Find out how to Use TikTok for B2B Advertising & Who’s Doing It Proper
TikTok has built a reputation as a powerful B2C marketing tool due to its visual nature and potential to work with content creators.
But for most B2B companies, TikTok is likely on the low end of their social media marketing priorities.
However, more and more B2B companies are realizing that TikTok can do more than dance challenges and cute animal content.
TikTok is unique among social media platforms primarily because of its authenticity.
Videos are usually edited and curated less professionally than Instagram Reels and YouTube and appear more pedestrian and down-to-earth.
Research from LinkedIn’s B2B institute recently showed that marketing strategies that appeal to an audience’s emotions are far more effective than those that take a rational approach. Of course, both sides of the coin are important.
Rational marketing prompts a person to take action and tells them exactly why they should be doing it. Emotional marketing, on the other hand, strengthens brand awareness.
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Individuals are more likely to buy from a brand they know and have a connection with – which is exactly why TikTok is a valuable channel to add to the top of your sales funnel.
Advantages of TikTok for B2B marketing
Networking
Networking is a core tactic in B2B marketing, with LinkedIn geared towards establishing connections with other business people online.
But just because TikTok wasn’t designed for professionals, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for effective networking.
Local hashtags can be used to connect with other local professionals and potential leads.
For example, the York-based marketing agency I work for is more likely to use #YorkshireBusiness and #SmallBusinessTikTokUK.
These hashtags have thousands of views instead of millions, which means it will be much easier for users to discover your video.
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It’s the same as keyword selection for SEO – as a small business, you want to choose hashtags or keywords that give you a good chance of being discovered.
Participating in audio trends that fit well with your brand, goals, and audience is another way to get discovered and connect with potential leads.
However, don’t get involved in trends, choose the ones that will help you achieve your marketing goals.
Arouse emotions
When you think of B2B marketing, the word “emotional” probably won’t be the first to think of.
An informal platform like TikTok may seem too alien compared to the tone of your company blog or your Twitter and LinkedIn posts.
But as is the rule of thumb in marketing, the best ideas can come from throwing rules out the window – doing the creative and the unexpected.
Ultimately, potential customers aren’t that different from B2C consumers. They are still looking for trust and authenticity in a product or service.
They are still human – so connect with them as one!
For example, you can use TikTok to share your company’s history, talk about your company’s values and charity work, or just put your office dog in the spotlight.
Sure, you could share these things on a LinkedIn post or a company blog.
But the video format and informal nature of TikTok can make for a more personal delivery and better ROI – videos can add tremendous value to a social media strategy.
It has been shown to generate more shares and lead conversions than text and image content.
Fast results
You don’t need a large fan base to get a high level of engagement on TikTok, as your number of followers and previous engagement are not fed into TikTok’s algorithm.
Instead, videos are ranked individually regardless of your profile.
Even though we’ve only been on the platform for two months and only have 21 followers, we’ve generated over £ 600 in revenue through TikTok Marketing.
So, if you enjoy experimenting with TikTok but don’t want to invest a lot of time, you can be sure that with the right strategy, you will get results relatively quickly.
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Not just for young people
A common misconception is that TikTok is only useful for marketing to young people.
And while 41% of users are between 16 and 24 years old, 59% stay in other demographics.
When you consider that TikTok has over 1.1 billion active users worldwide, this offers a sizable audience to target.
How to do B2B marketing with TikTok
To interact
Social media is about bringing people together. Use TikTok to bring your target audience together and build connections with them.
For example, the # BossIt2021 challenge invited small businesses to share how they were “at the top” this year.
Starting a campaign like this can help build brand awareness by getting your name out there and encouraging viewers to learn more about you.
The enterprise solutions company Sage created the #SageTellMe-Challenge to promote its brand name while also engaging with potential customers.
TikTok also has a Q&A comment feature that highlights comments that have questions for the video creator, which allows for face-to-face interactions even if you have dozens of comments.
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Show your funny side
B2B marketing owes its “boring” and serious reputation to its traditional, conventional methods.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
If you embrace the fun and relatable side of your business, you can improve your public image and stand out from your competitors.
Successful TikToks rely on humor and assignability. The ability to reuse audio tracks to participate in trends can serve as basic inspiration.
When watching these videos, users will likely recognize the format of the audio trend and be curious about how you see it.
The US law firm Morgan & Morgan is a great example of successful humorous B2B marketing as TikTok is their second most successful social media platform after Facebook.
Her favorite content includes her founder, John Morgan, who shares humorous tidbits on various topics (like these on Oprah, Harry & Meghan) that make the face behind the brand human.
Reuse, recycle
Informative instructional videos are a great way to sell to potential leads indirectly. Creating informative blog content is likely already an integral part of your B2B marketing strategy.
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There are a number of benefits to recycling this content on TikTok.
For one, you’ve already researched and created content that you know will be of value to your audience.
Second, this method can add an additional source of potential leads to your sales funnel.
By combining advice or guidance into bite-sized tips, you demonstrate your company’s expertise and thought leadership and indirectly sell your services.
From a TikTok video, viewers can be encouraged to read the full story on your blog. From there, they may be encouraged to join your mailing list for more resources from you.
TikTok educational content can also help your current customers get the most out of your product or service.
The popular graphic design platform Canva uses TikTok to provide tutorials on how to use certain features to help users get the most out of the platform.
Takeaways
TikTok has the potential to fill the emotional void often left by traditional B2B marketing and can provide a valuable creative avenue for those looking to change their strategy and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
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Ideally, B2B TikTok content should sell indirectly by showing your company’s character and expertise, increasing brand awareness, and encouraging viewers to move your sales funnel down.
If you still don’t feel like TikTok is right for your company’s image and goals, think again.
As with any other aspect of your marketing strategy, TikTok is about showing customers what makes you unique.
If you don’t like what you’ve seen from your competitors on TikTok, why not come up with a new version and show them how to do it?
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Featured image: Golubovy / Shutterstock
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