As a recruiting company, we hesitated at first to jump on the TikTok bandwagon. Let’s be honest: not everyone finds screening candidates and reading resumes as entertaining as we do. But the truth is, with a little creativity, TikTok can be a powerful tool for professionals in any industry to reach new clients. Just ask Dr. Mike Varshavski (@doctor.mike), a family medicine doctor whose myth-debunking videos have received over 22.6 million likes. Or Lawyer Mike Mandell (@lawbymike) who has amassed 7.1 million followers on the platform. These service industry professionals have proved that, as long as we provide real value in our videos, we don’t need to sell a lip kit or a glittery dress to succeed as a business on TikTok.
After some experimentation and strategizing, we’ve found that there are plenty of ways for professional service firms to thrive on the app.
Practical Tips for Getting Started as a Business on TikTok
Below are a few tips that will save you time and stress when creating your first TikTok videos.
- Put a face on your brand. Want to give your brand a personality? Look no further than Flo from Progressive. You need a recognizable main character, someone who embodies your brand’s values and shows up consistently in your videos. This could be anyone from a dedicated employee to a social media intern. For language-learning app Duolingo, it’s a person wearing a giant costume of their logo. For Risch Results, it’s often our president, Jolene Risch. The key is to humanize your brand, and a friendly face is the perfect way to do it. If you’re a small business owner, why not step up and be the face of your brand? After all, you’re the one people already associate with your business. Get ready to show off your silly side, engage with your followers, and bring some personality to your brand.
- Have content batch days. Sourcing trending sounds, filming, and editing TikTok videos can be downright exhausting and time-consuming. Content batching is the act of creating multiple pieces of content for your content calendar on the same day. This allows you to save time by knocking out a lot of filming at once. Set aside a few hours one day a week for filming. You might want to switch up locations around the house, change outfits, and create a variety of types of content to give yourself a lot of options.
- Don’t be afraid to film videos at home. If you’re working remotely, you might feel like you don’t have a background that is professional or beautiful enough for your videos. As long as the picture frames on the wall aren’t crooked, and the house isn’t a total mess, you will be fine. Find a sunny corner near a window and simply make most of your videos there. Alternatively, use TikTok’s green screen feature to add backgrounds behind your characters and to make the role-playing even more realistic. You can upload photos of offices, court rooms, hospitals, hotels–you name it.
Types of content that work well on TikTok for Businesses
When it comes to creating binge-worthy content, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Use trending sounds. A strategy that has worked well for Risch Results is to use trends to share solutions for our client’s problems in an engaging way. In recruiting, that means creating videos about the best interview questions to ask candidates, explaining how to retain employees, and how to write attractive job descriptions. By tapping into trends, often with sounds and references from pop culture, we’ve found that we can create eye-catching content that educates and entertains our audience.
- Act out relatable scenarios. Don’t be afraid to make use of your high school theater skills and to act out industry-specific skits of interactions between you and clients. This can be a fun and creative way to showcase your company’s personality and to tell a story. And speaking of personality, it’s important to have fun and exaggerate your gestures. TikTok is all about being authentic and relatable, so don’t be afraid to let loose and have some fun.
- Create Day-in-the-Life vlogs. What’s it like to be a recruiting intern in Dallas? Our intern Gaby Rodriquez shared her experience working as an intern at Risch Results in a TikTok vlog. You can make videos such as “The Morning Routine of a Financial Advisor in Dallas.” People do business with people that they like. Behind the scenes, personable content comes across as authentic and can boost your connection with potential clients.
Best Practices for Incorporating TikTok into Your Marketing Strategy
These are the strategies that have helped us to make the most of our content.
- Share client success stories. One of the keys to success on TikTok is to create content that tells a story. For us, that means sharing case studies and success stories that showcase our unique selling proposition. In our case, we help clients quickly find candidates for hard-to-fill positions. These videos are inspiring and informative, and they also help potential clients get a sense of what it would be like to work with us.
- Use hashtags to ensure that your content is discoverable. TikTok is now a search engine like Google, so you’ll want to use hashtags related to your business to ensure that your content appears in relevant searches.
- Share your Tik Tok videos on LinkedIn. Your TikTok content can be repurposed on other platforms. We’ve found that posting our Tik Toks to our company’s Linkedin page can be a great way to reach a broader audience and drive traffic back to our website.
By taking the time to understand how TikTok works, we have connected with potential clients and are establishing our recruiting firm as a leader in hiring and retaining top talent. You can do the same in your own industry–no dancing necessary. So go ahead, give TikTok a try. You might be surprised at just how effective TikTok can be for your business. And if you’re looking for more inspiration, be sure to follow Risch Results on TikTok for the latest tips and news on hiring!