TikTok for Business Review

With over 1 billion active monthly users, TikTok’s global popularity means it’s a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes.

Using innovative features like an in-app shopping experience, users can reach a highly engaged audience to drive conversions, but is TikTok for Business right for you?

Is TikTok for Business Worth It?

TikTok for Business offers a dynamic platform for businesses aiming to engage with a broad, youthful audience through creative and viral content. 

The platform’s strengths lie in its high engagement rates, creative freedom, and powerful tools for targeted advertising. TikTok’s unique environment allows brands to capitalise on trends, utilise influencer collaborations, and benefit from comprehensive analytics to fine-tune their marketing strategies.

However, the cost of advertising on TikTok can be prohibitive, particularly for small businesses or those with limited budgets. 

The platform’s content saturation and short-lived trends mean maintaining visibility requires consistent and innovative content creation. 

Additionally, focusing on short-form content might not suit all businesses, especially those needing to convey detailed information or those in niche markets.

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Our reviews are always 100% independent, unbiased and balanced, highlighting the pros and cons of all service providers and products.  

All information is fact-checked and continuously updated to ensure you have everything you need to decide which product is right for you.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• High Engagement: TikTok’s algorithm promotes user interaction with your content.
• Creative Freedom: The platform offers various innovative content formats, including AR effects and video templates, allowing for creative and dynamic advertising.
• Viral Potential: TikTok’s environment fosters the rapid spread of trends and challenges.
• Targeted Advertising: With tools like TikTok Ads Manager and precise targeting options, you can reach your desired audience effectively.
• Direct Sales Integration: Features like Video Shopping Ads and TikTok Shop facilitate direct purchases from the app, enhancing the shopping experience.
• Access to Influencers: The Creator Marketplace connects brands with popular content creators, enabling impactful collaborations and extended reach.
• Comprehensive Analytics: Detailed performance metrics and analytics tools help track campaign effectiveness and optimise strategies.
• Global Reach: With over 1 billion users worldwide, TikTok offers extensive exposure to a diverse, international audience.

Cons

• High Advertising Costs: Costs can be high, particularly for premium ad formats like TopView or Brand Takeovers, which may not be suitable for all budgets.
• Content Saturation: With the high volume of content on TikTok, standing out can be challenging, leading to potential issues with content visibility and engagement.
• Customer Support Challenges: Many users experience difficulties with TikTok’s customer support, including unresponsive service and inadequate solutions.
• Short-lived Trends: The rapid nature of trends on TikTok can lead to fleeting visibility, where a successful campaign might quickly lose relevance.
• Moderation and Safety Concerns: There are complaints about managing spam, inappropriate content, and issues with content visibility and filtering.
• Short-Form Content Limitations: The platform’s focus on short videos may not be suitable for businesses needing to deliver long-form content or detailed storytelling.
• Inconsistent ROI: Businesses may find it challenging to achieve a satisfactory return on investment (ROI) due to varying ad costs, effectiveness, and the competitive nature of the platform.

TikTok for Business At A Glance

Item	TikTok for Business Details
Best For	Businesses that want to create engaging ads or reach a highly engaged global audience
Pricing	TikTok for Business accounts are free, but you will need to bid for ads
Advertising	Multiple formats available, including in-feed vertical ads, Spark Ads, TopView and Branded Effects
Creative	Lots of free tools like the AI TikTok Symphony Assitant, Creator Marketplace, Video Templates and Commercial Music Library
Commerce	Create a seamless shopping experience without users having to leave social media using video shopping ads and TikTok Shop
Analytics	Get insights through TikTok Pixel, and see your audience’s reactions to ads using Brand Lift Study
Ease of Use	Intuitive and user-friendly management through the mobile app and Web Business Suite
Safety	Comment management, ad placement controls through TikTok Inventory Filter, 2-step verification and a global bug bounty programme through HackerOne.
Customer Support	In-app messaging

Is TikTok Right For My Business?

TikTok for Business might be suitable for you if:

• Your business sells consumer products that you want to sell directly from social media
• You want to leverage user-generated content to boost authenticity and social proof.
• You aim to create brand-related challenges or trends that can go viral and engage a wider audience.
• You are open to experimenting with innovative content formats and interactive features, like TikTok’s AR effects.
• You have a flexible marketing budget and are prepared for the dynamic nature of TikTok’s advertising landscape.
• Your target audience is social-media savvy, especially Millenials or later.
• You want to connect and collaborate with popular content creators.

