How we got 100+ orders after one Tik Tok OR why should small businesses make short videos

I love to read about cases, that is why i will share mine as well. No doubt, Tik Tok is super trendy among youngsters, but do they actually buy things? The answer is: yes, but depends on their age, income and their level of interest in a product.

On December 13th I was shooting a commercial for our small brand "SayIt.Ring" and I came up with an idea to make a short Tik Tok as well. It took me about 2 minutes to shoot and edit, 5 minutes to write captions and upload it. Next morning I woke up with 20+ direct messages on my Instagram: people were endlessly asking about rings, delivery and packaging. December 14th became our lucky day and a fresh start: we even didn't have a website in Latvian and English, so the situation made us come out of our comfort zone.

In 3 days we got 30+ orders by Latvian youngsters, mostly between 16-30 years old. The reason is that they already have their own income + custom pieces nowadays make a visible trend among youngsters.

By the end of the week we had 50+ orders on the list and the only hazard is that we couldn't manage everything till Christmas. This is also an essential insight for small businesses: you have to ready to go viral, to make sure you can control all the inner processes, otherwise a sharp jump in demand will cause many problems.

One month after, the Tik Tok video got in total 22k views and went viral in Latvia (95% of the views). Why did Tik Tok worked out so successful? Well, the reason is: I was researching Tik Tok algorithm since April 2020.

Here is some tips I used while creating this video:

• Grab and hold audience attention in the first 4 seconds. In my video I mentioned “We produce rings in Riga”. People from Riga are now more interested to watch video till the end.

• Use popular audios. The point is that “ForYouPage” recommends you the videos based on your previous actions. The more people saved the audio = the more people will see your video, if you add this audio.

• Write captions. Reason #1: a lot of people watch videos without sound. Reason #2: one day I saw a Tik Tok video by the deaf girl, she told that every time she sees a video without caption, she skips it. That fact still makes me sad, that is why I make all my videos with captions.

• Show the process of making your product. In 2020 transparency has become a certain trend among big brands, but small businesses can use it too! It makes the connection between viewers and the brand stronger and enhances trust of the audience.

• In the end of your video add “Call-to-action”: yes, it’s the basics of advertising and yes, it works perfectly. Attention-Interest-Desire-Action: and the next order is done. Name all the good qualities of your product and then tell your viewers how to order it: to call or to write in DM. Important: this should be the easiest way for your target audience. In my case, it was Instagram: youngsters use it on a daily basis + the button was in my Tik Tok profile bio.

Tik Tok is a perfect platform for development, building relationship with the target audience, especially if it is a young audience.

I want to thank everybody who ordered rings and supported our brand.

Merry Christmas and let’s hope the 2021 will bring us new possibilities to create & inspire!