MARKETING
15 TikTok Content Ideas for Businesses

Eighty-nine minutes is, inarguably, a long time to spend on an application. However, eighty-nine minutes means that businesses have invaluable opportunities to capture audience attention and generate interest.
If you’re hoping to get in on the action, read on to discover high-quality ideas for content to post on TikTok.
What is TikTok?
As a refresher, TikTok is a social media platform where users can record, edit, and share video content. These videos can be anywhere between 15 seconds to three minutes long, creating ample opportunity for all types of content to take center stage.
What to Post on TikTok
Let’s go over some high-quality ideas and examples of content you can post on TikTok.
1. Day-to-day routine videos.
Daily routine videos give viewers insight into how work happens at your business.
It shares the processes that bring your product or services to life, and it can be a fun way to build a connection through a behind-the-scenes look. If you leverage this tip, it’s a best practice to create a daily routine video that features everyday tasks most related to your business.
Glass Half Full is a small business in Louisiana that diverts glass products from landfills by collecting used glassware and recycling it into sand and glass cullet. It uses TikTok to generate awareness and interest in its business, and the video below demonstrates what a day of glass collection and recycling looks like.
2. Share content that reflects your brand values.
Content that reflects a brand or business’ values performs best on social media and has the 3rd highest ROI of any content type. Customers also care now, more than ever, about the causes that their favorite businesses stand for and use them as a factor in their purchasing decisions.
As such, sharing your brand values on TikTok is a valuable way to connect with your audience. Those who stand for the same causes as you will take notice, and you have the potential to draw them in as a customer.
Ensure that you’re genuine with this practice, though, as consumers see businesses that make false claims as exploitative and opportunistic.
3. Spotlight your employees.
Spotlighting employees puts a face to your brand and shows audiences the people behind the products and services they love. It also humanizes your business and shares an exciting and exclusive peek into your operation.
4. Educate your audience on relevant topics.
You can share information with your audience on TikTok that will educate them on things related to your industry or niche. If you’re committed to always educating and helping, you’ll build authority, and people will return to you as a source of truth to continue learning more.
Jeeves is a dry cleaning service that shares helpful, educational content with its audience. In the video below, an employee explains the importance of separating light and dark colors when doing laundry.
5. Create product campaigns and tease new launches.
Running product campaigns or teasing upcoming launches on TikTok can help you generate excitement. Viewers know that they can expect a big reveal on your page, and they’ll be waiting on the edge of their seats and returning to your profile to see if you’ve released more information.
A pro tip is to combine a product campaign or launch with a related and relevant sound or hashtag to get more visibility from users scrolling through current trends.
6. Share a unique business story.
Sharing a narrative story about your business is an engaging way to connect with your audience, as these videos represent something that they can only find in your business. For example, customer spotlights or success stories, explaining the lifecycle of your products or services, or an exciting story about related industry news all uniquely relate to your business and what you offer.
One of the great things about TikTok is that audiences don’t expect high-production-value from videos, so you can simply generate an idea and turn on the camera and start filming.
7. Answer audience questions.
Answering questions is a great way to connect with your audience and build relationships. TikTokers often ask questions without being prompted, so you can browse your comments and create video replies to questions or leverage TikTok’s native Q&A feature.
A bonus is that answering questions gives you insight into customers’ troubles with your business. If you see the same asks repeatedly, you might learn that you need to update your FAQ page or provide additional information about specific topics on your website.
In the TikTok below, Franziska, founder of Glass Half Full, answers a comment in a video reply about the business’ practices when it comes to throwing products away.
8. Product Demonstrations
Product demonstrations help your audience learn how to use your products in a digestible way. Instead of reading an instruction manual and deciphering pictures or being walked through the process over the phone, they can actually watch someone take the steps and follow along.
9. Partner with relevant influencers.
Influencers have audiences that trust them and their values, so partnering with one related to your niche is a valuable tool for generating brand awareness and building your following on TikTok. These partnerships are also a valuable form of social proof for viewers, which is a big factor in purchasing decisions.
You can leverage this tip and post influencer content to your profile, but you can also have influencers share content on their profiles to expose you to a new audience group.
Small Business TikTok Ideas
As a small business, you may be wondering if it’s worthwhile to create another social media profile on another app.
Considering that 92% of global TikTok users take action after watching a video and are 1.5x more likely to immediately go out and buy something they discovered on the platform, you have the opportunity to really build your brand if you use the app.