TikTok for Business might not be suitable for you if:

• You’re a business-to-business service provider whose audience doesn’t align with the platform.
• Your business is in a highly regulated sector, which may face challenges with TikTok’s ad policies. 
• Your company sells niche or specialised products that may struggle to generate interest on a platform with broad and general content.
• You’re a local service provider who will benefit less from TikTok’s global reach. 
• Your products or services have a long sales cycle or require extensive customer education.
• You operate in industries with limited visual appeal or those requiring detailed explanations, like specialised professional services.
• You prefer long-form content or detailed storytelling, which TikTok’s short video format may not effectively support.

Products & Features: TikTok for Business

TikTok Advertising Tools

A TikTok for Business account comes with tools to help you make your ads more effective, including:

• TikTok Ads Manager is a centralised dashboard that saves you time while managing campaigns.
• In-feed vertical ads with sound and optional interactive add-ons.
• Spark Ads lets you boost a range of videos, including ones made by other users that mention your brand.
• TopView ensures your advertisement is the first they see when they open their app.
• TikTok Promote helps you to amplify your organic content and reach a wider audience.
• Branded Mission allows you to collaborate with content creators and boost your best-performing content as ads.
• Engage your audience with custom Branded Effects to build audience awareness.

Creative TikTok Features

Unique content that grabs your audience’s attention thrives on TikTok.

To help you get your creative juices flowing, TikTok for Business accounts enjoy several features, including:

• Access the Creative Centre to learn from popular content and music. 
• Use the AI TikTok Symphony Assistant to brainstorm new ideas and look at top-performing trends.
• Organise your content creation process and assign permissions and asset usage through the Business Centre.
• Match with content creators that fit your business in 3 easy steps through the Creator Marketplace.
• Work with professional service providers to create more impactful videos through Creative Exchange and TikTok Marketing Partners.
• Make the most of your existing media library with the free Video Editor.
• The in-app Creative Hub provides content tips through the Business Content Guide and insights into trending content through Video Showcase. 
• Streamline your video production by using Video Templates.
• Access to the Commercial Music Library (CML). Unlike a Personal TikTok account, you won’t be able to use the General Music Library. 

TikTok Commerce Tools

TikTok users are 1.5 times more likely to immediately buy something they discover on the platform than other social media platforms.

Hit your financial goals and get a return on your marketing investment by using TikTok for Business’s commerce solutions.

Available tools include:

• Video Shopping Ads that offer tailored product recommendations directly from your product catalogue on the For Your page.
• Create a TikTok Shop to provide a digital shopping experience, including live shopping, shoppable videos, a product showcase, and a shop tab.
• Streamlined in-app checkout processes to reduce friction and increase conversions.
• Manage the shopping journey from discovery to order management within the app. 

TikTok Analytics Features

Over 90% of TikTok users state that they have taken action after seeing content on the social media platform, so tracking your performance is vital.

TikTok for Business has a range of tools to measure your results, including: 

• Attributing both web and app conversions from your campaigns. 
• Using TikTok Pixel to analyse your data according to your marketing goals
• Brand Lift Study allows you to gauge your audience’s reactions to your ad campaign.
• Protect your business using the Brand Safety tools to ensure users see suitable and appropriate content adjacent to your ads.
• Access to Web Business Suite, a central location that includes analytics and support features. 

Pricing & Fees Breakdown

Creating a TikTok for business accounts is free, and there are no charges for using most features.

In fact, the only fee you will pay is if you run an ad through TikTok Ads Manager.

When you create an ad, you will be asked to set a budget for your ad group or campaign and place a bid for your ad group level. 

Your budget is the maximum amount you want to spend on your ad group or campaign daily or over its lifetime. 

In contrast, your bid is how much you will pay for a user’s action, like making a purchase, after they see your ad. You will only pay the fee when that action is performed. 

TikTok ads vary in price dramatically, ranging from £16 for a basic ad to £40,000+ per day for a brand takeover.

Your daily and total campaign budgets must be at least $50 (approximately £38). Similarly, at the ad group level, your daily budget must be at least $20 (approximately £16) if you use a daily budget or $20 x the number of scheduled days for lifetime budgets. 

 The exact fee you pay depends on:

• Format – For example, in-feed, TopView, Branded Effects or Spark. Prices vary depending on how visible your ad will be.
• Audience – The more specific your targeting, the more your ad will likely be more expensive. 
• Competitiveness – Popular industries and niches may see multiple businesses bidding for the same audience, raising the price with demand. 
• Strategy – Your choice of bidding strategy will impact your cost and should be aligned with your marketing objective.

