How small businesses are unlocking the magic of TikTok
TikTok is changing the marketing landscape by giving small business owners new ways to connect with audiences and drive business. As part of its ongoing efforts to support small businesses on the platform, TikTok unveiled “Small Wins,” a new initiative to help small businesses unlock the magic behind TikTok. Through a series of videos featuring small businesses from across the globe, Small Wins aims to highlight TikTok’s value to small businesses, educate them on how to use TikTok to grow, and demonstrate how small businesses are turning “small wins” into big success on the platform. From the bakery owner who turned 3,000 followers into two million, to the candlemaker who went viral without even trying, small businesses of all kinds are showing that on TikTok, small does win. The hashtag ‘#smallbusiness’ currently has 25 billion views on TikTok. This has resulted in small business owners looking to use the platform to elevate their brands to capitalize on the opportunity to reach new audiences.
TikTok is dedicated to small business
Marketing on TikTok is not about having the biggest budget, the hottest celebrity spokesperson or the slickest ads. It’s just about being yourself. It’s about being authentic and matching your content to your brand’s identity in a genuine way. Whether you’re a business owner that wants to star in your own videos or work with TikTok creators, businesses find the greatest success when they share and celebrate their true colors.
Some of the most successful small businesses discover their authentic style by accident. Take, for example, Natural Annie Essentials, a Connecticut-based soy candle company with Jamaican roots. Like many small business owners, founder Annya Brown was a little unsure about using TikTok at first. Her first viral hit was actually a video that she accidentally recorded of herself trying to figure out the app. Since then, Brown has become a prolific TikTok creator, frequently posting candid videos about her life and business.
Creating brand videos in Croatia
In Croatia and the region today, there are more and more brands from different industries that regularly create content on TikTok and build their community of existing and future consumers. Considering the growth trend, it is clear that more and more companies will join the platform, especially since this is the moment when TikTok ads are not possible in our region. Everything that is created and published works organically.
Smaller brands, compared to gigantic ones, have equal opportunities to gather their community on TikTok precisely because there is no competition in the advertising budget, but in the creativity itself. Wolt, Dormeo, RK Nexe, Deliiicije, Racunalo.hr, Pevex, Mlinar, Pipi, Lesnina, Portal zdravlje, Dentum and Polleo are just some of the brands that have introduced TikTok in their marketing strategy in Croatia and are already seeing concrete results.
Is it really working in real life?
This is one example; one shampoo of DM’s Alverde brand became such a viral trend on TikTok that it is almost impossible to buy it in Serbia because it is constantly sold out. The Croatian fans of this product, on the other hand, are pressuring DM to include the shampoo in its stores in Croatia as soon as possible. They were contacted on Linkedin by Agnieszka Wirkus, an expert in influencer marketing, who has been running influencer campaigns throughout Europe for the past 7 years, and in her free time creates content on social networks dedicated to hair care. Agnieszka says that she is glad that dm reacted to her post on Linkedin, where she showed them how much interest there is in this shampoo in Croatia:
“I hope to see it on the shelves soon, and I’m in dm often! In this example of a viral video, we see how real-time marketing is extremely important for companies, from a sales perspective. Even if our brand is not present on TikTok, I think we should keep an eye on it to follow the latest trends in our industry and better understand the current needs of customers.”
Pevex: employer branding
This retail chain specializing in construction and other home improvement equipment might not be something you’d expect on TikTok, but it’s there, and quite active. Domagoj Ščrbačić, a digital marketing specialist in this chain, reveals to me why:
“We decided to position Pevex on the TikTok platform in order to get closer to the younger generation who spent a lot of time on this social network, especially during the quarantine. Considering that we have a large range of products, and therefore a large possibility of creating content, we realized that we can use TikTok in digital marketing communication. The potential is huge considering the multitude of products intended for the younger population, especially in the electronics program, but also in other programs that we can present in this way and position ourselves as a “cool” brand that early accepts new digital platforms.”
The primary goal is two-way communication with the audience, which is trying to be activated and brought closer to the brand through entertaining content, and they want to increase sales in the future by increasing visibility, continues Domagoj.
“Employer branding is also one of the positive effects we got from the activation on TikTok, mostly because we got a great reaction and great interest from young people, and we certainly had fun when recording the content, considering that we do everything in-house.”