The ideas mentioned above are valuable for large and small businesses alike, and you can leverage many of them without a large budget. However, there are specific content ideas that are relevant for small businesses, and we’ll discuss them below.
1. Share your origin story.
Sharing your small business’ unique origin story humanizes your business and helps you connect with your audience. They’ll clearly see how you came to be and why you care about what you offer, and your video can also be a source of inspiration for your followers starting their own business endeavors.
As mentioned before, TikTok viewers don’t demand high production value, so you can tell your story however you see fit.
In the TikTok below, Pierce Woodward explains how his jewelry business, Brand Pierre, began its journey and grew into what it is today.
2. Highlight your production process.
Showing viewers what goes into creating what you offer is exciting because they’ll see how the things they care about come to be. It also shows the hard work, dedication, and care that goes into creating what you offer, demonstrating your commitment to giving value to your customers.
Victoria Adrian is a textile artist who creates custom rugs and embroidery projects. She frequently shares her production process on TikTok, displaying the care and thought that goes into creating her products.
3. Use trending sounds and hashtags.
Using trending sounds and hashtags helps you build brand awareness for your small business as your videos are visible to a broad audience. People browsing through the sound or hashtag will see all of the different videos that were uploaded and have the potential to land on your video, click on your profile, and learn more about what you offer.
4. Duet and stitch videos.
Duets and Stitches are ways to build on existing TikTok videos. With Duets, you add on to another user’s existing video, and with Stitch, you clip specific scenes from another user’s video to add to your video.
As a small business, using these native TikTok features allows you to engage with existing related content and incite conversation with your audience. You can Stitch and Duet videos from anyone on the platform with the feature enabled, so you can even begin conversations with users that may not know you exist.
Jeeves expertly uses the stitch feature to answer audience questions. The video below is a stitch from a video where someone asks how to take care of an item of clothing.
5. Partner with relevant content creators.
Partnering with content creators or influencers helps you gain exposure to a new audience relevant to what your business offers. By working with a content creator, you’re also benefiting from the trust they’ve built with their audience that the products, services, and businesses they work with and use are trustworthy and worth doing business with.
about time coffee in New York City partnered with a group of sisters, sister snacking, who are influencers in the New York Food scene. The business posted the video to its profile, and so did sistersnacking, featuring some of the store’s products to their audience of 147.6K followers.
6. Showcase what makes your business shine.
A great way to get people excited about what your small business offers is to showcase how well you do what you do. This shows viewers exactly what they can expect from you, generating excitement and maybe helping people decide to work with you based on your expertise.
The Pool Guy, Miles Laflin, is a swimming pool engineer in the UK who often posts videos of the pool cleaning process and the effectiveness of his work. He shows a before and after picture that clearly demonstrates how he brings pools from green and swampy to clear and ready for swimming. He shows that he’s good at his job, alerting potential customers he can bring their pool back to life.
Over To You
TikTok was once the app to watch in 2019.
Now, 52% of social media marketers who leverage the app plan to increase their investments in 2022. If you’re hoping to get in on the channel for the first time or improve your presence, the business examples on this list are a great source of inspiration for you to get started.
MARKETING
Comparing Credibility of Custom Chatbots & Live Chat

Addressing customer issues quickly is not merely a strategy to distinguish your brand; it’s an imperative for survival in today’s fiercely competitive marketplace.
Customer frustration can lead to customer churn. That’s precisely why organizations employ various support methods to ensure clients receive timely and adequate assistance whenever they require it.
Nevertheless, selecting the most suitable support channel isn’t always straightforward. Support teams often grapple with the choice between live chat and chatbots.
The automation landscape has transformed how businesses engage with customers, elevating chatbots as a widely embraced support solution. As more companies embrace technology to enhance their customer service, the debate over the credibility of chatbots versus live chat support has gained prominence.
However, customizable chatbot continue to offer a broader scope for personalization and creating their own chatbots.
In this article, we will delve into the world of customer support, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of both chatbots and live chat and how they can influence customer trust. By the end, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of which option may be the best fit for your business.
The Rise of Chatbots
Chatbots have become increasingly prevalent in customer support due to their ability to provide instant responses and cost-effective solutions. These automated systems use artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to engage with customers in real-time, making them a valuable resource for businesses looking to streamline their customer service operations.
