Using TikTok for Your Local Business

TikTok favors authentic, entertaining, or genuinely useful short-form video over polished promotional content — businesses willing to show personality and be a bit informal tend to perform better than ones trying to replicate a corporate tone. If that style doesn't fit your brand, the platform may not be worth the investment relative to others.

Behind-the-scenes footage, quick tips genuinely useful to your audience, and authentic customer interactions tend to outperform polished, ad-like content on TikTok specifically — the platform's audience actively favors content that doesn't feel like traditional advertising.

TikTok content doesn't require professional production — a phone camera and good, natural lighting is sufficient, and often preferred over an overly polished look that reads as inauthentic on this specific platform.

Content created for TikTok can generally be repurposed to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts with minimal adjustment (see our content repurposing guide), extending the value of each piece of content across multiple short-form video platforms.