How to Use TikTok for Business Success in 2024

You’ve heard of Facebook and probably used top guns like Google for marketing. Now, there’s a third platform shaking up the digital space—and that’s TikTok.

According to Statista, TikTok has 1.582 billion users, ranking above Snapchat and X (formerly Twitter). Another report also shows that Tiktokers are 1.4 times more likely to buy a tech gadget in the next six months or order more groceries during festive periods than non-users. That’s a reflection of TikTok’s influencing power on purchasing outcomes.

Marketers can reach 13.6% or more than 1 billion of the global population with Tiktok ads, and there’s a big chance your target audience falls within this spectrum. Worryingly, only 28% of marketers use TikTok for marketing as of 2024.

This oversight leads to missed opportunities to tap into a highly engaged, fast-growing audience.

In this article, we’ll discuss expert tips to use and maximize TikTok for business success in 2025.

Create A Tiktok Marketing Strategy

TikTok is a green ground for businesses, especially those that appeal to younger people. But diving blindly and randomly throwing content here and there won’t cut. To thrive, you need a marketing strategy tailored to the social platform.

Practically, your strategy should cover five main aspects:

• Goals: These are what you want to achieve, whether in the short or long term. Each goal has to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). For example, your smart goal could be to “Increase TikTok follower count by 20% (from 5,000 to 6,000) within the next three months by posting three engaging videos weekly and leveraging trending hashtags.”“Start by assessing your current TikTok presence or setting up a new account with a clear brand image. Evaluate your resources—time, budget, and team—to determine how much you can consistently invest. Your investment level will shape the scale and ambition of your TikTok goals, whether it’s brand awareness, engagement, or driving conversions”, Max Tang, CMO at GEEKOM, contributes.
• Audience research: TikTok has billions of users, but not all are your ideal prospects. Focus on identifying the demographics, interests, and behaviors of users who align with your brand, such as age, location, content preferences, and activity patterns.

For example, use audience research data to refine your strategies, including tailoring your customer newsletter to match the interests and habits of your target audience.

• Competitors analysis: Except you’re inventing the wheel, tons of competitors are already utilizing TikTok for business success. First, dig the relevant ones out and place them on the radar. We want to know what they did to get the results you see.Review your competitors’ TikTok profiles to evaluate their content type (trending challenges, tutorials, or entertainment), engagement levels (likes, comments, shares), and posting frequency. Pay attention to their hashtags, collaborations with influencers, and ad campaigns to uncover what resonates with their audience. Use these insights to refine your strategy and stand out. One great way to do this is to also use TikTok Ads Library to see best performing ads. Then you can use them for inspiration and a guideline to what worked well.
• Content plan: Audience research helps you figure out what your ideal customers would like to see, whereas competitor analysis shows you what type of content is already working. Based on these insights, establish a clear-cut content guideline to achieve your marketing goals.Your content plan should define everything from themes, preferable formats, video length, and colors to the type of sound effects to use, posting frequency, posting timing, and content tone. The more detailed, the better.
• Tools: At this stage, you need to find tools to help achieve your goals by streamlining the process or automating manual tasks. A perfect example is Bulkl.y, a social media management tool that supports bulk uploads, post recycling, shuffling, hashtag assignment, drip scheduling, start/end dates, drag-and-drop ordering, group creation, and flexible account management.Other AI-powered tools, like chatGPT, can help you create scripts for your TikTok videos. But you shouldn’t be strongly dependent on them if you want to create something that truly appeals to your audience.

Lastly, combine these components and communicate the strategy to your social media management team to ensure implementation.

Optimize Your Profile with a Clear Brand Message

As a business, every profile view is an opportunity to turn casual browsers and potential prospects into hot leads and loyal customers. Buyers most often use social profiles to judge a business’s authenticity. So, if your profile meets the mark and reflects trustworthiness, 81% of consumers will likely purchase.

But if not, you’ll only end up with hundreds of profile views daily and no turnover. That’s every brand’s nightmare.

To optimize your business’s Tiktok profile, do the following:

• Choose a Recognizable Profile Picture: The typical profile picture is your company logo, which allows consistency across your marketing channels. However, you can also use a branded image featuring your product, logo, or anything else that aligns with your brand. For instance, a coffee brand might use a sleek logo or a cup of steaming coffee to attract attention. Similarly, a web design company can use a creative logo, a visually appealing design element, or an icon that reflects its expertise in crafting user-friendly and innovative websites.
• Create a Clear and Engaging Bio: TikTok’s freeform bio is limited to 80 characters, so you must use concise language to describe your brand and what you offer quickly. For example, “Healthy snacks for busy lifestyles | Shop now” is straightforward and informative. Include a CTA like “Shop Now” or “Follow for tips” to guide visitors, and substitute long words for icons or symbols.
• Add a Link to Your Website or Shop: The goal of optimizing your profile is to either gain subscriptions or redirect followers to a landing page. To achieve that, utilize TikTok’s bio link feature and ensure your link’s path is descriptive. An example is mgrm.link/giveaway on Khaby Lame’s account. The “Giveaway” path lets followers know what they will get by clicking the link.
• Leverage Pinned Videos: While you can’t do much with bio description, you can maneuver with the Pin feature. Fix two to three key videos to your profile, such as an introduction to your brand, a best-selling product showcase, or a customer testimonial. This ensures new visitors immediately see your most impactful content.

