Transcripts
1. TikTok for Business intro: Hello. Welcome to
TikTok for business, our most popular cause to date. If you're a small business
owner looking for creative ways to
promote your company, your products, or your event, then TikTok is a great option. This is a course for beginners. I'll give you a
basic overview of the platform and the different features and
functions on offer and lots of creative inspiration to help you come
up with ideas for content that will really connect you with your customers
just like this. People single umich. Get your pre do.
2. An overview of TikTok as a platform: Hi, Welcome to this short course on using Tiktok for your business. If you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur who wants to get creative with your marketing. Then Tiktok is a really fun platform which will get you engaging with a younger audience. Lots of people have been asking me lately about how to use it for business. And in the short-course, I'll be giving you an overview of the platform and lots of ideas for content to get you started. It's less about giving you a detailed guide to using every individual single feature. And I would really advise you to play around and experiment with all the different filters, music, and features an offer. And it's more about getting confident and giving you inspiration for brilliant ways you can use Tiktok to promote your business and reach your target audience. So before you start quite important, don't forget to download the app. And it's available on iOS and also Android. So there's no excuses. Let's kick off by looking at TikTok itself and I'm just going to give you an overview of the platform to make it a bit more familiar with it. So in our own words, It's the leading destination for short-form mobile video. And it's a home for creative expressions. So think genuine, inspiring, and joyful content. Linkedin, it is not. I'm going to kick off by showing you a really lovely example. Cats and social media always go hand in hand. And this one, I think is particularly good. It's rather hypnotic. And then this one here, I think, kind of sums up the youthful energy that you get on the platform. And I don't need to tell you why this is so engaging. I think you're gonna like this. So some quick facts for you. Tick tock. It's a short-form video sharing app. And typically the videos are 15 seconds long. Hashtags can be very effective. So if you're already familiar with using hashtags on Instagram or other platforms, facebook, Twitter. Then it'll be a breeze. You know, you'll very quickly get to grips with that. And it's a place for fun and creative content. There's lots of special effects, There's lots of filters. There's a music library, so you can easily add music tracks to the video. Or you can use the actual land and the audio that, that's recorded while you shoot the video. And you can have a lot of fun by changing the pace or play in reverse or do things in stop motion. So yeah, there's lots of fun to be had. And it's easy to share another platform. So some people might want to have a Tiktok first kind of strategy. Whereas for other people, maybe you've already got a really active Twitter channel or you're really big on Facebook. And TikTok will enable you to make some really good content that you can share in other places. Tech publication diverge. They say it's the closest thing we have, divine. And you might remember Vine, It was really big a couple of years ago. And the idea was that you created short looping videos or six seconds long. And I loved Vine virus, really good phone as well. But the problem was that Twitter bought out and then they close the whole thing. So that was the end of that. So you can see why people are gravitating to tiktok because it's the same idea. Lots of short fun bits of video friendly content and TechCrunch and other tech blog they call Instagram for the mobile video age. And I should thank the people that Instagram are getting a little bit worried because TikTok is doing so well. And we can see that so far there's already over a billion downloads and 250 million active monthly users. And that figure is increasing all the time. Predominantly, you've got a younger audience, so it's people aged 16 to 24. The male to female split is roughly 40 to 60 at the moment. And it's really big, not just in the US, but China, which is interesting, as well as India, Thailand, Japan. And you'll notice that when you look through the app and you get more familiar with the content, you'll see that it's really big in all of these parts of the world. And that of course, is really useful to remember if you were trying to reach more of a global audience. So that's a little overview of the platform. And now we're going to run through some ideas to get you started.