Advantages of Chatbots
24/7 Availability
One of the most significant advantages of custom chatbots is their round-the-clock availability. They can respond to customer inquiries at any time, ensuring that customers receive support even outside regular business hours.
Consistency
Custom Chatbots provide consistent responses to frequently asked questions, eliminating the risk of human error or inconsistency in service quality.
Cost-Efficiency
Implementing chatbots can reduce operational costs by automating routine inquiries and allowing human agents to focus on more complex issues.
Scalability
Chatbots can handle multiple customer interactions simultaneously, making them highly scalable as your business grows.
Disadvantages of Chatbots
Limited Understanding
Chatbots may struggle to understand complex or nuanced inquiries, leading to frustration for customers seeking detailed information or support.
Lack of Empathy
Chatbots lack the emotional intelligence and empathy that human agents can provide, making them less suitable for handling sensitive or emotionally charged issues.
Initial Setup Costs
Developing and implementing chatbot technology can be costly, especially for small businesses.
The Role of Live Chat Support
Live chat support, on the other hand, involves real human agents who engage with customers in real-time through text-based conversations. While it may not offer the same level of automation as custom chatbots, live chat support excels in areas where human interaction and empathy are crucial.
Advantages of Live Chat
Human Touch
Live chat support provides a personal touch that chatbots cannot replicate. Human agents can empathize with customers, building a stronger emotional connection.
Complex Issues
For inquiries that require a nuanced understanding or involve complex problem-solving, human agents are better equipped to provide in-depth assistance.
Trust Building
Customers often trust human agents more readily, especially when dealing with sensitive matters or making important decisions.
Adaptability
Human agents can adapt to various customer personalities and communication styles, ensuring a positive experience for diverse customers.
Disadvantages of Live Chat
Limited Availability
Live chat support operates within specified business hours, which may not align with all customer needs, potentially leading to frustration.
Response Time
The speed of response in live chat support can vary depending on agent availability and workload, leading to potential delays in customer assistance.
Costly
Maintaining a live chat support team with trained agents can be expensive, especially for smaller businesses strategically.
Building Customer Trust: The Credibility Factor
When it comes to building customer trust, credibility is paramount. Customers want to feel that they are dealing with a reliable and knowledgeable source. Both customziable chatbots and live chat support can contribute to credibility, but their effectiveness varies in different contexts.
Building Trust with Chatbots
Chatbots can build trust in various ways:
Consistency
Chatbots provide consistent responses, ensuring that customers receive accurate information every time they interact with them.
Quick Responses
Chatbots offer instant responses, which can convey a sense of efficiency and attentiveness.
Data Security
Chatbots can assure customers of their data security through automated privacy policies and compliance statements.
However, custom chatbots may face credibility challenges when dealing with complex issues or highly emotional situations. In such cases, the lack of human empathy and understanding can hinder trust-building efforts.
Building Trust with Live Chat Support
Live chat support, with its human touch, excels at building trust in several ways:
Empathy
Human agents can show empathy by actively listening to customers’ concerns and providing emotional support.
Tailored Solutions
Live chat agents can tailor solutions to individual customer needs, demonstrating a commitment to solving their problems.
Flexibility
Human agents can adapt to changing customer requirements, ensuring a personalized and satisfying experience.
However, live chat support’s limitations, such as availability and potential response times, can sometimes hinder trust-building efforts, especially when customers require immediate assistance.
Finding the Right Balance
The choice between custom chatbots and live chat support is not always binary. Many businesses find success by integrating both options strategically:
Initial Interaction
Use chatbots for initial inquiries, providing quick responses, and gathering essential information. This frees up human agents to handle more complex cases.
Escalation to Live Chat
Implement a seamless escalation process from custom chatbots to live chat support when customer inquiries require a higher level of expertise or personal interaction.
Continuous Improvement
Regularly analyze customer interactions and feedback to refine your custom chatbot’s responses and improve the overall support experience.
Conclusion
In the quest to build customer trust, both chatbots and live chat support have their roles to play. Customizable Chatbots offer efficiency, consistency, and round-the-clock availability, while live chat support provides the human touch, empathy, and adaptability. The key is to strike the right balance, leveraging the strengths of each to create a credible and trustworthy customer support experience. By understanding the unique advantages and disadvantages of both options, businesses can make informed decisions to enhance customer trust and satisfaction in the digital era.
