Post By Lauren Kirkpatrick

Since the 2020 pandemic, TikTok’s audience has grown exponentially. From dance challenges to heartfelt stories, the app has managed to successfully engage, uplift and win over the masses. Businesses across the globe are starting to wonder how they can interact with the app.

Many B2B companies have chosen to simply ignore TikTok because it doesn’t fit their demographic, time restrictions, and overall message. While others have given the app a fair shot.

Companies are drawn to the popular strategic channel because of its high audience retention, engagement, and uniqueness.  How can your B2B company stay ahead of the social curve, without even downloading the app?

Here are 8 valuable tips and tricks your business can learn from TikTok.

1. Video Marketing

According to Cisco, video will comprise more than 80% of global Internet traffic by the year 2020. With an effective strategy, video marketing campaigns can engage the minds of millions in a short period of time.

The most successful business videos tell their audiences interesting stories and encourage audiences to connect with these narratives. Telling an impactful story on social media requires creativity, research and the right approach.

TikTok is thriving in the storytelling business, which is why the app is so addicting, fast paced, and fun for its consumers.  Even if your business is not on TikTok, you can use YouTube, Instagram Stories, Facebook or LinkedIn for similar video marketing purposes.

Photos and Tweets can only tell your consumers so much about your business story, so think “video” next time you’re looking for a change in strategy!

2. Community

The COVID quarantine left people in a search for human connection, positive interactions and friendship.

During these hard times, TikTok gave us a glimpse into others’ lives in a way that felt more intimate than Instagram and Facebook. Many consumers turned to the app to connect with those who share similar interests, hobbies, and life stories.

Since then, businesses have created brand awareness videos on TikTok curated to target specific audiences and interests.

Building a community for your brand helps to differentiate your business from competitors and make your customers feel more welcome.

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization, your company can greatly benefit from community building, especially in hard times. The first step is to think about your customers and how your products and services will impact their world!

3. Culture

Just like a company builds culture in an office environment, you also need to build culture in an online presence with your consumers too. The keys to making a successful company culture are building buyer trust, transparency, diversity, inclusion and equity.

TikTok has proven its support for culture by forming a Creator Diversity Collective, which brings people from different backgrounds together to help ensure diversity and inclusion within the platform.

Your business needs to find ways to make everyone feel loved and welcome, no matter their race, gender or religion.

4. Hook Your Audience

Keep things short and to the point.  Research indicates that the average attention span is approximately 8 seconds. Digital marketing experts recommend B2B brands to “limit each of their videos to under 30 seconds.”

As evidenced by TikTok, this timing technique is super effective in grabbing and keeping customer attention. The app’s videos do a great job at hooking their audience with this strategy. Their videos are extremely easy to watch, user friendly and short.

Take this into consideration the next time you are planning video content for your business!

5. Authenticity

Producing authentic content is one of the most important skills you can have as a marketer. People follow people, not brands. If you are passionate, real and knowledgeable about your business on video, your customers will tend to trust you more.

Live video streaming can also help produce more views and customer interactions. TikTok has the live feature included in their platform, but so does Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube! Pick which social is best for you and try going live.

6. Empathy

TikTok is designed to understand the needs and wants of its customers. The social platform curates videos on your feed based off of previous likes and interactions with its content. Videos that encourage you to take a break from the app or go to sleep will also pop up if you have been on for a long time.

TikTok has reached 850 million monthly active users in over 150 countries since its launch and has surpassed Instagram and Facebook. I believe one of the main reasons this is the case is because of the app’s empathetic and customer-focused nature.

Overall the tip here is simple, be kind! Show your customers that you care about them by stepping into their shoes and taking their problems seriously.

7. Challenges

From dance and lip-sync challenges to the #plankchallenge and #updownchallenge, TikTok has managed to peak the interests of all ages. Parents and family members have joined in on the fun and have quickly got hooked on the TikTok trend as well.

Any business can create stimulating challenges on their social platforms to keep their customer interactions high. If you are a B2B company, you can get creative and challenge your team members or buyers to a trend.

It is important to keep your audience engaged and stay ahead of the curve with the latest trends. Your audience will notice your efforts and interact accordingly.

8. Positivity

The trending social platform, TikTok, encourages positive habits such as exercise, participation in challenges and encouraging new skills. This is a great opportunity to interact with your customers, share their wins and connect with them, even on a B2B level. Stay optimistic about your business!

Your consumers want to leave an interaction with your company feeling positive.

While LinkedIn and Twitter remain the gold standard for B2B media, it never hurts to learn more about how TikTok became so successful and what you can do to enhance your own company’s social presence.

You may think your B2B company is hopeless to keep up with the trends of social media, but I challenge you to take one of these fun strategies to your business today.

And if you’re looking to bring some TikTok vibes into your content plan for 2021, reach out to me here or on LinkedIn!

[Article originally published by Lauren Kirkpatrick for
Marketing Insider Group on October 8, 2020]