If you’re a small business, there’s a good chance you’re looking for creative ways to get your app installed. TikTok can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for small businesses that are looking for more reach on a tight budget. Small business TikTok campaigns are the way to go.
TikTok is a fast-paced short-form video-sharing platform that has exploded in use over the past three years. Its highly engaged user base is defined by its youth and creativity. TikTokers have their fingers on the pulse and they’re not afraid to embrace innovation and change.
With an install base of over 1 billion, small businesses would be remiss not to explore TikTok as an avenue for marketing their app. One of the enormous advantages of TikTok as a marketing platform for companies with smaller budgets is the low cost of entry. You don’t need a large advertising budget to make an impact on TikTok. Unlike other sharing platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, TikTok has not reached advertising saturation. This means that it’s still possible for smaller advertisers to get their brand seen, without breaking the bank.
Engage Your Audience wIT
“In-feed ads blend seamlessly with organic content, making the viewing experience unobtrusive and minimally disruptive for users. This creates a more receptive audience for advertisers”
In addition to the lower costs, TikTok also offers businesses the opportunity to be creative and engaging. With users spending an average of 52 minutes per day interacting with the app, there are a lot of opportunities to connect with potential customers. The short-form video format allows for quick, snappy, and entertaining marketing that can easily grab users’ attention. According to one study, TikTok ads reach detail memory 25% more than tv ads. In-feed ads blend seamlessly with organic content, making the viewing experience unobtrusive and minimally disruptive for users. This creates a more receptive audience for advertisers.
TikTok also offers businesses the ability to target their audience by interests and demographics. By narrowing down your target audience, you can ensure that your advertising is reaching your desired niche.
How Do You Start Advertising On TikTok?
TikTok has recently streamlined its ad creation process, meaning that it’s never been easier for small companies to enter this marketing niche. With the introduction of their ad library, you can easily browse top-performing TikTok ads to help inspire and inform your own campaign.
Once you make an ad account on TikTok for businesses, you have full access to their suite of ad creation tools and resources. You can create videos, choose your target audience, and set a budget that works for you. Their business blog is full of helpful tips and insights. Additionally, their customer service team is available to help with any questions or concerns.
If you decide you need some guidance, consider working with a TikTok marketing agency. By working with an agency with extensive TikTok experience, you can easily design an effective advertising campaign guaranteed to drive leads.
Anyway, let’s take a look at 13 small business TikTok campaigns that are doing things right.
How 13 Small Business Drove App Installs via TikTok
1. Fitafy TikTok Campaign
Fitafy is a dating app with an original USP — find a fitness buddy who can also be your life partner. By combining workout tracking and Apple Watch synchronisation with a community of singles, the app aims to connect people who genuinely lead a fitness-oriented lifestyle with a romantic partner.
Despite only launching in 2020, Fitafy’s small Aussie-based team is already well on its way to world domination, thanks in part to their incredible success on TikTok. To increase downloads and expand their pool of active singles, they turned to TikTok’s community of younger fitness-conscious users. Their brand profile has amassed an incredible 373.8k loyal followers and their recent expansion into the UK market was marked by a new TikTok ad campaign aimed at British users.
By teaming up with British fitness influencer Gracie Collins, just one of their ads has achieved 28.4k likes and 1000k+ combined shares and comments over the past 30 days alone. With some TikTok ingenuity, they have successfully boosted app downloads and cornered the UK market of fitness-obsessed British singles.
@laurennskeggs find me on @fitafy ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
2. The Popsa Influencer Campaign
Popsa is a London-based photo printing company that was born out of frustration with the current online photo printing options. Founders, Liam and Tom, wanted an easier way to print their photos that didn’t involve spending hours uploading and editing photos on a slow, clunky website.
After launching in 2016, Popsa initially experienced a slow start before exploding during the global pandemic. Their app now has over 1 million downloads and they were listed as “one to watch” in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
They successfully managed to boost app installs through a small business TikTok campaign targeting the platform’s creative and photo-loving demographic. Their 30-second in-feed ad showcased their app as a perfect choice for people looking to buy a thoughtful gift for Mother’s Day. This simple ad achieved an impressive 28.8k likes, 67 comments, and 177 shares over the past 30 days.
@popsaco “I’m so pleased I’ve finally made a start on memory books that I know we will all treasure, always” ✨📸bylaurenmcdermott #Popsa #PopsaPhotobook #fyp ♬ Your Song – Ellie Goulding
3. NIKIN’s TikTok Campaign
NIKIN is a sustainability-focused apparel company based in Switzerland, that plants a tree for every item sold. In collaboration with team members from House of Marketers, they developed a TikTok-based marketing campaign aimed at driving European sales and raising brand awareness during Black Friday and the subsequent Christmas period.
After carefully selecting a number of appropriate sustainable fashion influencers, they started their “Green Friday” campaign generating over 162 pieces of sponsored content.
The results were impressive, with 2.5m impressions and 108k engagements. This translated into 200 new customers who purchased from NIKIN’s online store.
