How To Successfully Sell On Tiktok

How to Start Selling and Become Successful on TikTok Shop

If your online business is not on TikTok Shop yet, you're missing tons of opportunities to promote your brand and increase your sales. Here's why.
9 mins read

Does your business have a TikTok Shop? If not, you’re missing out — big time — especially if you’re in fashion and beauty ecommerce

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is proof of the app’s new role as a top ecommerce platform. Through this hashtag, many TikTok users realized they could shop on their favorite app. As a result, many users and ecommerce businesses are going to TikTok Shops.

But FOMO be gone! We’re here to help you unlock TikTok’s selling potential for your online business.

Why TikTok Shop is good for business

Get your customers excited about your
brand on TikTok Shop.

TikTok Shop is an “innovative new shopping feature,” which allows brands, merchants, creators, affiliates and partners to show off and sell their products directly on the app. 

In the Philippines, TikTok has over 40 million active users, mostly between their teens to late 20s, the biggest groups of e-shopaholics. As marketers predicted, TikTok has become the most important social network for marketing!

The benefits of putting your brand on TikTok outweigh the learning curve. Simply put: if you’re not on the platform where your customers are, you’re missing the chance to connect with them and potentially sell big.

Learn all about the Pinoy E-Shopaholics and How to Win Them Over.

How to set up TikTok Shop

Banner Find Us Tiktok
Sign up for a TikTok business account to start selling on the platform.

You need a TikTok business account to start selling on the app. Just follow these steps:

  1. Go to the TikTok Shop Seller Center to sign up. The app will ask for the necessary documents before you can start uploading your products and linking your bank account.
  2. Once your shop is set up, don’t forget to describe your business in your bio. The bio is the first thing TikTok users will see when they visit your page. This provides an opportunity to showcase your products and give information about your business. 
  3. When describing your business, use keywords or phrases people will most likely use to find your products. 
  4. Start adding products to your shop via the Seller Center. You can also manage your promotions, orders, inventory, customer and creator partnerships in the Seller Center. 

#NinjaTip: Already have a TikTok shop set up? Activate Ninja Van as your courier partner to enjoy hassle-free deliveries and exciting rewards!

What is TikTok Live Shopping?

TikTok Live Shopping is similar to Facebook live online shopping videos (Remember “Pa mine po?”). TikTok sellers can start a live stream and sell their products in real-time

As a seller, you can showcase your products, interact with viewers through live chat, and provide demonstrations or information about the items you’re selling. Customers can then jump into the live stream to check out the items, ask questions, add the items to their carts and complete the purchase without leaving the app. 

Live selling facilitates direct sales and promotions, bridging the gap between entertainment and e-commerce.

#NinjaTip: Smart business owners don’t just focus on one platform. If you’re also doing Facebook Live selling, use LivePlug to automate all your live selling processes. No more missed orders, no more joy miners! 

How to start selling on TikTok Shop for the win!

Dive right in!

If you already have a TikTok account, switch it to TikTok for Business to access its robust tools and capabilities that will help your business make an impact on the platform.

It’s really a no-brainer, dive into the TikTok Shop craze now!

At the basic level, you can add business information to your bio, access advertising solutions and unlock analytics to get insights about your customers. 

Having a business account also ensures that when you boost your videos, your TikTok ads can keep gaining organic impressions and engagements with your target audience, even after the promotion period ends.

Without a business account, your promoted videos won’t be seen, much less gather engagements.

Introduce yourself

Your TikTok bio is your virtual calling card to millions of potential customers, so you must make sure na mayroon siyang dating:

  • Keep your bio short, yet accurately descriptive of your brand.
  • Add your brand slogan or keywords to improve searchability.
  • Don’t be afraid to use emojis: they’re native language to TikTok’s young user base; conveying friendliness and emotional openness, and may even increase conversions. 
  • End your bio with a call to action (CTA): a link to your shop, special promo codes or even TikTok challenges. Keep your CTA fresh!

Use hashtags as a research tool

While exploring TikTok, you’ll notice the different hashtags used by posters to tag their content. This is a powerful marketing tool to help you find your niche and define what your target customers like and want to see. 

Find your niche (and your customers) with hashtags.

If you’re a fashion seller, for example, you can browse the #style hashtag to see the kind of videos people are posting, watching and engaging with. As you continuously explore videos over time, you’ll refine your target customer profile to better create content that appeals to them. 

Create engaging content

Content is king, and it rules over TikTok with an iron fist. From challenges and viral sounds to the latest “uso” dances, the possibilities are endless. Use content to draw followers to your feed, create interest and achieve exposure for your brand. 

Tiktok Content
Create entertaining content that will catch users’ attention to your brand.

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, here are some suggestions:

  • Introduce yourself
  • Day-in-the-life
  • Meet the team
  • Tutorials
  • Trends and challenges

For more details, we have another blog about TikTok Content Ideas for Your Business.

Tag your posts with your products

Did you know that customers want and expect to shop directly on social media sites instead of being redirected to your online shop? The great thing about TikTok Shop is that people don’t need to leave the app to do some shopping. 

Tiktok Shop
Customers don’t need to leave TikTok app
to buy your products.

The TikTok Shop makes it easy for users to find and buy your products just by looking at your tags. Plus TikTok has added the “yellow basket” feature on the videos so customers can immediately “add to cart” whatever item you’re promoting in your videos!

How to successfully sell on TikTok Shop

To increase sales on your TikTok shop, start with a plan. The plan is a step-by-step blueprint that leads to better brand awareness and sales. 

Tiktok Shop
After creating your TikTok Shop account, now the fun begins!

