With over 834 million active monthly users, TikTok is a surprisingly friendly place for both B2C and B2B companies.
No matter what industry you’re in or what business model you use, this platform is like a goldmine for social media marketing. If only you know what works better for business-to-consumer vs. business-to-business audiences.
This article will address all concerns about TikTok marketing in B2B and B2C. From what to how to when:
- What are the most successful B2C and B2B businesses on TikTok?
- How to use TikTok for B2C campaigns?
- How can B2B businesses achieve marketing success on TikTok?
- What are the most effective TikTok strategies for universal usage?
- When to post on TikTok for maximum views?
Read this guide with all the burning questions answered. Hopefully, the best solution for you is here.
B2C and B2B Brands Doing It Right on TikTok
Check out the below lists of B2B and B2C companies and watch their incredible TikToks to draw inspiration from them.
7 B2C brands that are nailing TikTok
- Netflix (@netflix) – 34.3M followers
- Red Bull (@redbull) – 8.6M followers
- Duolingo (@duolingo) – 6.6M followers
- Gymshark (@gymshark) – 4.6M followers
- Chipotle (@chipotle) – 2.2M followers
- Crocs (@crocs) – 987.8K followers
- e.l.f. Cosmetics (@elfyeah) – 878.4K followers
7 B2B brands that are winning at TikTok Marketing
- Morning Brew (@morningbrew) – 676.5K followers
- Microsoft (@microsoft)– 532.2K followers
- Adobe (@adobe) – 412.4K followers
- Canva (@canva) – 279.7K followers
- Shopify (@shopify) – 152.6K followers
- Semrush (@semrush) – 27.3K followers
- Monday.com (@mondaydotcom) – 21.7K followers
They definitely have something to boast of when it comes to TikTok marketing. Let’s see what tactics they’re using and what content strikes a chord with B2C vs. B2B customers on TikTok.
How to Use TikTok in B2C Marketing: 3 Best Practices
Below are the top three ways to better engage B2C audiences on TikTok.
Partner with Influencers
Influencer marketing is undeniably one of the key strategic approaches to promoting a B2C business on TikTok.
Why?
Everything is simple: partnerships with TikTok content creators bring a 93% higher engagement rate.
Nike, for example, partnered with 36 creators during its WEUROS campaign to drive audience reach and brand engagement. Such brands as Ralph Lauren, Vestiaire Collective, Chipotle, and Gymshark also created promotional strategies with TikTok influencers.
How do you find the best-fit partners for TikTok campaigns?
Anthony Martin, Founder, and CEO of Choice Mutual, explains how to hire the right influencers in B2C:
When looking for influencers, brands often want the biggest fish in the pond, and that’s the biggest mistake (forgive me the tautology). In fact, micro-influencers are those who rule all social platforms. They seem more trustworthy and authentic to people.
That’s why B2C businesses should collaborate with micro-creators (from 10,000 to 100,000 followers). The ideal match between an influencer and a B2C brand is when a highly-niche audience of the former is a target audience of the latter.
Anthony Martin, Choice Mutual
Indeed, micro-influencers have engagement rates of 17.96% on TikTok, while mega-influencers can receive only 4.96% engagement.
Leverage TikTok ads
Did you know that Amazon spent $22.5 million on TikTok ads in the first half of 2022?
No wonder brands strive to promote themselves on TikTok even more eagerly than before, as 61% of TikTokers purchase from companies they see advertised on this social media site.
Consider the types of TikTok ad you can try out:
- TopView Ads
- In-Feed Ads
- Spark Ads
- Brand Takeover Ads
- Dynamic Showcase Ads
- Branded Hashtag Challenges
- Branded Effects
TopView ads have a 12–16% click-through rate (CTR). It’s the highest CTR among all other TikTok advertising options.
Note: it’s always better to use a combination of ads. Just like e.l.f. Cosmetics did. The brand used In-Feed Ads and Dynamic Showcase Ads to engage TikTokers and increase sales.
Contests and Giveaways
Why not run a contest or giveaway on TikTok? According to Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel,
Sweepstakes and contests are among the greatest marketing tactics for any social media. They have high potential to expand the list of followers, boost engagement with your audience, and enhance brand loyalty, among other things.
Typically, giveaways/contests on TikTok are in a video format. Before launching a giveaway, you need to pick a valuable prize for your TikTok promotion. At PrizeRebel, we often go with gift cards for giveaways.
Don’t forget to outline the entry guidelines and explain the rules clearly.
Jerry Han, PrizeRebel
Vessi, a footwear brand, is a virtuoso of giveaway marketing on TikTok. The company turned a duet video with UGC (user-generated content) into a giveaway. It got 3M+ views and 815,000+ engagements. Another giveaway brought over 10K new followers.
TikTok Marketing Guide for B2B Brands: 3 Helpful Tips
Now to the tried-and-tested hacks on how to maximize B2B reach on TikTok.