3. Five ideas to get you started with TikTok for business: So we've had a quick look at the platform itself. And you might be thinking, well, this all sounds great. But how can I actually use it for my business? So I've got some ideas here to really get you started to give you some inspiration. Tik Tok works really well for B2C businesses. So that's business says that a token directly to the consumer rather than selling their services to other businesses. So it works really well for those who can have a bit of fun and show some personality. So this could be retail, it could be people in education. We've just seen how it's predominantly used by younger audience. So of course schools, universities, colleges, It's quite an effective platform. Local businesses as well. I'm particularly if you get busy with the hashtags, it can be a really good way of reaching people in your local community. People who might actually come into your shop. Events and entertainment. I've got some great ideas on this as well. Sport and leisure. Really good with Tiktok and food and drink as well. So many opportunities there if this is your sector. So first of all, you could use Tik Tok to showcase your product or service. So unboxing videos, for example. And this isn't limited just to tech. There's all sorts of fun that you could have here. Dish of the day. You could say you own a restaurant or a cafe where you have a special burger. You could do a little, little video showing the burger being built. And today, everyday's the finished product, a hair dresses. I already see this a lot on Facebook where they might show before and after person comes in looking or scruffy and then they lily leaf looking just gorgeous. So let me show you an example here. And I quite like that because it's an unboxing video, but not necessarily the kind of one you would expect. And now this is a lovely one from above is that we came across, take a look at this. So it's a really good way of demonstrating their skills. And it helps get people through the door because sometimes people can be slightly intimidated by going into a new hairdressers or Bob is for the first time. But they've opened things up there showing what it's like now, shown that the people are actually good at their job. So showing your product or service, tick tock is a really, really fun way of doing this. Now the second thing is you can take people behind the scenes in your business. Say you run a wedding venue, a boutique, hotel or gym, or maybe your band, you're a DJ, a comedian on tour. And you can show people what happened when you got to a new city and all places that you explored. So that helps build excitement for the evening. Or if you're a university, then why not use Tiktok to do a little day in a life? And that's really nice for new students to help them feel a bit more comfortable and familiar with their new surroundings. This one here is a wedding venue which I rather like. And while we were playing around with the app to app my company Tsukiji, then we thought we'd do a little behind the scenes video too. So hope you liked this one. And I think you can see in those two examples a difference in the effects you can take. So the guy with the wedding video, he just kept it simple and he walked round and took some video and uploaded it. That was that. Whereas with us we spent a little bit more time and we put on some special effects and we cut a few clips together and then came up with this. But I think the idea is to make sure that it's authentic to you and it feels real. None of this is going to take $10 thousand to produce. We're not talking really highly production values. It's about getting something out there which reflects your brand. Now, another way I like to say being used AS repulsion from events. And you can use Tiktok videos to really build excitement to events that you've got coming up. Or like the example I'm going to show you in a second to show the impact of your work. You can also create assets and you can share these under the channels. So say if you take video tiktok video from your music festival, then you can share that on Twitter and elsewhere and use it to drum up interest for the next festival that you have the following year. You can also interview star guests, performers, audience members, all of these things that will make the whole thing for really, really exciting. Those Poll people that couldn't make it to your event. Now this next one I've got coming up is from a charity. And this shows what happened when they went to the Caribbean following a really devastating hurricane. But then this one from Liverpool. So the football club, Liverpool, who have got a massive social media following on lots and lots of different channels that I've got some tiktok video here of one of their players and action. And then they can share that on your, the channels and just keep feeding is social media based. Nice, but a foot work that. Now another way that you can use Tiktok is to show the human face of your business. Now, it's really good for recruitment. Let's say that it's quite competitive in your area for top talent. If you're using Tiktok, then that might be completely different. Everybody else is doing. And you might find that new recruits want to come and work for you rather than the competition. You can also do a tour of the office, which is quite nice type people behind the scenes. Or you could do a little one on one little spotlights with different team members, which gives people a chance to show a little bit of personality. Maybe you could use it to jazz up your About page. That's just occurred to me. I might do that myself. So I quite like this from some firefighters sharing what they do in their downtime. That's really impressive with MIT. And then this is a personal trainer. Okay, so that's really good. And again, showing the human side of the business. So it's not a glossy brochure. It's not a fancy website. But if you're thinking about taking on a personal trainer, you want to go with someone, it's actually physically fit. And so you might see her video on tock, tick tock and think, yep, yep, She looks good to me. So let's have a look at another idea as well. So the fifth I do want to give you is about encouraging user-generated content. So not everything has to be created by you. A lovely idea, I thought it would be safe. Your fashion brand, your clothes shop. Then you could set up a mini cut walk in your shop and put up a hashtag that you can encourage people to use. And then get people to walk along the little mini TAP walk and get them to film it as well and put it on tiktok and tag you in it. Equally travel destinations say if you're booking flights for people, you're booking a safari tool in Africa, then you can get people to use a hashtag, tuck you in a tiktok, and then they're creating amazing content for you from all of these fabulous countries. Or you could have a little booth at an event. Sometimes people have a little selfie frame. You can have anything interactive on your stand that gets people to come over and gets them having fun, being a bit silly, pulling funny faces. And I think that's a bit more lighthearted. And I don't know if you've ever been to any business networking events, but they can't be really dry and boring. And if you are the people in the corner with the Tiktok booth, you never know. You might be the ones that people actually come over and engage with a little bit more. And you're the ones who are at the end of the day when they go back to the office, they might say, Oh yeah, I have such a good time with those people. And then lastly, just don't forget the hashtag. Always try and get the hashtag in there, and that will help your content to be found. A couple of examples for you here, this guy is doing something amazing with some trainers that have got whales built-in showing off the products. And then we have a campaign by a chairman or a children's team anyway, where he was getting people to hold up a sign which said, my beautiful person is, and this went with a song they had just released. So there was a hashtag that you used. And then he got people to do lovely, cute little videos like this. So as you can see, there is this kind of youthful feel about Tiktok. There is a failing of sparking joy, curiosity, authenticity. So whatever ideas you come up with, then always try and make sure that they match that kind of feeling.
