KARACHI:

When starting a small business, the initial excitement of creating a product is often overshadowed by the daunting task of marketing it to a wider audience. For many entrepreneurs, the challenge lies in reaching potential customers without breaking the bank. While having a strong marketing budget can provide access to celebrity endorsements and large-scale campaigns, it's not a feasible option for many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

After pouring heart and soul into crafting a product or service, entrepreneurs face the formidable challenge of reaching the people who matter most — their customers. The age-old adage "build it and they will come" rarely applies in today's crowded marketplace, where attention is scarce and competition is fierce.

In today's digital landscape, social media has emerged as a vital marketing tool, offering a platform to connect with the new generation of consumers. However, navigating the ever-changing trends and algorithms of social media can be overwhelming, especially for those without extensive marketing experience.

In Pakistan, a growing market for social media adoption, SMBs face a unique set of challenges. To succeed, they must either invest time and resources into trial-and-error experimentation or seek guidance from social media giants.

Enter TikTok, a rapidly growing digital platform that recently hosted a workshop in Karachi aimed at empowering SMBs in Pakistan. The #GrowWithTikTok Masterclass brought together a diverse group of entrepreneurs, marketers, and business owners, all eager to learn how to harness the power of TikTok to grow their businesses.

How these social media giants are committed to supporting SMBs in Pakistan and worldwide, providing them with the tools and resources needed to thrive in the digital age? The impact on SMBs of the features and initiatives by social media companies like TikTok is huge for them as they also believe this is the need of the hour.

How to be effective?

With the right strategies and insights in place, small businesses can unlock the full potential of social media and achieve remarkable results. But what does it take to be truly effective on the platform? What are the practical tips, best practices, and things to avoid that can help businesses create compelling content, engage with their audience, and drive real business outcomes.

To know the real science behind it we talked to the experts at TikTok who gave sessions at the #GrowWithTikTok workshop. Whether you're just starting out or looking to optimise your existing marketing strategy, getting the actionable guidance on how to maximise your impact, reach new customers, and grow your business on TikTok, is essential.

Faiza Zafar, Partnership Manager, Global Business Solutions, Pakistan at TikTok, emphasises the crucial role of SMBs in driving economic growth and employment generation. "SMBs play a vital role in accelerating economic growth, and are a major contributor to employment generation. Their importance cannot be understated as they account for approximately 90% percent of businesses worldwide,” said Zafar.

To support SMBs in unlocking the opportunities on TikTok, the platform is investing in local businesses through educational workshops, such as the recent one held in Pakistan. "From reaching a wider audience to fostering meaningful customer engagements, TikTok is working to ensure that SMBs are empowered to unlock the opportunities the platform provides for them," Zafar explains.

These initiatives aim to educate SMBs on how to tap into the creativity of the TikTok community, reach new audiences, and optimise their marketing campaigns. Faiza highlights the benefits of digital platforms like TikTok for SMBs, stating, "Tapping into the most extensive and diverse user base, digital platforms such as TikTok are offering local SMBs previously unimaginable access to potential customers."

On TikTok, SMBs can create an authentic brand identity that resonates with customers. Zafar notes, "Our platform is not just a content portal. Here advertisers can make the user's path to online purchases more simple and convenient, as well as help drive traffic to the brand's website and stimulate the brand's app downloads."

To successfully grow their businesses, SMBs can leverage TikTok's advertising options too by tapping into the global marketplace through digital platforms. According to Zafar, "Tapping into the global marketplace through digital platforms is one of the most cost-effective ways in which SMBs can grow their businesses — generating leads and converting interest into customers."

Authenticity is key to resonating with the TikTok audience. Zafar emphasises, "SMBs will especially benefit from utilising platforms like TikTok where marketing is not about having the biggest budget, but about being authentic and matching your content to your brand's identity in a genuine way. By creating content that aligns with their brand's identity, SMBs can establish a rapport with their audience and build targeted opportunities for discovery, awareness, and buzz.”

She added that when content is delivered in a creator's own natural voice, it can drive a stronger engagement rate, since being real is crucial on TikTok; 47% of viewers agreed that creator content on TikTok felt ‘authentic’.

