Ultimate TikTok for Business: How to Succeed on TikTok in 2026

Should businesses be using TikTok to engage current customers and reach new ones?

With 1.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs) in Q1 2026, the overwhelming answer is Yes.

TikTok for businesses works well because its average engagement rate of 5.3% is higher than most social platforms.

It’s also overtaking Google in many ways as a search engine (social search optimisation), with 49% of consumers (and 65% of Gen Z) using TikTok as a search engine. And this trend is only going to increase across all demographics in 2026.

If you’ve started using TikTok as a business, or you’re running TikTok marketing for clients, this guide covers everything you need to know:

Before we dive in, make sure to snag our free TikTok account management checklist.

Ticking off those boxes will be so satisfying, you'll forget you're actually working!

Plus, everything in our TikTok business checklist will help boost your engagement and make your marketing efforts even more effective.

TL;DR: How to use TikTok for business in 2026

• TikTok has 1.9 billion monthly active users and an average engagement rate of 5.3%, making it one of the most effective platforms for businesses right now.
• 49% of consumers (and 65% of Gen Z) use TikTok as a search engine: Optimising for social search is now mission-critical for businesses on TikTok, and every social platform.
• The algorithm prioritises watch time, shares, and rewatches over follower count, so content quality and hooks matter more than audience size.
• The best-performing content falls into three categories: educational, entertaining, and edutainment.
• Posting 3–5 times per week minimum, with the highest engagement windows being Tuesday, Thursday, Friday evenings, and Sunday mornings.
• Blending original human research with AI assistance creates content that's “un-copyable” and scroll-beating.

Is TikTok in America still useful in 2026?

In America, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was forced to divest its U.S. division. It kept a 19.9% stake in the TikTok USDS Joint Venture alongside Oracle, Silver Lake, and an Abu Dhabi investment firm, MGX.

The transfer started badly with fears of censorship and server errors. User numbers dropped sharply.

But after a shaky start, TikTok in the U.S. has stabilised. Daily active usage in America is now 95% of what it was the week before the transfer, at the end of January 2026, according to media reports.

Why TikTok is the new search engine for brands in 2026

TikTok is a video-centric social media platform where you can create short-form videos.

From a marketer's standpoint, some of the biggest concerns are whether the target audience is on this platform and the ROI they can achieve from promoting their business there.

So here are some important stats you need to take into consideration before deciding if you should include TikTok in your social media strategy:

• TikTok has 1.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs) and continues to grow worldwide
• 49% of consumers (and 65% of Gen Z) use TikTok as a search engine
• 77% of Gen Z say they use TikTok to discover new products, and 63% use it to keep up with the news
• 54% of TikTok users engage with brand content at least once a day, if not more (Source)
• There are more than 135.79 million monthly active users in the U.S.
• Over 5 million U.S. businesses use TikTok, and the majority are small and medium-sized businesses.
• People stay engaged on TikTok: The average user session length is 10.85 mins
• US adult users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on TikTok.
• TikTok is a youth-centric platform. Nearly 7 in 10 users globally are between 18 and 34 years old.
• The largest individual segments are men aged 25–34 (20.7%) and 18–24 (16.6%), followed closely by women aged 25–34 (14.6%) and 18–24 (14.1%). (Source)

Aside from the great social commerce potential, the user base is ageing up, it has incredible watch time, and TikTok content is easy to share and repurpose.

How does the TikTok algorithm work?

The TikTok algorithm operates as a sophisticated recommendation system that curates the "For You Page" (FYP) for each individual user.

Everyone’s personalised feed is the primary discovery mechanism on the platform. Making it crucial to understand how the algorithm promotes certain videos, while others get far fewer views.

TikTok’s algorithm analyses every interaction, video element, and user preference to create a unique experience for each person. It prioritises content based on user interactions and preferences rather than followers or popularity.

Are user interactions a key TikTok ranking signal?

User interactions form the backbone of TikTok's algorithmically-generated ranking system. The algorithm closely monitors how viewers engage with your content, with certain actions carrying significantly more weight than others in determining your video's reach potential.

While likes and comments are important engagement signals, shares and rewatches have a significantly greater influence on the algorithm's decision-making process. When users share your content, it indicates exceptionally high value and relevance, prompting the algorithm to show your video to exponentially more people.

