Well, why shouldn't you use TikTok?
- It gets you in front of over one billion users.
- You'll have a 21.10% engagement rate (which means visibility) even if you have less than 5,000 followers on your account, and
- You can build a community out of TikTok.
So, why not?
Statistics show that 56% of users are more connected to brands that publish "human" and unpolished content. 68% of users even remember brands that use a song they like in their videos. A TikTok audit below also shows the engagement percentage you could have with TikTok:
- 1,000 - 5,000 followers - 21.10%.
- 5,000 - 20,000 followers - 18.40%.
- 20,000 - 100,000 followers - 15.64%.
- 100,000 - 500,000 followers - 15.53%.
- 500,000 - 1,000,000 followers - 17.02%.
- 1,000,000 - 1,000,000+ followers - 17.28%.
This means you can gain massive viewership even if you just created an account. The key to growing is consistency, but who says there are no TikTok alternatives for small businesses?
There's no sole controller of the internet space, and you have nothing to gain if you have a solo revenue business (that is, a TikTok-based business). Read on to discover three alternatives and how to use them to promote your business.
3 TikTok Alternatives for Small Businesses and Advertising
1. Snapchat
363 million people use Snapchat daily because it lets them share photos and videos while talking to friends and, sometimes, strangers. While it has more female users than male, it's one of the leading platforms to market your product, and I’ll show you why.
84% of US adults aged 18-29 use the internet, most of whom are on Snapchat. You can maximize this data to target the demography of your choice on the platform. Snapchat is much better if your target audience is primarily Indians, as 144.35 million Indians use the app daily. This makes it one of the most competitive TikTok alternatives for small businesses.
Now, how do you advertise your small business on Snapchat?
First, Create a business account.
A business account makes it easy for users to engage with your brand. Aside from this, it makes your brand discoverable. There is a “Chat” button on Snapchat, but there’s also a “Discover” button which is where users can see your brand (if they see your post).
Next, Set up your Snap profile
Interested customers who click through your content need the whole gist about your business in a couple of words.
And that’s why you need a business bio and a profile picture that’s your logo (with the perfect copy that says all about your business with fewer words than this sentence).
Attach a cover photo and a username that’s easy to remember, so your brand comes to mind when they need a product you've marketed.
Create a story to share with your followers
Your audience (followers and those who’ll discover you accidentally) should be engaged through quality photo and short-video-based content.
This feature is what makes Snapchat a reasonable TikTok alternative for small businesses. Your stories will appear on their Snapchat feeds, and the trick to success is simple:
- Your stories must not be too long or too short,
- They should be as informative as possible, and
- They should be posted at strategic times when people check their feeds. Think lunchtime, during a train ride back home, or after dinner, depending on your target audience).
Understanding your target audience is the precursor to success on Snapchat. Why? Because that's when you understand the content they'd like to see, the way they interact (informal/formal/friendly to street colloquialisms), and their browsing habits.
Then videos become relevant.
Using video for your stories means you want to maximize the opportunity to advertise your business. It's how TikTok gained the love of many users. You can use videos to
- Show off your product.
- Tell a story.
- Explain a concept, especially if you need to train people about how to use your product. Here's a trick for Snapchat ads that'll take 10 minutes to learn
Use a video to show how easy or difficult it is for people who have never used your service or product before (if applicable). Then do a video that shows how easy it is when they use your product.
Spin in a creative twist and narrow the audience down by using filters and geofilters
Filters are a fun way to personalize your Snapchat story, and they're also a great way to add a creative twist to distinguish you from the pack.
You can choose from several different types of filters, including lenses (which are animated) and face masks. After all, 63% of users are enchanted by the AR filter, and you can have fun with it even as a business.
You can also use Geofilters; they're location-specific and can be used in any area—from the beach in Miami to an office building in New York City. Hence, customers know where to find your business at any time.
If you're targeting multiple locations around town, try using different geo-filters each time you post a Snapchat story. This makes each story relevant to a selected audience.
