How to Grow Your Direct-to-Consumer Brand on TikTok

The Ecwid E-commerce Show

In this episode of the Ecwid Ecommerce Show, we talk to ​​Ash Krishnaswamy, the founder of Forge. Forge is an agency that works exclusively with early-stage consumer brands to help them launch and grow their businesses.

TikTok vs. Paid Ads

A lot of direct-to-consumer brands start to promote their business using Facebook, Instagram, or Google ads. Ash believes that's far too expensive for small businesses and probably not the best way to learn more about your consumers.

Instead, Ash advises using TikTok. You can educate potential consumers on your business and promote your products with virtually zero followers.

Your videos should highlight the value propositions of your company. You can use TikTok to test (for free!) what kind of content works best for converting viewers into customers.

Training the TikTok Algorithm

When you first get on the platform, you must signal to TikTok that you are an account that makes content around a specific category. To do that, you want to use hashtags distinct to your kind of product. Otherwise, TikTok may accidentally show your specialized content to people who are not your target audience.

Authenticity on TikTok

A hesitation that a lot of brands and brand owners have is that it’s too much work to create TikTok videos. If you haven’t spent much time on the platform, spend your first week just browsing the content. Get a sense of what native content feels like on TikTok.

Then start making videos. The content that works really well is raw and unpolished.

Personal vs. Business Profiles on TikTok

The upside of having a business account is that you receive detailed analytics on how your business is performing.

Personal profiles have more creative leniency. For example, a big part of the success on TikTok is the use of sound bites in videos. With a business account, a lot of those sounds have copyright restrictions and are off-limits.

Selling Non-Viral Products

How do you make a non-viral product viral? Ash recommends creating a lot of behind-the-scenes content, like how you're growing your small business, instead of focusing on your products.

Connect with Ash:

https://www.forge.coop/

https://twitter.com/shwinnabego

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