How to Sell Products on Tik Tok - 5 Easy Steps

Tik Tok has experienced a meteoric rise in growth over the past several years; in fact, it is one of the fastest-growing applications in terms of the percentage of market share it has captured since its inception in 2016. Since 2018, Tik Tok has experienced an 800% growth in its global monthly users, surpassing both Facebook and Instagram.

To put this growth into perspective, here are some of the most staggering stats: As of 2022, Tik Tok has 1 billion active monthly users. Out of 4.8 billion internet users worldwide, approximately 20.83% use Tik Tok. Approximately 37% of mobile internet users in America open the Tik Tok application at least once per month. Data shows that 43% of users report having gone somewhere or tried something new after seeing it at least once on the platform.

Clearly with this large of an audience, marketers and business owners have become interested in getting their own slice of the pie. Another benefit to Tik Tok is that, unlike other social apps, you don’t need a large budget or team to succeed on the platform. Tik Tok really does an excellent job of organically promoting the most relevant and engaging content to a wide audience, so it’s best to focus on creating the best content possible.

Create Authentic Content

The beauty of the Tik Tok platform is that you don’t need professional camera equipment or fancy lighting. In fact, the more casual and authentic your content feels, the more users are likely to resonate with it. Your content just needs to provide value to your viewers, whether it be educational or just entertaining. Some businesses like The Washington Post have embraced this strategy by posting content that brings users behind-the-scenes of their day to day activities, or just posting content that is relatable to their audience.

Sell your products in your bio

Since Tik Tok only allows you to link your Instagram and YouTube profiles in your bio, it only allows you space for one other link of your choice. As content creators diversify their revenue through multiple storefronts from Etsy to eBay, and various payment processors like Cash App and Venmo, being limited to only one link can be a tough decision.

Luckily, applications such as involve.me and linktr.ee have stepped in to provide a simple solution to this problem. These sites allow you to create lists of your links to any accounts you choose. This could be your storefront, payment platforms like eBay or Cash App, or any other method you choose to sell your goods and services.

Create unique challenges

Another creative way to build brand or product awareness is to recreate or develop your own Tik Tok “challenge”. This is a great way for your business to stick with the trends and capture the attention of large audiences by using popular hashtags. A notable example of this strategy was Chipotle’s “Guac dance” challenge; after the dance challenge went viral on Tik Tok, the campaign resulted in the sale of over 802,000 sides of guacamole at Chipotle.  

Use the trending audio to your advantage

One of the biggest components of any Tik Tok video is the audio you choose to use. Many of the videos that end up going viral on the platform use a popular audio snippet in their video. It’s a good idea to keep up with the trending and up-and-coming songs and artists to use their music in your content. If it’s hard to find a popular song that matches the content, another option is simply muting the audio in the background. You’ll still get the traffic from using the audio while it’s muted without distracting from the content you’ve created.

Tag your videos with products

Another major feature that Tik Tok has introduced is the Tik Tok Shopping platform. This new feature allows you to tag the items that appear in your video with links that lead viewers directly to the product page. This is a great way to allow you to grow awareness of your business, and also indirectly advertise to potential customers. If someone viewing your video on Tik Tok is interested in any item they see, they can simply tap on it and be brought directly to a marketplace page with the item for sale.