Next, Build a following
Building a massive following is one of the ways to win in the social media game. You already have a business account, but you can increase engagement and followers by creating more engaging content.
While doing this, be open to tagging people strategically. These could be friends, customers, or influencers who can share your value-packed videos with their network, giving you access to a wider audience.
Don't forget to create a sense of urgency
"Urgency is about need. If you want people to feel a sense of urgency for buying your product or service, you need to know why they need it now."
You need to make your potential customers know why they should buy because some won't buy even if you're selling at a discount or offering a "limited seat" offer. This is how you can do that:
- Let them see that they need you by creating videos and infographics that actually solve their problems
- Listen to them more so you'd know how best to sell and get to them faster
- Solve more problems through your business approach to the market.
Don't leave out discounts, giveaways, limited offers, and other features of the usual "sense of urgency" in a product. You can replicate this strategy on TikTok, which is why Snapchat is also a chic TikTok alternative for small businesses.
Try using paid advertisements on Snapchat
The above isn't the only way to find more potential customers for your products. There are chances that many users haven't discovered your business, and one way to get it to them is by using paid advertisement.
Growing your business organically is okay, but you can also do it via paid ads. You only need to decide if you want to use influential marketing or you want to use sponsored ads.
For either, intentionally target users by age, gender, and location. Snapchat is a place for people not more than 35 years old, so your ad must be well-targeted.
Now that you have a specific understanding of how advertising works on Snapchat, be open to trying YouTube.
2. YouTube
YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the internet, making it a befitting TikTok alternative for small businesses. If you're in a super hot niche like fashion, design, video/sound production/editing, marketing, or (insert any other), you can promote your business with ease on YouTube.
Why?
There’s a lot of competition, but the business that understands the algorithm and can create consistent + valuable content wins.
How do you Advertise on Youtube?
Create a YouTube Channel
Your YouTube channel is the central hub for all your content, so you must choose a name and theme consistent with your brand. Just like you'd do with your TikTok username.
For example, don’t use “Lollipop Land” as your YouTube channel name if you own an accounting firm.
You want to choose something that signals professionalism so viewers can easily relate to your brand. It could be "Money Folks" or "Money Watts," depending on your interests and themes.
Through this, you're creating a branded video channel. A branded video channel allows you to showcase all the videos related to your business on one page.
The icing on this cake is nailing consistency. Quality and consistent content is the secret to every channel's growth, and you've got to figure it out.
How can you be consistent with your videos?
First, shift your focus from making money to creating engaging content. This shift means you’re more concerned about:
- Your outreach
- The audience retention percentage of each video, and
- The leads it generates, then the likes the video has.
You can be consistent by uploading new valuable videos regularly
You should also ensure that your content is relevant to your target audience. For example, creating content on developing a software product from scratch is useless to those who just want to use your low-code software to create a custom website for themselves.
Using the keywords people search for is a plus, as it gives your content a chance at gaining visibility. So, knowing what makes your audience tick is a successful way to reach out to them.
Focus on making your videos tell a story
Telling a customer's success story from the before & after perspective will appeal to your potential customers' emotions rather than telling a story about how big your business is. Perhaps, as Hyconn did here.
56% of people love TikTok because they believe brands create “human” content, not content that serves the algorithm’s interest, so you should do the same while advertising on Youtube.
Your content must also educate your viewers, if necessary
Here's what I mean:
You need to create "how to" content if you're in a business where people need solutions for everyday activities. Your content may show them how your company helps them cut through the noise in whatever they're engaged in.
You need to create "how to" content if you're in a business where people need solutions for everyday activities. Your content may show them how your company helps them cut through the noise in whatever they're engaged in.
Doing this will help you cut through the noise on social media, reach potential customers that need you, and generate quality leads with the strategy.
A good way of making your videos accessible to everyone is by using keywords.
