Behind the Business: TikTok tips from small business owners

Behind the Business: TikTok tips from small business owners

June 3, 2021

Small BusinessBest Practices

The following is part two of a two-part series around helping small businesses create more engaging TikTok videos and content. Discover our first article about how to use TikTok’s most popular transitions and effects to make your content stand out here.

At TikTok, we know there's a story behind every business that uses our platform. That's why, while producing the Behind the Camera tutorial series, we also talked with each business owner to learn more about their experiences launching and growing their businesses on TikTok. We asked each owner the same questions to learn how their experiences were similar and different. Read on and watch the video series below to hear their stories and advice for small businesses getting started on TikTok.

Paul Bamba is the Founder ofTrifecta Strong, a gym focused on helping clients reach and breakthrough their maximum potential. In his gym, Paul applies a unique form of training that combines fitness, strength training, boxing and military combat skills to achieve serious results for his clients. And while focusing on different forms of fitness helps Paul get results for current clients, he sees TikTok’s potential for attracting new clients.

For brands wondering if TikTok is for them, this is Paul’s advice: “Anyone that’s not on TikTok already stands to gain a lot. It’s going to show a different side of you, and it’s a perfect platform to do that and showcase it. And it’s a whole new marketplace. So if you’re already tapped into a marketplace, you can find a new one and grow more clients.”

After joining TikTok, the biggest hurdle many brands have is deciding what to post first. That wasn’t the case for Dana Pollack, owner ofDana's Bakery. Since her bakery specializes in unique flavors of traditional French macaron paired with the desserts she grew up eating, she knew the colorful product needed to be featured first.

“The first thing I did was show the macarons. I wanted to showcase all the bright colors to gauge and see what people would do,” she said. Of course, knowing what to post didn’t mean there weren’t any doubts: “I was a little embarrassed at first, but I got over that quickly and now I have so much fun with it."

Niambi Cacchioli founded her beauty brandPholk Beautybecause of her own challenges and frustrations in finding a natural and inclusive beauty brand that addressed the specific skincare concerns of women of color. She uses TikTok as a way to have open conversations about the challenges her customers face as well as to connect with them in a more authentic way.

Being who you are is her advice when embracing the TikTok community. “You can come as your true self. You can be vulnerable, you can be weird, you can be in the process,” she said. “For us, TikTok is helpful in extending and deepening that conversation and deepening that sense of trust.

The sky’s the limit as far as what you can achieve for your business on TikTok, and our business owners shared some great advice on how they were able to find success with their content. The philosophy that Mapate Diop, Co-founder of clothing brand DIOP, took with launching his brand on TikTok was very similar to how he approaches business in general.

“Think about not just how to make products that fit your lifestyle,” he said, “but how do you create a brand that really reflects the world you live in.”

Dropps, a green cleaning products company, realized they already had a presence on TikTok in the background of a famous movie star’s post. However, once launching their own account, Founder and CEO Johnathan Propper discovered that creating a steady volume of content can be just as effective.

“In real estate it’s ‘location, location, location,’ but in TikTok, it’s ‘post, post post,’” he said. You can learn more about how creating organic beats is a vital part of your TikTok content strategy in our Always On blog series here.

Hopefully the experiences of these small business owners inspires you to get started on TikTok, and to continue to explore all the ways it can help grow your business.