10 Small Business TikTok Ideas to Build Your Brand

TikTok is a veritable giant of social media. With over 1 billion monthly active users, the video-sharing platform hooks its users with short, poppy and engaging content. The interactive model and highly specialized algorithm also allow people to see a variety of topics and products. 

Every day, an assortment of these products and goods go viral. Slime, leggings, water bottles, combs and notebooks are all influential goods that people have explored. For small businesses, TikTok is a golden opportunity to capitalize on influences and create viral products. 

With these small business ideas for TikTok, you can watch your followers, leads and sales surge forward. 

TikTok Tips For Getting Started

Before you dive into content creation, take some time to get to know the app. Life moves pretty fast on TikTok, and trends rise and fall in an instant. If you are an active user yourself, you have a more accurate view of the platform. 

Some key features of TikTok’s platform are:

• Vertical videos
• Content lasting from 15 seconds to three minutes
• High reliance on music and trending audio
• New search features that link keyword searches in the comments section. 
• A “For You” page is the central hub where users scroll. Anything and anyone can appear on this page and everything is selected by TikTok’s highly specialized algorithm. Ads appear here alongside organic content. 

As a small business trying to promote your products and services, you must label your account as a business account. This allows you to delve deeply into analytics, more easily gain a verified status and add a website link to your bio. However, business accounts only have access to a certain pool of music and sounds to avoid copyright. 

1. Use Hashtags and Key Searches

Again, hashtags and the new search feature enables users to find similar videos and the content they enjoy. Using relevant hashtags and keywords is a great way to find your niche and audience. 

One of these hashtags is “TikTok made me buy it,” where people share goods they bought after seeing a creator use them in a video. Right now this search has 7.4 billion views, so users clearly like to explore and try new products. 

Use this hashtag and ones like it capitalizes on influencer culture and engages with a wider audience. 

2. Add TikTok Shopping to Your Page

TikTok Shopping is a newer feature launched in 2021. With it enabled, users shop directly on your account page, rather than leaving the app to view a third-party website. When installed, a new tab will appear with a shopping bag logo. Browsing and buying all happen right here. 

You can also link certain products in your video demonstrations, offers, coupons and launches. Customers can say goodbye to scouring the website for one product when they can simply click on a link right to their destination. The easier the action the customer must take, the more likely they are to confirm their purchase.

3. Interact and Answer Questions

Another way to entice customers is through engagement. As a small business with exciting ideas on TikTok, you are in a unique position. Your customer base is relatively manageable so you can interact with your audience on a more personal level. 

When users comment questions, use the TikTok feature to link their comments to a new video. This way, you offer that direct communication and helpfulness that leaves a lasting impression. Even if the user leaves a funny remark, you can bounce the joke back over, showing you are authentic and relatable. 

4. Check Out Duets and Stitches

On a similar level, duets and stitches link your videos in response to other creators’ content. Duets appear side by side. If you see a creator using your product, duet their review and celebrate! Your product may also answer questions or solve problems the original creator may be facing, and you may duet with your product demonstration. 

Stitches appear after another creator’s content. Many creators use stitches to make more solid statements or content as there is no side-by-side that may distract. 

Using organic features shows that your small business is well-equipped and knowledgeable about the app. Again, authenticity and natural integration are key here. 

5. Hop on Trends

TikTok cycles through trends super quickly. Many larger businesses make the mistake of an approval board. By the time the proposed content runs through the board and is scripted and shot, the trend may have already died. As a smaller organization, you can make decisions in a timely manner and hop on trends as they are happening. 

Showing humor and an understanding of jokes and trending audios is a great way to relate to your audience. However, be sure that whatever music you are using reflects the values of your business. TikTok does not shy away from sensitive topics or suggestive lyrics. 

6. Highlight Employees

If you have a team of employees, it’s time for a roll call! Let your audience peek behind the curtain and meet the friendly faces making their order. This is a wonderful way for small business to share their ideas on TikTok through a team, rather than just one person.

Putting faces to your business shows your humanity and creates an atmosphere of inclusivity. If users recognize Jeff from accounting, they feel like they are a part of the organization, too. 

7. Record a Day In Your Life

Your day-to-day routine is also interesting to many people. How do you make your product? What ingredients or materials do you need to prepare? How are you packaging their orders? What are your company’s origins and history, and how did you get to where you are today? 

Day-in-a-life videos are popular across the platform and that popularity extends to small businesses as well. You can even offer advice to other businesses on the app. Your expertise and experience show the algorithm you are someone to trust. 

8. Feature Something Oddly Satisfying

“Oddly Satisfying” has been a trending topic for at least a decade. People love to watch aesthetic videos or things coming together cleanly. Think about your own experiences with social media. How many soap-cutting, slime-scrunching, car-washing and food-preparing videos have you seen before?

Rely on the natural sounds of demonstrating your product, too, as ASMR usually goes hand in hand with satisfying videos. 

9. Explore Packaging Videos

Packaging orders are also satisfying and intriguing for many audiences. What fun and engaging features can you add to your process? Many small businesses include free objects like stickers or candy to brighten up the order. Personalized thank-you notes also go a long way in cementing their purchase as a positive experience. 

Combine packaging videos with TikTok’s comment-linking feature so that people can request their order in a video. This engagement drives people to comment and buy.

10. Showcase Your Personality

The most important part of cultivating a TikTok account for your small business is showing your personality. By sharing your humor, wit and positivity, you feel like any other creator on this app, showcasing something cool you make or do. Humanizing the process with stitches, duets and comments is a great way to achieve this, but you can also respond to direct messages and interact with other businesses. 

Stay confident in your prices and choices as well. A recent trend sparked controversy about the role of small businesses and their prices. As with any marketing campaign, you’re bound to run into hiccups and mistakes, but don’t let that deter you or your processes.

Your prices reflect the balance of a high workload and a small team, and ultimately, you know your situation best. Ignoring negative and inciting comments cements your page as a force of positivity and conviction. 

Start Scrolling 

Authenticity and aesthetics are key in crafting your small business TikTok page. There is an endless array of small business marketing ideas on TikTok, and spending time on the app is the best place to start. With these organic features and engaging practices you can meet your ideal audience and build a place in the community as an exciting and trustworthy entrepreneur.