What Was This Session All About?
Rachel spoke about the ways that you and your business can utilize TikTok to connect with your audience and even bring in more traffic to your other social media.
With users having only 8-second attention spans, the usual short length of TikTok videos is a perfect way to get your audience’s full attention for the entire duration of your video content.
Who is Rachel Pederson?
Rachel is the CEO and founder of Social Media United and the Viral Touch.
She also has a really cool video where she talks about how to get 1,000 Followers & Likes Fast on TikTok — you can check that out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV49bZMwgGQ
From https://rachelpedersen.com —“This is supposed to be the place where I humble brag - saying things like “I’m so honored to have luckily stumbled upon x, y, z” - but that just isn’t me. I’m going to stack our wins proudly - because we bled, sweat, and cried over these successes.
- Since 2016, we have kicked some tail with and for our clients & students;
- Grew a skincare company by 6725% - launching a multi-million dollar revenue
- Scaled a weight-loss company from $300k per year to over $3,000,000 per year - in less than 12 months
- Took 5 clients VIRAL (reaching over 10,000,000 people each time!)
- Helped THOUSANDS of students (from 74 countries!) to become social media managers and find freedom
& SO MUCH MORE”
Why Use TikTok?
One reason suggested to use TikTok as one of your social media marketing strategies is because it doesn’t cost anything to use.
TikTok is unique in that it puts your videos in front of people who are likely going to click on it and interact with it. So long as you’re using the right hashtags, TikTok does a lot of the work in getting your videos viewed.
TikTok is also fantastic for reach. Videos can go viral in an instant even if you have 0 followers, and those viewers are very likely to watch you on other social media platforms.
Breaking Down The Pushback
Like any trending topic, breaking down what it is that makes us fear innovation is important in us achieving what it is we want to achieve with our businesses. Below are a few of the common critiques of the popular app and how Rachel talked about breaking down these critiques.
My Audience Isn’t On TikTok
This isn’t actually true at all. Many people assume that TikTok is only used by kids, but studies are finding that over 26% of users are over the age of 30. Regardless of your audience, there are ways to succeed on the platform.
There are also millions of active users outside of China, totaling to 805 million monthly users.
If you’re still unsure as to whether or not your audience is on TikTok, try going on the app and searching for hashtags you think your customers and audience would be using. Likely, you’re going to find content.
TikTok Isn’t Secure
In the Fall of 2020 there were countless news articles spreading that the TikTok app isn’t secure. Christina reassured that the app has now been acquired by Oracle, enforcing privacy protection and data protection.
However, Christina still said that, like any other app, you should pay attention to the Terms of Services and ensure you understand it fully before using the app.
TikTok Is A Fad
Right now it seems that TikTok is here to stay. In recent months the app has been growing and growing in popularity, with the average user on the app for 80 minutes per day.
This means your audience is on the app, watching hundreds of 15-second videos per day and yours could be one of them.
It’s Too Late
It still isn’t too late to use the app to garner views. Your audiences are new and are asking questions.
Rachel described this as the “Blue Ocean Strategy”, where you have the opportunity to adopt early and attract an audience before most other people.
She’s noticed people are asking questions that people on other social media platforms have already had answered, and it’s an opportunity for growth.
Ok, I’ll Get One… Now What?
Rachel explained that TikTok is powerful because it helps break down a lot of silos that happen in traditional social media. People who want your content are going to see it, and are very likely to travel to your other pages.
This is important because you can even gain views on YouTube through TikTok by putting up a small preview on your TikTok page and linking your viewers to it.
Rachel also explained that once you’re able to live stream you’re likely to gain more followers, more link clicks, and thus more revenue.
Now, the real question should be how you make your content. Rachel broke it down into three simple steps:
- A Hook, 3 seconds or less: This should be something to catch attention, like, “Secrets you didn’t know”, “How I did XYZ in 30 days”
- Story/Tips, between 3-50 seconds: This should be the “body”
- A Call To Action, less than ten seconds: Something to get them to DO something, “Check out the link in bio to learn more”
For your Call To Action, she recommends buying a bunch of easy-to-remember URLs to say, as it’ll help encourage page visits from TikTok videos.
What’s amazing about the platform is that it’s authentic. People want you as you are, they don’t want expensive cameras and equipment. You don’t even need the nicest phone to get filming.
The goal is that your audience wants to feel connected to you, and seeing your behind-the-scenes or at-home content really drives that point home.
The Four E’s
Finally, Rachel suggests you use the Four E’s Of Content Creation. These are…
- Engagement - asking questions, expecting a response
- Entertainment - harder to do, challenging
- Emotion - the big one, if you can do well, game-changer, build a story
- Education - on TikTok, educational content ALWAYS does well, performs every single time if you start with a question
Your customers want their questions answered, and she said that education is the most important thing to keep in mind when using the TikTok platform. You’re making content for your customers, so keep what they want in mind.
What Do You Think?
If you watched this presentation at T&C or you've been in Rachel's space consuming content or reading books, I want to know what you think.
Leave a comment below and share your story of using her techniques to grow your business.
