Listen Now:

Do you have the TikTok app on your phone? If you don’t, you might think that it’s nothing but silliness and dancing videos… but the truth is, there’s an audience there that’s hungry for the value YOU can provide.

Wave Wyld joins us to discuss how you can get started on TikTok and use it to generate income in your business.

FREE GUIDE: How to Beat The TikTok Algorithm

Follow Wave on Instagram
Watch Wave on TikTok
Join Wave’s Facebook Group

Alyson Lex 0:03
I don't know about you, but I just put tik tok on my phone about two weeks ago. And the reason I waited so long is because I know there's so much good stuff on there, that I could literally spend all day consuming the content, and my productivity would take a hit. I was not wrong that has happened. But there is a part of tik tok that you may not know about. It's not just silly videos, and dancing along with music. There's real actionable content on there, created by business owners just like you just like me. And just like today's guest, who is wave wild, and this is what she does. She is a tick tock marketing expert. I'm thinking she's got a lot more to it. So I'm excited to dive in wave. Thank you for being with us today.

Wave Wyld 0:58
Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure to be here.

Alyson Lex 1:02
So I want to just kind of talk about Tick Tock for a minute, because I admittedly fully don't don't fully understand it yet. But who does it makes sense for?

Wave Wyld 1:14
Yeah, well, tick tock can be for anyone. But considering there's probably a lot of business owners listening, let's talk about Tick Tock for business. So just like you would use Instagram or Facebook to generate leads and make sales, you can do the same for Tick tock, it really is another social media marketing tool. Right. One of the main appeals about Tick Tock is that it is a discoverability based app, because of the nature of the for you page, which is the main feed that you vertically scroll, your content is shown to more than just your followers, you can get a lot of eyeballs on your videos and reach a wider audience. So currently, it does have more organic reach than any other social platform out there. And right, this opposites opportunity to reach more people. And even if you go viral, that means millions of more people. So there's already a lot of service and product based businesses using Tick Tock as their main lead generation source. Right. So the goal is to make content based around your products and services, and drive your traffic to that link in bio just like you do on other social media platforms.

Alyson Lex 2:22
Is there a specific audience that is hanging out the most on Tick Tock that I should be aware of?

Wave Wyld 2:31
Yeah, the audience demographics completely changed during COVID and the pandemic. So there are a much the, let me Sorry, I messed up on that, the audience demographics completely changed during COVID. So there is a larger audience now of older adults, the age group of 25 to 45 has exponentially increased and there really is all ages there's also over 45 over 55 there's grandmas on tik tok. All age demographics are there.

Jennie Wright 3:08
So should we be looking at repurposing the content that we're using on Instagram or sorry that we're using on tik tok and sticking it on our Instagram reels? How can we make sure that you know as a business owner I'm already on Instagram. I'm already on Facebook. I'm already doing LinkedIn. How can I make sure that I'm not having to reinvent the wheel here? Can I take that content and and repurpose it from tik tok to other platforms?

Wave Wyld 3:33
Absolutely. tik tok content works really well on other platforms because short form video is extremely popular. So let's face it, you know both reels, YouTube shorts or copies of tik tok majority of people repurpose their videos to these platforms, whether they remove that watermark or not. So it really does make the sense I'm sorry, it really does make sense to extend the life of your content. You know we are also busy it's crazy to think that you know, we spend this time and energy to make one video and you wouldn't repurpose it elsewhere. So definitely you want to be doing that.

Alyson Lex 4:11
Alright, so we've broached the content conversation. What kind of content should we be creating? What can we really use on like what's popular?

Wave Wyld 4:23
Absolutely. So remember, first of all, this is short form video. So you want to make videos that are educational, or entertainment based in nature that are really snackable and fun to watch. Now, but most business owners are going to be you know what we call educational content creators, because you are going to be posting a lot of values sorry, a lot of videos that offer value, because that's what helps position you as the authority expert. It builds trust and credibility. Now where people get stuck is like what types of videos you should post and how you make these videos. And that's okay because you know, short form video marketing is is so new, it's not something we learned in school. So there's definitely formats of videos that are easy to see by watching and consuming content. But if you're stuck, I also suggest that you use content pillars. This is a common content marketing strategy, where you pick four to six topics or themes of videos that you post about, that are all relatable to your niche. Now, you also definitely want to incorporate trending content that is a really big part of the culture of Tick Tock.

Jennie Wright 5:31
Question for you. So you were talking a second about content pillars? You were talking about creating different kinds of content? What are those different content pillars? What are we what are we looking at doing, especially from the business point of view?

