TikTok provides a new and exciting way to showcase your business. The social media platform, with a short video format, has become very popular with younger generations - but how do you use it to market your Shopify store?
Well, due to TikTok’s unique algorithm the content you post shows up on the screens of those who its relevant to! This personalised algorithm adheres to your preferences and recommends you videos and content that suits you.
TikTok explains the algorithm as this:
“On TikTok, the For You feed reflects preferences unique to each user. The system recommends content by ranking videos based on a combination of factors – starting from interests you express as a new user and adjusting for things you indicate you're not interested in, too – to form your personalized For You feed.”
But how does the algorithm work?
There are a number of things TikTok factors in when tailoring the algorithm for each users 'For You Page'.
Here's a list of those factors:
User activity
The more activity a post receives, the more likely it is to be seen by a wider audience. This type of activity includes:
Likes
Comments
Shares
Re- watches
User interactions
Similar to Instagram's algorithm, TikTok's algorithm bases 'for you page' recommendations on user interactions with content on the app. The algorithm will find content for you that is similar to the posts you've already interacted with.
These interactions are:
videos you've liked
videos you've shared
accounts you follow
comments you post
content you create
Video Information
TikTok manages to be very successful, most of the time, in categorising content based on the interests of users, so the information and subject matter in your videos can really affect who they reach.
This includes details like:
Sounds
Current trends (dances, etc)
Filters and effects
Captions
Hashtags
A lot of users take advantage of this and use popular sounds, or filters, in the videos (wether they're relevant or not) to reach a wider audience.
Audio
As just mentioned, the choice of audio in your content can be crucial when determining what audience you reach.
It's important to keep track of what audios are trending, click on 'Create' at the bottom of your screen, then 'Add Sound' and then you have a list of all the most popular sounds on TikTok at the moment. You can add these to your favourites by bookmarking them!
A trending audio will reach a wider audience, which is something to consider if you want to get your content out there and reach more traffic.
Location and language
The algorithm also makes use of device settings to decide what users are interested in.
These device settings (such as location and language) aid TikTok in providing the right content for users.
Interest feedback
TikTok asks it's users what videos they want to see, or don't want to see, so the algorithm effectively only shows high-interest videos. This is done by looking at previous activity:
Video's you've hidden
Users you've hidden
Videos you skip through
Videos you've said your interested in / not interested in
How to Hack the algorithm to boost your Shopify
Now you know how the algorithm works - here's how you can use it to your advantage:
1. Get a TikTok Pro account
TikTok has two different types of pro accounts; one for creators and one for business
owners.
Having a pro account won't directly help your business - but having access to TikTok analytics will!
Switching to a business account is as easy as: clicking on the three lines in the top right corner of the screen, going to your settings, clicking 'manage account' then clicking 'switch to business account'. Once you're at this stage you can choose what option fits your business so that TikTok can tailor your experience to what suits you best.
Using these insights can help you execute new strategies and understand your audience by tracking things like:
Who the audience is
When they're most active
What content they enjoy
What content reaches the furthest
2. Grab your audiences attention with content specified for TikTok
Usually, when you're trying to reach more people on TikTok, the shorter the video the better. The algorithm favours videos that are easy to digest and the main aim with TikTok marketing is to get as much 'For You Page' exposure as possible.
It's a known fact that social media users prefer short, fast paced videos, so it's important to hook users in three seconds or less with 'exciting' content.
For inspiration look to your competitors. See what accounts similar to yours are doing to engage their audience.
It's hard to translate content from other platforms to TikTok due to its video exclusive format - so the content you post to TikTok has to be unique for the platform.
Using specific sounds and filters can also help you reach a wider audience, as well as the way you film your videos. For example, filming your videos vertically creates 25% more engagement than landscape.
3. Engage with other users
By commenting on other TikTok users profiles or videos, you open up so many more opportunities for exposure on the app!
Getting a well liked comment under a popular post can be just as good for TikTok traffic as creating a popular video yourself.
In fact, 21% of users said they feel more connected to brands when they comment on other users post's.
4. Participate with popular trends
Within the TikTok community brand participation is something that's looked very highly upon by other users.
With 61% of TikTokers saying they liked brands better when they participate with trends!
Don't worry though, this doesn't mean you have to keep up with whatever dance is popular at the time. A trend can be as simple as using a particular sound.
In fact, when brands feature songs that TikTokers like in their videos; 68% of users say they remember the band better.
And a whopping 58% of users said they're more likely to talk about the brand or share the ad. This same percentage also said they feel a stronger connection to the brand.
Who knew promoting your brand was as easy as lip-syncing to a song!