4. Your essential checklist: Plan, content, measure: So we've had an overview of the platform. We've thought a little bit about who the audience is and what type of content works. Well, we've come up with some ideas that should get you thinking. And I just want to put 27 questions that you should ask yourself before you start. So the first one is, do you actually have a plan? And this goes for any kind of marketing activity that you do. There's no point going straight into it, shoving it out there and not really thinking what effect this content is going to have. And this is a big problem that I see people doing all the time. You get over-excited. If they are, Let's write a blog. Let's do a TikTok video. Let's do an Instagram story, but then there's no follow-up. You're not thinking, well, what's our second one going to be? Where am I going to share it? So really just spend a little bit of time just mapping out how this is going to work alongside your other social media channels, for example, and which of your audiences you're really going to try and target. It may be you've got just one type of customer. Maybe you're trying to reach people in the local area. Or it could be you're more of a global business and you want to try and do something different, maybe for the Japan audience or the US audience, and maybe try to segment a little bit more. So it's definitely worth thinking it through. And speaking of social media channels, oh, you were the one setup and active. Are you creating Tiktok content just for Twitter really? Or you're really focusing on tiktok itself. How are you going to use it, what it, what you're going to give priority to. And of course, thinking about Tiktok and the kind of content and it goes down well, is your content fun, but also true to your brand and your image. So if you'll quite a sensible kind of kind of brand, then if you suddenly hit people with this crazy lip sinking video, special effects, some Tiktok is going to come across as a little bit weird. So think about what's going to be true to you. Otherwise, it's just going to fall flat. However, if it enhances your brand and your image to people expect of you, then it's just going to go crazy. So just give it a bit of thought before you start and then back to the audience. Are they going to like your content? So you're making it for them, you're not making it for you. Are they going to like the filters to use and effects and music. There's so much music to choose from, so you can have a little bit of fun. You can play around with it. What do you going to measure? So what will success look like for you? Are you looking for lots of engagement? Are you looking for people to physically come into your shop? What are you going to measure? What's going to be important? Otherwise, like any activity that you do in your marketing channels, you're just doing it for fun to kill time. You're not really achieving any of your business goals. A little one here. Have you filled in your bio? So you're trying to tell people about your brand. So don't forget those little bits around the edges and make sure that it sums up what you want people to know about your business. And lastly, what's next? So where are you going to share the content? But you just got to get the video, sit that on your Tik Tok channel? Probably not. Are you going to show in an e-mail newsletter or you're going to put it on Facebook. Are you going to put it on the homepage of your website or you can have bury it somewhere that people can't find it. How about putting it on the about page? Have you thought is through about where it's going to go. Now, let me give you some quick tips as well. So that has a character limit in the bio. So while you want to spend a bit of time perfecting this, you also need to remember it's got to fit within the limit. There's a special tick tock code that you can use. Works a bit like a QR code. So you might want to have a bit of fun. Some of you are the marketing collateral, so printed flyers for example. And then this will encourage people to follow you as well. You can choose between the original video sound or music track. So otherwise, you might spend lots of time trying to find the perfect trap to go with it when actually the original video sound is just fine. Don't forget you can't edit videos, wants to have been posted, which is a bit annoying, but that's the way it goes. And how do you thing to remember is that you don't need a TikTok account to view Tiktok content. So you can share it far and wide and don't worry, it's not going to be the case that people have to login first to be able to see it.
5. Project: Create a TikTok for your business: Now we've got a little project for you. Hopefully you've downloaded the shape in the results section and you've got a pen to hand, if nope, grab a piece of paper and a pen and we're off. So what we're gonna do is create our first tiktok video. And the first thing, of course, is to define the objectives. So think, what are you trying to achieve? What's the goal of your video? Is it to attract customers to a venue? Is it promotion for an event? Who you actually aiming the video out to you? Who's at targeting. And then once you've thought this through, you'll be better place to shoot the video. But it's actually relevant to your goals and your audience. And then the third thing you need to think about is what success looks like. So for you is it lots of views? Is it lots of followers because you want to get lots of people on this particular platform. Is it lots of shares and comments when you shared the content on another platform, what Success going to be for you? And secondly, we want to get the details right. So what's actually in the video? Where is it going to be shot? Who's going to be in it? Is it going to be you? Is that your team? Is it going to be the product itself? What's gonna be in it? And then what hashtags are you going to use? There's a search facility which is really useful. So you can have a rummage around there and find hashtags that are relevant to your business, your location. Have a look at the kind of content and people are posting under the hashtags that you're going to use. And then that will guide you. It will help you use the right ones. And now it's time to get your creative juices flowing. So have a look around and see which filters are available. The music tracks a different effects and think about which ones are going to work for you, which ones will have the most impact? And as you get more familiar with the platform, you will see other videos that people have created and you'll think, oh yeah, I like that. I might try that myself or equally or don't like the way that that goes too fast, too slow, or whatever, you'll get more familiar with the annual workout which works for you. And don't be afraid to experiment, have a bit of fun, and see what you can discover. And third, in this project, the third thing we need to do is start sharing content. So once it's ready, share it with your community on all of your platforms. And please do share it with the sucrose school community. We're on Skillshare is, you know, we're on Facebook. We've got a Facebook group just for Zuko school members and on Twitter of course, where absolute your school. And the last thing to tell you is, don't forget to have fun. Enjoy.
Sue Keogh, Director and agency owner, Sookio
