Transform Fans Into Customers with TikTok for Ecommerce (2024)

TikTok has seen explosive growth in recent times. It has not only develop into a destination for fun hashtag challenges and viral music trends, but it surely also offers brands the chance to draw customers using TikTok for ecommerce.

Brands are recognizing how essential it’s to leap on this exploding global trend. That’s because no other social media platform has the level of engagement that TikTok earns from its users. Whether you’re a business owner selling your individual products, an influencer monetizing your personal brand, or an affiliate entrepreneur partnering with businesses, TikTok is definitely worth the investment.

Ahead, learn why you need to consider TikTok on your ecommerce brand, together with tricks to take advantage of your presence on the platform and real examples of companies winning on TikTok.

What’s TikTok ecommerce?

TikTok ecommerce refers to selling products through the TikTok app. This will be achieved by switching to a business TikTok account and organising a TikTok shop. Other ways to sell on TikTok involve using video shopping ads or using an associates program to advertise products from other brands. TikTok will also be used as a marketing channel to drive sales in your online store.

Why should your enterprise be on TikTok?

If your enterprise goals to draw Gen Z, this group makes up nearly all of TikTok users. Nevertheless, other demographics are also increasingly becoming users of the platform. TikTok is thought for its discoverability, as more consumers turn to authentic reviews from their favorite creators. TikTok users are 1.5 times more likely to purchase a product they found on the platform in comparison with other social networks. 

The advantages of TikTok for ecommerce

TikTok is an element of a bigger trend of retail social commerce, an industry expected to achieve $80 billion within the US by 2025. While this industry was growing by itself, TikTok has made a singular and significant contribution. That is due especially to the natural tendency of its users to have interaction in social shopping.

Take for instance the viral hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt. Since its birth, the hashtag has generated 60 billion views (as of the time of this writing)—and it’s utilized by consumers, partners, and types to find latest products and jump on hot trends.

7 ways to grow your audience and increase sales with TikTok

1. Lead with entertainment, not a sales pitch
2. Strive for virality
3. Arrange TikTok Shop to sell on to fans
4. Use TikTok features to have interaction with potential customers
5. Partner with influencers in your industry
6. Get more traction with TikTok ads or promoted posts
7. Use affiliate links to advertise products and partners

Now that how incredible TikTok will be for brands, it’s time to get your hands dirty. The following tips will assist you construct a TikTok ecommerce strategy, start creating content, reach your target market, and publish TikTok videos that convert.

1. Lead with entertainment, not a sales pitch

Don’t repurpose your boring marketing content to TikTok. It is a unique social media platform with a certain “personality” to its posts. Take a while to get to know the platform’s quirks and trends.

Dig deep into what potential customers are and talking about. Stay on top of what’s trending, including memes and popular hashtag challenges. TikTokers log in to learn, explore, and discover—but above all else, they wish to be entertained.

The more fun and fascinating your content, the more likely you might be to hit glorious viral TikTok status with a number of of your posts. In case your brand voice permits, get silly with it. Skincare brand Habit creates meme videos using trending TikTok sounds and featuring its products as the celebrities. 

2. Strive for virality 

The last word goal on TikTok is to create viral content. Generally speaking, a surge of attention almost all the time equates to a spike in sales—whether it’s a fast, temporary pop or a sustained boost in your numbers.

If you happen to’re lucky, you’ll find a way to go viral due to some coveted user-generated content (UCG). That is where a user creates content that features your brand or products. You possibly can encourage customers to post UGC with incentives like discounts and other perks.

An incredible example of UGC is the story of catnip product Cat Crack: a video a user posted of their cat going crazy over the product gained greater than 20 million views. In accordance with Junglescout, Cat Crack sold greater than 2,000 units in two days due to the post.

3. Arrange TikTok Shop to sell on to fans

If you happen to run an internet store, consider adding TikTok as a sales channel. Many social media platforms offer ecommerce features, and TikTok isn’t any exception. As a business account, you’ll be able to apply to establish a TikTok Shop and access features like a profile shopping tab, live shopping, and paid promoting.

Creating video shopping ads helps you to insert product links directly into engaging content. This makes it an efficient ecommerce tool. Your ecommerce brand advantages from organising a TikTok store due to the best way the social media platform has develop into a destination for product discovery and the genesis of trending products. 