Use keywords to optimize your video
Keywords are terms people use while searching for a solution to their problem. When you create a video, use keywords in the title and description.
Optimizing your videos with specific keywords means it’ll be one of the ranking videos when someone searches for the term, which will boost your overall views.
Just like many TikTok contents are. If your videos are insightful and liked, the YouTube algorithm will prioritize your video over other videos on similar topics. It's much better if your audience retention is above 70%, as it shows that your content is captivating enough to be seen from start to finish.
YouTube makes you smarter through these keywords
How?
It's easy to grow your channel if your titles include the specific keywords people are searching for.
For example, if the usual keywords for the topic you created content about are "Business growth," but you titled yours "5 ways to make it in business", you may lose the massive search traffic for "business growth" because you didn't optimize your content for the keyword.
This may not be an issue if you’re already an authority channel on the terms around business growth because the algorithm knows you. But your content won’t rank for such keywords if you’re a new channel because the algorithm doesn't know your (channel's) expertise yet.
Growing your channel involves asking your audience for feedback.
Asking for audience feedback is a great way to know their thoughts about your marketing efforts. It’s like speaking to customers about what to fix in your product or the logistics process. The access to potential customers also makes YouTube a befitting TikTok alternative for small businesses.
You can ask for their opinions via the comments section, video description, or even directly within the video itself.
Here are some ideas:
- Ask for their opinions on what your brand should do next.
- Ask them for the platforms they would use if you didn’t exist.
- Ask them what they'd like to see in your videos.
Asking them these lets you know how to drive growth by creating value for your audience.
Another trick to growing the channel is to engage them in the comment box. Replying to their comments makes them feel seen, and this will promote retention as they'll want to subscribe and see more of you because they're "seen.”
3. Reddit
Reddit lets users share texts, images, and links on different threads (known as subreddits). It also functions as a news aggregator site, amassing 52 million daily active users and 50B+ monthly views.
While this may pale compared to TikTok's outreach, Reddit is a perfect place for you if your target audience is people aged 18 to 29. After all, you'd like to choose a platform where one in three American adults engage as a TikTok alternative for small business advertising.
Here’s How to Advertise on Reddit
Find the right subreddit.
Creating and setting up your account is the first step to advertising on Reddit. But what comes next? Targeting the right subreddit that’s relevant to your business.
You want to choose a subreddit that has a large audience and isn't too active or dead (which will make it hard for you to stand out).
You can create a list of the subreddits you want to engage. You can also decide how often you want to post on these subreddits.
By the way, subreddits are like categories on Reddit. They allow users to focus on a topic of interest rather than join the noise on the platform.
So engaging subreddits means you’re targeting the users relevant to your business activities. And you can maximize Reddit every time you make a blog post. How?
Content repurposing is essential to creating content for the platform without feeling overwhelmed.
So, transform an existing blog content into a post that could live on Reddit. It’s how you'll generate leads in the long term and a helpful way to start building a formidable community, just like you can on TikTok.
Engage with the community.
Engaging the community means you’re also visible outside your posts or brand account.
Reddit is a suitable TikTok alternative for small businesses because you can comment or upvote someone's post just like you can comment or like someone's TikTok video. To engage with your audience, you should:
Post comments on relevant posts in the subreddits. There are subreddits for every niche, as a quick search will show. Check out what Reddit users are talking about and join in the conversation. You can talk about your business in some comments.
Post links to your website, blog, or social media profile in relevant places. However, don't just use these platforms as a vehicle for self-promotion. The best way to get people interested in what you do is by sharing things that they'd like to read themselves.
For example, one of my responsibilities in a content marketing role was to post on Reddit.
I found engaging posts on subreddits and wrote comments on them. Sometimes, I attached naked links to these comments so the users can read more about my opinion from a corresponding topic on "my" company's website.
This led some users to the content, but I didn't stay long in the role to track if the leads converted to customers in the long run. But you get the point:
Commenting on community posts is a way to boost engagement and generate more leads for your business via Reddit.
