Ask Buffer – Is it too late for TikTok to be started?

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Question: It feels like too much time has passed to get started on TikTok. I was skeptical that it would be a great social network to market to customers. Now, I am wondering if it is too late to get started on TikTok from scratch. How do I start?

TikTok already has over 100 million active users. It’s not surprising that many businesses have opted to include it as part of their marketing strategy. According to research, TikTokers are 1.5x as likely to buy an item they find through the app. If you own a business, it’s definitely worth creating a TikTok Account!

Although you may feel out of your league when it comes to TikTok, all kinds of businesses can thrive there. The platform has helped even The Washington Post, a respected news outlet, to achieve great success. The Post was recently featured in the news when TikTok reached 1 million subscribers.

In May 2019, the account was launched and gained over 280K followers in its first six months. In the beginning, Dave Jorgensen (or “Washington Post TikTok Guy”) was the only creator of all TikTok’s. He made approximately 10 videos per week. Jorgensen covered everything, from the Trump administration to COVID-19 and health care through bite-sized videos. He wanted to “deliver news in a unique manner and reach new audiences.”

The Post’s fastest-growing social media channel, the medium, was created by The Post. In late 2021, the newspaper decided to invest more time and money in the app and created new positions on their TikTok account. Their TikTok team now includes ten video per week, and they release over four videos every day. Micah Gelman (paper’s Director of Editorial Video) said that they are expanding TikTok to “… continue growing, innovating, and connecting with more people than traditional news.

The Post was an established media company before TikTok launched. However, the app has also been a huge benefit to smaller businesses that had never been exposed. Jeremy Kim, cofounder and CEO of Nectar, a small company that sells hard seltzer, spoke with Business Insider about how TikTok helped them market their business.

Kim initially was worried about TikTok’s lateness, but decided to post a story-time video, telling the story of how he and his partner founded their business. The video was organically liked by over 300K people, much to Kim’s delight. BevMo eventually acquired Nectar due to its online presence and on-the-ground efforts such as pop-up shops. Their TikTok account has more than 50K followers and over a million likes. Nectar proves that there is no “right” time to get started on TikTok. Anyone can succeed on TikTok.

TikTok is a great app for any type of business, regardless of product or service. It can help a large newspaper with a high readership and a small mom-and-pop shop thrive. Even though you might think you are late to the party, you still have time to build a strong TikTok brand presence. TikTok’s best feature is that the most valuable content is created organically. This means that videos can be made internally without spending a lot of money. Videos can often be created entirely with your smartphone!

These are some guidelines for creating a TikTok to help your small business.

Register for your TikTok Account

To maximize your brand’s visibility on TikTok, you should create a business account for your company. TikTok Business was launched in 2020 to offer large and small brands the same marketing tools and metrics that can help them increase their reach. Paid ads are also available for business accounts. It is easy to create a business account. After answering a few questions about you brand, you can start posting videos.

Additional perks include access to TikTok’s commercial music library, also known as CML. This library contains over 500 songs that you can use in your videos without any restrictions.

Find out which type of content connects best with your audience

This is the fun part! After you have set up your brand’s TikTok account, you can start creating content. TikTok thrives on creativity so there is no right or wrong way to make videos. Original and authentic TikTok videos are the most popular.

It’s great to look at other brands but remember that every company is different and what works for one company might not work for you. It will take some trial and error to find the content that best suits your target audience. That’s okay! You’ll learn which videos are best suited for your company as you make them.

These are some points to help you think about the various types of TikToks.

Take a peek behind the scenes

A behind-the scenes peek at your business is a great way to generate content. This gives customers a better understanding of your business and is a natural way to generate TikToks. Instead of creating content from scratch, highlight what you and your company have already done!

Nowhere Bakery is a vegan and gluten-free bakery that regularly posts behind-the scenes content. This gives viewers a peek into their kitchen and how they make all their cakes, cookies and other treats. This TikTok shows how the team bakes a variety desserts.

It’s a great way for your staff to get to know you by sharing behind the scenes content. Nowhere Bakery is a women-owned business. They are able to show off their founder Saphira through TikToks. In this TikTok, Saphira reveals the daily grind of managing a bakery. She assembles cookie boxes from dozens to dozens of them.

These behind-the scenes moments can help you build a stronger relationship with your audience.

Teach your customers a skill

Owning your business is a way to be an expert in your field. So why not make how-to videos about your products and services?

