We’re 150 or so days deep into quarantine, so by now you may or may not have fallen into the black hole that is Tik Tok. In my opinion, it is more addicting than any other social media app out there and is able to waste time at dangerously large capacities. I joined Tik Tok back in October or November of last year, curious to see what all the fuss was about. I’ve landed myself into the #momsoftiktok clique and am proud to be humming “Classy, bougie, ratchet” at any given moment. Since the fall, I’ve posted about 80 videos, most of which have a couple hundred views each…I am nearing 1000 followers, but not much else. I have two videos that randomly went viral (one which has 420k views and another with 53k views) and not the slightest clue what I’m doing.
Not too many jewelry stores, designers or brands are on Tik Tok, which begs me to get the word out there — JOIN TIK TOK. If you join now, you’ll be on the forefront of an app that is continually exploding with popularity — fill that niche. I feel like after several months of using the app, I have a general idea — but I wanted to ask someone with a passion for researching apps, algorithms and all that technical stuff. So say hello to Joseph, who works at Levy’s Fine Jewelry in Birmingham, AL. I immediately noticed how much traction they were getting on their Tik Tok account and how great he was utilizing it.
Here’s some tips from Joseph on how jewelers can use Tik Tok to maximize their presence and gain more followers:
1 — Use the App and Learn to Enjoy It!
This is the best advice I would give to anyone who wants to promote an account or business on any social media app. If you don’t learn how to use the app and enjoy it, you will never be able to understand why other people are using the app and you will not understand what type of content is going to work. You don’t want to stand out as the “boomer brand” who doesn’t understand why people use Tiktok (insert Steve Buscemi gif – “How do you do, fellow kids?”). Try to find a place where you fit into the platform and carve out your niche. And remember, the most important aspect of making a Tiktok video is to be creative and have fun; I promise people who watch it can tell if you’re having fun.
2 — Choose the Right Hashtags
This may seem obvious, but you will be amazed at how often people mess this part up. Your caption and hashtags are directing the algorithm to understand what your content is about so it will know who to show it to. If you don’t get specific with what your post is about, your content will be shown to a bunch of people who aren’t interested, and more than likely, it will top off with a relatively small amount of views.
Also, there is absolutely zero point in using the generic #FYP, #foryou or anything similar. If your content is good, it will get on the FYP with or without these hashtags. They are too vague and generic to give the algorithm any idea as to what your post may be about, so it dilutes your audience and can cause a post to underperform.
3 — Check Trends Daily
The first thing I have started doing when I get to work each morning is logging into Tiktok and checking what is “trending” on the discovery page. If something is trending and it has less than 100m views (even better if it’s less than 10m), jump on it immediately. These videos have a much higher opportunity to gain traction within the algorithm, and it’s also probably what your audience is going to be most interested in seeing that day anyway.
4 — Do Challenges
This ties back into number 1 and number 3. Part of using Tiktok and enjoying it means at least semi-regularly scrolling through your FYP. If you see consistent challenges or sounds that seem to be appearing a lot, there is a good chance your videos will appear for other people if you follow the trend. Don’t be afraid to copy people, but also don’t copy people. It’s good to be inspired by other people’s posts, but make sure all of your content is original and unique to your brand.
5 — Capture Attention Quickly
When people see your video, it will probably the 30th video they scroll to in their FYP. You have less than 2 seconds to capture their attention fully and convince them to watch the entire thing. If you don’t capture the attention of your first target group, the algorithm will assume it won’t capture the attention of anyone else and no one will see it.
6 — Shares/Watch Rate > Comments > Likes > No Likes
Tiktok’s algorithm has a hierarchy of engagement that determines how likely it is to share your content with other people, based on how the initial audience reacts. The most important attributes to getting a lot of views on your video is ensuring people watch it all the way through at least once (bonus points if they watch it multiple times) and how often they share the video with their friends. Based on the hierarchy of engagement, a share is seen as more valuable than a comment, which is more valuable than a “like”.
7 — Don’t Listen to People Who Say to Post 3-5 Times a Day
This commonly pitched strategy overwhelms the end user and bogs down your feed with mediocre content. Sure, posting 3-5 times a day gives you more content that has the opportunity to go “viral”, but when people see your post on their FYP and check out your feed, they will see all of your mediocre videos. Who wants to follow that? If you can create great content 4-5 times per day, that’s incredible! Totally do that! If you can’t, don’t be afraid to stay consistent with 2-5 really good posts per week.
8 — Patience is a Virtue
The Tiktok algorithm is more similar to Pinterest than Instagram/Facebook in that the timing of your posts technically doesn’t matter a whole lot. The algorithm will start off by showing your content to a small group of targeted people. Based on how that group reacts, it will be expanded to a larger audience, and based on how that group reacts, an even larger audience. Some posts may get really popular in a day or two, but it’s totally realistic for a post to take weeks or even months to truly gain traction and reach a large audience. Don’t get bummed out if you have a great video that doesn’t get a lot of views. Keep making new content and eventually that video may take off.
9 — Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
Experiment regularly. Not everything you do is going to be a huge success, and that’s totally ok. If you try something new and it doesn’t work, move on to something else. Eventually one of your crazy ideas may hit it big. Plus, trying new things and being creative falls into that “have fun” category.
10 –Would You Follow You?
Go through your feed and check out all of your videos. If this was your first introduction to your brand, would you follow your account? If not, why would anyone else?
*Thanks for the tips Joseph! You can follow Levy’s Fine Jewelry on Instagram –> @Levysfj
