tiktok business boom

If you think TikTok is just for dance moves and fun, you may think twice. This app is changing how companies of all sizes connect, sell their products, and create true growth. If you want to grab a piece of this huge payout, connect with those with a plan and a good mindset.

You don’t need a large budget or a huge team to succeed, just a plan and a mindset. This post talks you through easy, tried-and-true ways to tap into TikTok’s business surge and figure out how to stand out while everyone else is still trying to figure it out. You will find tips that you can action today.

Why TikTok Works for Businesses

If you want your brand to grow, get on TikTok now. It works better than other social platforms. TikTok has created a platform that helps drive results that other social media platforms are struggling to help brands get on their pages. TikTok’s combination of a thoughtful algorithm, audiences more open than ever to try new things, plus great value video updates, allows virtually any business, no matter how established or how little budget you have, to get in front of people. Here is why TikTok is the best bet for an established company’s or a new company’s social engagement pathway.

The Algorithm Advantage

TikTok’s secret sauce starts with its algorithm. On nearly all other platforms, you need a follower base to make any noise. TikTok, however, takes a different approach by testing your content against the people who are already interested in your specific niche, and your videos will appear to those people immediately. 

You post a video, and if people take quick action (watching, liking, or sharing), TikTok will test your video against even more people. If people engage, it keeps growing until no one engages, which is how a TikTok’ trend’ takes off. For small brands, this means that you can go up against brands that are recognized household names: 

  • No more needing thousands of fans on day one. The algorithm rewards quality content and engagement more than count. 
  • Some of your best content can outshine brands with bigger budgets and flashier products. Creativity, timing, and engagement always beat money. 
  • Content can also stick around much longer. If a post is popular enough, it can circulate long after it was posted. People find your content weeks after it’s been posted.
  • The playing field is truly level. The right video at the right time can explode, and it does not matter if you started your account yesterday.

Let’s briefly talk about the culture of discovery:

What stands out about TikTok? Users expect a culture of discovery. TikTok is not just a place to follow friends; it is a place where users go to see what is new, useful, or interesting. TikTok helps your business “go viral” and become a breakout phenomenon- even overnight. You can utilize the discovery culture to your advantage:

  • Viral challenges and remixing trends spread quickly; User engagement on TikTok relies on putting your products into the latest sounds, effects, and challenges; users can catch a trend and put your product on the thousands of feeds. 
  • People want something new: Shoppers (especially young ones) want to try the next big thing. If your product offers a unique twist, TikTok users want to be the first to share it with friends. 

There are features such as the “For You Page.” TikTok is absolutely, positively, without a question, the quickest shortcut to brand discovery we have in the world today. 

The Creativity Factor

TikTok rewards short, creative content. Content matters more than polish and good ideas. Personality and the courage to create on your phone, in your shop, in the field, or even in the office supply closet, matter more than polished equipment and elaborate ad reveals. Mari told me a great story describing how she made her first TikTok in a closet! 

This creative focus on content is what gives you an advantage on TikTok:

  • The low bar of short-form: Short-form content lowers the bar significantly. It is much easier to test, review, share, and promote a 15-30 second video than to be strategic with expensive campaigns.
  • Playful, light sleeper succeeds: Light-hearted and playful content has success. Videos where you are having fun, providing behind-the-scenes, and honest storytelling can especially engage viewers. There is no expectation to look perfect.
  • Join trends easily: You can jump onto the trending effect, for example, sound or hashtag, that makes it easy for your videos to show up in the feed; they are all watching that.
  • Real people attract real fans: The ability to put your face with the brand, develop trust, and develop a real-time and direct connection with customers.
  • Scale is NOT important at TikTok: You don’t need Hollywood-like budgets to shine on TikTok. Some of the best business successes have started from the simplest little clip. Creativity and authenticity are the real competitors here, and they don’t have any corporate advantages.

Long story short, there is a good chance to grow regardless of your size and where you start from. When you mix the creative attributes with the unique algorithmic way of discovery from TikTok, your brand can move from just a few followers to a million. You can build a large, engaged audience of existing and potential customers. 

Smart TikTok Moves for Business Growth

You do not need to be a viral TikTok to get meaningful results on TikTok.  It is the smart moves that are not flash-in-the-pan wins that will position your business for sustainable growth. Similar to every other marketing opportunity, there are a few keyStaying authentic to your brand, building trust, and getting followers to want to follow you back. Here is a way that you can play the long game and get the reach, without burning out or spending a fortune. 

Partnering with Creators When you partner with the right TikTok creators, you are leveraging their trust and audience. When followers see a creator whom they respect put their time and effort into a paid post, they want to support them. They trust the creators, which is why their followers listen to them. The creators’ authentic recommendations are solidified into sales for your brand. 

The only thing to confirm is – are the creators’ values in line with yours? You can’t just look at their audience size. Your best partner would be someone who stands behind what you sell and has an audience that discusses your market. For example, a small candle company would have more success partnering with a cozy home-decor creator than a dance influencer with ten times the audience.

Are you looking at the engagement rate or simply the number of views? An active creator that interacts with the fans, does the work to answer questions, and provides comments from the audience to engage in conversation, has an audience that cares. This is how you create value and real interest as opposed to simply reach. Have intentions when and if you collaborate. If you would like to see sign-ups or coupon code redemptions, convey this upfront. It is easier to dissect what worked and didn’t if both parties knew how to measure success from the start. Finally, take the time to watch potential creators and their content to assess if their style fits with your brand and their actual connection with their audience. 

