If you’ve ever been around someone under the age of 30, you’ve probably seen them scrolling through snippets of videos posted by their peers. That’s TikTok – full of lip-syncers, DIY experts, budding comedians and more. The app had a stranglehold on the Gen Z and Millennial consciousness overnight, and it’s time your B2B business hopped onboard.
What is TikTok and where did it come from?
TikTok is a video-sharing social media platform that hosts a range of short-form video content that have a duration from 15 to 60 seconds.
The app was born out of the ashes of another short video app called Vine. Despite being hugely popular, Vine shut down 2017 and left a gap in the market for an easily digestible and widely shareable short video app. TikTok began life in China in 2016 (under a different name) and quickly dominated the market. The company that owned Tiktok, ByteDance, purchased a similar app named Musical.ly (an already established popular lip-syncing app for tweens) and merged the two to take on a more western audience. The app rebranded itself from a lip-syncing platform to an all-encompassing video-sharing platform.
Why should a B2B business utilise TikTok?
But if you’re a B2B business, you might think that TikTok isn’t the platform for you. The app’s audience is mainly teens and that’s better suited for a B2C space. That’s where you’d be wrong! Whilst Musical.ly’s user base was predominantly young children, TikTok’s audience is much broader. 62% of TikTok users in the US are aged between 10 and 29. That’s not just Gen Z children, it’s full of young adults that are working within businesses and making decisions.
As of January 2021, the platform has 689 million monthly active users worldwide. Just to give you an idea of how impressive that is – TikTok gained that much traction in just 3 years. It took Instagram 6 years to gain that many active users and Facebook took 4 years. If you’re a business of any kind, it’s imperative that you keep an eye on the latest emerging platforms and the best ways to read your audience. Tiktok is on the fifth consecutive quarter as the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store. This app isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and it’s only growing in popularity.
It’s a great opportunity for any B2B business looking to connect with a highly engaged audience. We’ve put together 5 B2B businesses that are doing great on TikTok and compiled some key takeaways for you to use for your own content.
Morgan & Morgan
As one of the largest injury law firms in America, you’d think Morgan & Morgan would take themselves incredibly seriously. They might on other channels, but TikTok is the place to shed that more corporate attitude and show the more personable, human side of your business. With almost 70,000 followers, TikTok is their second most popular social media platform (with Facebook only just surpassing it with 80k followers.) Despite the slightly lower numbers, Morgan & Morgan’s TikTok boasts the highest amount of engagement across any of their channels. Whilst their Facebook averages 50 pieces of engagement per post, their TikTok has engagement into the tens of thousands.
Their content is widely varied, but their most popular features their founder John Morgan driving and sharing funny tidbits – dubbed ‘60 seconds with John.’ They also share general tips for law students, humanising content featuring the lawyers of Morgan & Morgan, and explainer videos on big law events in the news.
@forthepeople
@forthepeople A Day in the Life of Atlanta MM Attorney Miguel Dominguez #ForYou #FYP #DayInTheLife #Attorney #MiFamilia
Gymshark
Gymshark is a massive fitness apparel brand from the UK. Their more relaxed tone was already perfect for a fun platform like TikTok and they’ve completely dominated the competition. With their library of fun, engaging content, they’ve gained over 3 million followers. Like with Morgan & Morgan, TikTok is their second most popular channel (behind Instagram this time) and their audience is incredibly engaged with their content. They post funny gym memes, tips and tricks for getting the most out of your workout and aspirational fitness content.
@gymshark Shout out to everyone who loves upper body day!💪@nonabayat #gymshark #upperbody #gymtok
@gymshark @ellamaerayner & @millypickles1’s energy is 🔥 #gymshark #partnerworkout #fitness
Shopify
Shopify is the most popular e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. As a multinational e-commerce company, you might think that Shopify has nothing to contribute to TikTok – but that’s where you’re wrong.
Unlike Morgan & Morgan or Gymshark, Shopify’s content takes on a different, more professional style. They target entrepreneurs and business owners with inspirational business/sales content and interesting insights into market trends. Their most popular series ‘the TikTok effect’ is a deep dive into how TikTok impacts global trends.
@shopify The TikTok Effect: Baked Feta Pasta #bakedfetapasta #fetapasta #fetacheese #cheese #tiktokeffect #foryou #didyouknow #dyk #funfact
@shopify Daily Affirmation #thankme #MyFutureThanksMe #inspiration #inspire #entrepreneurs #smallbusinessowner #entrepreneurs #snoopdogg
Canva
Utilised by businesses everywhere, Canva is a graphic design platform that makes creating beautiful content easy. It’s no surprise that Canva targets businesses with its presentation tutorials and posts tips for creating Facebook posts with maximum engagement, but they also make good use of the platform they’re on. The Canva team creating content for TikTok are keenly aware of the trends that are popular on the app. The Vogue challenge, for example, was everywhere a few months ago, and Canva cleverly constructed a tutorial using their platform.
@canva Canva presentation shortcuts to use to ace your assessment #design #canva #presentation #presentationnight #powerpoint #powerpointnight #fyp #fypツ
@canva Strike a pose 📸@avonnephotography #canva #voguechallenge #howto #howtotiktok #fyp
Linktree
From Twitter bios to Tumblr blogs, Linktrees are all over the internet. This platform allows you to create a personalised page of links to share with a user’s audience. It keeps your online presence all in one place – a godsend for influencers and regular users alike. They post content of their employees, the occasional meme and demonstrations of their product.
https://www.tiktok.com/@linktr.ee/video/6794649928346979589
https://www.tiktok.com/@linktr.ee/video/6852527996692122886
So, what have we learnt from these B2B businesses that are growing their audience on TikTok?
- Feature your employees. TikTok users are all about authenticity and it’s a great chance to humanise your brand.
- Use humour. The best performing TikToks are the ones that get people laughing.
- Follow trends. A good TikTok content producer is an avid TikTok user. Keep track of the latest sounds and trends to boost your content.
- Be valuable. At the end of the day, you’re selling your product or service. Provide tips and tricks to users to show them how great your offering is.
If you’re a B2B business looking to expand your audience through stellar social content, then you’ve arrived at the right place. We’re experts at all things B2B content marketing. We’ve got a whole Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing if you fancy a deep dive, or if you’re done with reading for today, contact us for a free consultation and see how we can transform your online presence.
