TikTok: What Is It and Is It for You?

It feels like all I hear about on the news and online lately is “TikTok”. They even had a Super Bowl ad. But what in the heck IS TikTok? Is it important to your business?

TikTok Super Bowl Ad 2020

First, some background info:

TikTok is (just) another Social Media platform much like Instagram, Facebook and all the others. Just a different formulation. It is video sharing; TikToks allows you to create a short video of 3-15 seconds or looping videos of 3-60 seconds. You can add music and fun icons and super cool effects. Adding the music leads to a lot of fun lip synching (who knew that would come back already!) They SAY it is for everyone because the app is so easy to use.

TikTok is owned by a company called BrytDance, which is in Beijing and was founded in 2012. 2017 was the first launch of apps for mobile phones. It was the most downloaded app in 2018! Some nitty-gritty details at Wikipedia if you are into that stuff:

My TikTok Experience

Now, for the test drive. But first a confession – my test drive was in September of 2019. And then I let this idea sit until now, when TikTok seems even MORE popular than it was. My pause in this test (although inadvertent) has been beneficial though, which I will elaborate on later.

So, back in September, 2019, I set up a TikTok account – setting up a TikTok account is much like setting up any other account or Social Media profile online. Nothing new here. Login, password, set an Avatar all that fun stuff.

Then what?

I started searching and scrolling and linking and following. Then I made a couple videos.

I admit here that making the videos could be HIGHLY addictive. You do it all on your phone and there are tons of really fun things you can do. I would imagine if you spent enough time on here you could get really great at it (much like some of what I see now, in 2020).

That was fun, right?. And I started getting people following me and it was fun for a little bit. But 90% of what I found on TikTok appeared to be teens or 20’s doing some dance moves, or selfie-type things. Some of them were actually a bit disturbing and made me wonder about what sort of society we are going to wind up with when these folks are adults in the world. Eventually I just got tired of it and stopped using it. I don’t need another social media outlet and this was of absolutely no use to me at all except to waste time of which I don’t need any more opportunities.

And now it is February, 2020.  Five months later. And I went back into TikTok when I decided I needed to finally write this article. It has changed SO MUCH. I think now the majority of what I saw were much more professional videos and more and more and MORE “business” type videos. Athletes, TV Shows, Movies, Actors, Musicians… I was really startled. There did still seem to be the occasional tween doing some dance which was pointless (to me anyway), but not as much by far.

This makes me wonder if the TikTok craze will soon die, as it has changed so much in just five months?

But does my business need to be on TikTok?

If you are a Gary V fan, you’ve been hearing about TikTok for AGES now. He is where I heard of it and why I decided to investigate it. Gary V says any form of communication your business can have it SHOULD have.

The charismatic Gary Vaynerchuk has wise words

Of course, not all of us have the time to post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, SnapChat, YouTube, whatever else, and now TikTok. It really is what works for YOUR business. The age range on TikTok seems to currently be under 18 – perhaps that is growing… But, if your business has nothing to do with 18 & under then perhaps it isn’t for you. TikTok IS growing by leaps and bounds, and some people think it is going to be link Instagram. Instgram started the same way; the kids were using it. Some people jumped in early and had a lot of success and now everyone is on it, and success varies.

Conclusion:

For myself, personally, I don’t need yet another Social Media channel. I don’t even like Stories because it is just one more place I have to look! So I won’t likely be continuing on TikTok. If my business was something I felt could make some headway via TikTok, I might set up a business account to give it a try. I think I will go back in a few more months to see what the landscape looks like and review again.

About Digital-Melissa: I am a veteran of all things internet, located in Rhinelander, WI. 20 years in eCommerce with everything from design to copy, social media, marketing, project management, website help & management plus more. Contact me today if you’d like to talk about how I could help your business.

Do You Need Website Help?

If you are like many business owners, you launched your website back in the day, got busy, and now almost never touch it. Or, if you do, it takes too long because you have to contact your IT person to do it. You WANT to update your website, but you need help. You’d even like to update your website seasonally or even more often. Maybe you’d like to post some informational articles, or update your “About Us” page with new employees. Maybe your business looks completely different today and you need new photography put on your site. But you just do not have the TIME or knowledge to do it.

This is where I can help update your website. With over 20 years of experience online working on websites, social media, email and more – I can figure just about any website out and help you update it. In fact, I can update it so it is looks like it belongs in 2020 (and not 2010), is secure, SEO optimized and EASY to update. I will even show you how to update it on your own, and provide a step-by-step guide along with continued support.

