Webinar

Alex Hull, social innovation lead at Social Chain, shares tips on how to use TikTok for your business.

I'm a <a href='https://danmartinuk.com/' target='_self'>freelance content creator and event host</a> who helps small businesses and the organisations that support them. I'm also Enterprise Nation's Local Leader for Bristol.
I have 20 years of experience as a small business journalist having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs from famous names like Sir Richard Branson and Deborah Meaden to the founders behind brand new start-ups.
I've worked for a range of leading small business publications and support groups, most recently as head of content at Enterprise Nation where I was responsible for the prolific output of content on the company's blog and social media. I now freelance for Enterprise Nation as the website's <a href='https://www.enterprisenation.com/business-news' target='_self'>news reporter</a> and as the host of the <a href='https://www.enterprisenation.com/podcast' target='_self'>Small Business sessions podcast</a>.
I'm based in Bristol where I run and host regular events with the local small business community in my role as Enterprise Nation's Local Leader for Bristol. I also have strong connections with other major business organisations in the south west region.
In total, I've hosted over 100 events including conferences with an audience of hundreds for international brands like Xero and Facebook and live web chats from inside 10 Downing Street.
With my partner, I co-run <a href='https://www.lifestyledistrict.co.uk/' target='_self'>Lifestyle District</a>, a lifestyle blog focused on culture, art, theatre and photography.

Freelance content creator & event host

 is the social media platform that everyone is talking about. That interest was demonstrated as almost 300 entrepreneurs signed up for Enterprise Nation's latest Lunch and Learn webinar.

As social innovation lead at social media agency 

, Alex Hull makes sures the company's in-house brands and clients are at the forefront of emerging platforms. He has formulated the growth strategy for Social Chain's TikTok network, which now boasts over 2.5m followers.

He's the perfect man to tell small business owners how to make the most of the app. We've summarised the highlights and the full recording is above.

TikTok was founded by Chinese technology company ByteDance in 2016. In 2017, it bought music.ly, a video sharing app with popular with young people. From that, TikTok was born.

TikTok is a platform for discovering and sharing short form videos and is very popular with young people. Alex Hull described it as getting "a quick dopamine hit in short form and a way to get the best content of the day in one list".

Focused on vertical videos, Hull said the app is about trends and challenges.

The best way to understand TikTok is to start using it, Hull said.

Register for the app and get a feel for the type of content you are served, the content you enjoy and the content you don't enjoy. "Build a plan around that based on your business goals and how the app works", Hull added.

Hull said you don't need to spend lots of money to create videos; in fact when you first join, you don't need a budget at all. The app has in-built video editing features which you can use to create content.

Videos can be a maximum one minute but Hull recommends the ideal length is between 10 and 30 seconds. "You need to capture attention very quickly. It's very tempting for users to keep scrolling," he said.

"Create videos that are thumb stoppers. If you capture my attention in the first second and the video is 15 seconds, I'm likely to watch the whole thing, not so much if it's one minute."

TikTok's algorithm is all about video retention so it's important to try and get an initial hook and keep videos insightful and energetic.

Behind the scenes footage goes down particularly well, Hull advised. 

 is a good example of behind the scenes content. The publication uses TikTok to show how journalists do their job rather focus on reporting news like on other online channels.

Like all social media platforms, you build a following to engage with your content. To grow the number of people following you, Hull said: "Involve yourself with what's going on in the app through hashtags, trends and challenges."

Use hashtags that are relevant to your brand and help you reach your niche community.

You can also create a trend. Hull said US beauty brand 

 did that by creating a song and a dance that 

 with billions of views. TikTok influencers and other users picked up on the campaign and used the content to create their own videos. All the focus linked back to the E.l.f brand.

, who is 16 years old, is one of the biggest influencers on TikTok with 54m followers. She used her popularity on the app to grow her following on other platforms such as a community of over 12m on Instagram which she wasn't using before she joined TikTok.

Several founders of service businesses tuned into the webinar and asked if TikTok is for them. Absolutely, said Hull.

 which encourages educational content on the platform which business owners can use to share knowledge to the audience. With a predominantly young audience, entrepreneurs could also create content that engages young people which they then tell their parents about.

Hull said young people are very interested in learning about entrepreneurship, something else businesses could use to their advantage.

While young people form a majority of TikTok's users, Hull said an increasing number of older people are joining the app after hearing about its popularity. This opens it up to other businesses.

How to use TikTok for your business

Alex Hull, social innovation lead at Social Chain, shares tips on how to use TikTok to promote your business.

Alex Hull, social innovation lead at Social Chain, shares tips on how to use TikTok for your business.



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Hi, I'm Rachael and I'm on a mission to help coaches, consultants and online course creators to build and scale their business, so that they can celebrate sellout program launches and create passive income streams.
As a sales mentor and business strategist (with 25 years experience), I get so much joy from enabling fellow online entrepreneurs to scale to 6 figures and beyond through strategy, training and coaching.
The online coaching and course creation industry is so vast and