@marcoandredasilva 1,2 or 3 ? With every piece i purchased @nikinclothing planted a tree 🌲❤️ #foryou #nikin #sustainablefashion ♬ original sound – SPANKY YNVS
4. Airalo Influencer Campaign
Airola is the world’s first eSim store. They allow customers to purchase temporary mobile data plans while traveling abroad and they also provide access to affordable eSims in over 190+ countries and regions. They also turned to our team at House of Marketers to help them drive app installs and increase sales.
“This powerful strategy resulted in over 2.1m video views and an engagement rate of 12.3%. Their budget-conscious campaign targeted the right niche demographic at the right time and led to an impressively low $0.23 cost per install”
TikTok provided them with the perfect opportunity to target the travel community. By riding the platform’s trending wave of “travel tips” videos, they teamed up with 10 TikTok micro-influencers to create a low-cost yet effective awareness campaign.
This small business TikTok campaign resulted in over 2.1m video views and an engagement rate of 12.3%. Their budget-conscious campaign targeted the right niche demographic at the right time and led to an impressively low $0.23 cost per install.
@courtneytheexplorer eSIM cards are SO much cheaper and easier than using your American phone travel data plan. 👏🏻😩🙌 #travelhack #traveltips #airalo #airalopartner ♬ Pennies From Heaven – Remastered – Louis Prima
5. Steppen
Steppen is an Australian social fitness app targeted towards Gen Z. It allows users to upload videos of themselves performing specific workouts, which can then be combined to create workout playlists for other platform users.
With Gen Z as their target market, they naturally turned to TikTok as their main advertising medium to drive installs across the UK and US. They teamed up with a number of TikTok influencers to create a series of 15-second ads. The ads promoted the fact that their app is free while other fitness apps are not.
Their US-targeted influencer ad gained over 61.4k likes in just 30 days, plus an additional 91 comments and 51 shares. Their UK ad saw similar success with 28.7k likes, 51 comments, and 71 shares in the same time frame.
@steppen.app♬ original sound – TikToker
6. Grover
Grover is a Berlin-based tech rental startup that allows customers to rent the latest technology products without having to commit to a purchase. The company also turned to our House of Marketers team, when they needed help increasing app installs, raising brand awareness, and obtaining more registered subscribers to their service.
Grover ran a successful small business TikTok campaign targeting tech-obsessed users aged 16-35 based in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the US. In doing so, we partnered them up with a number of TikTok micro-influencers to create 20 pieces of high-quality content showcasing the benefits of their tech rental service.
The campaign was an overall success and directly led to a 1,200% increase in monthly orders and a 3.4x return on ad spend.
@getgrover How old were you in 2013? 🤡 #POV #2013 #Nostalgia #ThoseWereTheDays #TippEx #PenDrive #Batteries ♬ original sound – RaveCentral
7. Salams
Muslim matrimonial app Minder rebranded itself as Salams in 2020 and branched into the friendship and networking space. They turned to TikTok as their primary marketing platform to increase app installs and raise awareness of their new positioning.
Salams teamed up with popular Muslim TikTok influencers such as the Saleh Family, Ayah Souf, and Wasan Alobeidi. They created a series of videos showcasing how the Salams app allows users to make meaningful connections with other Muslims. Their sponsored ad featuring the Saleh Family gained over 175.1k views and 13.1k likes.
The campaign was successful in driving installs and raising brand awareness within the Muslim TikTok community. It helped them reposition as the go-to app for young Gen Z Muslims seeking to make friendships with other Muslims.
@salehfamily Love is in the air! If you’re Muslim & Single, download @salams.app today! With over 2mill users, join today using the link in our bio! #salams#ad ♬ Elevator Music – Bohoman
8. PhotoRoom
PhotoRoom is a niche photo-editing app that allows users to easily remove backgrounds and create clean product and profile pictures. Their key demographic is young entrepreneurs and people who sell products online. This group was seamlessly targeted via TikTok ads and sponsored posts.
Their multipronged strategy involved both micro and macro influencers in the entrepreneur sphere. It was combined with in-feed product showcasing ads and frequent brand profile content. This strategy drove their enormous following on TikTok, with current figures standing at over 163k followers and over 1.6m likes.
One sponsored post featuring macro-influencer Fiorella Del accrued over 170.8k views and 10.2k shares. Their app has now been downloaded over 10m times on the Google Play store. This is thanks in part to their enormously successful small business TikTok campaign.
@fiorella.del no studio?! No problem 😌 download @photoroom to try it out! Link in bio! #photoroom #photohack #reseller ♬ how would they know bad girls club – Chris Gleason
9. Episode Interactive (Adventure Chef)
Episode Interactive is a small mobile game publisher that created a popular storytelling game/ social network hybrid. The platform allowed users to create immersive episodic stories and publish them to the platform audience.
