9 Killer TikTok Marketing Strategies For A Business In 2024

Let me be real with you—when I first downloaded TikTok back in 2021, I thought it was just teenagers dancing. Fast forward to 2025, and it’s become the engine that drives my blog traffic and affiliate revenue. I’ve gone from zero to 50,000 followers in 18 months, and my small business pals? They’re seeing 300-500% sales boosts by getting this platform right.

The game changed big time in 2025. TikTok isn’t just trending dances anymore—it’s a full-blown search engine, shopping mall, and community builder rolled into one. If you’re still treating it like 2024, you’re leaving money on the table. These 9 TikTok marketing strategies for business growth in 2025 are what I’m using right now, and they work whether you’re selling handmade jewelry or SaaS software.

2025 TikTok Algorithm Changes: What Actually Matters Now

The July 2025 algorithm update flipped everything on its head. TikTok now prioritizes search as a primary discovery engine—meaning 40% of Gen Z starts their product searches on TikTok instead of Google. Your videos are being indexed like blog posts.​

Key ranking factors that matter in 2025:

  • Watch time: Not just views—how long people actually watch. My 60-second tutorials outperform 15-second clips because people stick around.

  • Shares and saves: These are gold now. I ask viewers “Save this for your next product launch” and my save rate jumped 200%.

  • Keyword recognition: TikTok listens to what you SAY, not just your captions. I literally speak my target keywords in the first 3 seconds.

  • Slideshow/carousel format: Multi-slide videos (7-10 slides) get 2.5x more engagement than single clips. Each slide can rank for different keywords.​

  • Geo & community signals: Local businesses—this is your moment. TikTok shows your content to nearby users first.

TikTok Shop integration became seamless in 2025. You can now tag products directly in videos, and the checkout happens without leaving the app. My friend’s jewelry shop went from 10 orders/month to 150 orders/month after adding Shop features.​

Series feature lets you create long-form content (up to 20 minutes) split into episodes. I’m using it for coding tutorials—each episode gets 3x the watch time of my standalone videos.​

Strategy 1: Trending Hashtags (But Smarter)

Everyone says “use trending hashtags”—but here’s how I actually do it in 2025.

Step-by-step implementation:

  1. Research tools I use: TikTok Creative Center (free), Analisa.io (paid, $20/month), and good old search bar auto-suggest. I spend 10 minutes every morning checking what’s trending in my niche.

  2. Mix hashtag sizes: 1-2 mega hashtags (#SmallBusiness = 50B views), 3-5 medium (#HandmadeJewelry = 500M views), and 3-5 niche (#WireWrapping = 5M views). This combo gets you both reach and targeted viewers.

  3. Timing is everything: I post hashtags in the first comment within 5 minutes of publishing. TikTok’s crawler indexes it faster.

  4. Volume matters: I aim for 8-12 total hashtags. More looks spammy, less leaves discoverability on the table.

Pro tip: Create a branded hashtag for your business. I use #TechiesTimesTips. It’s got 200k uses now, and I can track every mention.

Strategy 2: User-Generated Content (The Legal Way)

UGC is pure gold—when done right. I learned this the hard way when a fan posted a glowing review of my mini gadgets review, and I reshared it without permission. Cue awkward DM exchange.

Implementation steps:

  1. Clear rights management: I now include a line in my bio: “By tagging @techiestimes, you give permission for resharing.” Simple, covers your butt.

  2. Create a UGC campaign: Offer a discount code for the best video featuring your product. I gave away 20% off codes and got 50 videos in a week.

  3. Feature real customers: My “Customer Setup Sunday” series showcases how readers use my gadget recommendations. Engagement is 3x higher than my regular posts.

  4. Legal considerations: Always credit the original creator in your caption. I use “Video: @username” and tag them. Builds goodwill and avoids copyright strikes.

Tool I use: Archive App automatically saves all videos I’m tagged in. Costs $10/month but saves hours of manual tracking.

Strategy 3: Influencer Collaborations (Micro is Mighty)

I wasted $500 on a macro-influencer with 2M followers. Got 200 views and 3 sales. Then I spent $150 on 5 micro-influencers (10k-50k followers each). Result? 5,000 views and 47 sales.

