Here’s everything you need to know to facilitate sale events on TikTok Shop.
TikTok has become an important platform for businesses across Southeast Asia and the world. Many small businesses have been raving about its popularity because it also gives them another practical avenue for marketing and sales.
In the past couple of years, TikTok has also quickly evolved as a selling platform, where sellers and consumers can interact and facilitate actual sales transactions. The advent of TikTok Shop, a feature of the app, makes this possible. And because millions use the app in the local market, businesses easily enjoy the feast—they just need to catch attention and convince people to their call to action.
While TikTok is continuously evolving and developing its shopping platform, there is so much to be discovered and enjoy in the TikTok Shop. Businesses can take advantage of TikTok Shop sale events that can easily be mounted any time and at no significant cost. Find out why more and more enterprises are venturing into TikTok marketing and live selling.
TikTok Live Selling
When television was still the most popular media platform across the world, TV shopping programs made their way into homes. Back then, shoppers can just get their landline or mobile phones ready to dial the numbers flashed on screen so they can immediately place orders and take advantage of the promo offers (usually hefty price markdowns or special bundle deals) within a period specified.
In the age of popular social networking platforms, TikTok is among the most common venues where online shopping is facilitated—real time or 24/7. The convenient concept of home shopping has truly come a long and interesting way. It has jumped into TikTok.
Once you have set up your own TikTok Shop account (whether as a seller or as a content creator), you can use your creativity and resourcefulness to create and stage your own sale events. One of the easiest ways to mount a sale TikTok Shop consumers can readily access and appreciate is the popular TikTok Live Selling.
TikTok’s own live shopping feature is an effective way to connect with TikTok users (or prospective customers), boost the TikTok account/Shop followers, and ultimately facilitate actual sales. It is almost same as how enterprising individuals are using Facebook Live to sell items (Instagram and even YouTube also have their own live shopping features).
As a TikTok Shop sale event, TikTok Live Selling brings an opportunity to sell products to TikTok audiences in real time and directly through the popular short-video and entertainment app.
How does TikTok Live Selling work?
As mentioned, any TikTok user can use the live-selling feature whether as a Seller or as a Creator. A Seller, or a business/shop owner, is also a Creator especially when he/she creates TikTok content to promote or sell items. Moreover, a Creator may not necessarily be the Seller; he/she may just enter into partnerships or agreements with a Seller to promote or sell products or items using his/her own TikTok account. The Creator can be motivated to do so by the honorarium or commission he/she may receive from the Seller based on their agreed-upon terms.
Presently, a TikTok user must be at least 16 years old and must have no less than 1,000 followers on the app to be eligible to host and run a TikTok Live Selling/Shopping event. The individual must also have a TikTok Shop account to facilitate direct transactions through videos or live sessions.
Live shopping or selling events can easily be facilitated through a TikTok account. During these sessions, the items that are up for sale can be showcased. A button then pops up on the screen every time a product is being featured. The drill is intuitive—viewers can just click on the button to place an order and close the purchase transaction during the so-called ‘livestream.’
However, TikTok Shop live selling is not as easy as it may seem. Sellers and Creators must always remember that their real-time viewers also observe discernment and prudence especially when making decisions to order or purchase online. The power of persuasion is a gift that is not inherent to everyone. But any TikTok user can be creative to be entertaining and engaging to viewers on the app.
How to broadcast live on TikTok
Do you have at least 1,000 followers on TikTok? If you do, going live would not be a problem. Whether you are going live as a Seller or Creator, you can instantly do so by opening the TikTok app on your mobile device. To initiate the live broadcast, just tap the ‘+’ button, which can be found at the bottom-center of the app’s screen.
To go live, scroll down to look for the ‘LIVE’ option. It can be found just below the ‘RECORD’ button. Before completely going live, you would be asked to put a cover image and title to the livestream session. Be creative and effective when doing so. Make the title short but engaging and informative. The title will show up in the notification message of TikTok that will be sent to your followers.
Upon going live, start to relax and be comfortable, as if you are personally conversing with your close friends behind your smartphone. Take note of the ideas discussed above. Have your products ready because you need to demonstrate its use.
How to do TikTok Live Selling
Just like any other endeavor, it would always be advisable to be prepared enough before doing a TikTok live shopping event. Any Seller or Creator should realize that it will not work to immediately press the live button and do the livestream unprepared.
Of course, there are best practices that must be observed when staging a TikTok Shop sale via livestream within the app. First, set the goal loud and clear—the intention is to showcase product/s and initiate instant sales. Second, take care of the basics—check available lighting and the quality of the audio. Third, make the targeted audience aware of the livestream to make sure there would be actual viewers who will watch, appreciate, and hopefully buy the product/s to be featured.