Jeremy Check is the creator of ScheckEats, a TikTok channel that has a huge following. He posts easy recipes from all sorts of cuisines and shares them on his channel. Scheck created his account in 2020. He now has more than two million TikTok subscribers. Scheck, a Cornell University student, tailors his content to other young adults. He includes posts such as recreating Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap.

His “how-to” videos, which are intended to teach college students basic cooking skills, are what sets him apart from other foodie TikTokers.

As Scheck guides his followers through the process, watch:

Scheck is back with another college hack. He teaches his followers how to make cold brew coffee at home. This is a lifeline for many students.

Whatever your business, creator or niche is, you should consider creating informational videos that are both informative and entertaining for your customers.

Make a series

Before Nabela became an @nabela celebrity, author and entrepreneur Nabela Nour had a YouTube channel that had a large following. In a 2021 video Nour addresses her absence from @nabela and explains how she transferred most of her content over to TikTok. Nour created a TikTok series called “Pockets of Peace” that highlighted the positive moments in her day to inspire viewers after the pandemic.

Although the content of each “Pockets of Peace” video is different, they all exude calm vibes and are accompanied by relaxing music. Nour became an internet star with the series. She gained 7 million subscribers to her TikTok channel, surpassing the YouTube subscriber count she had for several years.

Nour is seen in TikTok’s engaging in daily activities such as a date night, baking a cake and refreshing her guest room.

“Pockets of Peace,” which featured Nour’s home and kitchen, connected back to her brand, specifically her lifestyle and Saara & Begum home brand. Nour included a glimpse of her first product, a candle line, in one her TikToks, before officially launching it.

Nour’s videos don’t need to be as complex as yours. If you are able to find a creative theme that matches your brand’s identity, creating a series can result in great material for TikToks.

Are you unsure how to start a series? These are some prompts to help you get started.

• Include your team in content creation: It doesn’t matter if your employees are discussing their role, new product launches or just introducing themselves.
• Consider your mission and your goal. How do you want clients to feel about your products or services? You might be able to capture this essence in your videos. You could make videos about aromatherapy for candle companies if your mission is to offer customers aromatherapy. An example of a Yoga Studio might be a TikTok series that focuses on mindfulness and encourages users to meditate.
• Ask your followers what they would like to see. If you aren’t sure what content is best for your series, interactive features on social media can be used to get feedback from customers.

Be consistent

Once you have decided on the content that you want to create, you should be consistent with your postings on TikTok. Regular posts increase engagement and make your brand more memorable to consumers. TikTok favors accounts with a consistent stream of content and who have become experts in a niche. Make sure you have a common theme across your videos.

Although it is fine to share different types of content on your feeds, certain posts will resonate better with your viewers. The Washington Post’s sketch-based news videos were the most successful, while Nabela Norur’s TikTok was a hit with her audience for its peaceful atmosphere. After you have identified your niche, add the relevant hashtags in your TikToks.

It can be difficult to post consistently, especially if you are a small business owner with multiple responsibilities. These are some tips that will help you establish a routine for your account.

Create a social media calendar

A social media calendar will help you keep track of all your posts and organize your life. Not only will it detail how often you post to certain channels such as TikTok but also the type of content that you are posting. A granular view will help you make your social media feed more cohesive by allowing you to see all your posts.

Buffer’s social media calendar can be used to get a clear and easy view of all your content for the week or month.

Batch create content

Now it’s time for the videos to be made! If you are a business owner, your plans may be constantly changing as you must attend to many tasks. It may be more efficient to set aside specific days, or even weeks, to create batch content for TikTok instead of trying to make time every day.

It is possible to block off certain days on your calendar to film multiple TikToks simultaneously and then book another day to edit the videos. These sessions will allow you to create content for multiple days instead of just one.

Have fun!

Remember that TikTok is all about having fun. Start your channel by being open to trying new videos and experimenting with trending content.

TikTok is well-known for its viral trends, such as the #blanketchallenge pet — so keeping up with these moments will optimize your brand’s exposure. Engaging with trending content can often increase a business’s reach.

Don’t be tempted to jump on the bandwagon. While leveraging on certain trends may be a great way to keep your business relevant, you should make sure that your content is consistent with your core values and provides insight for your customers.

We hope this answers your question. It’s never too late for you to open a TikTok business account! Although the app can seem daunting at first, TikTok can be a powerful marketing tool that will help you market your brand. After you have set up your account, Buffer offers TikTok reminders that will help you plan your TikTok videos from one location.

Do you have a question that you would like us to answer in an upcoming Ask Buffer series of questions? Tweet us!