{"id":2652,"date":"2020-05-14T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T10:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/?p=2652"},"modified":"2024-07-23T11:55:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:25:09","slug":"how-to-use-tiktok-to-scale-your-ecommerce-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/how-to-use-tiktok-to-scale-your-ecommerce-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use TikTok to Scale Your E-commerce Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For some, TikTok is perhaps a passing fad; for others, TikTok is a mere recreation. Whatever side you\u2019re on, it\u2019s impossible to deny the effectiveness of TikTok, the app that will serve as a much-needed bridge to the next generation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If TikTok wasn\u2019t already popular enough, the COVID-19 situation and the home quarantine has brought in more popularity than ever before to this entertainment platform. With a rising penchant for byte-sized music, TikTok has become the ideal playground for businesses of the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chinese parent company ByteDance currently has over 800 million active users and 1.5 billion total users worldwide! What\u2019s more interesting? 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24, making it the next big thing for business owners to connect to their target audience across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes TikTok tick?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While TikTok initially started off with its Vine-like length of 6 seconds per video, with the app\u2019s raging popularity came many changes, including the increase of video length to 15 seconds. You can also string four videos together for a total of 60 seconds. It\u2019s the ultimate in instant gratification with short bites of entertainment ideal for mobile consumption. This and the quality of content on offer is what makes TikTok so compelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2654\" src=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/shutterstock_1658877148-1024x536.jpg\" alt=\"tiktok videos e-commerce business\" width=\"770\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d6xcmfyh68wv8.cloudfront.net\/learn-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/shutterstock_1658877148-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d6xcmfyh68wv8.cloudfront.net\/learn-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/shutterstock_1658877148-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d6xcmfyh68wv8.cloudfront.net\/learn-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/shutterstock_1658877148-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d6xcmfyh68wv8.cloudfront.net\/learn-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/shutterstock_1658877148.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/>TikTok provides a very unique offering with a combination of a clever algorithm and an addictive UI that makes it almost impossible to keep track of time. TikTok\u2019s UI is specifically designed to increase viewership and engagement. The app might look random at large but with more frequent use, it intelligently suggests content that you may be interested in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One more reason for the widespread popularity of TikTok is perhaps its unparalleled ability to tie people from all parts of the world together. TikTok offers a level playing field to all users alike and guarantees exposure to users across all continents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music lies at TikTok\u2019s core, and its users can post videos with background tunes from popular acts from movies and music albums alike. Its emphasis on music has given TikTok an edge over Instagram and Snapchat and has cut through to younger audiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The widespread popularity of TikTok can also be attributed to its cross-platform sharing. Across different social media platforms, we can see users downloading TikTok videos and sharing it on other platforms like Instagram and Facebook. This voluntary sharing can be due to the short format of videos, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Younger celebrities and popular influencers&#8211; from Kylie Jenner to Deepika Padukone are a part of TikTok and indulge in a variety of endorsements in a \u2018relatable\u2019 manner. A combination of all these features makes TikTok incredibly entertaining and explains its phenomenal download rate among 16 to 24-year-olds.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TikTok and e-commerce: A match made in heaven<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">75% of younger-aged consumers shop online on their mobile phones! The advent of many online marketplaces such as IG Shop and Facebook Marketplace has only encouraged more users to shop online.\u00a0 If you own an e-commerce business, online marketplaces could potentially be an untapped market for you, especially if you want your marketing to be subtle, yet effective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u2018Marketing fatigue\u2019 is a problem of the current generation where they are tired of witnessing ads and marketing pitches everywhere they go, especially on social media. Over time, business owners have faced increasing difficulty in marketing their products in a fun, creative way and TikTok has made it easier on them by providing creative avenues for marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With novel methods such as face filters, visual effects, emoji stickers, etc, TikTok can be a great platform for you to connect with innovative advertisements for the younger generation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to advertise your e-commerce business on Tiktok<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below are the different kinds of advertising options on TikTok. You can choose which ones will best suit your requirements and proceed to optimize the same accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Hashtag challenges<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the recent fads on social media is for users to engage in different kinds of online challenges. This generally works in a method where users nominate their friends to complete a challenge, which is a dance or a small jig specific to the campaign. One such example is the popular #Kikichallenge that gained traction worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Content creators develop hashtag challenges by attaching a specific, often sponsored, hashtag pertaining to the content in the video. The creator encourages other users to mimic the video contents tagging it with the same hashtag.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Challenges can be incredibly fun and engaging for all participants and guarantees a great brand impression. In a retail scenario, users are able to shop the products associated with the hashtag within a separate in-app tab. The TikTok online shopping experience offers easy purchasing.