Any TikTok Seller or Creator must first make a workable plan before staging a Live Shopping event. This way, the value of the live session will be clear and would be effective to facilitate actual sale numbers. How to capture attention and interest of live TikTok users in the platform? Here are some helpful ideas.
- Make a product demonstration.
The biggest advantage of TikTok Live Selling over other platforms is that it can facilitate demonstration of how to use products. At the same time, real-time interaction with the live online audience is achieved, making the livestream more interesting and productive.
Consumers’ attention can easily be drawn simply by showing them how products work. Furthermore, the Seller or Creator can give more ideas on how to maximize the use of the item/s being showcased. Thus, if the Live Shopping session promotes and sells a gadget, it would be best to show how that device can improve consumers’ daily living. If clothing is being showcased, the Seller or Creator can simply demonstrate ways to dress up and make the item fashionably work with accessories.
- Answer every question from the audience.
Going on a live session and being interactive means everyone is given the opportunity to ask questions arising from the product demonstration session. The Seller or Creator can expect several questions and the audience would surely appreciate it if every query can be answered in a clear and polite manner.
However, the interactive session can also open the door for bashers and negative commenters. It is always important to keep your cool when dealing with unnecessary comments and annoying questions while on a TikTok Shop sale event. It would help to stick to the end goal, which is to persuade the audience to click the button and make the purchase transaction.
- If possible, invite a guest onboard.
TikTok is unique because it allows users to be more personal. Thus, TikTok Shop Live Selling sessions could use that as an advantage. A Seller or Creator could address the audience more personally, as if talking to a close friend. At times, it also helps to invite a friend or a relative to join you in a livestream to foster the feeling of actually conversing with someone, while people are eavesdropping.
Having another individual onboard during the live session could also be more entertaining and less stressful. Don’t worry about logistics. Thanks to technology and the capabilities of TikTok, a guest can remotely join a Seller or Creator live during the livestream. The special and comfortable rapport can work wonders and make the Live Selling session not just interactive but also cozy while remaining informational.
Advantages of TikTok Live Sale events
As an effective sale event on TikTok Shop, Live Shopping/Selling is always an effective strategy when growing a business on TikTok. The list of benefits is headed by the fact that it can facilitate an instant connection between the Seller/Creator and the audience. As mentioned earlier, the human or personal element during the session easily targets TikTok users. Use the livestream to show how products/services can benefit consumers.
Second, TikTok Live Selling sessions can instantly provide insights about the market. In other words, the livestream can be sufficient in gathering market data. Through interactive, live sessions, a Seller or Creator can immediately determine what the audience is looking for in a product or service. Through the question-and-answer portion, consumers can readily air their pain points so that businesses can quickly make adjustments. This way, TikTok users are given the feeling of being part of the product development process, which can easily endear to them not just the brand and products but also the TikTok Seller/Creator.
Lastly, TikTok Shop sale events and livestreams can also be effective in further growing a TikTok account’s audience or following in the platform. The live sessions could also expose the TikTok Seller or Creator to more people in the popular app. A growing TikTok account following could translate to greater reach and bigger potential for generating sales in the future.
Strategically using #Hashtags during TikTok Shop sale
While at it, there are a few other tools and strategies that could further make a TikTok Shop sale livestream event work wonders. The use of hashtags must not be overruled and underestimated. Just like in other social media platforms, hashtags can also help lead more audience into your TikTok Live session.
Hashtags can help your content or livestream appear in TikTok users who are usually searching for such tags. In the case of TikTok Shop, popular hashtags like #LiveShopping command around 100 million views. Other related hashtags like #LiveShopping and #TikTokShopEvent can also be considered.
Conclusion
Businesses who always aim to be efficient and effective can turn to TikTok for strategic growth. As TikTok continues to grow its user base across the globe, brands can readily use it to reach out to more potential consumers and ultimately to generate actual sales. Having an activated TikTok Shop feature is the key to unlocking many sales prospects using the app.
Let TikTok be a reliable partner for your business. TikTok Shop even paves the way for partnerships with logistics providers, so businesses need not worry and be pressured about taking care of that aspect when selling and finalizing transactions via the app.
Above all, TikTok Sellers and Creators should remember to keep on enjoying the platform. TikTok users are mostly up for fun and entertainment. That would be the basic North Star when creating content and livestream that are meant to create impressions on consumers and persuade them to click the button and make a purchase in the same app. While into it, be sure to have products or services that would be truly appreciated by TikTok users. After all, those items would eventually do much of the talking after.
