It’s a common platform for brands and influencers to gain popularity after their videos go viral. So why not leverage TikTok for eCommerce, promote your brand, and harvest the power of social shopping?
Keep reading to learn how you can make money on TikTok with your presence for your eCommerce business on the platform.
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How Does TikTok Work
When you’re creating your eCommerce business strategy for TikTok, you might want to understand how it works. So let us give you a brief.
TikTok users can create 15 to 30-second-long videos and share them with the app’s community. Over 40% of this community is under the age of 24, making it quite popular with the younger generation, which is why you said you should cater your videos to GenZ.
The vast majority of the clips are comedic skits or other forms of light entertainment. This is why we think if you want to make viral videos, incorporate your products in a way that entertains its users. Recently, product reviews and informational videos are also getting popular, and you may do that as well.
TikTok has a great collection of tools that allow editing videos and customizing them. You can use sounds, effects, music, etc., to make clips unique. You can even lipsync to somebody else’s sounds. In order to post regularly, you can create videos in your leisure time and also save them as drafts to post later.
The more people watch your video and interact with it (like/share/repost), the more your popularity and follower base will grow. You can network with other TikTokers, collaborate with others, etc., to get more views.
How to Create Your TikTok eCommerce Strategy
You must have a strategy plan when you’re new to using TikTok for eCommerce. Say you’re selling custom phone cases, then your goal on TikTok should be:
- How the video of your phone cases catches the maximum attention of viewers.
- Prompt some kind of action after the viewer watches the video.
This action can be anything that results in conversion, and it could include:
- Making a purchase
- Clicking a link
- Following you on a different platform
It’s not as difficult as it sounds, so let’s not panic. Here are a few things you can include in your strategy to achieve the above-mentioned goals:
- Post regularly
- Use relevant hashtags
- Include keywords in captions and video texts
- Curate content for Gen Z (the majority of userbase)
- Use TikTok ads to target a specific demographic
- Give a Call-To-Action (CTA) for your ads
- Keep a watch on trends and use them for your videos
Use TikTok for Driving eCommerce Sales
Now, let’s understand how you can use TikTok for eCommerce business. TikTok presents a unique opportunity for eCommerce business owners to market their businesses for free to over a billion active users every month. In fact, in 2023, that stat has increased to 1.4 billion!
Certain businesses and content makers, depending on their area, are able to set up a storefront for TikTok, where customers may shop, explore, and make purchases without ever leaving the app. In order to facilitate the rapid development of online shops, eCommerce systems like Shopify and Square have developed easy integrations with TikTok. Businesses can also embed TikTok video on website to reach a wider audience or get leads.
If the above option is not available, you can still benefit from TikTok by providing links through your videos and bios. So when your video goes viral, people can click this link instantly to make purchases from their browsers.
TikTok Advertising
TikTok offers a variety of ad formats for businesses, including:
- In-feed ads: Similar to Instagram ads, where a sponsored post appears in a user’s feed.
- Brand takeovers: Full-screen ads that appear when a user first opens the app.
- Hashtag challenges: a popular type of TikTok ad where users are encouraged to create and share videos using a specific hashtag.
- Branded lenses: Filters that users can use in their videos
- and more!
Here is digital marketing expert, Chase showcasing TikTok ads that convert:
There are several different targeting options you can choose from that best aligns with your business objective. This includes: demographic targeting based on age, gender, location, and interests. Or, you can also use custom audiences to target users who have interacted with your website or app.
If you’re interested in advertising on TikTok, you’ll need to create an account and set up your campaign. TikTok offers a self-service ad platform that allows you to create and manage your ads. You’ll need to create your ad creative, set your targeting options, and choose your ad format and budget.
Or, you can consider partnering with a marketing or ad agency to help you set up and run the ad campaigns.
Overall, TikTok ads can be a great way for eCommerce small business owners to reach a younger audience and promote their products. It’s important to understand the different ad formats and targeting options to create effective campaigns that drive results.
You can also save TikTok ads, It can provide small business owners with a wealth of benefits, such as the ability to study successful campaigns for inspiration, track competitor’s strategies, and refer back to effective ad formats for future campaigns.
Here’s a video by Shopify, covering some handy tips for eCommerce brands looking to start advertising on TikTok:
Other Ways to Use TikTok
Become a Brand Ambassador
If you don’t own an eCommerce business, you can still support the growth of eCommerce on TikTok and make some money as a brand ambassador. Anyone can be a brand ambassador as long as they understand, know, and love a brand they wish to promote with user-generated content (UGC).
Some brand ambassadors have massive followings, but the vast majority are high-profile experts in their industry with a dedicated following.
An ambassador for a brand is a walking billboard for the company they are promoting. They have to be in constant pursuit to promote these goods. In addition to increasing sales with promotion, your job as a brand ambassador is also to spread the word about a company and the values it represents.
As a brand ambassador, your goal will be to enhance the company’s public image. This is why, to be a brand ambassador, you’ll have to learn and research a lot about the companies you work with and must truly understand their goals, processes, and outputs as a brand.
Although being a brand ambassador will not pay like a full-time job, it is a good way to start growing your user base on TikTok and earn side income/benefits. It’s a stepping stone to a bigger goal – being an influence in the community.
Make Money as an Influencer
Say you went viral a few times and have a followership of 50K people on TikTok; it’s time you look up how to make money as an influencer. Unlike brand ambassadors, as an influencer, you don’t have to work with a company to promote it continuously.
An influencer may work with a company or organization for a limited amount of time and may or may not have utilized the brand’s goods before partnering with the brand on a post. However, due to their huge number of followers, and their power to influence people by being an example, they can:
- Create brand awareness faster than other marketing means
- Enhance the image and authority of the brand
- Get more leads for sales
- Reach the audience that couldn’t be reached before
A lot of times, brand ambassadors promote at no cost to the company. Nevertheless, this might vary based on the companies you will work with and the terms of your agreement. However, in exchange for endorsing a business or a product as an influencer, you may be offered monetary remuneration, discounts, or free samples.
You have the ability to charge whatever they choose for endorsement deals since you are providing expert service to the business. Based on the company’s demands and your proposed contribution to the partnership, you may negotiate a price.
In Conclusion…
Using TikTok to promote an eCommerce store is like getting a free storefront space in a very popular mall with a billion-people foot traffic. No matter how you promote products, as an owner, brand ambassador, or influencer, you’ll most certainly find success with TikTok eCommerce as long as you’re staying on top of trends and taking advantage of all its features. So what are you waiting for?
Go ahead and start creating content to leverage TikTok for eCommerce! War Room can be your ad partner. Fill out the form below, and let’s get in touch!
