7 Ways To Grow Your Startup on TikTok

During the course of the pandemic, start-up companies have rocketed to success on TikTok with the bedroom business becoming an international venture.  

If you search #smallbusiness on the app, you will find videos amounting to 15.8 billion views in total, accompanied by entrepreneurs that have developed through the TikTok algorithm. Thousands of people are using the app to promote their #sidehustle or full-time jobs. 

It is no longer a novelty to not be on TikTok, especially when your brand could be missing out on essential growth because of it. Here are seven specific ways on how to give your start-up a fighting chance of making it on TikTok. 

Be Transparent 

The most popular videos on business TikTok often show the satisfying journey from design to packaging. Be transparent about your decisions, progress and difficulties in developing your product. There are many examples of this on TikTok, but the consistent high views from small Australian business @bubbowl, an independent shop making baby bibs and bowls, shows that people love the process, no matter the product. One of her packaging videos has 451.3k likes and 3.8 million views. 

Transparency increases connection with consumers, which directly impacts business revenue. According to a Sprout Social survey, more than half of consumers will increase spending with a brand when they feel connected to them. What do you have to lose by giving your consumers behind the scenes access to the hard work that goes into your brand? 

Market Yourself 

70 per cent of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs that are active on social media, so don’t be the boss that hides behind a logo. Inspiring success stories of entrepreneurs overcoming adversity are hugely popular on TikTok. The TikToker Philip Pages owns his journey within his content. Pages have posted many videos detailing how, before his sunglasses brand took off, the three businesses he tried to create before failed. His videos warrant comments like “feeling extremely motivated!! This is beyond amazing!” and, most importantly, “what’s the link to your website?”. 

Use Trending Sounds 

It is vital to adapt your content to what is trending. It is easy to identify what sounds are trending on TikTok by scrolling through your own For You page or browsing in the search section. Creating a video to a trending sound has a better chance of being seen, even if it’s just the background noise for a packaging video.  

Hashtag Away  

You want to be on the “right side” of TikTok for your business. Specific hashtags such as #businesstok and #entrepreneursoftiktok are likely to help land you within an audience of like-minded viewers or consumers who want to support small businesses.  

Jump on Trends, or Make Your Own 

Could you create your own “put a finger down” challenge? Jumping on trends is nothing to be embarrassed about when it can easily gain your account exposure and build your followers. The jewellery brand Milli London, @millilondon_ on TikTok, saw a huge increase in engagement after posting an ASMR packaging video. This is a powerful example of adapting a trend that started on YouTube to a different social media site; the video got 3.5 million views and nearly 400k likes.  

Aesthetics are Everything 

Whether your start-up is in e-commerce, tech or food, always make your journey aesthetically pleasing. There is a superficial side to TikTok engagement that can be exploited. The hashtag #sosatisfying has over 1.4 billion views for a reason.   

Be a Teacher 

Give back to your followers by teaching them something that they can use or share, whether it be useful business insights or revolutionary work-life balance tips. This makes your business stand out as going above and beyond for its consumers. Again, Philip Pages is a great example of this; he has created a series on TikTok called “Building the Brand” where he offers guidance based on his own experience.