Faiza advises, "When looking for your online audience, it's important to stop thinking about 'who' your audience is and to start thinking about 'what' interests them." By connecting with groups or subcultures that share common beliefs and ideas, brands can transcend demographics and tap into a level of brand affinity and purchasing behaviour that can elevate them to cult status. TikTok's features, such as the For You feed, enable accessibility and a low barrier to entry into these subcultures.

She also shared that the SMBs should prioritise creating content that seamlessly blends into users' edutainment time, rather than disrupting their experience with ads. She notes, "Users don't want to feel like they are being sold a product. By crafting engaging content, brands can build a connection with their audience and drive business results.”

To maximise the impact of their TikTok ad campaigns, SMBs need to understand how to measure their performance effectively. "Understanding analytics is one of the most powerful tools you can have," shares Zafar adding that TikTok offers insights that can help SMBs optimise their videos and refine their strategy.

TikTok's measurement tools, available on Ads Manager, provide deep insights into campaign performance, enabling advertisers to fine-tune their strategies for better engagement and increased ROI. These tools help SMBs understand the effectiveness of different campaign elements across various customer touchpoints.

When creating ads on social media, SMBs often make mistakes that can hinder their success on the platform. According to Zafar, one common mistake is not setting up a brand account with entertaining organic content. "On TikTok, businesses have all the opportunities to start winning the love of the platform's community by setting up a brand account with entertaining organic content," she notes while adding that this helps deliver key messages, drive conversations with the target audience, and demonstrate the product offer without requiring a high budget spend or professional equipment.

She shared that entertaining stories are the key to viewers' hearts. “Four out of five users say TikTok is very or extremely entertaining, and viewers spend 26% longer watching entertaining ads, when compared to ads with low entertainment value,” she shared.

Another mistake SMBs make is not experimenting with trends and creative approaches. "If you have a smartphone, a pinch of creativity and willingness to experiment with trends and creative approaches, you are on the right way to finding the brand's individual voice on the platform," advises Zafar while sharing that 77% of viewers like brands better when they create or participate in trends on TikTok.

Content support

Meanwhile, there are various options to advertise effectively on the social media, as everyone knows that content is king. As Zafar mentioned earlier that making a content that can connect people and be organised can help reach more people. This is where the experts in content comes in to help the creators and businesses and guide them on how to make their content effective.

For this we talked to the Saif Mujahid, Head of Content Operations and Marketing in Pakistan for TikTok, who explained to us about how they help SMBs create effective content on the platform by sharing best practices, platform techniques and showcasing examples/case studies that have been successful on TikTok.

To create engaging and effective short-form content on TikTok, businesses should keep content native to the platform. This means leveraging TikTok trends, using stickers and effects, and making use of other tools that make content more "TikTok-like" in nature. By doing so, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and create content that resonates with the audience.

“From a technical standpoint, businesses should adopt platform-related best practices, such as shooting in 9:16, ensuring good lighting, and following safe zone guidelines and aspect ratios for content optimisation,” shares Mujahid adding that this will help ensure that content is optimised for success on the platform.

He further shared that collaboration is also key. "Familiarise yourself with the creator community. Creators are the backbone of our platform. By partnering with creators, businesses can tap into their expertise and reach new audiences,” he adds.

Talking about the how TikTok's algorithm favor high-quality content from SMBs, Mujahid explained that, on TikTok, high-quality content reigns supreme. “The platform's recommendation system prioritises engaging content, regardless of follower count. SMBs can succeed by creating resonant content that drives longer watch times and higher engagement. When content resonates with users, it's recommended to larger audiences,” he explains.

To make an engaging content on TikTok, the platforms offer multiple options to collaborate with others or continue a chain called stitch, which means you stitch your content with the chain of videos being made.

Mujahid sharing the details of the features that are present on the platform which can be used by SMBs to make their content effective, shared, “SMBs can leverage TikTok's features like Stitch, Duet, and Reactions to engage with their audience more authentically and that is why we encourage business owners to familiarise themselves with these features.”

“They allow SMBs to collaborate with creators, respond to trends, and showcase customer feedback or product reviews, helping to amplify their brand visibility and connect with the community in creative and interactive ways,” Mujahid adds.

At the time when there are tools available, is it important to use them effectively and correctly. Mujahid while highlighting the common mistakes that creators do while making content shared that, “Not using sound, neglecting hashtags, or skipping post-production tools also limits engagement. Additionally, failing to follow Community Guidelines can lead to content being taken down. To improve, SMBs should create vertically-oriented, sound-rich videos, leverage TikTok’s editing tools, and use relevant hashtags to enhance discoverability.”

