Using TikTok for B2B marketing

Why bother with TikTok?

It’s no secret that TikTok is growing, and it’s growing fast. In 2021 it outplaced Facebook and Instagram, becoming the first non-gaming app to reach 60 million downloads in March. By the end of the year, TikTok became the first app not owned by Facebook to cross the three billion download mark. 

Both B2C and B2B brands ultimately have one common social media goal – creating entertaining, creative, and helpful content that makes their audience’s lives easier. After all, your B2B customers are real humans that expect great content.

I’m not saying that every B2B brand needs TikTok as it won’t be a suitable match for many of them. But it is worth knowing why it will be a good marketing tool. Here are three reasons why B2B brands should try TikTok:

One secret to TikTok’s immense success is that it leverages the potential of going viral – a technique that YouTube and Vine once used. It rewards quality content rather than simply having a large fanbase and B2B brands can use this to their advantage by connecting with their audience through authentic, engaging, and quality content.

So, if your content is engaging, experimental, and creative, it is more likely to go viral than other social media platforms. This encourages brands to expand their creative bandwidth and budget to trial and error.

As Gen Z are becoming an employee/customer base, marketers need to try new, innovative techniques to reach that audience – enter TikTok. Almost 60% of users in the US are aged 10-29. What else can I say?

One secret to TikTok’s immense success is that it leverages the potential of going viral – a technique that YouTube and Vine once used. It rewards quality content rather than simply having a large fanbase and B2B brands can use this to their advantage by connecting with their audience through authentic, engaging, and quality content.

It doesn’t stop there. TikTok also allows for cross-platform promotion feature. Users can share popular videos on Instagram and Twitter, expanding the scope of your marketing message.

UGC (user-generated content) is an amazing tool for TikTok. It comes across as authentic and uniquely suits the interactive and responsive style of TikTok videos. You can leverage the existing content people made or consumed related to your product.

How to use TikTok for B2B marketing?

Let’s get into the nitty gritty: here are four ways that you can use TikTok.

TikTok is a platform that is built on one-on-one human interaction. You can leverage the power of influencers using influencer marketing techniques such as influencer seeding to connect with your audience and increase brand visibility.

Incorporating influencers in your social media marketing strategy is a good option, especially if your TikTok following is small. The power of influencer marketing has a massive impact on businesses and can help you reach new potential customers when done right. 

As I mentioned earlier, UGC is a great way to make your brand look less brand-like and more human. Start using this tactic to your advantage. Encourage users to create content that shows them using your brand or create challenges.

Get on the trend train and base some of your content around the latest trends taking TikTok by storm. Trending content will increase your chances of getting more viewers and reaching audiences.

Whilst you don’t have to change your company’s core, you can adjust your brand voice on different social media platforms. Tap into what your audience will be most receptive to depending on the social media platform – what works on Instagram may not work as well on TikTok. Take advantage of TikTok’s preference for quality content, and find creative ways to shake things up from a content point of view.

Showing rather than telling is always better. TikTok, once limited to 60-second videos, now allows users to make videos for up to three minutes. You can utilise this feature to educate your users about your product/service by creating short product demos on the platform.

However, if you can nail the shorter video format, I recommend you go for it. Short, snapy videos dominate on TikTok; 30-60 second videos are the ideal length for most platforms and increase your possibility of going viral. 

B2B brands that are using TikTok the right way!

Take a look at these brands that are making it big on TikTok by appealing to their target audience.

This huge e-commerce platform has a unique approach toward B2B TikTok marketing. Instead of sharing the use and features of their product, they are focusing more on empowering independent business owners (their target audience) by creating content around inspiring entrepreneurship stories. Since their content focuses on empowering future entrepreneurs, their audience can connect with them.

Adobe Creative Software has taken full advantage of this platform and rolled out short helpful how-tos and tutorials of their product. Along with this, they have taken advantage of UGC and showcased the capabilities and benefits of their software.

The bottom line

It isn’t a set rule that a B2B brand cannot be on TikTok. As long as the platform aligns with your brand’s goal, you are good to go! Remember to be authentic. A human appeal will attract more audiences. Start today and try various TikTok marketing strategies such as influencer marketing, UGC content, etc.

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