Could TikTok be the next massive social network for small firms?

tik tok

When you are at the helm of a small but ambitious business, trying to get the word out about it can pose various problems.

After all, your marketing pockets aren’t as deep as those of the long-established, big-name players, and even marketing on social media can seem expensive these days.

That’s because, unfortunately, every marketer and their dog seem to be on there, giving you a lot of tough competition to fend off. However, levelling the playing field could be just a matter of choosing the right social network. Could the emerging TikTok be exactly that network?

A beginner’s guide to TikTok

We know what you’re probably thinking: you have no idea what TikTok actually is. That would be understandable, given its largely teenage fanbase; according to Business News Daily, over 40% of the TikTok app’s users are aged between 10 and 19.

However, this begs another obvious question: “what is the TikTok app?” The app itself enables its 500 million monthly users to shoot short-form, musically-influenced videos, sprinkle them with a few chosen lenses, filters and AR features and then share these video creations on the TikTok network.

Yes, it already sounds like fun – no wonder so many members of that young demographic cohort, Generation X, are addicted. Being able to unlock the conundrum of how to reach those people is just one reason why marketing on TikTok is well worth considering.

No huge marketing budget? No problem!

Trying to scrape together the money for an extensive advertising campaign on social media can be arduous for a small business, and that’s hardly surprising when you consider what they would be up against. On the likes of Facebook and Twitter, there is so much competition for advertising spots that the gatekeepers – the social media sites, we mean – hold much of the bargaining power.

However, until relatively recently, TikTok had no paid advertising opportunities of which to speak. The network has recently been implementing options, including takeovers of both brands and hashtags, while native content ads can be inserted seamlessly into feeds.

Even now, though, advertising on TikTok is much cheaper than doing so on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as you won’t be faced with nearly as much competition in your bid for sponsorship and ad placements. You should act on these lower costs now, before saturation sets in…

Gen X marks the surprisingly lucrative spot

It’s tempting to dismiss Generation X as a bunch of smartphone-addicted youngsters, but such ridicule would be at your own peril. Their buying power is growing, and you can build trust with them by producing content that is both authentic and consistent.

That’s straightforward on TikTok, where overly polished-looking content could actually look out of place amidst the eccentric creativity that runs riot on the platform. With Generation X weekly streaming an average of 23 hours of video content as per a Forbesreport, the case for marketing on TikTok – and reaching out to the notoriously hard-to-reach Gen X – gets even stronger.