Micro vs macro breakdown:

  • Micro (10k-100k followers): $50-$300 per post, 8-12% engagement rate, niche audiences that actually trust them

  • Macro (100k+ followers): $1,000-$10k+ per post, 2-4% engagement rate, broad reach but low trust

Implementation:

  1. Find them: Use TikTok Creator Marketplace (official) or manually search hashtags in your niche. I DM 10 micro-influencers weekly.

  2. Pricing guide: I pay $100 per 10k followers, plus 10% affiliate commission. This incentivizes real promotion, not just a post-and-ghost.

  3. Contract template: I use a simple Google Doc outlining deliverables (1 video, 2 stories), timeline, and payment terms. Keeps everyone honest.

  4. Track performance: Give each influencer a unique discount code. I can see exactly who drives sales.

Tool recommendation: Insense.co connects you with vetted micro-influencers. Starts at $200/month but saves tons of outreach time.

Strategy 4: Branded Challenges (On a Budget)

Creating a viral challenge sounds expensive, but I launched one for $0 that got 10k participants. The secret? Make it stupid simple.

Budget requirements: $0-$500. My $0 challenge: #TechSetupFlip—show your desk setup transformation. No prizes, just community fun.

Step-by-step:

  1. Identify a theme: Must relate to your brand and be easy to do. My jewelry friend did #RingStackIn30Seconds—film yourself stacking rings fast.

  2. Create a unique hashtag: Memorable, short, brand-related. Check if it’s already used.

  3. Showcase an example: Post your own video first. I spent 30 minutes filming mine. Set the bar low so others feel they can do it.

  4. Collaborate with influencers: Send 5 free products to micro-influencers and ask them to kick it off. Their combined reach jumpstarts participation.

  5. Offer incentives: Doesn’t have to be cash. I featured the best videos on my Instagram (20k followers). That exposure was enough.

Promotion tactics: Post about the challenge 3x per day for the first week. Use Stories, feed posts, and go Live to demonstrate it.

Strategy 5: TikTok Ads (Without Blowing Your Budget)

I spent $2,000 on TikTok ads before I figured out the bidding system. Now I spend $300/month and get better results.

Bidding strategies that work in 2025:

  • Cost Cap: Set your max CPA (cost per acquisition). I cap at $8 per email signup. TikTok won’t exceed it.

  • Lowest Cost: Let TikTok spend your full budget for maximum results. Good for awareness, risky for conversions.

  • Bid Cap: Manual control for pros. I don’t use this—too easy to underbid and get zero impressions.

Budget allocation:

  • 70% on Spark Ads (boosting your best organic posts—higher trust)

  • 20% on Collection Ads (for TikTok Shop products)

  • 10% on testing new creatives

Targeting: Start broad (age 25-45, US), then narrow based on performance. TikTok’s algorithm is scary good at finding your people.

My ad workflow: Create 5 video variations, run each for $20/day for 3 days. Kill the losers, scale the winners. Rinse, repeat.

Tool: TikTok Ads Manager app lets me tweak campaigns from my phone during coffee breaks.

Strategy 6: Music and Sounds (The Copyright Trap)

Using trending audio is non-negotiable, but copyright strikes are real. I got my account restricted for using a copyrighted song in a brand deal video.

Trending audio sources:

  • TikTok Creative Center: Official trending sounds, cleared for commercial use

  • Epidemic Sound: $15/month, unlimited commercial-use music

  • Artlist.io: $199/year, premium tracks, zero copyright worries

Licensing for businesses: If you’re running ads, you MUST use commercial-licensed audio. I use Epidemic Sound for all my paid content.

Implementation:

  1. Check TikTok Creative Center weekly for new trending sounds

  2. Save sounds to favorites immediately—trends fade fast

  3. Create a “brand sound”—I have a jingle I use in every video. Repetition builds recognition

  4. For voiceovers, I use AI tools like ElevenLabs ($5/month) to generate professional narration

Pro tip: Original audio gets priority in the algorithm. I create my own “tech tip” sound effect—just a simple chime—and TikTok pushes those videos harder.