I built my first website in 1997 while in college at Michigan State University. We were one of the first graphic design classes to work primarily on HTML and website work! “E-Mail” had just launched when I started at Michigan State! My website was pure text and featured “blinking” headlines. I got a 4.0 in that course. Oh how time has flown since then!

Drs. Foster and Smith logos
Drs. Foster and Smith through the years

When I started as a web designer for Drs. Foster and Smith Pet Supplies in Rhinelander, WI in 1999, our website was just a few pages. Each week would we add maybe five product pages and it was a huge effort! Fast forward to 2019 where updates happen continuously, on-demand, whenever needed. I experienced the evolution of online shopping and it was such a fun ride! And all those years of experience (I worked on 3-4 websites continuously at DFS along with the WordPress blog) led me to where I am today: a quick thinking, superb researcher and problem solver, packaged with 20 years of website design experience and endless hours on Photoshop. A true web guru here to help.

Let me know if you need some help with your website – I offer a free consultation. No fee to just chat and see if we can help each other out. It doesn’t matter if you are located in the Rhinelander area, or in a differnet part of the country or planet – I can help.

About Digital-Melissa: I am a veteran of all things internet, located in Rhinelander, WI. 20 years in eCommerce with everything from design to copy, social media, marketing, project management, website help & management plus more. Contact me today if you’d like to talk about how I could help your business.

BrixStone Farms Website Launch

BrixStone Farms Logo

BrixStone Farms is an established orchard located in northern lower Michigan that was recently bought by a new owner, Keaton Foster. Keaton was looking to bring BrixStone Farms into the future and first thing he needed to do was launch a website. I was happy to help!

We communicated primarily over email as Keaton is located in Michigan and I’m in Wisconsin – this was not a concern as it is so easy to communicate with anybody across the country (or world) nowadays! There are so many tools like email, video chat and the plain old phone or email. After some initial consultation, we outlined the handful of pages needed for BrixStone’s website, and settled on a timeline.

Our process looked something like this:

  • Consultation and information gathering
    • This is where we discussed what Keaton’s vision was, gathered copy, and I researched other similar websites
  • Install WordPress
  • Set up SSL (secure server)
  • Point domains
  • Select design/theme/layout
  • Ensure mobile-friendly
  • Set up pages
  • Search engine optimize all copy and images
  • Review
  • Install site map – last step and the “Go Live” for this particular project
    • This was saved for last, as the site was techincally “live” from the initial install of WordPress, unlike other existing sites. We wanted to ensure the site was 100% SEO ready before submitting the site map

After locking down the domains needed, I set up WordPress on the main domain, and pointed the others to that domain and set about installation. From there, I gathered a number of themes/designs/layouts in WordPress to try to identify the final design. After a bit of back and forth, we landed on one that worked perfect for BrixStone. If you are curious, we utilized the Avada Theme from ThemeForest which is nearly 100% customizable and I love to use!

The logo and photography was provided by Keaton, and I set about importing and setting up the pages. Most important with this initial website launch was to ensure all the pages and images were SEO friendly. We were very careful with all of the copy and images to ensure top SEO quality. Another important factor was to ensure the site was mobile friendly, and of course, secure. One of the best parts about WordPress is that these two items are easily addrssed and implemented!

We had some back and forth with copy edits and images, all of which are easy to implement and address with WordPress. In the end it took about 2 weeks to get the site set up and approved by all. Last step on this project was to submit the site map to Google Analytics to ensure we had everything nailed down before too much search engine activity began. We also, at this point, submitted BrixStone location to both Google and Bing maps, which is important for local search traffic.

I’m happy to say BrixStone Farms website is popping up #1 or #2 on applicable searches, and the site looks amazing! Keaton was great to work with.

Recommendation from Keaton:
“Working with Melissa was a pleasure, we built our full site in only a few short weeks. Throughout the buildout Melissa was very responsive and informative when dealing with my questions and concerns. Together, we were able to create a beautiful site that conveyed wonderful experiences. I would suggest Melissa to anyone looking to build a site from scratch or revamp an existing platform, she is proficient in web marketing and SEO optimization. 10/10! ” – Keaton Foster, Owner BrixStone Farms

BrixStone Farms Freshly Built and Launched Website

About Digital-Melissa: I am a veteran of all things internet, located in Rhinelander, WI. 20 years in eCommerce with everything from design to copy, social media, marketing, project management, website help & management plus more. Contact me today if you’d like to talk about how I could help your business.