Understanding TikTok

The writing was on the wall over a year ago that Tik Tok was the social media channel to watch, and it wasn’t long before businesses started testing the marketing waters with arguably the most downloaded app today. If you haven’t taken the leap into this video-driven platform yet, here is some simple advice so that understanding TikTok basics isn’t a barrier for you. Now, get ready to dive in!

Best Advice for TikTok Newbies

• Jump in and start an account so you start learning the platform. Don’t worry. You don’t have to create any content to use TikTok, but it won’t be long before you’re thinking “I can do that”. You can see from my screenshot here that I started learning using videos of my dog on my personal account.
• It has the most sophisticated AI of any social media platform in the world, and it’s worth creating an account just to play with the artificial intelligence learning it does on every user. It’s incredible!
• The Home page of Tik Tok is your personalized feed, often referred to as “For You Page” or referenced with the hashtag #fyp. Your behavior on Tik Tok determines what you see on your For You Page.
• Following people, watching a video completely, rewatching videos, and doing searches all send indicators of what you like to watch, and you’ll instantly see more of it. Watch one too many dancing dogs, and you’ll wonder why only dog owners are on TikTok. You’ve just severely limited your lens through which you experience Tik Tok.
• Want to change what you’re seeing on your For You Page? You’ll have to be intentional. Do a search for what you want to see, watch some videos, and then go back to your For You Page. Make sure you quickly swipe past and don’t watch any content you’d prefer wouldn’t make it to your feed, and Tik Tok AI will take it from there.
• If you spend too much time on Tik Tok, you’ll get a warning from the platform letting you know you’ve spent to much time and to do something else.
• Hashtags are essential on TikTok, so use them to search for content!

Popular Hashtags on Tik Tok Include:

So, What’s Next on TikTok?

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s give you a little inspiration. Two big trends hitting TikTok hard are Ecommerce and Hiring ads. TikTok is making it quite easy for businesses to sell on the app using Shopify, and savvy businesses are creating some cool posts to aid their hiring efforts.

Are you on TikTok yet? Are you going to give it a try? Post your thoughts on our Facebook page and let chat!