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Tip: Leverage TikTok to create an audience for your business

Most social networks are already pretty content-saturated, but TikTok is still young. Reach new people by harnessing the TikTok algorithm while competition is low.

TikTok has roughly 800 million monthly active users, but indie hackers are still seeing very little competition on the platform. That makes it a big opportunity. @RobJCalderon of Chartbot, for example, is averaging 100 new users per day from a tutorial that he put on TikTok. Similarly, @LouTromans of Spread has 700,000 video views, and the link in his bio has brought in 34 beta signups (and counting). So what's the best way to leverage the TikTok algorithm? Louis goes on to say that the watch time, video completion rate, and the rewatch rate are key. So grab viewers' attention right away, make the content compelling and short, and hint at important info coming later in the video to keep people watching. Shares are also important (more so than likes and comments) so encourage those. And make sure to upload at optimal times.

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  1. 3

    It's funny my product pentos.co was featured in a TikTok video last Saturday. I saw a huge spike of connection and sign up but the audience was not the one I'm currently targeting but it was great for vanity metrics.

    I have tweeted about it :

    1. 1

      I think product features in the actual video is the best way to drive traffic, but it won't be tracked...

      Something like this - https://www.tiktok.com/@ashtonriveruh/video/6800061763548155141

      I guarantee many people went off of that video and searched for those websites. Same as what happened to you

      I think product demos, unpackagings, etc will all be the number 1 business uses

      Thanks for the follow back on twitter ;) - Checked out your site. Saved it to my favourites to look over properly later! :)

  2. 3

    With Rite.ly, you can share Tiktok videos with your advertisements (Link Ads) riding on top of them. Share to social media, in emails, or anywhere you can share a link (URL). You can also do the same with many other content sources. You can generate Enhanced social posts of multiple Tiktok or Youtube videos with RiteBoost Bulk Creator or single posts, and you can do the same with single posts from Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and nearly any blog or news site.

    See this? https://help.ritekit.com/en/article/how-to-advertise-on-tiktok-videos-without-paying-for-tiktok-ads-13rgahp/

    1. 2

      What do you mean by "riding on top of them"??

      Thanks for your comment! :D

      1. 2

        Glad to explain. Please see my ass on Manda Lee's face - just click the Rite.ly URL in https://twitter.com/Rite_Kit/status/1262926782099005440

        How the Tweet appears

        What people get when they click the Rite.ly link in the above Tweet

        Then, see https://twitter.com/osakasaul/status/1264383129676120065 and click the Rite.ly URLs in them. You'll see that I am advertising on an embedded Tweet from a competitor with one, and the other advertises about Tiktok right on the TikTok official blog.

        So, with RIte.ly, when you get it in the RiteKit Package, you can find great content for your audience and build the market for your product - while you soft-sell to them.

        1. 2

          When I dug through the links I finally understood, and when I did I was amazed!

          It took me a while to understand but as soon as I did, the potential of it flooded my brain

          How are your users using this tool most effectively?

          1. 2

            Hey @LouTromans we power our inbound marketing with it. I can show you how you would, too. Talk soon?

            Do a trial (no CC), chat to us, mention IH, we'll talk. I'll show you my own results.

            1. 2

              Yeah sure, would love to!

              Link me to whatever trial package you think would work best for me?

              Cheers! :)

              1. 1

                In Pricing, The RiteKit Package. See this page for why, how you'll use the package, and comparing with competitors.

                See this page for quick setup.

                Thanks!

  3. 3

    Is TikTok suitable for any business, even for those whose target audience is professionals? I think of it as a platform where bored people post wanna-be funny content as short videos (like Vine). Do reputable brands such as Intel or Mozilla post content on TikTok? Isn't it seen as an unprofessional?

    1. 2

      If you're worried about looking professional then TikTok isn't for you. But then I'd also say that modern marketing isn't for you either...

      Corporate is so last year

      Being edgy, quirky, and even dangerous is hot

      TikTok is a valuable tool for awareness, for any type of business. The demographics on there are now similar to that of Instagram/Snapchat.

      There are so many info-marketers on there KILLING it right now. I think startups should take a step off of our podium to learn a thing or two from them - TikTok is sick.

      Mozilla isn't on there, but they definitely should be. They use Instagram stories, Youtube, etc so why not TikTok?

      It doesn't have to be unique content. Take clips from your Youtube videos and repost them on TikTok. They get 100,000's of views...

      I hope this helped open your eyes to a new marketing channel for userTrack?

      :)

      1. 1

        If you're worried about looking professional then TikTok isn't for you. But then I'd also say that modern marketing isn't for you either...

        I was not afraid of looking unprofessional, but mostly worried about targeting the wrong audience.

        1. 2

          For my product Pentos , it's 100% a wrong audience but the vanity metrics are here.

          I had more than 5k visitors + 1k signups from a video with 80k+ views.

          If your targeted audience is on TikTok you could highly convert.

          1. 1

            I expected something completely unrelated, but noticed that your product is actually a tool for TikTok. It makes sense that there are influencers or advertisers using the platform who might be interested in your product. They might not be using the platform for the sake of using it, but for the same reason you are.

      2. 1

        Thanks for the reply! From the stats I knew TikTok had a really young audience, even compared to Instagram and I personally don't know any friends or people in my professional circle who use TikTok. I understand that I could promote my content on as many channels as possible, but wouldn't it make more sense to better focus on those were your audience is?

        For example in my case, for userTrack, I can get a lot more interested poeple to my site with a simple comment like this one than I would with a video on TikTok. I never used TikTok, so it's hard to say, but I think they are mostly good for brand awarness, not for directly generating leads. Also, in my case, my target audience and potential customer is 99% of the cases on PC, not on mobile, and they are usually over 25 years old.

        That being said, I am willing to give TikTok a try to see if creating content there could lead to increased traffic or sales, as having 100k views on a random video doesn't really help by business in any way.

        1. 2

          Hey, you can't knock it until you try it can ya?

          Give it a real go and see how it goes?

          TikTok isn't good at all for lead generation right now which I completely agree with. However, I'm building up my theme page authority with TikTok (like a website does with Google) so when TikTok becomes another Instagram and many people are clicking links in the bio, I will still be getting pushed out by the algorithm. I'm investing that the lead generation will be high in the future, but I know it's not right now.

          My startup is kind of a new product. So brand awareness/educating is exactly what I need to do - making TikTok rather ideal as a theme/brand page for me.

          Let me know how it goes for you? :)

  4. 1

    saw this older post. Never used TikTok. Does TikTok have a way to feature videos to a local demographic? I don't care to have videos featured outside of a geographic area.

    1. 1

      Yeah, your geography definitely plays a role. This article might help.

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