MARKETING
The Rise in Retail Media Networks

As LL Cool J might say, “Don’t call it a comeback. It’s been here for years.”
Paid advertising is alive and growing faster in different forms than any other marketing method.
Magna, a media research firm, and GroupM, a media agency, wrapped the year with their ad industry predictions – expect big growth for digital advertising in 2024, especially with the pending US presidential political season.
But the bigger, more unexpected news comes from the rise in retail media networks – a relative newcomer in the industry.
Watch CMI’s chief strategy advisor Robert Rose explain how these trends could affect marketers or keep reading for his thoughts:
GroupM expects digital advertising revenue in 2023 to conclude with a 5.8% or $889 billion increase – excluding political advertising. Magna believes ad revenue will tick up 5.5% this year and jump 7.2% in 2024. GroupM and Zenith say 2024 will see a more modest 4.8% growth.
Robert says that the feeling of an ad slump and other predictions of advertising’s demise in the modern economy don’t seem to be coming to pass, as paid advertising not only survived 2023 but will thrive in 2024.
What’s a retail media network?
On to the bigger news – the rise of retail media networks. Retail media networks, the smallest segment in these agencies’ and research firms’ evaluation, will be one of the fastest-growing and truly important digital advertising formats in 2024.
GroupM suggests the $119 billion expected to be spent in the networks this year and should grow by a whopping 8.3% in the coming year. Magna estimates $124 billion in ad revenue from retail media networks this year.
“Think about this for a moment. Retail media is now almost a quarter of the total spent on search advertising outside of China,” Robert points out.
You’re not alone if you aren’t familiar with retail media networks. A familiar vernacular in the B2C world, especially the consumer-packaged goods industry, retail media networks are an advertising segment you should now pay attention to.
Retail media networks are advertising platforms within the retailer’s network. It’s search advertising on retailers’ online stores. So, for example, if you spend money to advertise against product keywords on Amazon, Walmart, or Instacart, you use a retail media network.
But these ad-buying networks also exist on other digital media properties, from mini-sites to videos to content marketing hubs. They also exist on location through interactive kiosks and in-store screens. New formats are rising every day.
Retail media networks make sense. Retailers take advantage of their knowledge of customers, where and why they shop, and present offers and content relevant to their interests. The retailer uses their content as a media company would, knowing their customers trust them to provide valuable information.
Think about these 2 things in 2024
That brings Robert to two things he wants you to consider for 2024 and beyond. The first is a question: Why should you consider retail media networks for your products or services?
Advertising works because it connects to the idea of a brand. Retail media networks work deep into the buyer’s journey. They use the consumer’s presence in a store (online or brick-and-mortar) to cross-sell merchandise or become the chosen provider.
For example, Robert might advertise his Content Marketing Strategy book on Amazon’s retail network because he knows his customers seek business books. When they search for “content marketing,” his book would appear first.
However, retail media networks also work well because they create a brand halo effect. Robert might buy an ad for his book in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal because he knows their readers view those media outlets as reputable sources of information. He gains some trust by connecting his book to their media properties.
Smart marketing teams will recognize the power of the halo effect and create brand-level experiences on retail media networks. They will do so not because they seek an immediate customer but because they can connect their brand content experience to a trusted media network like Amazon, Nordstrom, eBay, etc.
The second thing Robert wants you to think about relates to the B2B opportunity. More retail media network opportunities for B2B brands are coming.
You can already buy into content syndication networks such as Netline, Business2Community, and others. But given the astronomical growth, for example, of Amazon’s B2B marketplace ($35 billion in 2023), Robert expects a similar trend of retail media networks to emerge on these types of platforms.
“If I were Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, HubSpot, or any brand with big content platforms, I’d look to monetize them by selling paid sponsorship of content (as advertising or sponsored content) on them,” Robert says.
As you think about creative ways to use your paid advertising spend, consider the retail media networks in 2024.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
AI driving an exponential increase in marketing technology solutions

The martech landscape is expanding and AI is the prime driving force. That’s the topline news from the “Martech 2024” report released today. And, while that will get the headline, the report contains much more.
Since the release of the most recent Martech Landscape in May 2023, 2,042 new marketing technology tools have surfaced, bringing the total to 13,080 — an 18.5% increase. Of those, 1,498 (73%) were AI-based.

