How to Sell on TikTok

Did you know that TikTok now enables merchants to open an official store? Read on to learn how to apply to sell in the TikTok Shop. 

Understanding TikTok 

TikTok, the Chinese-based social networking platform, was launched in 2018 and has since gained immense popularity both in China and worldwide as a platform to share short video clips such as dance clips, lip-syncing, challenges, and other entertaining content, including product reviews, short cooking lessons and crafting tutorials.

TikTok has always been known as a great platform to drive awareness for products and brands. Many activities and products reviewed on TikTok have seen an increase in purchases or usage, which is why TikTok has finally launched the TikTok Shop. 

Applying to sell items via TikTok

To begin with, you must register to sell items in the TikTok Shop by following these simple steps:

1. Go to TikTok Shop TH (https://seller-th.tiktok.com). If you already have a TikTok account, you can use your existing ID to register in the TikTok Shop or register using your phone and email.

2. Confirm your contact information with a phone number and enter the code received via SMS.

3. Consider the country you want to sell in because you won’t be able to sell items in the TikTok Shop outside of the country you register with. 

4. Set up a shop and start selling in the TikTok shop by filling in the information and details requested. You can add products and promotions to the side menu.

5. Name your store and submit documents confirming your identity. Note that the business name you use to register cannot be changed once your identity has already been verified.

6. Add your products, enter the product details, and start selling in the TikTok Shop.

Once you’ve added products to the store, when you post a clip on TikTok, if you have related products, you can tag the products so that interested customers can click to order. More importantly, you can also undertake affiliate marketing, allowing affiliates or influencers to tag your products and get a percentage of sales in return.

Techniques to drive sales on TikTok

As you can see, signing up to sell items in the TikTok Shop is very simple. But driving sales can be harder. Content is king when it comes to TikTok. Here are our techniques for creating content that sells on TikTok:

1: Drive engagement

As we all know, most viral clips are either funny, cute or shocking. It is these sorts of clips that drive engagement. Since TikTok users are primarily teenagers and the younger generation, the mood and language you use should be natural, more like talking to a friend rather than driving a sale.

2: Follow trends

The content on TikTok is short and usually based on current trends and popular topics, so creating on-trend viral clips can mean instant exposure for your brand. In addition, using Hashtags or creating content that features popular songs can help increase your TikTok viewership.

3: Post ads

• You can increase sales by placing ads on TikTok, but you need to open an ad account to do so. There are 5 ad formats to choose from:
• Brand Takeovers: ads that appear when a user opens TikTok. They can be both images and videos of around 3-5 seconds long.
• Top View: these ads appear at the app’s top of the ‘ For you’ page and are generally up to 60 seconds.
• In-Feed: ads that appear as your scroll through the ‘For You’ feed.
• Sponsored Hashtag Challenges: these allow users to participate in customised challenges sponsored by brands.
• Branded Effects: where brands can create effects and filters for users to play around with.

4: Engage with influencers

Working with influencers on TikTok is a great way to promote your products and drive sales; they can tag your products in the TikTok Shop and get a percentage of the sales in return.

Additional must-knows about selling on TikTok

It’s good to know that TikTok prohibits the advertising of products without clearly stating the price; therefore, it’s a good idea to put a tag on the TikTok Shop to be on the safe side.

TikTok is a fast-growing platform and one to keep an eye on because creating great content that attracts users will ultimately lead to increased sales of your products.