It’s obvious that TikTok is a great marketing tool. People are marketing everything from random Amazon items to Shein clothes and new books to great virality. But is it any good for B2B marketing? Surely kids dancing to the top 40 isn’t what your B2B market is looking for?
Well, it might surprise you to find out all of the ways TikTok can aid your B2B brand. Read on to find out all the details.
It’s a creative outlet for your content
TikTok has tapped into a great rule of filmmaking: restrictions breed creativity. An example would be Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs which had to be filmed in the one location because of budget restrictions. TikTok applies time restrictions. It might have extended them a little, but it knows that with the 3-minute deadline looming, people are going to have to get creative to do what they want to do.
And it should be noted that three minutes is considered too much. If you want optimal attention on you, stick to under a minute. This gives you lots of time to experiment and play around with what makes good content in order to express yourself in a new way.
You can reach a younger audience
TikTok is famously used by a younger audience and before 2020 and the lockdowns occurred, that was quite limiting. Back when TikTok was a place to solely dance to the latest tunes, the demographic was Gen Z, which meant very few of them were of legal age. But times are changing.
Not only is TikTok the place for the “young person” in a more general sense, with 32% of TikTok users being aged between 25 and 34, but Gen Z are growing up with them. The oldest Gen Zers are in college right now, wondering what to do with their future. A good chunk of them is thinking of starting their own business. They’re in a dead-end job to make money through college, they’ve heard it’s the same everywhere (from being on TikTok) and they know that the economy is in the toilet thanks to Covid.
If you have a product that could help them out at the start of their entrepreneurial journey, they’ll take you up on it, and perhaps remember you as they pursue any endeavours they have in mind after they leave school, making for an apt B2B marketing opportunity ready to launch.
Influencers come in all shapes and sizes
TikTok makes for a great platform to indulge in some affiliate marketing. Influencers post their affiliate links in their bio so that everyone who visits their profile will see it, generating traffic to your site.
You might have a picture of an influencer in your mind, most likely a young woman on a beach in a bikini, and think you have no use for someone like that. They’re appealing to customers, not businesses, but you’d be wrong. People follow their people and influencers come in every industry nowadays. You get influencer doctors, engineers, developers, entrepreneurs, etc. So, for instance, if you are selling a piece of gym equipment, you can use health influencers, athletes, sports brands, etc. to sell your piece of gym equipment to other people in the industry.
UGC content is big on TikTok
Do you remember the old adage that no B2B marketing could compare to word of mouth? Well, the digital age has taken the concept of word of mouth to a new level.
UGC, or User Generated Content, is content that is generated by users that markets your brand for you. It might not be the sole reason, since the first is usually to just make content and entertain their audiences, but you benefit from these users talking about your brand.
Think, clothes hauls, book reviews on Booktok, song mashups, etc. If users are reviewing or using your products or services, they will tag you and you can gain from the mention. Even if the review isn’t promising, the sheer mention of your brand will get people looking at your work, perhaps deciding that “it didn’t work out for them, but it might for me, because…”.
But the perk here is that you can use TikTok to shine a spotlight on more favourable mentions. If someone does a haul that includes your product and it’s favourable, you can react to it within the app and share it with your audience. Plus, it gives you the option to respond if someone points out a flaw you have an answer for.
TikTok is a very useful place to market, which is clear from simply taking a scroll through the app, but the B2B marketing opportunities are undervalued. They are there, but you need to know how to harness them to get the audience you want.
If you’re interested in gaining more affiliate marketing know-how, take a look at our blog, or for more personalized advice, book a free call with a member of our team. And make sure to get your tickets to the Elevate Summit for a deep dive into these subjects.