Strategy 7: Behind-the-Scenes Content (The Trust Builder)

People buy from people, not faceless brands. My “day in the life” videos get 5x more comments than my product reviews.

Content calendar template (my actual weekly plan):

  • Monday: Morning routine + planning my content week

  • Tuesday: Unboxing new gadgets (shows authenticity)

  • Wednesday: Writing a blog post (shows expertise)

  • Thursday: Packing orders or answering DMs (shows customer care)

  • Friday: Weekend plans + teaser for next week’s content

Step-by-step:

  1. Film 3-5 short clips throughout your day

  2. Add trending audio (see Strategy 6)

  3. Use text overlays to explain what’s happening

  4. Post during peak hours (more on that in Strategy 8)

What to show: Your workspace, your process, your mistakes, your wins. I filmed myself struggling to learn Rust for a coding post—got 50k views because people related to the struggle.

Internal link: Building your coding skills? Check my Learn Coding at Home guide—perfect for showing your learning journey on TikTok.

Strategy 8: Capitalizing on the TikTok Algorithm (Post Timing)

The algorithm changed in July 2025, but one thing stayed constant: timing matters.

Posting time optimization (based on my analytics):

  • Best overall times: 7-9 AM (morning scroll), 12-2 PM (lunch break), 7-10 PM (evening unwind)

  • Best for my niche (tech): Tuesday and Thursday 8 PM EST

  • Worst times: Friday nights and Sunday mornings (people are offline living life)

How I found my times: Posted at different times for 2 weeks, tracked performance in TikTok Analytics (free). The pattern was clear.

Implementation:

  1. Batch create content on Sunday

  2. Schedule using TikTok’s native scheduler (free) or Later.com ($18/month)

  3. Post 1-3 times per day. I do 2x/day—any more and the algorithm throttles you

  4. Engage with comments in the first hour after posting. The algorithm sees active conversation and pushes your video harder

Tool: I use TikTok Analytics > Content > Video Views to see which posting times correlate with spikes.

Strategy 9: TikTok Trends to Follow (And Tools to Predict Them)

Chasing trends is exhausting unless you have a system. I use trend forecasting tools to get ahead of the curve.

Trend forecasting tools:

  • TrendTok.app: $9/month, predicts trending sounds 3-5 days early

  • Pex.com (free): Shows which songs are spiking on TikTok

  • Exploding Topics: $39/month, but tracks broader trends you can adapt

My trend workflow:

  1. Check TrendTok every morning while drinking coffee

  2. Save 5 trending sounds to my favorites

  3. Create 1 video per day using a trending sound + my niche twist

  4. If a trend doesn’t fit my brand, I skip it. Forced trend-jumping looks desperate

2025 trends to watch:

  • AI-generated content: Using tools like Invideo AI to create videos from text​

  • Educational long-form: Series feature for tutorials (see my coding Series)

  • Shoppertainment: Live shopping streams with real-time product demos​

  • UGC ads: Brands boosting customer videos as Spark Ads

Internal link: Using AI for content? Read why AI is important for creators in 2026.

Strategy Deep Dive: Case Studies (Real Numbers, Real Businesses)

Case Study 1: Handmade Jewelry Shop (500% Sales Increase)

My friend Maya runs @MayaWireWraps (12k followers). In January 2025, she was making $800/month. By June, she hit $4,800/month.

What she did:

  • Posted 2x/day: 1 product showcase, 1 “wire wrapping process” video

  • Used TikTok Shop to tag products directly

  • Created **#WireapWednesday challenge (500 participants)

  • Collaborated with 3 micro-influencers ($150 total spend)

Key metric: Her Series on “How to Make Your First Ring” got 80k total views and converted 8% viewers into customers.

Case Study 2: SaaS Company (10K Followers in 3 Months)

A project management tool I consulted for (can’t name names, NDA) went from 0 to 10k followers in 90 days.

Their playbook:

  • Posted “Day in the life of a remote PM” behind-the-scenes content

  • Used Spark Ads to boost top-performing videos ($30/day budget)

  • Partnered with 5 micro-influencers in productivity niche

  • Created **#Hacks challenge (2k participants)

Result: 10k followers, 3,200 email signups,