#027 How Can My B2B Business Leverage TikTok?

We love the topic of TikTok because the emerging platform lends itself to exponentially more judgment on the typical "stereotypes of users." The whole point of this podcast is to bust those myths and talk about how any business, any industry, and users can leverage these platforms as tools to tell your business' story. In this episode, Beth and Kelsey walk through ways B2B, and really any organizations can use TikTok for inspiration, research, and content creation.

Learn more about Chatterkick.

Biggest Takeaways From This Episode

Approach

Approaching the TikTok Mindset, Thought Process, And Content

Don't count out TikTok just because you're in the B2B space. It doesn't matter if you're in the software, product, or service industry, you should approach this platform like you would any other communication tool that is grabbing your customers' attention.

Users

Forget This Demographic Myth:

My customer persona doesn't align with TikTok's target demographic of users.

The Truth. Think About It This Way:

As businesses, we forget that customers are humans who want to be entertained. Your customers are fathers, brothers, family members, cousins, etc. They have hobbies and interests that both intersect with their jobs and some that do not. We're all multifaceted people. Your customers likely have similar interests outside of the office.

The Content

Forget This Taboo Content Myth:

TikTok is all dance videos, silly comedy, and big brands only.

The Truth. Think About It This Way:

The amount of innovation on this platform is incredible. Your business should also be visionary and innovative and keep your eye to the horizon of what's coming up in five and ten years for communication. Put TikTok needs on your observation list to at least be seeing what is happening on the platform and why the content is so exciting. This platform is bleeding into the culture, lifestyle, and even commercial marketing that only the biggest platforms have been able to do. This platform is bubbling in EVERY direction. You need to take notice of what's happening on the platform, how it works, how people are interacting and engaging, and how you can find the micro-communities that could be your customers.

How To Use TikTok As An Observer

Go next to the obvious. Create a TikTok account and use it as a research tool. Here's an example:

Business Industry: Manufacturing

Audience: Technical, Mechanical, Engineer FocusedUse TikTok to look for:

DIY grill masters that approach as a craft
Avid fishermen or hunters (our organization makes a fishing trip every year, and everyone loves it!
Men restoring vehicles
Midwest humor
Phone hacks (or other technical hack accounts)
Age demographic of typical employees or customers

Watch for:

What type of content those users are posting

What type of content is getting a lot of comments and likes

What types of posts could entertain or really engage our employees or customers interests as individuals

Here's Where To Start:

Create an Account
Scroll through the for you page and ONLY follow five accounts if you think that content you personally feel is
- Funny
- Entertaining
- Valuable

TikTok Users/Hashtags Our Team Loves

@iamtabithabrown - Kristy's Pick
@finlidrappermusic - Kristy's Pick
@ohyoubetcha - Kristy's Pick
@skincarebyhyram - Kelsey's Pick
@christines_snaps - Kelsey's Pick
#TodayYearsOld - Kelsey's Pick
@iamryanprice < Omaha creator
@tarapryor8 - Allison's Pick
@scottsando - Allison's Pick
@washingtonpost - Allison's Pick
@sammbooks - Bri's Pick
@laurenholsen - Bri's Pick
@summerginther - Bri's Pick·
@hithisistatum - Molly E's Pick
@ladbabyofficial - Molly E's Pick
@sheena.melwani - Molly E's Pick
@the.big.mary - Team favorite (one of our team members)
@karencassssss - Mary's Pick
@realadamrose - Mary's Pick

Transcript

This text below is a straight-up audio transcript of the episode. In our humble opinion, we think the audio podcast sounds much better in its original form. We have not edited the transcription below so there are indeed some grammar errors (some quite funny, in-fact).

Hey guys, it's Kelsey Martin and today we're going to be talking about TikTok. And specifically, should you be thinking about TikTok or what should you be thinking about TikTok if you are in the B2B industry? I have Beth Trejo the one and only CEO from Chatterkick. I'm super excited to be back on the podcast cause I miss being on podcast, but, I want to talk to you about the B2B industry specifically. So tell me your thoughts on this industry and their approach and

to TikTok.

Yeah, so, I love this, this topic because I, and one of the reasons we started this podcast, was to try to get people to think differently about social media. To stop thinking about it in categories of like, well, it's, I'm not trying to hit young people. So I don't want to go in that young person's platforms and really not think of the social media platforms as the solution, because the second you think about that is the second they're not going to work the way you want it to. And really just think about them as a communication tool. The same way that we thought about telephones in the past are now computers in your hands, right? So really trying to figure out not only your audience, but the mindset, the thought process, all of that. And I'm not going to come and say like every B2B company needs to be on TikTok.

