A new era of socially-driven business is emerging. TikTok shopping allows your brand to mobilise the channel’s energised viewers and drive e-commerce results, making it one of many new ways for brands to reach social media users and increase sales.
Users on TikTok are 1.4 times more likely to make a purchase based on a recommendation made on the platform compared to shoppers on any other platform. TikTok views its customer lifecycle as a never-ending circle with no beginning or end.
Taking advantage of the cyclical nature of the entertainment industry’s customer journey through social commerce is a surefire way for brands to stand out in today’s crowded marketplace.
Exactly what is TikTok Shopping?
As such, what exactly is TikTok shopping, and what does this mean for the future of e-commerce on TikTok? There are a number of different ways for brands to direct TikTok’s enthusiastic audience from the ‘For You’ page to the checkout, but the method that is directly integrated into the channel is called TikTok Shopping. Companies can link their e-commerce platforms directly to their TikTok profiles, giving their viewers a simple way to buy the goods they see in videos with just a few clicks.
What Should I Do to Open a TikTok Store?
A TikTok for Business account is required to get started. Head on over to your TikTok profile and make the change there. You can access the menu by clicking the arrow in the top right corner of the screen. Changing to a business account is a click away: just go to “Manage Account” and look for the “Account Control” section. You can start building your brand after selecting a specific niche.
The next thing to do is to make sure your e-commerce platform supports TikTok. If this happens, users of Shopify who also have a TikTok for Business account will have access to all of TikTok for Business’ features within the Shopify app itself, while users of BigCommerce and a few other platforms will have to download a separate app to do so (in the case of BigCommerce and several other platforms). You may be required to incorporate a TikTok Pixel into your e-commerce platform in order to accurately track the impact of your TikTok uploads.
Once you’ve connected your e-commerce platform to your TikTok account, your profile will display a new shopping bag icon, signalling to customers that they can use your TikTok page as if it were a traditional online store.
Here Are Five Ways to Make Your TikTok Online Store a Hit
Create content that is optimised for the platform
Because of TikTok’s focus on social entertainment rather than social networking, brands’ approaches to advertising on the platform will be very different from those they’ve used on other social media. TikTok users are more likely to engage with and share content that makes them happy, and content that is seen as genuine will do better than studio video.
Share material that is both interesting and current
To be blunt, TikTok is not the place to try to sell something. The ability of a product to “lift spirits” is important to 39% of TikTok shoppers. Creating entertaining videos is the first step in establishing a strong presence on the channel, which will in turn encourage viewers to shop your brand. Put some levity and humour into your brand’s content and figure out how to integrate your company into the realm of social entertainment in a way that no one else is doing.
Drive Traffic to Your Store and Product Pages
Life hacks, before-and-after comparisons, and tutorials are all great ways to educate viewers about your TikTok shopping product and drive sales, and they can be tied in with the trendiest sounds to increase the likelihood that your videos will be seen by as many people as possible. Keep in mind that readers will be interested in your products and your websites if you provide them with interesting and useful content.
Reach Out To Newer Generations
TikTok attracts a younger demographic than other social media sites. TikTok’s culture is still largely defined by those in the Z-generation, but older people are becoming a sizeable audience as well. Brands need to make sure they’re connecting with TikTok shoppers on their terms, which means being casual and grounded in authenticity rather than striving for curated perfection in your feed. Users of TikTok are primarily interested in having a good time, and members of Generation Z are widely recognised as being highly motivated by unique and memorable opportunities.
Leverage the Influence of Others
Short-form videos on TikTok are engrossing thanks to the channel’s creators, who inject the platform with their own unique brand of charisma. What do you find when you take a peek at the most popular hashtags and earwormy sounds? At the centre of attention are the people. In contrast, product shots alone were traditionally enough to get engagement on channels that prioritise static imagery. You may need to rethink how your company uses social media to adapt to this, but it needn’t be a huge hassle.
Make Use Of Social Media Marketing
Using a social media marketing platform like Dash Hudson, which provides TikTok Insights to brands, you can easily market on TikTok and incorporate your TikTok store into your overall strategy. Most social media marketing tools not only make tasks like content scheduling, performance reporting, and influencer relationship management easy, but they also provide insightful data that can be used to fine-tune your strategy over time.
Could Social Commerce Develop Via TikTok?
TikTok is playing a pivotal role in the evolution of the social commerce sector to become more entertainment-driven and interactive. A rare evergreen trend that continues to gain traction over time is the TikTok Shopping trend known as “TikTok Made Me Buy It,” in which users celebrate purchases of items they discovered on the channel.