Love it or hate it, TikTok has become a household name around the globe. Plenty of people dismiss it as a site for dance videos, but as with any major social media platform, it can be an invaluable tool for small businesses to promote their products. To get into the details of how to do so, we sat down with Lindsay Van Zyl, a digital marketing expert and family friend to discuss how you can use TikTok to earn cash without breaking out a single dance move!
Some Statistics
There’s nothing more telling than the numbers, so let’s kick things off with a few of the statistics that make TikTok the lucrative market it is.
- In 2021, TikTok was the single most downloaded app, with 1.2 billion people regularly using it.
- It’s addictive! People who use the app scroll for almost an hour every time they open it, more than enough time for your content to be noticed.
- TikTok isn’t just for teenagers! People from 35-55 years old make up a massive portion of the total user base, and the number of users in this age range is growing rapidly.
- You can grow your page without dancing! Life hacks are one of the most popular types of videos on the site, so you can share a few tidbits of information with your audience!
Considering its extreme popularity and the increasing diversity of its users, you’ll have no trouble using TikTok to create engaging short-form videos and find your ideal audience! All you have to do is get out there and start producing content!
Upcycle Old Content
Between your responsibilities to your business and family, producing consistent, engaging, and original content can seem exhausting. What many entrepreneurs don’t consider, however, is that the content you post doesn’t necessarily have to be brand-new.
If you’ve had an online brand presence in the past, chances are you have a fair amount of old content just laying around. Though it may have run its course on the social media site you originally posted it to, your longer videos don’t have to sit there and collect dust!
Try taking some of your favorite clips from those videos and splitting them into short, 60-second posts. By doing this, you can get the most out of your content, providing the same high-quality content with the least amount of effort.
Know Your “Who”
Every business has its own unique target audience, and finding yours is one of the most important steps you can take to start making good money. While many new entrepreneurs naturally believe that a wider audience is always better, this isn’t necessarily the case. With so many unique viewers with unique needs and opinions, it’s almost impossible to appeal to everyone.
Instead, ask yourself: who is my content for, and who am I trying to reach? This is your “who,” your ideal target audience. By having a very specific who, you can settle into your niche and relate to your audience better than ever before.
In becoming more relatable to your who, you’ll be able to effortlessly draw in new audience members with a tight-knit community of like-minded users. Simply put, by knowing your who, you allow your TikTok page to more or less grow itself!
Viral Vs. Valuable
Similarly, many new TikTok entrepreneurs shape their content to pursue the fabled viral post. After all, who wouldn’t want their content to be seen by millions of users? Despite the initial benefits, however, marketing with viral content in mind can be harmful to your business in the long run.
To understand why viral content isn’t always best, let’s return to the idea of your who. Your who is an extremely small fraction of TikTok’s total users, but viral content reaches a far wider audience.
While the immediate impact of going viral is a sudden uptick in engagement, this creates a problem: your page has reached outside of your who. Though your viral video will certainly be popular with your new followers, there’s no telling whether or not the rest of your content will be. Because of this, the boom in engagement from viral content is rarely sustainable.
As mentioned before, it’s best to avoid trying to produce content that will appeal to everyone. Rather than provide a viral content experience for everyone, provide a valuable content experience tailored to your who. Whether it’s a fun fact, a life hack, or anything in between, this valuable content will establish a loyal following that you can easily appeal to.
With your loyal following, valuable, useful content, and passion for your work, you have everything you need to run a successful Tiktok page! Soon, you’ll be able to use TikTok to grow your business and even turn a profit– all without dancing!
Are you ready to start building for your future? Take the Rainmaker Challenge to kickstart your first week of growth!
