TikTok and the power of Live Shopping

As technology advances, so does the way in which we should approach business.

In the last few years, TikTok has rising in the ranks to compete with the big boys of social media. And in recent months live shopping has taking off at a running speed on the app.

Whilst it is possible to still host a live event on either instagram or Facebook, the ease of ordering items whilst still interacting within the live shop is a massive pull for millions of viewers.

And with endless possibilities of how to engage your viewers, we see no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

What is a Live Shop?

A live shop is where, within the app you can view creators hosting live footage. Now this does range in context quite a bit. Many creators enjoy simply interacting with their audience through general chat or live streaming what they are currently doing (as in what they are making or packing orders in the background), while other creators are there as a fully fledged host.

A successful live shop is one that suits your brand and cleverly uses the live shop extras to their advantage.

What do we recommend to start with?

If it's your first time, keep it simple!

Introduce new product launches and have a few exclusive items available for them to order. Make the live shop primarily about those items. Talk about them & show then what customers have just ordered.

Seriously, your customers will love to see their order being packaged.

Encourage your viewers to like the live by tapping their screens continuously. They will be able to see the likes grow in the top left hand corner. Make it an incentive for them to keep increasing this number. Tell them once you hit X amounts of likes you'll be adding a new item or giving away a prize.

Set it for a limited amount of time, for example... 1-2 hours. This will create urgency for your customers to make sure they are there for it. But also it's good to remember that if you are hosting, you need to be on it for those full 2 hours, don't underestimate how energy sapping this can be. So look after yourself.

How will people know about it?

Tell them!!

Use all of your social media platforms to talk about the live. We recommend starting to do this up to one week prior to the live, but no later than 2 days beforehand.

And remind them. Your customers are busy people, gently remind them with videos and photos of you getting ready for it. Show them how excited you are, and maybe how nervous you are too. You are human after-all, so there's really no harm showing this side of you. 

Comments

You hope that everyone viewing and taking part will be with you in a positive way and not only order your products but contribute to discussions within the comments, which you can then engage with.

However there are always going to be internet trolls out there, that make it their mission to destroy all of your hard work. You need to be prepared for these types of people. They will tend to stick out like a sore thumb and be very negative and derogative.

Our advise is to simply ignore them. We recommend asking a friend to be a moderator. They can be assigned as a moderator within your TikTok account. And their job is to simply to block the all of the nasties. It works and will create a safe and fun place for everyone else taking place.

Summary

Start with a little research, watch other creators live shops. Make notes of what you enjoyed about them.

Create an exclusive product or introduce a game that customers can only take part in during the live.

Keep it simple. This is not only for your benefit, but also your customers. If your live is confusing, viewers will scroll on to the next one.

SHOUT ABOUT IT!! Tell your customers in advance of when it will be. And stick to it. 

Get yourself a moderator. Think of them as in charge of the "naughty & nice" list. All the naughty boys and girls get booted out. Simple!

But most importantly... HAVE FUN!! If you appear to be enjoying yourself, your customers WILL want to be part of that. Have a laugh and be silly and engage with comments, this is a chance to show the person behind all of the hard work.