It’s important to review your profile occasionally, say twice a year, to ensure relevance over time. Look for keywords that are unique to your brand and are likely to make your profile pop up on search. Include the primary ones in your short bio description to boost TikTok SEO.

Create Authentic and Relatable Content

Data.AI’s report shows that the average TikTok user opens the app about 10 times a day, spends over 5 minutes on each visit, and logs approximately 31 hours 47 minutes monthly—a generous amount of time spent consuming content.

Of course, if your content is too generic and plays off a script you AI-generated, no one’s going to waste their seconds on it. 90% of consumers now favor brand authenticity anyway. So, you must ensure your videos are as real as possible, appeal to current realities, and solve a problem.

To do that:

• Be personal and show Behind-the-Scenes: Share candid moments or the process behind your products or services. For instance, showcase how a product is made or a day in your team’s life. Also, use captions and CTAs that invite interaction, such as “Can anyone else relate?”
• Embrace storytelling: 60% of consumers want brands to provide content that provides a solution or tells a story. This is even more relevant on TikTok, where you have barely 60 seconds to attract, capture, and convert a lead. To make an impact, create short, engaging stories highlighting how your product or service solves a problem. Ensure the message is clear within the first few seconds to keep viewers hooked.
• Flow with the trend: Tyla’s water dance rose to stardom recently, and thousands joined the challenge of creating a perfect replica. Another dance trend could take over in a month, and jumping on it early gives your brand a chance to ride the wave. Of course, you need to look out for these trends constantly, and that’s where web scrapers come in. These tools help you dig out popular hashtags and fresh sensations your business can leverage in real time.
• Keep It Fun and Casual: Thirty percent of TikTok users are between the ages of 25 and 34, which means you have to be careful not to bore them with formal clips that only spell out your product features. Avoid overly polished or scripted videos. Showcase your brand’s human side with humor and authenticity.
• Choose the suitable format: “TikTok clips could be anything from DIY tutorials and comedy videos to behind-the-scenes looks, product demos, or user-generated content. Select a format that aligns with your brand’s goals and resonates with your audience. For example, if you’re showcasing a new product, a tutorial or demo works well, while a funny skit could help increase engagement and shares for more casual content”, Rodger Desai, CEO of Prove, says.
• Utilize hashtags and popular sound effects: Hashtags and sound effects are visibility drivers. By using a popular song or sound in your video, you can tap into an existing trend and make your content more discoverable to users following that trend. Similarly, including relevant and trending hashtags boosts the chances of your video appearing on the “For You” page, reaching a wider audience beyond your followers.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all content. That means you’ll have to measure your content performance to know which format works best for your audience, the trends they love, and the opportunities you blew. This will help optimize future content to grow awareness and boost lead generation”, Rhami Aboud, CEO at Arch Web Design, adds.

Leverage TikTok’s Paid Advertising Options

TikTok’s annual revenue rose from $63 million in 2017 to $9.4 billion in 2023, much of it thanks to increased user base and ad spending. That’s a testament to how much marketers are willing to bet a fortune on the app’s advertising platform’s profitability.

Samantha Brown, General Manager at Shout Media, says, “Paid advertisement on Tiktok helps you crunch more numbers than you’d ever reach organically. Besides, the results are faster, and that’s why 56% of marketers plan to increase their spending. Of course, that’s only if you do it right”:

• Hook viewers in the first few seconds: TikTok users scroll quickly, so your ad needs to grab attention within the first 2-3 seconds. Start with something eye-catching, like a bold statement, visual, or spicy movement. If the ad doesn’t capture their attention right away, they’ll move on.
• Embrace TikTok’s native feel: No need to make your ads feel like “ads.” TikTokers Instead, they should look and feel like regular TikTok videos—use popular sounds, trends, and creative formats to blend seamlessly with user content.
• Use clear and compelling CTAs: Every ad should have a strong call-to-action (CTA) that tells viewers what to do next. Ensure the CTA is direct, easy to follow, aligned with your goals, and maybe a bit sassy. “Steal a deal if you click right now.”
• Gain inspirations: TikTok has a creative section where other creators can access top-performing ads. Go through the ones relevant to your brand to understand why they stand out and how you can optimize yours to be better.
  