Ease of Use & Sign-Up Process

Getting started with TikTok for Business is designed to be straightforward, even if you’re new to digital advertising. The user-friendly interface, automated tools, and comprehensive support resources ensure that businesses of all sizes can quickly start advertising on TikTok and reach their target audience with minimal effort.

The sign-up process is simple: you begin by visiting the TikTok for Business sign-up page and creating a login using your email or phone number. After receiving a verification code, you’ll enter some basic business details, such as your time zone and legal business name. Getting these details right is essential, as certain information cannot be changed later.

Once your account is set up, TikTok makes it easy to start your first ad campaign. The platform offers a personalised step-by-step marketing plan tailored to your business objectives, which you can access by taking a brief quiz. 

Creating your content is also hassle-free, with the option to use pre-made templates or import existing video content. Once your ad and content are live, you can monitor performance and optimise your budget from the centralised dashboard or the WordPress plugin.  

TikTok for Business Customer Service

You can conveniently contact TikTok customer support through TikTok for Business platform and submit a ticket. A representative will reply as soon as possible.

Is TikTok for Business Safe?

TikTok aims to make the platform safe for your community and your business.

Some of the safety measures used by TikTok include:

• TikTok Inventory Filter allows you to control the type of content shown next to your ad.
• Comment management tools that let you hide or filter specific comments.
• Third-party partners like Double Verfit and Integral Ad Science independently assess and confirm that the content besides your ad is appropriate.
• Brand safety and suitability rates aligned with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media Safety Floor and Suitability Framework.
• Sensitive information is encrypted at rest and in transit.
• 2-step verification, security alerts and device verification to help protect your account from unauthorised login attempts.
• Working with 3rd party companies to test the multi-layer security infrastructure.
• A Global Security Team is monitoring the platform for suspicious activity.
• Partnership with HackerOne to create a global bug bounty programme to encourage vulnerabilities to be disclosed. 

What TikTok for Business Customers Say

TikTok has a mixed reputation with users. At the time of writing, the platform had a ‘bad’ average rating of 1.4 out of 5, based on 2,299 on TrustPilot. In contrast, the app has earned consistently high reviews of 4.7 out of 5, based on 17,300,000 reviews on the Apple App Store, and 4.1 out of 5, based on 63,600,000 million reviews on the Google Play Store. 

However, it’s worth noting that limited reviews specifically for TikTok for Business are available. 

Some of the most common comments are:

Positive Reviews

• Engaging Content: Many users find TikTok’s content highly engaging and enjoyable. The platform’s unique features and diverse range of videos contribute to its popularity.
• Audience Reach: TikTok’s global popularity means that many users have found TikTok for Business’s advertising tools extremely effective, especially for reaching Millennials and Gen Z.
• High User Engagement: TikTok’s algorithm is praised for its ability to deliver high levels of engagement. Users and businesses note that the platform’s content discovery and recommendation features often lead to significant interaction and visibility.
• Creative Freedom: TikTok allows for much creative freedom in content creation. Businesses and creators value the platform’s flexibility in producing innovative and varied content, which can help capture and retain audience interest.
• Trend Opportunities: The platform is recognised for its ability to drive and capitalise on trends quickly. Businesses and creators appreciate the opportunity to participate in and benefit from viral trends and challenges.
• Community Building: Users and businesses benefit from TikTok’s ability to build and engage with communities. The platform helps brands connect with their target audiences and fosters community among users with shared interests.

Negative Reviews

• Account Management: Many report their accounts being suspended without clear reasons, difficulties with account recovery and technical issues such as losing access to features
• Customer Support: Users describe support as unresponsive or providing inadequate solutions. Issues with refund policies for unused ad credits and challenges with account verification are highlighted.
• Technical Issues: Glitches like app crashes, content freezes, problems with content visibility and error messages can disrupt user experience.
• Moderation and Safety: Users express dissatisfaction with managing spam and inappropriate content.
• Cost: Some businesses find TikTok’s advertising costs high, especially for reaching a broader audience or achieving significant results. The return on investment is sometimes viewed as unsatisfactory relative to the expenditure.
• Algorithm Changes: Users and businesses find it challenging to keep up with frequent algorithm updates and shifts, which can impact the effectiveness of their content and advertising strategies.

Additional Information About TikTok

TikTok was developed by the Chinese company ByteDance as a global counterpart to the successful Douyin social media platform. 

After launching for international users in 2017, ByteDance bought a similar startup social video platform, Musical.ly, and merged the two platforms while retaining the name TikTok. 

At the time of writing, TikTok is available in 40 languages and has over 1 billion users worldwide.

TikTok for Business FAQs