Are B2B brands missing a trick when it comes to TikTok?

Social media has become an essential tool for B2B businesses looking to build brand awareness, nurture relationships, generate leads and establish thought leadership. While LinkedIn remains the obvious cornerstone of most B2B social strategies, businesses are increasingly finding value across a range of channels, from YouTube and Instagram through to employee advocacy platforms and short-form video content. The question is no longer whether B2B brands should use social media, but whether they’re making the most of every platform available to them.

Every social platform serves a slightly different purpose. LinkedIn remains the go-to destination for thought leadership, networking and industry conversations. YouTube has become a powerful channel for educational content, product demonstrations and expert commentary. Instagram offers opportunities to showcase company culture and the people behind the brand, while emerging short-form video platforms provide new ways to communicate expertise in a more engaging and accessible format. The challenge for B2B marketers is not choosing a single platform, but understanding how each one supports different business objectives.

While using Linkedin and Twitter should be part of every B2B social media strategy, is there also value in adding younger platforms to the mix? Or, should these just be reserved for B2C brands that are trying to influence end-users?

Over the past few years, the line between B2C and B2B has definitely become blurred, especially as the trend of ‘human marketing’ has become more prevalent within the B2B world. Even in highly technical sectors, buying decisions are still made by people. Today’s audiences expect content that is informative, authentic and easy to consume, whether they’re scrolling LinkedIn during the working day or watching short-form videos in their spare time This is where content really is king! Communicating the benefits of a product isn’t just about listing its complicated technical features and shouting, “your team needs this to become more productive”. It’s about understanding the pain points that your audience experiences day-to-day, finding out what makes them tick, and demonstrating how your product can help improve their life and why this is beneficial to the overall business. This can be packaged in many different and exciting ways – and where TikTok can make a powerful impact.

TikTok – using video to be part of the conversation

Short-form video has become one of the most effective formats for capturing attention online. While many B2B organisations have traditionally relied on blogs, whitepapers and webinars, there is growing recognition that expertise can also be communicated through concise, engaging video content. For businesses prepared to experiment, platforms such as TikTok can provide an opportunity to reach audiences in a more authentic and memorable way.

TikTok has over 689 million active monthly users worldwide and is growing quickly. TechCrunch reports that the short form video app crossed the two billion download mark across Google Play and the App Store in the first quarter of 2020 and experienced a huge growth rate of 325%. However, this popular platform is, on the whole, new territory for B2B marketers – yet, there is huge potential. Here are some businesses that have already started to test the waters:

1. Adobe – using viral trends

Software company Adobe posted its first video using the popular trend of ‘put a finger down if you…’ and linked it to things that would be relevant to a creative audience. This led to over 767k views, with its second video surpassing one million. The company now has over 712k followers on TikTok and is using its influence to help creatives share digital content. For example, its second highest rated video sent a call out to its followers to tag or ‘stitch’ a video of a creative TikToker their audience should know about.

2. Shopify – creating stories

Shopify is an e-commerce platform empowering independent business owners everywhere and has used TikTok to share stories about entrepreneurship and inventions in history. If you view its profile, you will find a wealth of videos which feature different people who touch upon their challenges and successes as a business owner, all of which will resonate with other entrepreneurs. This approach has helped them achieve over 2M followers.

3. Square – building a community

Digital payments software company, Square, has found an exciting way to interact and build a community on TikTok by reposting user-generated content from small businesses who use the product. This provides real-life examples of how Square is helping SMEs and showcases to prospects how it might be beneficial for them too. Anyone who visits Square’s account will see their request, “Send us your videos,” in their bio.

If you’re interested in experimenting with marketing on TikTok, here’s what you should keep in mind:

• Lead with value
  Whether you’re educating, informing or entertaining, ensure audiences leave with something useful.

• Show the people behind the brand
  Employee voices, customer stories and expert insights often outperform highly polished corporate content.

• Repurpose content intelligently
  One webinar, podcast or blog can be transformed into multiple short-form videos across different channels.

• Prioritise authenticity over perfection
  Social audiences increasingly engage with genuine expertise rather than heavily scripted promotional content.

While audience plays an important role in which social media channels your business should invest more time in nurturing, platforms such as TikTok shouldn’t be discounted. Used appropriately, it can help increase brand exposure and enable to you to connect with followers in new ways. This will make your business more approachable to prospects and ensure you stand out in a saturated market.

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*This blog was written with the support of our Skout intern, Katie Coyne (who, as a Gen Z, has plenty of TikTok experience as well as a fantastic understanding of what it takes to reach an audience on the platform).