Wave Wyld 5:44
Absolutely. I'll give you an example. So for example, a real estate agent, you know, they're going to make a lot of educational videos, because again, that's what positions them as the authority figure establishes credibility and trust. So maybe that looks like things on things you should be looking for when you are purchasing a new home, that type of content, then, you know, they're also a good idea to play into the trends, like I said before, because these help you grow and showcase personality. Now, the culture of Tick Tock is very light hearted, playful. You know, people like to be silly. So that's where you can use the trends to showcase this other side of you that really creates this connection with your followers, then you might also want to add in some of this inspirational content, you know, maybe sharing a little bit more about your story. Again, tick tock is also a personality driven app, people connect with people. So when you can showcase relatability, and what you have in common will help to grow your audience. Another thing you can be doing is showing the behind the scenes of your business that is very, very popular on Tick tock, you can also be posting promotional content. So there's a lot of different types of pillars.

Alyson Lex 6:56
Do I need to be posting all of the time like, I've followed a couple people? And they have they're working on growing communities, and they're posting like, every day? Is that something I really need to be concerned with?

Wave Wyld 7:10
Yes, so Tick Tock does require a lot of consistency. You do need to post daily when you are a small account, and you're really focused on growth and getting started on the app Tiktok rewards consistency, when they see you're using the app, they will push your content to more people. So that is really scary to a lot of people when they join the app, especially if they don't know how to make short form videos, there is a number of ways that you can make videos quickly. The other thing I want to say is remember that this is short form videos, these do not need to be highly produced or polished. The culture of Tick Tock is all about authenticity. It's all about being in the moment. This is why you see people sitting in their cars making tic tocs. So these are short, quick videos. Again, they're bite sized and snackable. They don't need to be highly produced. So you can make really fast videos on the fly, you can also batch content, there's also multiple other ways that you can make content really quickly. So then it seems less daunting.

Jennie Wright 8:14
Feels, it feels like for me, it feels like it would be a little bit daunting. But I think if I had a content plan to make it work, that would seem incredibly helpful. What do you suggest people do? And I don't want you to give away your trade secrets. Because we all know you actually do this for a living and you sell programs, products and services related to teaching people like myself how to do this. But does it make sense to work with a content plan to kind of plan these things out? Or is it really ad hoc,

Wave Wyld 8:44
it definitely makes sense to have a strategy and to go in with a strategy rather than just posting random videos and seeing what will hit. So the first thing I recommend when joining tik tok is to start doing research, research on the apps. So go into the search tool, search some hashtags that you would use maybe on Instagram, and see what comes up, you know, find other people who are in your industry. See if they are on the app and what they are doing. That's going to give you a good idea of already of like what works and what doesn't work and a part of the culture.

Alyson Lex 9:24
Want to kind of go back to the authenticity thing, because when you were talking about posting daily, I was like, No thanks. And then you realize that you don't have to highly produce it. I was like, Okay, and then I remembered that. A couple minutes ago, we talked about repurposing these videos on other platforms. But does does Instagram have the same personality? other social experts that we've had here on the podcast have said that each platform requires its own content personality, if you will, its own style. How do we repurpose and for everybody?

Wave Wyld 10:00
So I don't necessarily agree with that because it's quite evident when you go on to Instagram reels. The majority of videos you're gonna see are repurposed from Tick Tock like I said, tick tock content works really well on other platforms. However, I would not take you know, content from other platforms and take it to tik tok, because if it doesn't feel native, it won't perform as well. So you know, your videos have to be vertical. Again, it's more, I still see some very curated content on tick us or on Instagram, whereas on Tick Tock that is not very popular and often not going to resonate as much. So again, it's all about being in the moment authentic, real who you are, it's you know, you do not have to have a fancy set, crazy light setups, your hair and makeup all done, I do what I call a lot of talking head videos, talking head videos are very easy to make and fast. All you're doing is delivering information to the camera speaking to the camera, and these videos are 12 to 15 seconds, they only take me a few minutes to make. And then again, yes, I can repurpose all that content to my Facebook, too, you know, either I've sometimes put it on Instagram stories or reels or you know, on my grid, all that type of stuff. So it's a really good way to use Tick Tock and I do know lots of people who are not even focused on growth on the app, but are using Tick Tock and the video editor in the way they make videos to then make videos for all the other social platforms as well.