You can also grow by collaborating with a well-known Redditor
Reddit is a befitting TikTok alternative for small businesses because you can also maximize influential marketing.
If you're new to Reddit, consider asking a well-known Redditor for help strategize with your posts. They have the power to get your content in front of thousands of people and can offer valuable advice about how to get started on the platform.
For example, if you have an e-commerce site that sells baby products and wants to advertise there, it would make sense to ask for advice from someone who talks about babysitting on Reddit.
People like this may even be open to an affiliate marketing arrangement to help post about your product and earn a commission on each sale.
Selling on Reddit isn’t hard, especially if you post at the right time.
Timing is essential when you're posting on Reddit. It's better to post on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays in the morning, according to research. Reddit users are most chatty around 6 AM to 9 AM in the morning, and it's when you can get the most engagement.
Here's a report from Reddit on the best times to post for the most engagement.
However, don't post when many other users post content if you want to get a lot of upvotes. If you want to post during traffic hours (as other users are also posting), ensure the content:
- Has snappy title
- Can deliver on what the title promises in the first three-four sentences/paragraphs
- And it can be really helpful.
This is why you should use snappy titles in your post
A long, rambling headline will not attract the attention of potential customers. A short and descriptive one would.
If you're advertising a video game, use keywords that are relevant to your product or service (like "Warcraft", "Dungeons and Dragons," and any other popular terms) so that people who search those terms on Reddit can find your post, or later, ads.
Treat Redditors like real people rather than potential customers
Redditors are real people interested in what’s beneficial to them while protecting their community's reputation. Instead of focusing on the individual interactions that lead to sales, build a relationship with users so they'll be more likely to remember your brand when they're ready to buy your product or service.
Now, how can you treat them like real people?
Use comments and posts that go beyond mere self-promotion:
Posting helpful content is one way you can engage with users on Reddit. Share information about yourself or your brand that's relevant to the subreddit where you're posting. It's why it's on the list of TikTok alternatives for small businesses.
For example, I wrote comments on Reddit posts about XYZ trends. Someone who needs to scale up can find the post and know the industry trends that could shape their growth. When they realize the value of the XYZ industry trends, they may want to try out the tools that'll make XYZ easier for them in the long run.
And when they realize that the company they've just read from has the XYZ tools, they're more likely to buy if the tool's really good.
This type of marketing tactic, like every other, isn't a short-term strategy. So it'll help if you give out incentives like discounts, bonuses, etc., when someone signs up or purchases your product. You'll convert these visiting readers into customers, but it may take time.
Commenting on the community post without sharing links is another way. Just share something fun and insightful in the comment to build your profile. You can even share people's posts or support through upvotes.
This means you should include links to your website, but sparingly
Reddit is one of the best TikTok alternatives for small businesses because you can directly add a link to your website under posts and comments. Try doing any of these:
Use links only if they're relevant to the discussion. For example, if you're posting about a piece of content on your site that relates directly to something in the Reddit post, you should include a link in your comment/reply.
Don’t just put a link at the end of every post you make; this will be annoying and come off as salesy. Always make intentional efforts to connect them and possibly show why users need to read from your website.
You'd gain more credibility and easily sell if you’re known as a non-salesy Redditor.
Wrap Up
TikTok gives life to your brand, and so do Snapchat, YouTube, and Reddit. You only need to know how to maximize these TikTok alternatives for your small business.
- Snapchat lets you target specific people with the geo-filters and ads
- YouTube maximizes your reach, and you can do videos ranging from YouTube shots to long videos. You can even repost your YouTube shots from TikTok, and it’s great for awareness too.
- Reddit lets you access 50+ million people who may not frequent YouTube, TikTok, or Snapchat.
Trying these platforms out may make you realize their potential for your business. However, I understand that this may be an expensive practice; you don’t need to start with a huge budget. Just dedicate some hours to it, and you’ll see returns on investment if it’s part of your long-term strategy.