But one of the things that I think is amazing about this B2B space and I'm talking about regardless if you are in a software or a product world or a service. But the amount of innovation that is happening as providers to other businesses is amazing. And, I think that sometimes as we sell directly to businesses as at Chatterkick, I think sometimes we get into this like visual of these customers in our head as just like these little business people all around us, right? They're in their little suits and ties, but she's not XYZ platform or they're not doing this. And I think that we just need to take that notion, that general concept of B2B and really flip it as person to person. Because these business people are not just business people.They're moms, they're fathers, they're brothers, they're, you know, sports enthusiasts, they're all these different types of facets.

Like we're multifaceted people. And, we just need to be thinking in those realms and not just in the business sense. In the same token decision makers, whether they're like, I'm literally at the office right now. I am both on social and like researching stuff and like looking at things for our business. But I'm also obviously looking for like at personal things when I'm not here, like when I'm at home. And so it's an extension of business, but I'm still like an individual human being. I wish there were two separate news feeds for that, for my personal sake. But, they're not, we're all just one human being. Yeah. And I think that just those lines in the last 10 years have become more and more blurry. And I don't anticipate that changing, but kind of bringing it back. So these businesses are extremely innovative.

They're thinking about what's next, I'm a visionary and what's, what's coming up in five, 10 years. And, as we talk about communication and marketing, we need to match that mindset of innovation, right? So like, let's just say, we know we're talking to innovative people. We know innovation and visionary, future planning is an important to them. And so the reason why TikTok means to be on your at least observe list. Doesn't need to be on an act or an attack mentality. But you need to at least be thinking about what is happening in this platform. And the reason why TikTok is important to everybody right now is just it's bleeding into culture and lifestyles of all different age sets and demographics in ways that only the big platforms have really done. There's been a lot of niche platforms out there that have just kind of like come and bubbled up and then fizzled. Bubbled then fizzle.

But TikTok is not. It's bubbling in every direction. And regardless if we like it or not, if you're in business, you need to at least take notice of what's happening, how it works, who's interacting and reacting on it. And is there these little micro communities forming that may be your target audience? I love that, but can I play not devil's advocate, but just like a different perspective or question on this? Like, what I hear you saying is like, when you're approaching any platform, but specifically, obviously we're talking about TikTok is to not think about the bucket of users that are on the platform. Like don't get distracted by like who is on that platform. Like I do believe that you need to find the people that are most relevant to your business. But what you're saying is they're on multiple channels and they're definitely on TikTok.

But what I also hear you saying is like focus on the creative more than the platform. But sometimes as a business, what I hear happening is like, well, we would never make content like that. Like that's not us. So we're like, what's your response to that of like, you know, TikTok was musical.ly. So a lot of people see just like the wildest TikToks that go viral cause they are bleeding over into other platforms. They're being shared on every platform. What's your response to businesses who say like that's not the type of content that we would make. So I think what people need to think about the like reaction to us when we're trying to find our audience or our customers or our prospects is we think about if I'm selling social media, I'm going to find people who use social media. If I'm selling a manufacturing part that is using welding, I'm going to go find people talking about welding.

That's the obvious you need to go next to the obvious. So if your core let's pretend that manufacturing company and their audience is really technical and mechanical and they liked their engineer focus, right? So what they need to be looking at on TikTok is what's happening in that space. So are there DIY grill masters out there that are about the same age, same age demographic they're working with their hands they're in that same like, um, space. They could either be their employees or their customers and understand what's happening in their world and from their perspective, because you'll learn a lot about what your audience wants across the platforms, just by kind of peeking in. You don't have to create a TikTok account for your business. You don't need to do anything except just observe and learn. You're saying, use it as a research tool.

And don't just think of the most obvious think about, okay, if you're, I'm gonna use this example too. So if you're in the B2B space and you know that your customers are avid fishermen and they love, like, that's just a common thing for work. You organize a fishing trip every year and when you do Christmas gifts, that's what you give them. That's where you want to be looking at those hashtags and searching out what's happening in the fishing world. That people that are avid fishermen. So again, you really feel like you understand not just the business component of your audience, but the personal things that are important to them. And, you'd be surprised at how you can just kind of like take some of those things that are quickly going viral in those little, micro-communities put it on your other platforms and it will work.

