How I use TikTok as a small business owner - Amy Keen of Peachy Keen Art and Illustrations

1. Hi Amy, please tell us a bit about you and your business.

My business, Peachy Keen, started as a pandemic-driven side hustle. I started drawing some doodles for a scrapbook that I intended to fill with travel photos, but alas, COVID meant the trip itself never happened.

However, once I started drawing I found it to be really relaxing and as lockdown rolled around, it was a good way to relieve some stress and pass some time! It gathered pace and I started drawing constantly and experimenting with style. I didn’t really want to share with the world (well, not the people I knew) - so I went where, at the time, I didn’t know anyone - enter Tiktok.

2. What role has TikTok played in the marketing of your business?

The idea was actually never to start a business, but TikTok changed that for me fairly quickly. I started to build a community (albeit small) - but I had regular comments from some people and because of what I like to draw (pop culture portraits) - I found a little niche community of nerds like me, and they started asking if I would ever consider selling them!

TikTok is entirely responsible for my decision to sell art and it has almost single-handedly driven any awareness and sales to date. People found me there and then stayed with me, started tagging their friends in things I had created and more people joined in! The algorithm on TikTok and general approach to content (less polished, more relatable) makes it the ideal platform for people who don’t want to curate content for hours and hours. Some people do, and it works for them on a bigger scale, as they are rewarded for that with more views etc, but I have more than enough of an audience for what’s essentially an accidental business. I love to draw and I’d be doing it anyway, so TikTok helped me turn that into another income stream without a huge investment of time or money.

3. Do you use other social media platforms to promote your business, if so which? And how do they compare with TikTok in terms of engagement, time commitments and other metrics like website visits and sales?

I also use Instagram for my art, it seems I should as it’s a heavily visual platform, but I find it pretty painful in comparison to TikTok. Ask any creative person, the Instagram algorithm is hard for us to get a handle on; engagement is much harder to get, follower growth is slower. I apply pretty much the same principles to both (wrongly I know, as they are different), but TikTok delivers significantly more and I think the appeal of the aforementioned lack of necessity to polish everything and make it perfect, makes both content creators and consumers happier on TikTok.

The ‘For You’ feed on TikTok delivers much more relevant content than anything Instagram has ever shown me. In the interests of fairness, I would say that I have had some sales through Instagram, but of the sales I’ve made, I would approximate that about 75 per cent I can trace back to TikTok followers or conversations I have had with users on there.

4. What do you like most about using TikTok for your business?

One of the things I like most about using TikTok for my business is that it really is an audience of ‘real consumers’, by that I mean people interested in seeing, and sometimes buying! Both are just as important. I don’t use it to communicate with family or friends, it’s purely an outlet for my creativity, and sometimes silliness (which I am more inclined to do because I know less people there). Everything about the way people use it, I love. An app has never inspired me more, or made me laugh more - it’s the God tier social media app I think!

5. Are there any challenges you face using TikTok for business?

In terms of challenges, there are not really any that I think are created by TikTok - I know I could increase my engagement with more regular posts, I have access to the analytics I need to manage my content. The main challenge is getting off the app when I should be sleeping!

6. What advice would you give to other small business owners wondering about utilising TikTok for themselves?

My advice to anyone concerned or reluctant to start using TikTok is to try - it isn’t just for kids and dances, there is genuinely a side of TikTok for every interest and the app makes finding those people much easier than you think.

Be prepared to be consistent, though how consistent is up to you and your resources….I post pretty much daily, but only once, there’s a general understanding that the best/most successful accounts post similar times or at least three times a day, but that isn’t so crucial for my type of business.

7. Do you think TikTok is a passing trend, or is it here to stay as one of your marketing tools?

Is it a passing trend? I doubt it. It’s already showing huge influence on the marketing activity of major brands, in mainstream media - tapping into current TikTok trends both on and outside of the app.

While the momentum may well slow, as it often does with these things, I think there will be a fondness for it that the other social channels lack, owing to its seemingly pivotal role in keeping people laughing through the pandemic and the quite dramatic way is seems to filter into real life - such as food trends (feta selling out) etc! I think it’s here to stay and I’m excited to see how it develops.

You can discover Amy’s incredible range of work on her website, or check out her TikTok to stay up to date with her latest videos.

If you’re looking for guidance on how you can use TikTok as a part of your social media strategy, get in touch today. We offer a full range of TikTok marketing services and can help you discover new audiences through this growing platform!