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Brand takeovers<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A brand takeover takes place when a user opens the app and an advertisement appears, \u201ctaking over\u201d the opening screen. As far as these advertisements are concerned, they can either be an image or a video, depending on choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once it\u2019s opened, the advertisement redirects TikTok users to another place, whether it\u2019s a TikTok user page or an external web link. This can be compared to the \u2018swipe up\u2019 feature on Instagram. However, brand takeover ads on TikTok are currently limited to one advertiser per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Branded lenses<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much like their counterparts Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok has also not failed to make an impression in the Augmented Reality face filters space. TikTok\u2019s branded lenses allow users to tell stories using 3D stickers and face-altering filters. AR lenses have shown to encourage high engagement, with many tuning to see how popular users transform their hairstyle or makeup.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Popular cosmetic and makeup brands have also seen high levels of engagement. In India, e-commerce sites \u2014 including Voonik, Myntra, and Snapdeal \u2014 have all begun advertising on the platform beginning earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>In-feed advertising<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In-feed advertising refers to advertisements in the user\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018For You\u2019<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> timeline. This is an advertisement that auto-plays when a user skims through the said feed. It introduces itself to users when people scroll through their feed, which you expect on a platform full of 15-second videos. The in-stream video arrangement allows the ads to flow through people\u2019s feeds without disrupting their user experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are three advertising models available for biddable ads.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Cost Per View (CPV)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Cost per view model requires advertisers to pay when users view their ad. It\u2019s limited to a six-second time frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Cost Per Impression (CPM)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This model requires advertisers to pay when their ads appear in a user\u2019s TikTok feed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Cost Per Click (CPC)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Advertisers only pay when the user clicks on their ad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TikTok\u2019s biddable ad targeting options allow you to filter users by the following criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Age<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gender<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Location<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boosting e-commerce sales via TikTok marketing<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Original, creative ideas: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TikTok provides a host of avenues for you to express your views in a different way. So, don\u2019t hesitate to get creative to promote your brand. After all, it seems like that\u2019s what the next generation is looking for, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Get risky: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As far as risk-taking goes, you don\u2019t need to be shy on TikTok and can risk your ad failing as the platform is still in its infancy. TikTok also shows brands in a different light as compared to other social media platforms. By taking creative risks, you just might hit the jackpot trying something you wouldn\u2019t usually do on Facebook or Instagram, which have higher risks of exposure. Just like the generation it caters to, TikTok is truly a high-risk-high-reward arrangement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>User-generated content: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you hit this \u2018jackpot\u2019 of virality that we\u2019re talking about, user-generated content can help you get more popularity than even paid advertising. Millions of people mimicking viral content can be a great push for your brand\u2019s identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Engagement is essential: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reason behind TikTok\u2019s undeniable popularity is because of the numerous ways it provides to promote engagement. Make sure that you make full use of the platform\u2019s engagement methods such as collaboration on hashtag challenges, posting duets, commenting on relevant profiles, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Avoid marketing fatigue: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The average attention span has dropped down to 4 seconds since the beginning of 2000, and rightfully so with the increasing popularity of smartphones. With such short attention spans, standard advertising methods aren\u2019t as effective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, you want to catch people\u2019s attention quickly and keep it.\u00a0 With TikTok ads, ensure users who see your ads don\u2019t have marketing fatigue since your ads are only five seconds at most. TikTok\u2019s algorithm works intelligently with ad placement- in a way that users don\u2019t get bored or irritated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The best marketing channel for Gen Z: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We started off the article with this point, so it makes sense to end it as we\u2019ve come full circle. With regular engagement and a few clever hacks, we can be sure that TikTok, whether you like it or not, can be our best chance of connecting to the next generation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not difficult to conclude that just like its predecessors, TikTok is sitting pretty on top of the social media platform game. Just like every platform will reach its saturation point, TikTok will someday reach a point where another platform will take over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, for the time being, it\u2019s important to seize every opportunity that you can get with TikTok and use it to scale your business like never before. We hope that this article helped you in understanding TikTok a little better today. We\u2019ll see you soon with the next one!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Until then, find out how Thirdwatch can help your e-commerce business <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/thirdwatch\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Younger celebrities and popular influencers- from Kylie Jenner to Deepika Padukone are a part of TikTok and indulge in a variety of endorsements in a \u2018relatable\u2019 manner. A combination of all these features makes TikTok incredibly entertaining and explains its phenomenal download rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151156464,"featured_media":11784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3434,3390],"tags":[2747,2868,2362,3391],"class_list":{"0":"post-2652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ecommerce","8":"category-thirdwatch","9":"tag-business-tips","10":"tag-digital-marketing","11":"tag-ecommerce","12":"tag-thirdwatch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151156464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2652"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2663,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions\/2663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}