Shares act as votes of confidence in your content's wider distribution.

Completion rate is one of the most critical metrics for determining algorithm success. Videos with captions generate 23% more likes on average than those without captions, suggesting that providing context and encouraging viewers to watch until the end significantly impact performance.

Our guide on how to get more views on TikTok explains that TikTok now uses "Follower-First Testing."

New videos are shown to followers first; if they don't engage, your videos won’t be pushed to the FYP.

How to get started with TikTok for business

As with any social media platform, it's best to start with a plan for using TikTok as a business.

Step 1: Create a TikTok Business account

1. Download and open the TikTok app.
2. Create a new personal account using your email, phone number, or by logging in with Google, Facebook, or Apple ID.
3. Tap the Profile icon in the bottom right corner, then tap Edit Profile. Add a profile picture, bio, and any relevant links. Use your bio to clearly state who you are and what you do.
4. To switch to a Business Account, tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner, then go to Settings and Privacy.
5. Tap Manage Account, then select Switch to Business Account.
6. Select the category that best describes your brand, then tap Next.
7. Add a link (this can be your website, eCommerce store, or even a linktr.ee or lnk.bio) and an email address.

Step 2: Do the research on TikTok demographics

Once you've created the account, make sure to thoroughly research the existing content. Search for relevant hashtags and influential content creators from your niche. This will not only give you an idea of the type of videos you need to create, but it will also help you curate your feed.

Make sure to engage with relevant videos. Otherwise, TikTok's algorithm will spam you with all sorts of irrelevant content. The sooner you "teach" the algorithm what content is relevant for your brand, the faster you'll develop a content creation strategy.

Step 3: Create a TikTok-centric marketing plan

When creating a TikTok marketing plan, the best thing to do is:

• Keep an open mind
• Experiment
• Track results

Get to know your target audience's behaviour and needs on this platform, as they might differ from those on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Yes, most of the audience joins this platform to relax and take their mind off everyday stress. Still, they come here to express their opinions, learn more about brands they care about, support causes, and discover new, exciting things.

TikTok is your chance to show a different side of your brand. The one you haven't explored on other social media platforms. And who knows, you might just uncover some hidden potentials that will help you grow your business!

How to create your first TikTok video

Option 1: Record a video directly with the app

Get started with creating your first video by clicking the "+" option in the centre of your screen:

Choose your video duration and press the red button to start recording. From there, you can add sound, effects, text, and stickers from the options laid out for you at the bottom of the recorded video clip:

You can also change the filters and apply voice effects to your original audio and recordings where you aren't using sounds.

Save your videos with a tick mark on the bottom right and press ' Next' when you're done editing them.

This will give you the option to tag other accounts, write copy, and add hashtags.

As you type your hashtag, you'll see other hashtags and their volume. This way, you can select and combine trending and niche hashtags, increasing your chances of being found by the right people.

Click ' Post' when you're ready to publish your video.

Option 2: Upload previously recorded videos

TikTok lets you upload multiple video clips from your phone. Once you've clicked the "+" button, click on the "upload" option to the right of the recording button. Here you can select up to 35 clips.

Once you've uploaded them, you can auto-sync them to the desired sound in the music library, or manually edit each clip's duration to match the beat.

Another significant update is that you can now split each video clip into multiple sequences, match them to the sound, and add transitions.

How to share a TikTok video?

To share a TikTok video, all you have to do is choose the 'share' button on the bottom right when you play videos. You can:

• Directly share the video to other social channels from the app
• Download TikTok videos
• Get their links to share them elsewhere
• Embed them in articles

The easy share option makes one thing crystal clear: you can easily cross-promote the content you create here on other channels.

TikTok also offers an extensive library of filters, effects, and pre-licensed music that's ready to use. And all of these represent excellent opportunities to hop on TikTok trends and grow brand awareness. But we'll talk about this in a minute.

If you've added music to your marketing videos before, you'll know how challenging it can be to find the right tune you're allowed to use.

TikTok offers a commercial music library for businesses to address this issue, so you can access a vast range of music without worrying about permits and licenses.

Another plus point of TikTok for business? You can reap a lot from this social media channel, both organically and by partnering with influential content creators, as this platform has the highest social media engagement rates per post:

Sounds too good to be true?