Jennie Wright 11:35
Those videos, I've been watching your tech doc for a while now. And you did a really cool five day challenge not too long ago, where you were talking about a lot of this stuff. But the videos that you're talking about this the ones with you like an a tiara and like doing, you know, tick tock trends and all these cool really quick videos like they're, they're super short, but they're super informative, I really like those.

Wave Wyld 11:59
Thank you, I focus a lot on value. So definitely you want to be educating something of value. So again, it comes back to knowing what your audience wants, knowing what their pain points are, what they struggle with, so that you can offer that to them. When someone finds value. And when you explain something clearly, and they understand they will follow you. So I'm very, very big on offering a lot of value to build an audience.

Jennie Wright 12:28
I love when people provide value. First of all, that it makes more sense to me, it gives me buy in. If I can provide value, then I'm more into it because I'm sure as heck not going to be the person doing funky dances just so people I see a lot of people using hashtags. So when I'm on that, that main page, I see a lot of hashtags and see people using hashtags. How important is it to use hashtags in your posting strategy on tik tok?

Wave Wyld 12:56
Great question, I get this a lot. So the first thing I want to say is that content is king. I say this a lot. Because what is contained in your videos, the footage that you're shooting the message that you're saying what you're teaching, the story that you're telling those types of things, that is what gets you views, depending on how people engage with it. Things like the time that you post hashtags, using trending sounds, the you know, trending hashtags. Those are what I call strategies. So they're not the, you know, first thing that you should be focusing on, the first thing you should be focusing on is your content. Because nobody, I'm going to tell you, nobody goes viral from using the hashtag, or a certain sound, you know, for that sole reason, it's always your content. Now, when it comes to hashtags, right, they can help boost your views. And I do recommend using them. So three to five hashtags is all you need. And you want to use ones that are relevant to your content. Because the way hashtags work on tik tok is they only do two things. It's very, very simple. The first thing they do is they help tell the algorithm who to show your content to so you want your videos to get to the right people who are interested in them and actually going to watch them, because those are those performance indicators that help get you more views. The second thing they do is they categorize your content. So that's just like Instagram, you can go search a hashtag and watch videos under that hashtag so that they only do those two things.

Alyson Lex 14:32
You mentioned content. And yes, I think you can have really terrible content with a good hashtag. You're not going to go viral.

Wave Wyld 14:42
Absolutely. Yeah. Yes, it's,

Alyson Lex 14:44
that's but so how do you come up with this content? You mentioned 15 seconds. I can't say anything in 15 seconds. Am I tied to that? How do I really figure out what to talk about and how long to talk about it?

Wave Wyld 15:00
You know, that is a general rule to keep your video short, everybody can experiment and see what works for them. But there's definitely ways that you can make your video shorter. And this is what I teach in my courses I go way more in depth because that's the number one thing I hear especially from extroverts. There's like, no way I can say all of that in 15 seconds. Yes, I know. But here's the thing, you do not need to give the full picture in a tick tock video, you know, this is this is just a bite sized, little snackable nugget, right there. It needs to be easy to consume and easy to digest, you can make another video so you know, I often think about the five W's when you go back to grade school, the five W's what, where, who, how, when you can make a piece of you don't need to answer all those questions in one video. And that is a mistake I see a lot of people do. And they're creating these longer videos, 45 seconds to 60 seconds, and nobody is watching because they're just rambling on and giving so much information, just give one little point, just answer one W, the other w that's another video, right? People are going to come back for more you want people to come back for more until like binge your videos

Jennie Wright 16:14
is a good point that you can you just make it a snackable thing. I know I can be pretty verbose. And I always have so many ideas and thoughts that I want to convey. But knowing that I can break it down into multiple videos, which means I can one I can batch my content to definitely create sort of a theme. So I could create like a bunch of videos that have like a similar theme, which I think is great. I love that kind of stuff. So it makes me really happy. Then the last thing we kind of want to ask you has to do with a call to action. How do we get people? How do we drive people to a call to action? How do I create income from this app? How do I make it an ROI in my business?

