikTok, you go live just to hangout. People will go live for hours, and their audience will pop in and out.
Globally, TikTok has the highest engagement rate of any other platform! The average engagement rate is a massive 2.5%.
To put that into perspective, Instagram has the second-highest average engagement rate at just 0.5%.
TikTok is worth the effort
TikTok is quite a unique platform, and although it’s a very powerful space, it does take some time to get used to. If you’re thinking of giving TikTok a go, be patient with it and have some fun. If you approach it with the goal of having those conversations rather than just promoting your business, you’ll find some amazing like-minded people.
If you want help to get started, I’d love to provide you with four months of 1-2-1 support via email. Find out more about a Social Media Reset.
If you’ve got a million questions and just need someone to talk it over with, why not book a PowerHour with me? Book here.
I help passionate small business owners with their social media so that they can create a powerful and supportive space to promote their business.
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