As a small business operator, you surely know that the best price to pay for any good or service: free! This is no less true when it comes to investing in your knowledge base and your company’s preparation for the future. That’s why it’s so exciting that the social media platform TikTok has just announced a free learning opportunity for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to familiarize themselves with all the marketing opportunities, techniques, and best practices on the massively popular (yet still relatively new) social media platform.
TikTok’s “Follow Me” series teaches small businesses how to market on the platform
The just-announced program called “Follow Me” will be a 6-week series that dives into everything you need to know to get started marketing your SMB on TikTok. These lessons cover a wide range of subjects and content. They start as simple as how to set up a free TikTok Business Account and branch out from there, including guides on getting started with TikTok’s Ad Manager, exploring the unique types of advertisements the platform can build, seeking that spark of inspiration from TikTok’s Creative Center, and more.
In addition to instructions on how to use the platform’s features, Follow Me will help small business owners learn by example, with knowledge shared from TikTok Small Business Ambassadors like Tassel Amor, Jacob Zander, and Cassie Sorenson. These popular TikTok users and small business owners will not only give insight into the platform, but will also be sharing the history of their small businesses on their own TikTok accounts.
Got a busy schedule? Don’t sweat it–Follow Me is completely asynchronous, utilizing email-based content to ensure that you can engage whenever you wish, and revisit at your leisure. No seminars to sign up for, no Zoom Rooms to log into, just the info you need at your fingertips.
What is TikTok?
For those of us who’ve been living under a rock (or, more realistically, those small business owners and operators who’ve been keeping their nose to the grindstone!), TikTok is a hugely popular social media platform. Launched in China 2016 and expanding to the US in 2018 after merging with another popular Chinese social media app, TikTok has grown to over 1 billion active users worldwide, and continues to grow in 2022.
The premise is simple: short-form (think ~60 seconds) videos, streaming one after another automatically in a user’s feed. However, the platform can be much more complex: users can (and are encouraged to) make videos that engage with, manipulate, and respond to other videos through content editing tools provided in the app itself.
This unique engagement process has given TikTok a reputation for hyper-virality: anybody can quickly make content that can very quickly amass huge views and begin new trends. These can range from lip-syncing, viral challenges, the now-ubiquitous “TikTok dances,” and more. The popularity and virality of this format has attracted the attention of other major social media platforms, and this short-form video content style can be seen with Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more.
Why small businesses should use TikTok
As a small business owner, it can be easy to dismiss TikTok as just another passing fad for young kids. But as we’ve explored in the past, there are many good reasons to be on TikTok or otherwise engaging in short-form video content. With a massive international audience of over a billion users, over half of whom are over 30, TikTok can be a great platform to find your audience. This is particularly true if your product or service is eye-catching or otherwise video-friendly, and if you have the staff or the creativity to really put effort into engaging in the viral trends and fun community aspect of the app.
What to do if you’re not a social media star
But what if you don’t have that creative spark or a team of social-media-savvy young employees to make the content that’s most successful? That’s where Follow Me comes in–so long as you have the willingness to learn new skills, TikTok is giving you free tools to make the most of the hottest new social media platform.
Of course, with all the work it takes to run a small business, sometimes you just don’t have the time or the energy to learn a whole new marketing platform, no matter how much you want to reap the benefits. That’s where Skol Marketing’s team is here to help. For one-on-one guidance on social media strategy, or to hand over the reins to our dedicated team of professionals, please don’t hesitate to contact the local social media marketing experts at Skol Marketing.