Mentioning some of the examples of content that use these options and changed their level of engagement, TikTok shared the details of two SMBs. Scents N Stories, the first online perfume store selling designer fragrances in the country. The brand harnesses the power of TikTok to drive incremental sales on their website. As they aimed to assess their TikTok campaigns' impact and measured incremental conversations, the brand utilised In-Feed ads with diverse creatives and a conversion objective, conducting a conversion lift study. As a result, they saw a 66% relative lift on page view, 77% lift on placing online orders. This revealed a significant conversion boost, affirming TikTok's efficacy as a winning brand strategy.

If you go and watch the videos created by Scents n Stories, they usually take a clip that is already viral on social media and then in the continuation of that video they add their own video where they are mentioning the USPs of their products. This makes the viewers to watch the entire video not just once but multiple times and eventually converting some of them into customers.

Another business is Aljannat Sweets. The beloved local sweets shop, wanted to attract a new audience and convert them into prospective customers. Focusing on creative elements, they launched a TikTok campaign which tempted users to make an order by completing a form. The campaign was a resounding success resulting in 8.1M reach in Pakistan and a 4.12% conversion rate.

The success

To illustrate the power of social media in driving business success, we talked to the businesses that have leveraged the platform to achieve remarkable results. From increasing brand awareness and engagement to driving website traffic and sales, these real-life examples demonstrate the impact that platforms like TikTok can have on businesses of all sizes.

As it became more popular, they opened another branch and now owns four branches in the twin cities and will soon open a branch in UK. “TikTok has helped me a lot. Short videos are a lot more attractive than the long format videos. This is the need of today’s generation and we have to adopt what is required,” he said.

Zunair Kamboh, a travel creator, turned his passion into a business after gaining popularity on TikTok. He started by uploading videos of his visits to lesser-known but beautiful areas in the north. In 2021, he leveraged short-form videos on TikTok to share his travel experiences, providing details about each location and the routes he took.

"I show people the reality of these places and what they care about when visiting a new location. I give them a firsthand experience by visiting these places myself," Kamboh explained, emphasising the importance of authentic content that resonates with his audience.

As his following grew, people began asking him to take them to these places, inspiring him to start his travel agency, "Travel with Zunair." With his infectious sense of humour, Kamboh's trips became enjoyable experiences for his clients. He continued to create content and grow his business, eventually making it popular enough to expand further. Keeping in mind that TikTok is an entertainment app Zunair don’t miss a chance to make his videos full of humor and entertainment to attract the users, and no has more than 5 million followers on the platform.

Bilal Munir, aka Video Wali Sarkar, a seasoned creator, ventured into the tech accessories business by importing products from China and selling them through his platform, Samaan.pk. Initially, he utilised his YouTube channel to promote and sell these items.

Munir shared a story about a product, the ‘Temperature Ring,’ which he struggled to sell. With a surplus stock, he decided to post a short video about it on TikTok, despite initial skepticism about the platform's effectiveness. "I thought TikTok followers were fake, as I had worked hard to gain my YouTube following over years, while TikTok creators seemed to gain followers quickly," he admitted.

However, after posting the video, the stock sold out within days, revealing to Munir the true potential of TikTok's audience. "I had no plan to join TikTok, thinking it was just for lip-syncing and entertainment. But now, I realise that real buyers are here," he said. Today, Bilal boasts over 700,000 followers and 18.4 million likes on his TikTok videos, a testament to the platform's power in driving business success.

In today’s digital landscape, platforms like TikTok are redefining how SMBs connect with their audience. The success stories of Scents N Stories, Aljannat Sweets, Zunair Kamboh, and Bilal Munir illustrate how TikTok’s creative tools and vast user base can empower SMBs to reach new customers and build genuine relationships. By embracing authenticity, leveraging trends, and using data-driven strategies, these businesses have turned the platform into a powerful marketing tool.

TikTok's potential for SMBs goes beyond entertainment—it's about creating engaging content that resonates and drives real business growth. For entrepreneurs ready to adapt, experiment, and connect, TikTok offers limitless opportunities to thrive in a competitive market. As more businesses tap into this platform, TikTok is emerging as a vital space where creativity meets commerce, allowing SMBs to amplify their reach and impact globally.