If you’re brainstorming ways to secure your success on TikTok Shop, here are some tips to remember:

1. Promote your products non-stop

Start promoting your products as soon as you set up your TikTok Shop. Let users know about them by:

  • Featuring them in your live streams
  • mentioning them in your posts, and 
  • linking products to your bio
  • using hashtags

Get creative with your promotions if you want to secure customers’ attention. Boring product descriptions or scripted and dull videos have no place in your marketing game.

 Instead, inject some humor into the content or make it more relatable. Create a comedic infomercial or jump aboard TikTok’s latest trends and see how you can incorporate your products.

2. Let your audiences know about your shop

You might have the best products, but if no one’s aware of your TikTok Shop, customers won’t know about them. 

Create a “Get to Know My Shop” post to let everyone know about your store. Your TikToks should also lead customers to the yellow basket or shopping tab, which leads them to your products and store. 

3. Consistently Engage with Your Audience

As you gain more views, comments and likes, don’t forget to engage with your community. Reply to the comments to make viewers feel that you care. 

tiktok selling
TikTok Shop customers are loyal to brands that
keep them engaged.

Also, stay consistent with your videos. You won’t earn your targeted reach if you don’t post regularly. Focus on posting engaging and entertaining posts. 

Post content and engage with your customers through comments, polls, Q&A and live streams. Don’t just focus on your own page, check out and comment on other accounts, too. 

While on the app, you can also engage in social listening to assess brand mentions, industry trends and conversations. This helps you stay updated on customer sentiment and adjust your marketing plan as needed.

Get creative with your promotions if you want to secure customers’ attention. Boring product descriptions or scripted and dull videos have no place in your marketing game.

4. Optimize your product catalog

The shopping tab is every TikTok Shop’s best friend. It functions as your shop’s storefront. So, if you want more people to visit your shopping tab, make sure your catalog is organized. 

  1. Your product catalog photos should be high-resolution. After all, no customer wants to look at a blurry photo of the item they’re considering. 
  2. The photos should make your products easily recognizable. 
  3. If your brand has a TikTok aesthetic, follow it. 
  4. Product titles have a 34-character count limit. Stick to this limit. 
  5. Include all of the product’s basic details. With the descriptions, you can write the information you didn’t include in the title. 

5. Work with Influencers

A surefire way to gain more views from your target market and get them to try your brand is to partner with influencers they like and trust. Creators can create content featuring your brand through a paid partnership. 

According to a survey by Oracle, 37% of consumers trust influencers over brands; in terms of age group, Gen Zs and Millennials are twice as likely to try a product after an influencer has featured it.

While not everyone has the shala budget for a Heart Evangelista, TikTok has many content creators who just might be a match for you. TikTok makes finding and connecting with them easy through the TikTok Creators Marketplace. It lets you find relevant influencers based on your industry, budget and business goals. 

#NinjaTip: Choose influencers who represents your brand and believes in your products. It’s okay to give them directions but let them express creative freedom when endorsing your products.

To stretch your budget, tap micro influencers who can reach a more niche audience that matches your brand’s target.

 6. Spend your ads budget wisely

If you have the money to spend, TikTok has the advertising solution for you – whatever the size of your business. Here are some options:

Video promotion: You can start by promoting one of your videos to achieve a particular goal:

  • getting more views
  • get website or shop visits
  • increase followers

You can set your budget to accommodate the number of impressions you want to generate.

Selling Products On Tiktok
Strategize your TikTok ads wisely to maximize your budget.

Auction ads: If you’d like to pay to boost your brand visibility, but still want to manage your budget, self-serve auction ads can serve up what TikTok calls “In Feed ads”.

Similar to YouTube ads, In Feed ads start before a user’s selected video and last between 5-15 seconds. They’re skippable, but can potentially earn you millions of impressions. 

To get started, set up an account on TikTok Ad manager. Define your target market and goals – this will be the basis for the bids on your target metrics. You can target specific age ranges, gender, interest groups; and you can also set your goal to drive people to your website, purchase a particular product or get more views and followers. 

Follow these steps:

  • Set up an account on TikTok Ad manager
  • Define your target market – specific age ranges, gender, interest groups
  • Define your ad goal

Pricing will depend on factors like how many people are bidding on the same keywords as you are, target number of clicks and views, and the length of time the campaign runs. 

Reservation ads: Reservation ads are specific to big-ticket ads on TikTok, such as Top View ads, which appear at the top of the For You page; branded effects (customizable filters unique to your brand); and hashtag challenges.

These ads reach the widest audience possible in a particular market or region and are only accessible through channel partners (agencies) and key accounts. If you’re looking to promote your brand in a big way and have the budget to spare, reservation might be a good option for you.

Check out our 5 Tips to Run Successful TikTok Ads to learn more.

Is it worth selling on TikTok?

The simple and short answer is ‘Yes!’. Stop asking yourself why TikTok Shop is good for growing your business because all the proof you need is here.

TikTok Shop is not as difficult as it seems. Start with our top tips, constantly adjust your strategy and don’t forget to engage.

Tiktok Shop Courier
Your TikTok Shop deserves Ninja Van’s hassle-free deliveries,
exclusive perks and exciting rewards!

Make your product the next viral sensation by creating TikTok-worthy content for your shop. Done right, your shop could be the next biggest thing on the platform. 

And a successful TikTok Shop business deserves the best courier partner. Sign up for a Ninja Van shipping account to get hassle-free deliveries plus exciting perks and rewards!

Happy Tikok Shop selling, ka-Ninjas! 

Get These Exciting Ninja Rewards Perks for Your TikTok Shop!
Our Top TikTok Shippers Share Their Tips for Success

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