Hey there! So dive in below with the question that has been on the minds of so many solopreneurs: Why? Why TikTok? Why has TikTok become a game-changer for solopreneurs? Especially not just in 2024, but beyond and forevermore. So this is the ultimate question.
Unleash the Power of TikTok’s Unparalleled Reach
You’ve heard that line before: in social spaces, reach is king. But on TikTok, it’s not just reach—think of it as supercharged, propelled-by-algorithm-driven reach, a viral machine that can elevate your brand to stardom in a day.
Crack the Code of the For You Page
The For You Page (FYP), where users spend 52.9% of their time, is TikTok’s secret sauce. Everyone wants to be on here, and your content probably belongs there. You need a high engagement rate, a high watch time, and content that ‘belongs’. In the ultimate content-creation cat-and-mouse game, these factors earn you’recommendations’. Recommendations determine how long users actually stay on your video. In fact, data from Influencer Marketing Hub estimates TikTokers on the FYP get an average of 1-2 million views.
To boost your chances of landing on the FYP:
- Create content that encourages viewers to watch till the end
- Use trending sounds and hashtags (but only if they’re relevant to your content)
- Post consistently (aim for at least once a day)
- Engage with other creators in your niche
Keep in mind that the more minutes a person stays on the app, the higher the algorithm ranks your video. So, make content that makes people want to continue watching.
Tap into TikTok’s Explosive Growth
TikTok’s growth is staggering. As of January 2024, the social app TikTok had more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, according to Statista. That’s a lot of people who could be seeing your brand. And now for the fun part, TikTok’s audience isn’t just big; it’s also engaged. TikTok users open the app an average of 14.5 times and spend an average of an honest-to-goodness 95 minutes per day on the app, according to Sensor Tower. That is a lot of eyeballs, my friends. A lot of eyeballs.
Harness the Power of TikTok’s Creative Tools
Quick note: TikTok’s virtual creative studio—the editing and stitching tools—are more formidable than many realise. Here are a few ways that solopreneurs can use those tools to produce content with punch:
Leverage Green Screen Effects for Mind-Blowing Content
Could the Hollywood effect be retooled for our modern era of engagement-infused entertainment? A Hootsuite report found that videos employing the green screen are, on average, 60 percent more likely to be engaged with than videos without it.
Here are some advanced ways solopreneurs can use the green screen effect:
- Create virtual “tours” of your products or services
- Overlay data and statistics to make your points more impactful
- Transport yourself to different locations to tell your brand story
- Use it for before-and-after demonstrations of your work
Master TikTok’s Duet and Stitch Features
Creators can engage with other creators’ content via two special TikTok features, Duet and Stitch, that simply take content belonging to another creator and generate a new video. It’s fun, sure, but it also increases your reach: according to data from Influencer Marketing Hub, using Duets and Stitches can result in a reach increase of up to 200%.
Advanced ways solopreneurs can use Duet and Stitch:
- Respond to trending topics in your niche
- Collaborate with other creators for cross-promotion
- Provide expert commentary on relevant content
- Create a series of videos that build on each other
Craft a Content Strategy That Converts
Producing great content is one thing, but generating content with conversions is another thing entirely. Here are some advanced tips for solopreneurs:
Implement the “Hook, Line, and Sinker” Method
On TikTok, you’re going to have no more than 3 seconds before you lose someone’s attention. So lean on the ‘Hook, Line, and Sinker’ a little more than on any other social media platform and shoot from the hip. The student affectionately named that concept the ‘Hook, Line, and Sinker’ in order to appeal to a larger audience, not specifically people who are into fly fishing However, a 2021 TikTok study found that if you frontload your videos with a much stronger hook in the first three seconds, your watch time will increase by 50%.
Here’s how solopreneurs can use this method:
- Hook: Attract in the first 3 seconds (a text overlay, an arresting image, a provocative question)
- Line: Keep them watching with valuable content related to your expertise
- Sinker: End with a strong call-to-action that leads to your products or services
Leverage Storytelling for Emotional Connection
It’s pretty much in our DNA that we’re hardwired for stories. The fact that storytelling is your secret sauce on TikTok is because, as one recent study by Sprout Social showed, 70% of consumers feel they’re more connected to brands whose CEOs are actively engaged on social media.
Advanced storytelling techniques for solopreneurs on TikTok:
- Use the “Hero’s Journey” framework to structure your content
- Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your solopreneur journey
- Create a series of videos that tell an ongoing story about your brand
- Use music and sound effects to enhance emotional impact
Maximize Engagement with Advanced Community Building Techniques
Gaining TikTok followers is great, but to develop a robust community on the app, you have to create a tribe: passionate followers who regularly interact with your posts, helping to expand your reach and exponentially grow your brand audience—a huge boon in any marketplace.
Implement a Comment Strategy That Boosts Visibility
Comments are key to TikTok success—more comments equal a more engaged video, which in turn gets more views. The more views you get, the higher your please post more FYP. And, not least, it catches the attention of TikTok’s algorithm. But not all comments are made equally. The app Later recently found that when a creator replies to comments within the first hour of a TikTok posting, comments increase by 70%.
Advanced comment strategies for solopreneurs:
- Respond to comments with video replies
- Ask questions in your captions to encourage comments
- Create content that sparks debate (but keep it positive)
- Use pinned comments to highlight important information or continue the conversation
Host TikTok Lives That Convert
It’s not just gamers and musicians who use TikTok Live. It is a connecting tool for solopreneurs to communicate with their customers in real-time. TikTok claims that live videos get 150% more engagement than a TikTok video.