“But where did it land?” said Frans Riemersma of Martech Tribe during a joint video conference call with Scott Brinker of ChiefMartec and HubSpot. “And the usual suspect, of course, is content. But the truth is you can build an empire with all the genAI that has been surfacing — and by an empire, I mean, of course, a business.”
Content tools accounted for 34% of all the new AI tools, far ahead of video, the second-place category, which had only 4.85%. U.S. companies were responsible for 61% of these tools — not surprising given that most of the generative AI dynamos, like OpenAI, are based here. Next up was the U.K. at 5.7%, but third place was a big surprise: Iceland — with a population of 373,000 — launched 4.6% of all AI martech tools. That’s significantly ahead of fourth place India (3.5%), whose population is 1.4 billion and which has a significant tech industry.
Dig deeper: 3 ways email marketers should actually use AI
The global development of these tools shows the desire for solutions that natively understand the place they are being used.
“These regional products in their particular country…they’re fantastic,” said Brinker. “They’re loved, and part of it is because they understand the culture, they’ve got the right thing in the language, the support is in that language.”
Now that we’ve looked at the headline stuff, let’s take a deep dive into the fascinating body of the report.
The report: A deeper dive
Marketing technology “is a study in contradictions,” according to Brinker and Riemersma.
In the new report they embrace these contradictions, telling readers that, while they support “discipline and fiscal responsibility” in martech management, failure to innovate might mean “missing out on opportunities for competitive advantage.” By all means, edit your stack meticulously to ensure it meets business value use cases — but sure, spend 5-10% of your time playing with “cool” new tools that don’t yet have a use case. That seems like a lot of time.
Similarly, while you mustn’t be “carried away” by new technology hype cycles, you mustn’t ignore them either. You need to make “deliberate choices” in the realm of technological change, but be agile about implementing them. Be excited by martech innovation, in other words, but be sensible about it.
The growing landscape
Consolidation for the martech space is not in sight, Brinker and Riemersma say. Despite many mergers and acquisitions, and a steadily increasing number of bankruptcies and dissolutions, the exponentially increasing launch of new start-ups powers continuing growth.
It should be observed, of course, that this is almost entirely a cloud-based, subscription-based commercial space. To launch a martech start-up doesn’t require manufacturing, storage and distribution capabilities, or necessarily a workforce; it just requires uploading an app to the cloud. That is surely one reason new start-ups appear at such a startling rate.
Dig deeper: AI ad spending has skyrocketed this year
As the authors admit, “(i)f we measure by revenue and/or install base, the graph of all martech companies is a ‘long tail’ distribution.” What’s more, focus on the 200 or so leading companies in the space and consolidation can certainly be seen.
Long-tail tools are certainly not under-utilized, however. Based on a survey of over 1,000 real-world stacks, the report finds long-tail tools constitute about half of the solutions portfolios — a proportion that has remained fairly consistent since 2017. The authors see long-tail adoption where users perceive feature gaps — or subpar feature performance — in their core solutions.
Composability and aggregation
The other two trends covered in detail in the report are composability and aggregation. In brief, a composable view of a martech stack means seeing it as a collection of features and functions rather than a collection of software products. A composable “architecture” is one where apps, workflows, customer experiences, etc., are developed using features of multiple products to serve a specific use case.
Indeed, some martech vendors are now describing their own offerings as composable, meaning that their proprietary features are designed to be used in tandem with third-party solutions that integrate with them. This is an evolution of the core-suite-plus-app-marketplace framework.
That framework is what Brinker and Riemersma refer to as “vertical aggregation.” “Horizontal aggregation,” they write, is “a newer model” where aggregation of software is seen not around certain business functions (marketing, sales, etc.) but around a layer of the tech stack. An obvious example is the data layer, fed from numerous sources and consumed by a range of applications. They correctly observe that this has been an important trend over the past year.
Build it yourself
Finally, and consistent with Brinker’s long-time advocacy for the citizen developer, the report detects a nascent trend towards teams creating their own software — a trend that will doubtless be accelerated by support from AI.
So far, the apps that are being created internally may be no more than “simple workflows and automations.” But come the day that app development is so democratized that it will be available to a wide range of users, the software will be a “reflection of the way they want their company to operate and the experiences they want to deliver to customers. This will be a powerful dimension for competitive advantage.”
Constantine von Hoffman contributed to this report.
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