Share Educational Content
62% of B2B buyers typically consume 3–7 pieces of content about a product/service before purchasing. That’s why it’s beneficial to share educational videos that will supercharge your content marketing strategy.
Make sure you create lots of content about your product or service to educate your TikTok audience about how it works and what it’s good for.
Use Humor
Semrush found out that the most viral videos on TikTok are related to humor. Funny posts captivate Tiktokers more effectively because they want to be entertained and crave positive emotions. Humor also allows you to interact with your audience on a more human level.
Only one word of a warning from Mark Pierce, CEO of Cloud Peak Law Group:
As a marketer or business leader, you shouldn’t go too far with humor on TikTok. It’s important to make appropriate jokes or memes to avoid legal trouble. Stay away from racism, bullying, or discrimination of any kind in your TikToks.
Mark Pierce, Cloud Peak Law Group
So, don’t be a zombie and humanize content. But – do it carefully and wisely.
Have a look at how the law firm Morgan & Morgan (@forthepeople) does that.
You can find numerous videos from the company’s founder John Morgan under the hashtag #JohnIn60. He shares entertaining one-minute shorts that have already gathered over 2.4M views in total.
Show the Company’s BTS (behind-the-scenes)
What’s happening behind the scenes at your company?
Your B2B audience would love to know that.
Generally, people expect brands to get real and establish an emotional connection. 70% of consumers feel more connected to firms with socially active CEOs.
Company leaders and managers can follow the example of Gary Bird, CEO of SMC National, and share some bits of their workday on TikTok. For instance, once he showed a day in his work-from-home life and got over 11K impressions.
For that, use the hashtags #managerlife, #ceolife, or #dayinthelife.
Top 3 Marketing Tactics for Both B2B and B2C on TikTok
No brand can fully spread its wings on TikTok without the below maneuvers.
Tap into Hot Trends
TikTok’s hottest trends are a magic bullet for B2C and B2B marketers.
Ken Savage, Owner at Ken Savage, recommends the following: “If you want to monitor trending hashtags, sounds, and formats on TikTok, you can’t miss out on TikTok’s Discover page.
Alternatively, you may get a weekly TikTok trend report by subscribing to TrendZip. Every Friday morning, you’ll receive an email with the research and analysis of current trends on TikTok. It can help you decide what direction to choose for creating content.”
Aside from “evergreen” dances, there are some long-lasting trends that rock TikTokers. And they are here to stay in 2023 and beyond. Ken Savage names a few of them:
- Day-in-the-life
- POV (point of view)
- Order packaging
- SubToks (#FoodTok, #BeautyTok, #OfficeTok, #CEOTok, #DesignTok, #BizTok, etc.)
- Memes
- Duets
- Skits
These can be applied to different business types. E.g., @washingtonpost created a funny skit to deliver the news about the Earth’s inner core.
Branded Hashtag Challenges
A Branded Hashtag Challenge is an ideal TikTok ad to boost awareness, interact with the audience, and build a fan base. Whether in B2C or B2B.
For example, Popl, a digital business card platform, generated 82.3M views with #poplchallengue. Besides, the company shared a video with a fitness & lifestyle influencer @endiccii using her new Popl card.
This content piece went viral and received over 80.2M views, 4.2M likes, and 62.6K shares.
The #QuickBooksVictoryPose challenge by QuickBooks improved brand awareness by 3.5% and generated 1.4B views and 442M engagements. Check the case study.
TikTok Marketing Tools
Unlock TikTok’s marketing power with the following instruments:
- Trendzip.co – trends newsletter
- Tiktokhashtags.com – hashtags generator
- TikTok Ads Manager – native TikTok tool for advertising
- TikBuddy – marketing and analytics platform
- Tokfluence – an influencer search platform
- Toksocial – follower base growth service
- CapCut or Veed.io – best video editing software
- Hopper HQ – post scheduler that can repost TikToks to Instagram
When and How Often to Post on TikTok?
The best times to post on TikTok, according to SocialPilot, are 6–10 am and 7–11 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Hootsuite discovered the overall best time: at 7 pm on Thursdays.
Whether you’re a B2C or a B2B brand, it’s significant to maintain the regularity of posts.
How often should you post on TikTok?
Here’s one of the TikTok lessons Ken Moskowitz, Founder & CEO of Ad Zombies, learned from Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia:
“Get on the platform four times a day and do live videos, once you get over a thousand followers.”
B2B vs B2C Business on TikTok: In Conclusion
If you’re a forward-thinking B2C or B2B business owner or marketer, TikTok is a must-use platform to build brand recognition and advertise your products/services.
The eye-opening truth is that any tactic from the above sections can fuel your promotional strategies on TikTok if you know how to implement it in a neat way. The key thing to remember: you should always experiment and investigate the unpenetrated realms of TikTok marketing. It’s a social network that pushes businesses to go creative.
So, break new TikTok grounds and create!