• Integrate Shoppable Ads: TikTok’s paid ad formats, such as In-Feed Ads, now allow users to purchase directly from the ad. These ads feature clickable product links that lead to a checkout page, reducing the bogus touch points in a buyer’s journey.

We’re already in an era of AI-optimized advertising. Embrace AI tools capable of machine learning and predictive analysis to enhance ad targeting, reduce ad spend, and boost conversions.

Collaborate with Influencers

Over 50.1% of marketers agree that TikTok is the most profitable platform for influencer marketing, with Instagram ranking second and YouTube coming third. The app also has about 100,000 influencers on board.

Partnering with these influencers helps you leverage their audience, giving your product or brand more visibility. Moreover, 69% of consumers trust an influencer’s recommendation over direct information from brands.

Joel Popoff, CEO at Axwell Wallet, says, “ When choosing an influencer, ensure you go for one in your niche. They have the audience relevant or completely the same as your ideal buyers, making conversion easier. For instance, if you’re selling men’s accessories like watches, wallets, or cufflinks, partner with a fashion influencer focusing on men’s style or luxury accessories. Their followers, who are likely interested in upgrading their fashion game, will find your products more appealing, leading to higher engagement and conversions.”

A common mistake businesses make is choosing macro-influencers (100,000 to millions) over nano-influencers (1000 to 10,000 followers). First, you have to pay a lot to secure a spot with the former. Of course, that’s not a problem if you have a big budget. However, small businesses or startups with limited capital might find it a hard nut to crack.

Second, there’s no definite guarantee of return on investment. Or you could end up using profits to break even with the initial amount paid to collaborate.

On the other hand, nano-influencers in your niche are cheaper to contract, and they have the highest engagement rate of about 11.97%. So, there’s no need to break the bank. You can gradually scale up with limited but highly engaged audiences.

Utilize User-Generated Content for Social Proof

User-generated content (UGCs) are pieces of content—such as videos, images, reviews, testimonials, or social media posts—created by your customers to discuss or feature your product, service, or brand.

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Interestingly, UGCs are 8.7 times more effective than influencer content and influence 79% of your buyers’ purchasing decisions compared to branded content. Hearing from others who have used a product and have no affiliation with the brand eliminates barriers to customer trust and enhances credibility.

To collect UGCs for your Tiktok’s marketing strategy:

• Encourage participation: Ask customers to create a video of themselves using your product in real life and share it on TikTok with a universal hashtag you’ll provide.“Hey Xoxo! We hope you’re loving your outfit—why not show off that stunning look on TikTok? Tag us and let your style shine! Oh, don’t forget to add #Stylix.”
• Incentivize: You might need to provide simple incentives like a discount or a time-limited exclusive deal at the start of your UGC campaign. Once the trend has set off, it becomes fairly easy from there, and you don’t need to add rewards any longer.
• Engage each UGC: Your customers spent their time and effort creating a TikTok-worthy clip featuring your product. Now, it’s your turn to honor them and engage their content. Leave useful comments, like, and even share when necessary. This makes them feel valued and boosts loyalty in return. Loyal customers become brand advocates.
• Make It Easy: Provide simple instructions or ideas for them to follow, such as “Show us how you style this accessory!” or “Duet this video and share your transformation!” Also, encourage your customers to integrate your product into trending TikTok formats, dances, or sounds to ride the trend for visibility.

Lifei Chen, Founder at buysmart.ai, says, “Once you have enough UGC, feature them as social proof on your profile and websites. TikTok’s shopping feature integrates seamlessly with platforms like Shopify via APIs, allowing you to embed UGC videos directly on your product pages. That makes it possible to showcase authentic customer experiences to visitors on their first touchdown from Tiktok. And this can accelerate conversion or boost your ROI.”

You can also repost the best UGCs on your brand account after permission from the creators and link them to the products in your shopping tab. TikTok makes it easy for viewers to view these products, check out pricing, and even make a purchase without leaving the app.

Wrapping Up How to Use TikTok for Business Success

TikTok is an undermined goldfield, and your business stands to gain a lot from it in 2024 if used correctly. For a start, create an effective marketing strategy that details your SMART goals, target audience, competitors’ profiles, content plan, and tools for achieving your objectives.

Optimize your profile with a concise but valuable bio description and branded image or logo. You should also add a link to your business’s product page. Populate your feeds with authentic and relatable content, especially ones that follow the trend. Don’t forget to leverage paid advertisement for greater reach and collaborate with influencers to generate engaged leads.

Lastly, utilize user-generated content to boost credibility and track your account performance with in-app analytics tools to optimize your marketing strategy.