Building A Loyal Fanbase That Fuels Long-Term Growth

A community of loyal followers on TikTok far outweighs the value of a viral moment. Once the trends have exhausted, you will still have followers to continue the momentum through consistent engagement and word-of-mouth activity. We want all followers to feel like they are the “good” followers because real loyalty happens when you truly connect with someone.

When fans feel connected to your profile, they start support, comment, repost, and bringing new people into your niche. Importantly, this kind of engagement is exactly what the algorithm favors, as it helps to strengthen loyal fans count on TikTok profile and your followers feel even more connected to you. 

You could do a fun Q&A or run simple contests to motivate your audience to share ideas, stories, or product hacks. Simple messages like “What do you want us or me to film next?” or “Tag a friend who will love this!” can be impactful. There are all real interactions that. Motivate your original followers to bring more friends along with them to become active, die-hard followers for your TikTok page who are now telling others about your products.

Results That Speak: Business Wins on TikTok

Winning huge on TikTok isn’t just bullshit; you have all sorts of actual proof of business outcomes. You have new brands emerging out of nowhere, posting massive sales realized in TikTok, with the presence of chunky sales activity, with featured consumers dominating total sales in their niche on TikTok, and just joining the fun. Growth in consumers, views can happen really quickly on TikTok, and you will never predict it to work as well as other platforms. 

Small Startups Hitting Big Numbers

In short, imagine this is a small skin care brand producing face masks by hand in their kitchen, shipping to locals only. That is the story of Dewy Glow Co., a brand most people did not know existed or ever heard of until one video totally changed everything – but it could easily have happened to another skincare brand, too. The about-15-second video the founder posted was just them peeling the “satisfying peel” of their hero mask. In less than a week, this post reached over 2.2 million views.

What happened next?

  • Sold out in 48 hours (up from a few orders per week) 
  • 12,000 NEW followers, all from a viral moment
  • Phone calls from retailers asking to be in-store

You will see stories like this across all types of categories. For example, snack brands have used TikTok to turn their kitchens into national store shelves. Mom’s Munchies, which is a startup that uses real-time videos of their caramel popcorn production, had a 400% increase in online orders because 1 of their “taste test” videos took off. 

Customers commented things like “Just bought four bags!” and tagged their friends. That is proof that with the right visibility can translate to consumer orders overnight. 

Even better is that it’s not a large production that generates this buzz. Just some real moments mixed with real reviews, sprinkled with some trend-savvy awareness, and you can see your brand grow! 

Big Brands, New Energy

It’s not only small brands generating viral moments. Big brands are using TikTok to be relevant by blending into the culture of TikTok rather than just pushing an advertisement. Look at Chipotle, the chain fast-casual restaurant, which is engaging its fans with silly challenge videos and content that gathers behind-the-scenes exposure. Their #GuacDance challenge received over 250,000 submissions in less than a week, resulting in the highest-grossing day of guacamole sales!

Here’s how larger brands continue to dominate:

  • Humor in marketing: Oreo leans into TikTok humor through playful stunts and mashups, like “remix your Oreo” videos.
  • Interactive content: Fitness brand Gymshark runs fitness challenges (#gymshark66) and features fan workout videos in their feed to bring people into their universe.
  • Influencers: Fashion brands like Guess partner with top creators to style their products to make the items seem real and fun, instead of just staged.

When larger brands put down the corporate voice and are just acting as regular users, fans dive in. They duet, participate in challenges, and share their takes, pushing the brand even further across the platform.

Measuring Success On TikTok

However, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. The only way to understand what’s working is to look at the right TikTok metrics.

The first item on the agenda is getting rid of vanity metrics for a minute; instead, keep your eye on these key performance indicators:

  • Views: This is a measurement of the distance your content travels. A large increase in views, especially for a new account, is an indicator that your content is showing up on more “For You” pages.
  • Shares: If people want to share your video with friends, you are headed in the right direction. Shares are a stronger signal than just likes and can provoke those bumps we call virality.
  • Saves: When viewers save your video, that means they plan on returning. Generally, videos that are saved contain helpful tips, cool tricks, or just make people smile. New fans: If you are getting new fans quickly, particularly after a video does well, it means you are converting views into a community.
  • Sales conversions: Direct sales are the best evidence that your TikTok is working. Look for spikes on your website immediately after posting and use trackable links or unique coupon codes to connect the order to the TikTok video.

For practical tracking:

  • View and share trackers should be reviewed within the first 24 hours of posting, as they are predictors of viral ability.
  • Measure follower bumps with the drop off of video views and shares to determine which topics and styles are building your tribe.
  • Use TikTok’s own analytics and reporting features to assess patterns, for example, on what days or during what time, you receive the most engagement.

If sales are your priority, install Google Analytics or Shopify’s TikTok integration to see when you receive the most orders shortly after you post new TikTok content.

A balance of all of these types of numbers builds the full scope of your TikTok presence. Viral spikes are fun and exciting, but it is sustained repeat business and increased new fans over time that illustrate real growth for your brand. 

You do not need to chase every number. Focus on the numbers that mean the most to you, whether that’s getting the word about your brand out into the world (awareness), growing your audience, or getting the register ringing.

Conclusion

TikTok allows every business to reach a new audience and ignite real growth at virtually no cost of entry, regardless of where you are starting from. The barrier to entry is low, but the potential reward for creating smart, authentic content is high. If you have been sitting on the sidelines and watching, the time has come for you to jump in and see what your next video can achieve.

Try one of the tips in this post, even if it is small. You may surprise yourself with how much traction you create even with your first authentic piece.

If you have had a TikTok win or learned a tough lesson, leave a comment below. Your experience could be the impetus for the next business owner to take that leap of faith. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.