TikTok for businesses: does it work for yours?

TikTok makes sense for your business if you have something to show, if your audience is broader than only buyers at large organisations, and if you can keep it up for at least six months. For businesses that only want to serve an existing small audience, or that aim exclusively at buyers in large organisations, it rarely delivers enough to justify the effort. TikTok is not a channel you dip into: it rewards regularity and character, and it punishes polished advertising.

Who is on TikTok in the Netherlands?

The idea that TikTok is used only by teenagers has not been accurate for several years. Newcom's annual National Social Media Survey shows that TikTok use in the Netherlands has grown and that the group of users has become broader than the original young audience, while the average user is still younger than on Facebook or LinkedIn. In practice that means: if you reach consumers, your audience is probably there. If you sell to buyers at large organisations, LinkedIn is a more logical starting point.

More important than age is how people use the platform. TikTok mainly shows video from accounts someone does not follow yet. That is exactly why a new business account can build reach faster there than on channels where the number of followers determines who sees you. It is also why reach is unpredictable: the same kind of video can get thousands of views one time and a few hundred the next.

Which businesses does TikTok work best for?

• Businesses with visible craftsmanship: a renovation, a repair, a dish, a treatment or a product being put together.
• Businesses with a face: practices, coaches, advisers and owners who want to tell, explain or show things themselves.
• Businesses looking for staff: TikTok is one of the few channels where you reach young tradespeople who are not actively looking for vacancies.
• Online stores with a visual product: as long as you are willing to make new video regularly instead of reusing the same product photos.

If you work exclusively with a small number of fixed business clients, or your service is barely possible to show, the chance that TikTok returns the time you put into it is small. We would rather say that in advance than after three months.

What does TikTok cost for a business?

A business account on TikTok is free. The cost is in the time or in outsourcing. If you include it in a subscription with us, TikTok counts as one of your platforms: Zichtbaar (€ 349 per month) covers up to 2 platforms with 8 content items, Groei (€ 599 per month) up to 3 platforms with 12 content items and Impact (€ 899 per month) up to 4 platforms with 16 content items. An extra social media channel within a running subscription costs € 99 per month. If you also want to advertise, that is a separate service: TikTok Ads management costs from € 449 per month or 15% of your advertising budget if that is higher, with a one-off set-up fee of € 349. We advise an advertising budget of at least € 1,000 per month alongside it, which you pay directly to TikTok. All amounts exclude VAT.

How to set up a business account

When creating the account, choose a business account. That gives you access to statistics and to the commercial music library. The latter is not a detail: business accounts have more limited music rights than private accounts, and a popular track under a business video can be muted afterwards, which wipes out the reach the video had built. Also put a clear description in your profile, with your town or service area, and one link to the page where you want to receive enquiries.

What works in terms of content

The pattern that delivers most on TikTok is explanation and proof rather than advertising. Four formats that work well in practice for Dutch SMEs:

1. The answer to a client question: start with the question itself, literally on screen, and give the answer in fifteen seconds.
2. The process: show how something comes about, sped up, with the explanation in subtitles.
3. The mistake many people make: name a misunderstanding from your field and correct it.
4. The people: a short introduction to a colleague or a day spent alongside them, also valuable for recruitment.

What almost never works is a television commercial or a corporate film you upload again. Vertical visuals, subtitles and an opening that gets to the point immediately are the basic conditions. You can read how we approach that on our page about Reels and video.

How often should you post?

Two to four videos a week is a realistic rhythm that teaches you enough to adjust. More important than the number is the regularity: ten videos in one week followed by a month of silence delivers less than two a week. Expect at least three to six months before you can judge whether the channel contributes anything, because isolated outliers say little.

TikTok alongside Instagram Reels

Many businesses can use the same recording on both channels, and that is exactly what we advise to keep it workable. Do edit a separate version per channel: the buttons and texts sit in different places, and a video with a visible watermark from another platform usually gets less reach. Your audience determines where the centre of gravity lies. If you mainly reach people over forty, Instagram or Facebook is usually the starting point and TikTok is additional.

When are you better off not starting?

Do not start if you cannot free up a single moment in the week to film, not even thirty seconds on a phone. Do not start either if nobody in your organisation wants to be on camera and there is nothing to show: TikTok without visuals is not an option. And do not start expecting enquiries next month; the channel builds recognition first, after which enquiries follow through your profile, your website or simply because people remember you. If you want results sooner, social media advertising is a more logical first step than organic reach on TikTok.

What you should measure

Do not look at followers, but at viewing behaviour. The average watch time and the share of people who watch a video to the end tell you whether your opening works. The number of times a video is saved or shared tells you whether the content was useful enough. And the clicks through to your profile and from there to your website tell you whether the reach actually brings your business anything. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce advises entrepreneurs to decide in advance which purpose a marketing channel has to serve; on TikTok that advice is extra valuable, because views without a purpose easily feel like success without the business getting anything out of it.