Ask a Square Champion Anything: Candid Experiences on TikTok & Social Media

[Tom]

Hello Seller Community!

Looking to learn from business owners like yourself? I'm thrilled to introduce a new pilot event series: Square Champion "Ask Me Anythings (AMAs)." 

Square Champion AMAs are “Ask Me Anything” style forum discussions where you can ask real-life business owners and experts about their strategy and lived experiences. Each event will feature a different Square Square Champion  and have an accompanying theme where they're knowledgeable. On Tuesday, February 7, we focused on TikTok and social media with Sugar Lab Bake Shop.📱

Meet Ali, the biologist-turned-owner of Sugar Lab Bake Shop (@sugarlab in the Seller Community). Ali and her mother have been in business since April 2012. They've found success promoting and managing their business marketing on TikTok over the last few years — with multiple viral posts reaching millions of viewers! Learn more about how they started their business here. 🧪🍰

Ali shared her experience and shared her tips for getting started, maintaining relationships, and social media strategy.

Please note that Sugar Lab Bake Shop is not an employee or consultant of Square. The information they provide solely reflects their views and is not endorsed by Square. This Q&A is limited in scope and is only intended as a high-level overview of the topics discussed.

[sugarlab]

Hi @sugaralamode,

That is an ever changing question! The algorithm is always changing. Some videos do well and some don’t. I try to use hashtags for my area, for what I’m doing, and for who I want to see that video. TikTok really is the wild west and I’m amazed at times what does well and what doesn’t. Of course what works for me might not work for you. I recommend just starting somewhere; post content that you like making as it will be the most authentic. Then play around with different styles.

[dinacooke]

How do you get started with social media. We have created over 500 videos and posted them but the view are low (200ish). We are trying to get our service out there and it is exhausting creating a bunch of videos and have such low views. We have googled, constantly looking for the answer, we have tried a variety of "strategies" but have not moved much in our views or followers. We are an online service only, no physical product to sell. It would be great to get helpful information on how to start.  Thank you 

Dina Cooke & Lisa Oldson, MD

SmartWeightLossCoaching.com

[sugarlab]

Hi @dinacooke,

I know it can be so frustrating to not have much engagement. I will come across super talented people that have low views. And then some people with not as many skills with hundreds of thousands of followers and views. I would take a look at your videos format. Are they all the same type of content (educational, behind the scenes, selling the service, etc)? How are you trying to connect with the audience? Who are you talking to in your videos? Try to get super clear on what you want to do with social media (and not just a certain number of followers or views) and that can help inform what you do more of.

[cfmwebmedia]

Hey Tom! Congrats on your tremendous journey and success! We just started a luxury scented candle and home fragrance company. It's an industry that boomed post-pandemic with more people working from home and wanting to create workspace like atmospheres at home while also keeping the "homie-vibe". We have experience in traditional marketing but have found it very challenging to breakthrough on TikTok organically. We're trying to avoid buying users as this never works. We're also holding off on spending significant capital on paid ads till we can build up our organic following. 

Question is, what types of content work best (given what we're selling) to create a following and get users to click our site link with purchases as the main objective? 

Thanks and wishing you continued success, Tom! - Chloe🕯

[sugarlab]

Hi Chloe (@cfmwebmedia)! Thanks so much. I know you mentioned Tom but pretty sure you meant me. HEHE. Tom just posted the my intro for the community.

Oh candletok is huge! I see so many different candle companies on tiktok. People seem to love process videos on there. Can you show pouring candles? Can you talk about different fragrances and how they can put you in the right mood. I would check out some other candle companies on TikTok and see what has high views and engagement for them. Packaging videos also seem to do well. If you’re only talking about “hey here’s my product, go buy it” people are going to recognize that. You want to sell without selling; if that makes sense.

[droidbaker]

Looking forward to it

[3DHQ]

- how much time do you spend on any one post on the average?

- do you have templates now or still create ad hoc content?

- how important is the use of hashtags in TikTok? Is it similar to IG?

- did you have to follow a bunch of accounts in order to gather followers at first?

- how much does use of music affect getting likes and followers? and do you use your own music or TikTok library?

[sugarlab]

Hello @3DHQ,

I record nearly everything I make. Sometimes that will be a cookie that takes me a couple of minutes, or a cake that takes me 3 hours. So editing that video can take 15 minutes or an hour. I’ve gotten pretty fast at figuring out how I want to break up the video or speed it up. I don’t have a specific template, more a formate. I typically do timelapse videos with a voiceover. It’s not all of my videos, but the vast majority.

Hashtags are important, but also the words on the video are searchable too. Think about TikTok as a search engine. Use words that you would think people may use to search for that kind of content.

I didn’t follow a lot to get the followers. I was just following accounts that I wanted to see more of and most of them aren’t in my industry. I certainly have seen accounts following very few accounts, but those are usually celebrities or large brands. I try to use my account to engage with other businesses, especially ones in my industry to help create that community. Then when I’m live, I’l see some of those companies and we can continue that connection.

For my content, music is more of a background for me. Sometimes it makes sense with the content, but it’s more just for background purposes. It just depends on the content; some people use sounds and music specifically for trend videos or to try to get views. I have used trending sounds but that doesn’t automatically equal views.

[3DHQ]

Wow! You are literally answering each and every question! That's really super nice of you! Thank you for ALL the answers and guidances and all the best to you! BTW, we do 3D Printed figurine replicas of people, a lot of couples buy them for their wedding cake toppers! If you are interested, maybe we can collaborate! Cheers

[freedom777]

How consistently should I post on my business TikTok? And are there any optimal times? 

[sugarlab]

I haven’t found optimal times like I did in the past with Instagram. I think the big word is consistency; if that looks like once a day for you - great. If you can only manage to post once a week, then that’s ok too.

[Bakergal]

How do I access the tips or presentation?

[Bakergal]

Could you please help with accessing the webinar or presentation?  Thank you!

[Tom]

Hi @Bakergal and @meekitsweet, thanks for reaching out! The answers will be given out in writing within this thread. Keep watch for replies and a Best Answer summary from @sugarlab — thanks for your patience. 🙏🏻

[sugarlab · Accepted solution]

I hope this was informative and inspired you to join TikTok if you haven't already. I think the biggest take away from this is that you should have fun! TikTok and its users really like connecting with your authentic self. It'll also be much easier to be you than to be someone else. Use it a bit just as a user and then make your first post! Rip off that bandaid! I'd love to see what you post so feel free to tag me (@ali.sugarlab) so I can give you some love too. 

And of course, if this all feels way to overwhelming, don't do it. Either find someone on your team that can run an account for you or just don't worry about it. Don't let this be another thing on your to-do list that just stays there and never gets checked off. 

If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a message. I'd be happy to help! 

With love and sprinkles, 

Ali