TikTok for business: a starter guide for brands still putting it off

Every month someone tells us their brand is “not really a TikTok business”. Then we open the app, search their category and find a competitor with forty thousand followers and a queue out of the door. TikTok is not for every brand, but it is for far more of them than you’d think. This is the guide we send to clients who are ready to stop lurking.

Set up properly before you post

Switch to a business account so you get analytics and the option to run ads later. Write a bio that says what you do and where you are, in plain words. Pick a profile photo that reads at thumbnail size. Then watch for a week before you post anything, saving clips in your category that you enjoy. That folder is your brief.

What to film first

Don’t open with a brand film. Open with the things people are curious about:

• A day in the life of whoever does the most interesting job in the building.

• How a product gets made, packed or prepared, start to finish.

• Answers to the three questions your customers ask most.

• A tour of the place, filmed on a phone, with someone talking naturally.

Give it twelve weeks

Post three or four times a week and judge nothing for the first month. TikTok takes time to work out who to show you to. After twelve weeks look at average watch time, profile visits and follows per video, not just views. If one format is clearly winning, make more of it. If nothing is landing, change the person on camera before you change anything else.

Need a hand getting started? Our Education & Training sessions cover exactly this.