4. Use TikTok features to attach with potential customers

TikTok has several features that create a direct communication channel together with your viewers to learn more about them and construct more meaningful connections.

One in all them is the Q&A feature, which allows your audience to ask you questions directly through your profile, within the comment section of a video, or during a TikTok LIVE. Try having users ask you questions on you, your brand, and specific products you offer or promote.

Two other community-building features are Sitch and Duet. Stitch helps you to “stitch” one other user’s video into yours. Duet plays one other user’s video next to yours in split-screen format. These tools have great viral potential. 

5. Partner with influencers in your industry

TikTok influencer marketing generally is a boon on your ecommerce store. While there are literally thousands of creators able to work with brands, make certain the influencers you select—and the audiences that follow them—are aligned together with your products. This may be sure that the sponsored content feels authentic.

An incredible place to begin is TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. It’s a “matchmaking service” to assist brands find the fitting influencers. You’ll see helpful features like creator discovery, campaign management, and reporting. 

There are many ways to partner with an influencer, resembling:

• TikTok video reviews of your product
• A co-sponsored giveaway
• A brand takeover of your enterprise account
• Asking them to push their audience to your TikTok storefront

6. Get more traction with TikTok ads or promoted posts

Creating organic marketing content and constructing your following this fashion will be plenty of work. If you have got extra budget and also you’d like a lift to assist reach your goals faster, TikTok ads or promoted posts are great options.

TikTok ads work very similar to ads on other social media platforms. Using the Shopify TikTok app, you’ll be able to create campaigns with specific objectives, then construct your ads inside them. Once the ads are live, use the dashboard in Shopify to trace their performance and optimize.

If you happen to don’t want to take a position in full ad campaigns, you’ll be able to promote individual posts. The Promote feature is fairly straightforward. Select your budget and duration, in addition to just a few other settings, including whether you’re keen on getting more views, website visits, or followers.

7. Use affiliate links to advertise products and types

Creating an associates program can assist you spread the word about your brand on TikTok by allowing other TikTok users to advertise your products and earn a commission on sales. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, online marketing is an important way for those and not using a dedicated brand to earn some income while promoting your favorite products and businesses.

TikTok examples from successful ecommerce brands

Need some inspiration from the professionals? Listed below are three examples of ecommerce businesses which can be killing it with TikTok marketing and generating sales from the video-sharing social network.

Contour Cube

This ecommerce phenomenon can be helping brands get noticed. Sarah Forrai, the founding father of Contour Cube, embraced TikTok to construct awareness of and sell her face-contouring products. The brand’s TikTok account has grown to just about 200,000 followers and greater than 2.9 million likes across all its videos.

Inside three months of launching its product on TikTok, Contour Cube was approached by large retailers resembling THE ICONIC, Unusual Goods, and Dolls Kill. “TikTok has since develop into our primary marketing platform, accumulating over 30 million views so far, which is amazing for a startup like us,” says Sarah.

Glow Recipe

Glow Recipe takes a unique approach to ecommerce on TikTok. The Korean natural skincare brand uses a link-in-bio tool to send its followers to a curated collection of all its content.

This collection includes shoppable links for the products featured in Glow Recipe’s videos, so its followers should buy items directly on its website, in addition to access other essential links for its business. 

GymShark

Challenges are one among the largest trends on TikTok, with many brands using them to earn UGC and construct a fame with the TikTok community.

One in all those brands is fitness brand GymShark. Its #gymshark66 challenge, which asked users to remodel their body inside 66 days for a likelihood to win a free 12 months’s supply of GymShark goods, garnered greater than 45.5 million views, 1.9 million likes, and 12,500 comments.

Naturally, the entries also included participants who commonly wear GymShark apparel. These entries gave exposure to the brand’s products and helped maximize its credibility and sales. 

Now’s the time to step up your TikTok ecommerce game

As you’re constructing your TikTok strategy, remember to rejoice together with your content. Construct relationships together with your audience and key influencers. Explore TikTok’s helpful tools and features. If you happen to can entertain and connect together with your potential customers, you’re already paving your path to growth.