Advanced TikTok Live strategies for solopreneurs:
- Host Q&A sessions to build trust and authority in your niche
- Offer exclusive promotions or content to Live viewers
- Collaborate with other creators for Live “takeovers.”
- Use Live to launch new products or services
Leverage TikTok’s E-commerce Features for Direct Sales
TikTok is going to be about more than building brand awareness but also exhibiting potential as an e-commerce platform. The arrival of shopping features in 2024 onwards affords the solopreneur direct selling.
Master TikTok Shop for Seamless In-App Purchases
For anyone who’s selling physical products, TikTok Shop is a game changer. TikTok claims businesses using TikTok Shop have seen sales increase by as much as 1,000%. Here’s how to get the most from it.
- Create shoppable videos that showcase your products in action
- Use TikTok’s live shopping features for real-time sales events
- Leverage user-generated content to show real people using your products
- Use TikTok’s analytics to track your best-performing products and adjust your strategy
Harness the Power of TikTok Ads for Targeted Reach
The morphing customisations are wonderful, but even with organic reach, it’s like sprinkling on the TikTok sparkle effect—TikTok ads could boost your visibility even further. The average engagement rate—views, likes, and shares—of ads on TikTok is 3%, AdAge reports, far above many other social channels.
Advanced TikTok ad strategies for solopreneurs:
- Use TikTok’s Spark Ads to boost your best-performing organic content
- Leverage TikTok’s detailed targeting options to reach your ideal customers
- Create custom audiences based on your website visitors or email list
- Use TikTok’s pixel to track conversions and optimize your ad spend
Leverage Data for Continuous Improvement
There’s just no way to achieve the same degree of quality control that you can by carefully tracking your earnings and clicks to handicap your future moves on TikTok. And because the same strategy that works today won’t necessarily work next week, a solopreneur who wants to stay on the cutting edge of capitalism has to conduct this kind of handicapping every day.
Master TikTok Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making
But TikTok’s in-built analytics tool is far more effective than many bloggers appreciate. In a study published online in May 2022, Hootsuite reported that creators who regularly visited their analytics for updates and strategic shifts saw an average 28% boost in engagement in the long run.
Advanced analytics strategies for solopreneurs:
- Track your video retention rate to understand what keeps viewers watching
- Analyze your follower growth rate to identify which content resonates most
- Use the “Top Territories” feature to tailor content to your audience’s location
- Monitor your engagement rate over time to spot trends and adjust accordingly
Implement A/B Testing for Continuous Optimization
But even if it was, it’s not only useful for people sending out emails: A/B testing is a tool for TikTok creators by conduct as well. You should be systematically testing any and all aspects of your content to see what helps you get better results.
Advanced A/B testing strategies for solopreneurs on TikTok:
- Test different video lengths to find your sweet spot
- Experiment with various types of hooks to see what grabs attention
- Try different posting times to find when your audience is most active
- Test various call-to-action styles to see what drives the most conversions
Conclusion
I’m convinced that TikTok will prove to be a paradigm-altering technology for the world of solopreneurs—to create business opportunities that can connect entrepreneurs with the audience in a completely new way, on a mass scale. Regardless of how TikTok’s management responds, I firmly believe that we all need to be aware of its potent potential right now because it might soon experience a change in pulse.
It’s likely to get harder still over time. Start learning the tricks of the trade for 2024 and beyond, and you’ll be well-placed to take on any solopreneur in your niche on the For You Page by cracking the new algorithm code and by taking up the advanced best practices of A/B testing on TikTok.
But remember, it takes time. If you want TikTok to be your new-age business card, you need to be there every day, grinding out content and learning how to tweak it to get the attention of your target audience. But using these techniques will help you work that muscle.
The world of solopreneurship is about to get TikTok-ed, so you’re going to want to be a part of this digital marketing revolution. Don’t worry—we’re all going to have fun dance moves in no time!
FAQs
How often should solopreneurs post on TikTok for optimal growth? There is no magic formula, but most successful TikTok creators post at least once a day. TikTok is all about consistency, and the algorithm loves accounts that publish content on a daily basis. It’s far more important to post great videos consistently rather than spam your account multiple times with poor-content videos.
Can solopreneurs in “boring” industries find success on TikTok? Yes! As many will tell you, there’s an audience for everything on TikTok, so it boils down to packaging your industry’s information in interesting ways. Perhaps storytelling, comedy, something educational, whatever your industry allows. Technology gets a bad rap and gets called out as ‘boring’, but consider this: ‘boring’ industries still exist to solve people’s problems, and if you can package your USP’s core in an interesting way (which it likely should be), then that’s innately interesting content.
If you’re a solopreneur, should you put money into ads on TikTok? How else can you grow organically? While there are certain TikTok ads that seem to expedite growth, they’re not essential to success. There are many solopreneurs with organic followings in the six figures or more. The most important part is to develop a knack for creating content that’s engaging and skilled, and to keep doing that consistently. Maximize TikTok’s features, and you have the potential to build a massive business. As the app gets more competitive, if your audience keeps growing and the cost of ads stabilises, maybe that’s when you decide to boost your audience using ads. Just as with any paid media, it pays to start small and deliberately track your return on investment to determine the sweet spot for pivoting your brand in that lucrative direction.