Right. I mean, this kind of goes back to when you were thinking about approaching or even researching content, it's like forget the sales posts and think about the relationships and the interest in how you're going to build your own community. Like yes, those guys who, I don't remember what industry you said for the fishing. Like, yes. While they're at the office, they're all talking about their sales on like this piece of equipment. But like the second the meeting is over while they're walking back to their desks, they're talking about their fishing trip and it still happens in the office. It's those personal moments that are included in your community, but not specifically about business. One thing, I was a TikTok hater. Um, until recently I just, you know, I never really got on Snapchat. And so I was just like, ah, this is going to be another Snapchat.

And then I saw a lot of the content being shared into other platforms. And I was like, this is really funny, like better than vine. And I thought vine had really great content. So I got on the platform, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm still just a lurker. I have not posted not posted one single thing yet. I have a lot of ideas, but I haven't posted anything. The amount of micro-communities like what you were calling the "micro communities," it's really insane to me, how niche a lot of these communities have gotten in that just regular random people have small countries following them. They have like 1.2 million followers. And it's just some random girl from South Dakota who just talks about, I don't know, her pool that she's restoring. It's Really weird, like very, very, very niche. Yeah. I think, you know, if you are a business owner and you were like, okay, Beth, I hear you.

Like, I do not know what to do next. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to download the TikTok app. It is an app on your phone. You need to download it, create an account for yourself, a personal account, just follow the prompts. It'll take you through the step process. And then what I want you to do is I want you to only follow it's kind of like Instagram, where there's like follow and following, right. There's kind of those two, two sides of the coin. And I want you to follow a couple of things that you think are funny. So just kind of go scroll through. And if you think it's entertaining, funny or valuable, just follow only start with like five, just so you can kind of get a feel for it, like content that interests you personally, you personally, you need to like it yourself before you really can get through the barriers of how you can use it for your business.

I'm a huge believer of that because I think so many people hate Facebook because they have such a bad experience personally, because they don't know how to actually adjust their settings to get rid of some of that noise and people that make them angry. And I think that we all have that responsibility on our own personal accounts to make it a wonderful and a healthy experience. And we have to take ownership of that. And so I think starting out a new platform, you really have the opportunity to start where you want to start. Don't just follow everybody from high school, right? Just follow topics that really interest you. And a couple of things that I don't know that I found interesting and, and, helpful that I don't know, it may be relatable, but, um, I love cooking. I love food. I love making cocktails and I love TikTok because there's this huge community of chefs to everyday cooks to bartenders.

And if you're interested in any of those things, those are really good places to start. There's some cool cocktails. Like I said, there's some really awesome chefs that are doing really quick meals. And, so that's an easy topic that you could get started with. And then another one is if you're in the Midwest and you're listening to this in the Midwest, there's a lot of Midwest humor that is really easy to, I mean, it's very broad and it's funny and it's quick. So that's another kind of good topic to start with. And then, I'm trying to think of a couple other, what, do you have any other ones that you really think could be valuable? Well, I, yes and no. I can never think of like the handles off the top of my head for like specific people either. But I've, I've been extremely impressed with TikTok's like for you algorithm because I don't post at all.

So I'm not giving them any information. And they also don't "like" anything either because I don't want them to come back to my profile. So all I'm doing is watching. And so I've recently in the last two weeks have gotten a ton of South Dakota content and Omaha. There's like this one photographer at Omaha that says like, if you're in the Omaha area, these are the best places to take photographs. Or like here's a place that you didn't know exists. And he like tours different things in Omaha, but they're very, very, very specific to like these communities, which blew my mind because I was like, I never put that I'm here. I don't have my geo locations on. It's just based off of the videos that I've watched. Yeah. It's crazy. I agree. And the one thing to be cautious about if you're doing that, and you're not kind of adding new interests to the mix like now, because I'm watching so many cooking videos, that's all I get.

But, another one that I was just thinking of is there's some like technology hacks or iPhone hacks that they're not actual hacks, but it's kind of like tips. You didn't know about your phone. And there's so many of those that I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's so valuable. Like how many seconds there are they are? And I'm like, wow, I did not know you could do that. So yeah, I do think like following people in your "for you" that you think make interesting content, but then going and searching those hashtags or even using like the discover, did they call it, discover the discover page? It's like a little magnifying glass and clicking through some of the trending topics or, you know, even as a business, you could see what types of the types of brands that have been doing like crazy promotions are not the brands that I would think of like Armor All.

And like that wasn't one, it was like Arm & Hammer. There's a couple,weed killers and some like lawn and garden category stuff happening in there. Right. But you could see how other businesses who, you know, you would not think like, of course you would think like Coca Cola and Nike, you would think that all of those guys would be on there, but it's interesting to see other industries break into that platform and how they're approaching content. And I'm like, Oh, I see that like, that's, that's really good. I liked that lot. And a lot of it has to do with, you've got to find that personality or personalities that are willing to make content for you and let them go, just like, you know, give them guardrails and slap their wrist if they get a little too crazy. You can always delete it, but just like, let them be the representative.

