How to Increase Your Leads with TikTok

When it comes to increasing your sales leads, social media marketing is not a new concept. Many professional companies like CPAs, Realtors, or Law Firms are active on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and of course LinkedIn. But there is a newer platform that should be considered for increasing your leads: TikTok.

Isn't TikTok for Kids?

You might have heard that TikTok is an app full of dance videos for kids. Originally, that's mostly what it was. TikTok is a short-form video-sharing platform that has evolved into one of the most used social media apps. With 2.6 billion downloads and over 130 million users in the US alone, TikTok doesn't show any sign of slowing in popularity anytime soon. TikTok has surpassed Facebook in average user count and has an average daily watch time greater than YouTube. Contrary to popular belief, our research shows that over 47% of users on TikTok are over the age of 30.

Population of TikTok Users by age:

32.50% ages 10-19

29.50% ages 20-29

26.40% ages 30-39

13.90% ages 40-49

7.10% ages 50+

What Makes TikTok a Legitimate Marketing Platform?

Find People Where They Are

With an average of 52 minutes per day spent on the platform, it’s no wonder why businesses are making content for this platform. While written articles and audio recordings like podcasts have their benefits, it's been proven that video content is increasing in popularity for increasing brand awareness. TikTok's 15-second to three-minute videos can contain bite size information that is enticing, informative, and addictive. When people want to be entertained, they don't tend to open LinkedIn. They open TikTok.

Use the Algorithm

Besides being a form of entertainment, the core reason why TikTok is so appealing to users is because of its machine learning technology. The app tracks what a user is most interested in and uses that data to provide them with additional related content. With so much content being created on TikTok, communities centered around the most niche topics have begun to thrive. By jumping on video trends or popular sound clips, a creator's content can reach millions of people. By being genuine and interesting for a certain niche, a creator can create a following which can then turn into customers.

Make Yourself Stand Out

What do you think of when you picture a typical lawyer's advertisement? Maybe a person in a blazer with the law-and-order scale somewhere in frame. How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? Using TikTok to share your company's service offerings gives you a unique chance to casually talk directly to your customers. All the website copy in the world will never be as good as sitting down for a quick chat with a client. TikTok puts you in your customer's hands to answer questions they didn’t even know they had.

Build the 3 Pillars of Marketing: Know, Like, Trust

Letting a customer get to know a company through their employees makes the brand more human rather than just a service provider. Having content that is consistent and intriguing allows customers to like the company more. And with quality and educational content, trust is built to being legitimate in the field.

Repurpose Content on Multiple Platforms

Every social platform allows for video content to be added. Once you create video content on TikTok, you can use it everywhere. Short videos can add a bit more personality to your feed. To make longer videos, you can string together multiple TikToks or add additional videos, slides, or pictures.

How to begin with making content?

Set Aside Time to Learn

In order to be successful with TikTok, it's important to see it as a marketing tool. Like any other new tool, it will take time to learn. Rather than jumping in and posting videos right away, set aside some time to study and become familiar with the content already on TikTok. When the app is first installed, the main screen, called your For You Page (FYP), is the most highly viewed videos for your demographic. You can find content relevant to your company/niche by searching in the "discover" tab. You can look for topics, hashtags, or if you know any accounts you want to learn from and begin enjoying that content. Once you've found something that appeals to you, interact with the video by liking, commenting, sharing, or saving the video by clicking "add to favorites." These interactions help to teach the app your preferences. Eventually the app populates the FYP with curated content based on your interactions. Your business’s goal is to “go viral” or produce content that is popular enough to be found on users FYPs. This comes from learning some TikTok strategies, but mostly creating good content that viewers want to interact with.

No Need for Extensive Production

You don't need to be a script writer or even a master videographer to create compelling content for TikTok. All you need is your phone and some personality. Depending on the kind of content you create, it might also be helpful to have other kinds of visuals. This could be as simple as filming your computer screen or writing on a whiteboard or piece of paper (as long as your handwriting is legible). The app contains all of the video editing tools, music backing tracks, and text integrations that you might want. Once you become more familiar with the app, you can also include transitions and filters to give your content a bit extra, but that's not necessary. Especially at the beginning.

Planning and Batching Content Makes It Simpler

If you ask anyone how often you should post on TikTok, they will advise posting every day because of the algorithm. This can seem very daunting to someone who has never filmed any content before. But it's just like setting aside time to write a blog or implementing any other marketing strategy. Planning and batching makes content creation much easier. First, you can brainstorm videos to record and put them in a spreadsheet (idea starters listed below). Then you or your team can set aside 2-3 hours a week to work through the spreadsheet. You can record and edit 5-7 short videos a week and save them in the app as drafts. Then set a calendar reminder to publish them daily. It's a few steps, but worth it.

What Kinds of Content Should I Make?

When it comes to what to talk about, look to what your company does every day. Your content can cater to views of all different experience levels. Filming things that seem like a no-brainer to you could be someone's introduction into your services. Diving into complex ideas in a concise way can show your in-depth knowledge on the subject. One of the best places to get content ideas is to have your teams keep track of frequently asked questions or look into any blogs your company has created in the past.

TikTok is a platform that shares short-form video clips meant to inform, educate, and entertain. Your audience is out there. What's stopping you from sharing industry knowledge and setting yourself apart from the competition?

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