Wave Wyld 16:55
Whoo, I love this question. You know, call to actions are super, super powerful on Tick tock, you can put them in videos, you can put them in your bio, you can use them when live streaming, there are so many options is there's just so many options. So Tick Tock is really powerful to use as a funnel. And I'm surprised how many people don't know about this, I made a video on Tick Tock about it the other day, because I don't know I talked to business owners and they're not driving traffic through that Lincoln bio. So you definitely want to make videos and use CTAs for whatever your goals are. If you want to get more signups to your lead magnet, you can make a video about that encourage people to go sign up, give them a reason to do that. If you have another community where you continue to nurture your audience, you can be driving traffic there, you can be encouraging people to shop using call to actions based on on that. So you know, it doesn't have to be the same call to action all the time. You know, maybe you want to use a follow up call to action to encourage followers. Maybe another day, you want to encourage people to shop your Etsy store with a discount code, right? call to actions are very common on Tick tock, I suggest experimenting with them and see how they work for you. And avoid saying things like follow for more. Because it's very common, it's very overused, and it doesn't seem to have a lot of impact anymore. Instead, try using a call to action at states of benefit that the viewer is going to get one from following you. I hope that was helpful. It was

Alyson Lex 18:32
I'm I'm laughing at myself because I was just thinking about I was trying to shoot some reels. And I think I got in 20 seconds, which I was so impressed with myself that I was in 20 seconds with my one little tip. And I was like oh I wonder if I can talk just to her faster. So at the end, I can be like follow for more. And then you said don't say follow for more. I was like yeah, I'm really glad.

Wave Wyld 18:58
Yeah, a lot of people will put call to actions at their end at the end of the video. I also don't recommend doing that for a number of reasons. The first one is that you don't know everybody's gonna watch all the way to the end to even hear it or see it in text. The other one is that it is again so common that as soon as you hear it I know I do this I'm guilty of this as soon as I hear the call to action at the end, boom, scroll. Now that two to three seconds, maybe four seconds that it takes to read or or or say the call to action that's going to hurt your watch time when people leave and stop watching your video before the end. So then your video is going to perform not as well. So those are the big reasons why you know, like I say you can put a call to action at the beginning of your video. You can put it you can use stickers. You can use text to say something in the video. You can also try putting it in the captions. And you can also try putting it in your comments that's really popular too. There's a pin comment feature so I encourage people after they post a video, be the first person to comment, try asking a question, maybe put a call to action in there as well. Because people will go there and they will answer the question.

Alyson Lex 20:12
That is awesome. Well, the one thing I am going to do is follow you. And that'll probably tank my productivity for the rest of today while I binge, all of your content. where can our listeners follow you and find you online? Yes, so

Wave Wyld 20:25
it's under my name at wave wild web EWYLD. On tik tok and Instagram are my main platforms.

Jennie Wright 20:35
If you haven't already, you've got a z wave. She's gonna She's like a little bit of a local startup celebrity here in Toronto. She gets on TV, she, you know, she's on the morning shows and stuff like that. So she's one of our local celebs. It's kind of cool to have her on. So thanks so much for doing this, we're going to talk about our quick takeaways. And then we're going to wrap this up. So my first takeaway is that you definitely need to post daily if you're going to commit to this. And that's how you're going to get recognized by the app, so that it puts your content in front of more people. That's just a commitment. You know, if you really want to use the app for what it's for, then you've got to commit, just like anything else. I say consistency is the thing that you have to be doing. You just got to commit to doing it.

Alyson Lex 21:15
Well, my big takeaway is kind of related to that one, and it's that yes, you have to be consistent, but no, you don't have to do your hair and makeup every day. It's totally cool on Tick Tock to come as you are. I really like that because that is my kind of stuff

Jennie Wright 21:32
is definitely that's definitely an Allison and we like her just as she is. So the other thing that I like about this is the content on tik tok can be repurposed. That's the big thing with me, I don't want to have to do 50 times, you know, 50 different videos for 50 different platforms, I just want to do like two or three and have it syndicated wherever I can get it syndicated, that makes my life easier, makes me happy.

Alyson Lex 21:55
And last but not least, you don't have to give the full picture. It is okay to give them one little nugget that's going to pique their interest. Get them curious, and maybe give them a little win. Keep it short. Unlike what I'm able to do. That's all I got.

Jennie Wright 22:14
Thanks wild for doing that. Sorry. Sorry. Thanks wave wild for doing this with us. I want to call you while for being on the podcast with us and talking about Tick Tock. I've loved getting to know you and your content. Over the past couple of months. It's been so much fun.

Wave Wyld 22:28
My pleasure, thank you. Absolutely. And

Jennie Wright 22:31
if you want to make sure that you catch everything that wave is up to head on over and follow her on tik tok and all the other platforms that just find her name. She's everywhere as well as Checkout, how you can connect with her. Honestly, she's got amazing content, and definitely worth your time. We'll also have links to everything in our show notes. So head on over to System to thrive.com to grab those and check out more about wave and tick tock, thanks so much for being here, everybody. We'll be back again soon answering another big question.