Yeah. I really think that there's so much cool like topics and you want to get very, very specific. But you'd be surprised at, um, what you can kind of do and build just within the app and learn it, like, figure it out, let your kids help you with it if you're confused or don't know where to start. But I do think that one of the things that you need to think about as a business owner, just as you're thinking about how you're going to build your business in five years is what technologies do you need to start the foundation today so that you can be relevant in the next year, two years, three years. And just, I'm not saying that TikTok's is going to be around for 10 years, but you never know. I mean, I remember when I was young in my career fighting that the business that I was working in really needed a Facebook page, like it was so important and I was really passionate about it.

And like, thinking back on that, now that business has had a Facebook page for 10 years and they've had a huge opportunity to leverage that platform and it wasn't getting any ROI at that point. I mean, there was no, um, business connection and it was time and it was work. But it really does build that foundation so that you can leverage not only the platform, but what you learn and the way that you can, like adjust and be agile in technology, They're communication channels. So our advice really for B2B in approaching TikTok is step one, get in there, start doing research and seeing the type of content who's on there, what they're doing and let that influence you in either the way that you're thinking and approaching your content on your other platforms. The type of content that's interesting, cause like you said, TikTok is breaking cultural boundaries and setting the pace for what types of content people are finding entertaining and interesting.

It is setting the tone for content on other platforms. It's completely reshaping the music industry. It is reshaping. I'm sure we'll see it in commercials. I think we already have same as type as a Snapchat. So thinking about ways that you can create content that look like TikTok content on other platforms or literally creating TikTok content on your page and using that as TikTok and downloading it and posting it on your other platforms too. So there's kind of different approaches to this. Is there anything that you feel like we missed specifically for B2B? I think the biggest thing is just like, don't just look for the obvious. Think about your audience and what they care about. So if you are in the telecom industry and you have service techs going out every single day, like is weather important to them? If it is, then that could be a fun take on what TikTok looks like in your organization.

Right? It's definitely, I definitely think, you know, similar to Instagram and even Snapchat, it's like the behind the scenes things, but I think where businesses get stuck on this topic for creating content anyways, it's like the most entertaining things. I'm just thinking about like the construction industry, because that industry is notorious for having crazy pranks, weird things that they're doing between shifts and as a business, I'm like, I don't want that stuff being out there. I like don't want them to see my crews like dumping water on each other and like pulling these weird pranks, like that's a terrifying standpoint. So how do you draw that line or encourage content in between the scenes without offending people, making sure that you still have like a rep like reputation that's credible. Yeah. I would say give your team assignments. Like what is the assignment, if your assignment is to entertain and your primary topic is let's say Midwest weather, right?

That's something that is a very connective thing. Like people in the Midwest always make fun of the weather and we always talk about, and so if that is the assignment for I'm using a telecom company, if that's the assignment, give them the three, every single piece of content check these three things. Are we, are we being safe? And is there anything in the video that shows that we are not being safe? Are we representing ourselves well and the company? We can have fun and show entertainment, but like relatable, but don't be, but that's it, but don't offend them. And is there anything proprietary in the background or are we saying anything that we shouldn't? If you just give people just a little bit of guardrails in most cases, you're going to have a positive outcome. Right? I always think if you've seen a TikTok that you really like always bring that as an example, if you're like, like this, just giving visuals really helps people like define those guides a little bit better.

Awesome. Well, I think this is a really good conversation. If you are a B2B or if you're B2C or as we are now. Or if you just want to be on TikTok. We were like really hot. I mean, we still talk about Facebook a lot, but I, again, someone who is converted into a TikTok lover, get on the app. I'm just going to apologize that you're probably going to go down a TikTok hole and you're gonna be on there for like a couple of hours and you're going to get that. Whoa, you've been scrolling way too long message. But it's a really fun platform. Yeah, I agree. And if you need any actual specific people to follow some of our favorites, uh, you can definitely reach out to us at Chatterkick and we will curate the top ones that at least are keeping us entertained. Yeah. I'll put a list on this episode on generationsocialmediapodcast.com. I will put our list on this episode description on that website so you can check them out there and we'll link them all out. Wonderful. Well, thanks so much, Kelsey. This was fun. Yep. See ya.

Social Media, inspiration, BusinessChatterkickJuly 28, 2020social media best practice, content, TikTok