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Writer's pictureIsabelle Braun

Hashtags: The Trick Behind TikTok Advertising

Information in this blog post was obtained from Hubspot, Social Media Today, and Sprout Social.

Image courtesy of Unsplash
Using TikTok as an advertising tool can help grow your business exponentially. The trick is finding the perfect hashtags to draw in new customers while also targeting your current market.

TikTok. The latest and greatest in social media. Short, concise clips that barely allow you enough time to smile, let alone let your followers know the most important information. But it wasn't always this extreme. Before TikTok became TikTok, it was first Musical.ly. After being acquired by ByteDance in 2018, the name changed and the app exploded in popularity and user count. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the app has been installed 3 billion times and has a active 1 billion users every month. Considering they only had about 133 million active monthly users in 2018, this growth speaks volumes about the impact the app has on society's day to day life.


This app has become more than a lip-syncing platform. Now, creators are becoming more creative and creating new sketches. The app even welcomes informative videos and businesses looking to grow their online presence.


The growing world of social media has become a daunting landscape if you haven't grown up submerged. Even the newest trends might throw the most in-tune social media marketer into confusion or upheave your business plan. That's why understanding the little tricks can make a world of difference in your social media analytics.


In the infographic below created by the Influencer Marketing Factory, you can take a look at TikTok as whole. Breaking down the app into simple facts, allows for your companies and employees to understand the necessity in the application and marketing on it. The most important information a business should take away from this infographic is what not to post and obviously how to promote your business on TikTok. First, it is important to make sure your videos are unscripted. As with any social media platform, it's important to keep your content authentic and engaging. Building a connection of authenticity allows for your viewers to have more trust in your business, and TikTok is the perfect platform to cultivate those feelings. Keep reading to understand more on how to promote yourself on this platform.

What is TikTok and why you should know about it
TikTok keeps your viewers engaged with short videos that can be viewed around the world.

Building a Brand on TikTok

The first step to building your hashtag strategy is understanding TikTok. For small businesses on TikTok, this is the perfect tactic to create short videos with important information or engaging content to share with your followers. While it's important to create authentic videos or product placement, creators can utilize another important tactic to help grow their account: hashtags for small businesses. This is a cheaper method of influencer marketing than other social media, so make sure you have the right business hashtags in order to get the most out of your post.


TikTok Hashtags help to categorize your content, allowing your followers and potential market to find all of their interests in one place. They work just like they do on other platforms, but TikTok naturally sees the most hashtag views for entertainment.


The Benefits of Using TikTok Hashtags for Business

There's more to the battle than a simple post, especially on TikTok. With a saturated market, assuring your content lands in front of your audience is the most important. By using hashtags, content creators can give your video a better chance of being seen, which allows you to grow your reach and increase discoverability while also building brand awareness.


Using hashtags for businesses on TikTok can help with a number of topics.


The first benefit is an increase visibility. As we know, choosing the right hashtags takes skill, but as soon as you learn you're set to get your content in front of TikTok users who aren't already following you.

The second benefit is the boost in engagement. This is a no brainer! When you have higher visibility, you have higher engagement. Just don't forget to stay active on your feed to keep those new followers coming back for more!


The third benefit is building community. Using TikTok hashtags is a great way to build a community around your business. These people will not only enjoy the content you post, but help you see relevant content related to your business.


Not only is it great exposure, but you can keep ahead of the market as well. Staying on top of the latest hashtags helps you jump onto trends and find relevant influencers who may want to partner with your business. We can also use hashtags as a way to identify competitors and generate content ideas. By sticking true to a set of hashtags, you're bound to find other companies that use the same ones. Finding out what they're doing can help you with your competitive advantage.


There's more to a hashtag than we thought!


Hashtags for Small Businesses on TikTok

In a blog post from Hubspot, Erin Rodrigue publishes the importance of creating variety in hashtags. Content creators need to curate hashtags that are both niche and trending. This is especially important for small businesses. By only targeting trending hashtags, you'll get "lost in the sauce" as the kids say, meaning you're posting with other highly competitive content so your posts may get overshadowed by others. On the other hand, only using niche hashtags may lead to you not being seen by enough users. Balance is key. Creating a well-rounded hashtag strategy calls for the combination of both niche and popular hashtags.

Hashtags create engagement
Hashtags can help drive discoverability, increase reach, and build brand awareness. Finding the right hashtags is key for a business.

Small businesses on TikTok can especially fall into this trap. Keep up on trending sounds and hashtags to build brand awareness. Hashtags for small businesses can be anything from what your company does in the niche category to the latest trends. When researching your own hashtags, you should prioritize niche hashtags with a high view count, while also finding trending hashtags that are relative to your post.


Some ways to do this can include researching the TikTok discover tab or using a tool to discover hashtags related to a certain topic. It's recommended that you keep track of the hashtags you use and see how your posts do. If something isn't working out and your views are down, maybe it's time to try something new!


Business hashtags should combine with the latest trendy hashtags, which are ever-changing. Do your research before using what you think is trending. As soon as one pops up, there's another. By doing this, you can make sure you're using the best hashtags for small businesses on TikToks.


Brand Your Hashtags

Another way hashtags can help small businesses on TikTok is by branding your own hashtags. Not only does this boost visibility, but it gets your followers excited about your content and them creating their own that you can readily see. This can be done by starting a challenge or competition. This is a great way to show your creativity in the business TikTok hashtag community. This can also be done by partnering with influencers who can promote you. If you do this, just don't forget to keep your hashtags focused on small business in order to really draw in your new market.


For more information on this topic, take a look at my coworker Brendan's post here.


With the platform of TikTok quickly evolving with new features and users, this platform is on track to become one of the top social media platforms on the market. As a business, assuring you don't miss out on the newest marketing opportunity is vital to stay relevant. With all the wisdom here, take your TikTok and grow!


Resources

Geyser, W. (2022, December 30). What is TikTok - Everything you need to know in 2023. Influencer Marketing Hub. Retrieved March 25, 2023 from https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-tiktok/.


Needle, F. (2022, June 13). 15 tiktok content ideas for businesses. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tiktok-ideas


Rodrigue, E. (2022, September 26). 10 best tiktok tricks to go viral in 2022 [+ examples]. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tiktok-tricks


Walker-Ford, M. (2022, May 16). How to promote your business on TikTok using influencers [infographic]. Social Media Today. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/how-to-promote-your-business-on-tiktok-using-influencers-infographic/623788/


Zote, J. (2022, October 28). TikTok hashtags: How to use them to grow your reach. Sprout Social. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-hashtags/


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