While most of us are using TikTok to learn the latest Cardi-B routine or to source tasty recipes, some are using the social media platform to blow up their small businesses! From kitsch jewellery shops to converted Converse on wheels (yes, really) young entrepreneurs are sharing videos of packaging orders and well-lit products to entice the dwindling attention spans of their scrolling audience.
By focusing on the app’s viral nature, these savvy business owners have used TikTok to secure a much-needed leg up in an oversaturated consumerist market. If you want the same reaction for your small business it’s all about being candid, posting at the right time, using music in the back of your videos and of course having a great product. TikTok even set up the hashtag #smallbusinesslove towards the end of 2020 in celebration of all of those who have used the platform to cultivate their brands. We’ve selected a few of our fave innovative business owners turned TikToker’s for you to feast your eyes on. So grab a seat, and your debit card, you might be needing it!
The Pandemic Inventor
The brains behind the punily named Partner In Wine, Lucy Hitchcock was sick of going to the park and having to drink a warm bottle of rose - as if a socially distant drink wasn’t jarring enough! Fuelled by a few glasses of tepid wine, she took matters into her own hands, and in the middle of the pandemic, she designed a wine cooler and tumbler duo out of her parent’s house. A year later, and with some self-professed help from the TikTok algorithms, Lucy's product is being stocked in Selfridges and she’s moved from her parent’s house to her own fulfilment centre.
The ReModeler
With over 500,000 subscribers and 8 million likes, a portion of Feel Your Soul’s success has got to be down to TikTok! This whacky brand takes official Converse All-Stars and pops wheels on them - wild! Feel your soul is bang on trend as well, as roller skating is a sport that has taken TikTok by storm. In this vid, we see exactly what a day in the life at Feel Your Soul looks like, and count us in! When you’re promoting on TikTok it’s all about building a niche community and connecting with your audience, and that’s exactly what Feel Your Soul has done.
The Designer
Vanessa Daniel’s clothing brand Nyla Rei is everything you need in 2021. Independent, sustainable, stylish and comfy! Her latest video dissecting her brand and design process clocked in at nearly 70,000 likes and saw welcome comments from supporters of the brand. We know where our next paycheck is going.
The crafty one!
If there are two things, those of us online are obsessed with its pastel colours and ceramics. Mix the two and you’ve got a heavenly crafty cocktail. Jack Thomas Parker Art makes everything from clay earrings, to side dishes, and it makes sense that he’s got so much TikTok attention, his creations are beautiful. The way the sunlight hits the varnished flower plate in this TikTok...utterly stunning!
The Entrepreneur turned CEO
The aptly named Ceo Liv has morphed her Jewellery Business from low-key and local to international and wildly successful. She’s even been nominated as one of Forbes Next 100. Whilst we’re not sure you can count Liv’s business as on the small side anymore, there is no doubt, as with any independent venture, that her beginnings were humble. She’s also been endorsed by fellow TikToker’s and has made her company her full-time job at the age of 19.
Words: Grace Goslin
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