After the success of their first storytelling game, they released a new game targeting a male-leaning demographic named Adventure Chef. 86% of Gen Zers play games on their mobiles but the average mobile gamer is a Millennial. As such, it made sense to promote their new game to TikTok’s hybrid Gen Z/Millenial userbase.
Teaming up with mid-level influencers and some macro gaming influencers, they released a series of sponsored content. The posts showcased gameplay and promoted their game to food-loving male Millenial TikTok users. One post by influencer @ojaysuave gained over 20k views in just one week. This played a big role in driving downloads and raising awareness for their new game.
@ojaysuave Best Game Ever 🎮 #adventurechef ♬ original sound – ojaysuave
10. HER app
HER is a new lesbian dating app created by California-based entrepreneur Robyn Exton in 2020. In this short space of time, the app has cornered its niche market, with over 8m global users.
The app set out to increase installs across more regions and decided to go with a targeted small business TikTok campaign. It would be the most efficient way to reach their core demographic.
Working with a number of lesbian TikTok influencers, they released a series of videos. They showcased the app, its features, and the joys and challenges of dating as a lesbian in 2022. They also continued to build on their growing brand profile account. It featured one viral video by popular LGBTQ influencer @rea1le. The video gained over 490.3k views and 370.5k likes despite the HER profile account’s low number of followers.
@d3gra nervously trying @hersocialapp #queer #lgbtq #pronouns #hersocialapp #ad ♬ Mii Channel (Nintendo Wii) – The OneUps
11. Cleanfox
Cleanfox is a handy app designed by eCommerce market research company Foxintelligence. It allows users to clean their email inboxes from unwanted newsletters and marketing spam with just one click. They are able to keep their service free by selling their users’ anonymized data to marketing companies. Their USP is that they claim to help the environment by reducing the carbon footprint generated by millions of unwanted emails.
Cleanfox wanted to target environmentally-conscious students in the UK and Germany, by raising awareness of the app’s eco-friendly benefits. They did this by releasing a series of sponsored posts featuring Cleanfox-using student influencers. The influencers explained how the app has helped them declutter their inbox and reduce their environmental impact.
One sponsored ad by British student influencer @tarmacx gained over 128k views and 1691 likes. Their app has now been downloaded over 1m times on the Android app store.
@tarmacx This is sooo good😌 #fyp #cleanfox #viral ♬ Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) – Edison Lighthouse
12. Aglet
Aglet is a particularly niche app that targets sneaker lovers that love mobile gaming apps. Based on a similar format to Pokemon Go, their app allows sneakerheads to collect virtual sneakers, compare their collections with other players, gain virtual coins for each sneaker collected and track their steps.
Aglet knew that reaching such a niche demographic would need a highly targeted TikTok marketing campaign. They released a series of sponsored videos and in-feed ads showcasing gameplay and promoting the app to sneaker-loving mobile gamers.
This small business TikTok strategy included one in-feed ad that gained over 48k views and 277 shares in just 30 days. It led to higher app installs and a new wave of dedicated players.
@theagletsweat Day 1 playing Aglet #fyp #foryou #stitch #fun ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
13. Whatnot
Whatnot is a live streaming shopping platform that targets the collectibles market. Founded in 2019, it quickly evolved into a unicorn startup after receiving investment from some of the world’s leading venture capitalists.
Whatnot wanted to increase their app installs across the US and Europe, so they partnered with a number of mid-level TikTok influencers to release a series of sponsored posts and videos.
The results were impressive. One sponsored competition run by influencers @thebackyardathlete, gained over 100k views in just a few days. They also focused on creating engaging branded content for their profile page, which has now acquired over 51k followers. This led to an increase in downloads and interest in the Whatnot app. It also cemented their place as a leading player in the collectibles selling market.
@thebackyardathlete Reply to @chet.rocket.steadman Download the app WHAT NOT AND FOLLOW…@backyardbreaks @backyardrips @backyardbangerz to be ENTERED! #whatnot #whatnotapp ♬ Roses Imanbek (Afro Remix) – Kris & WILLIAM NC
Team up with House of Marketers
If you need professional guidance from a marketing team with a wealth of TikTok expertise, we’re here to help. At House of Marketers, we specialise in helping small businesses succeed through managed TikTok marketing and influencer services. Our founder, Inigo, was one of the early employees of TikTok itself. He has since used his unique insight and experience to build House of Marketers into a leading TikTok marketing agency.
We can help you create and release engaging sponsored content, connect you with the best TikTok influencers for your brand, and manage your account so you can concentrate on running your small business.
Get in touch with us here, today to find out more about how we can boost your small business TikTok strategy. We’ll help you to reach your target market and increase your app installs through TikTok marketing.
House of Marketers (HOM) is a leading TikTok Marketing Agency. Our global agency was built by early TikTok Employees & TikTok Partners, which gives us the insider knowledge to help leading brands, like Redbull, Playtika, Badoo, and HelloFresh win on TikTok. Want us to convert more of Gen Z and Millennials with TikTok? Get in touch with our friendly team, here.