Well, here's the thing: your TikTok videos need to be super creative to catch your viewers' attention. How so? Let's look at that next.

What sort of content performs best on TikTok

You need to focus on the three main content types:

• Education
• Entertainment
• Edutainment.

Educational content

Short educational videos perform really well. Especially if you use these videos to answer actual questions from your audience, share actionable tips, take them behind the scenes, and offer them an opportunity to get to know a different side of your brand.

And if you ever start doubting whether the TikTok audience is really interested in such "boring" topics, remember that @sheetgeek, a channel dedicated solely to posting Google Sheets tutorials, has 2.2 million followers and counting:

Entertaining content

Duolingo, an American educational technology company, is a great example of a business doing well on TikTok. Their TikTok marketing focuses on making funny videos that feature their mascot, and they produce tonnes of entertaining, viral content:

To sum things up, the content you create for TikTok should be light-hearted and fun. This stands true even if you’re a serious brand. Hard to swallow? Watch this TikTok video from The Washington Post:

Edutainment content

Edutainment on TikTok is content that teaches one clear idea in a short, punchy video. It's built for the scroll — fast hooks, clear payoffs, and zero fluff.

If someone learns something useful in under 60 seconds while actually being entertained, it's edutainment. TikTok's algorithm rewards this format because viewers watch till the end, rewatch, and share.

Here are a few examples of what edutainment looks like on TikTok:

• "Did you know?" videos that drop a surprising fact with a strong hook
• Quick "POV" or storytime formats with a lesson baked into the narrative
• Screen-recorded tutorials that solve one specific problem fast
• Text-on-screen tip videos set to trending audio
• Stitch or duet responses that add educational value to viral content
• "Things I wish I knew" style videos that feel personal and relatable

When is the best time to post on TikTok?

According to our most recent research, the best times possible are the following three slots throughout the week:

• The best time to post on TikTok is between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM, with Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday being the high-engagement days.
• Saturday has emerged as a top-performing day for total engagement.
• Sunday at 9:00 AM is currently the week's highest-engagement slot (Source: Buffer 2026 Data and SocialPilot 2026 Analysis).

How often should you post on TikTok as a business?

TikTok originally recommended 1-4 times per day.

Other social media tools recommend: “Post 3-5 times per week. Or, as much as you can.”

We recommend taking the following approach:

• Posting more frequently on TikTok is better
• Posting at the right time is useful
• Quality is key
• Authenticity is even more important
• If you can manage 5+ times per week, you’ll be doing well for your brand and increasing engagement even more effectively.

How often you post should also be influenced by your followers. If they’re active multiple times a day, every day, then you need to be just as proactive.

You can easily check when your audience is online within TikTok (or using Sendible's TikTok management tool).

Here is how you do this in TikTok:

1. Go to your TikTok profile and access the TikTok Studio (just under your bio).
2. Studio > Analytics > View All
3. Go to the Followers tab > (click) Most Active Times

Leverage AI and original research for 'un-copyable' TikTok content

Creating "un-copyable" content for TikTok as a business means blending human storytelling with AI research, with a little AI content-creation assistance where needed (without leaning too much on AI, otherwise you could end up with a flagged video and zero views).

Here is how you can create “un-copyable” content and beat the scroll to capture the attention your business needs:

• Source unique data by digging into niche forums, Reddit threads, Discord servers, or specialist journals; then use AI to spot non-obvious patterns your competitors have missed.
• Treat AI as a collaborator, not the creator. Feed it your own research and messaging, let it generate structure and script variations, then edit it back into your voice.
• Run original experiments or surveys, use AI to identify the patterns, and build content around findings nobody else has.
• Create visuals tied specifically to your research using tools like Midjourney or Luma, rather than generic prompts that anyone could replicate.
• Keep your personal voice, tone, and editing style heavily present. TikTok's algorithm favours meaningful human input over automated content.
• Use TikTok's AI labelling tools when posting realistically generated footage to stay compliant and build long-term trust with your audience.

Make sure to monitor trends, especially TikTok music and dance trends, to see if any can be used for your videos.

6 ways to make the most of TikTok as a business

You have two options moving forward: growing your TikTok organically or pairing your organic efforts with ads. Let's look at the organic and ad-based options you have at your disposal:

1. Duet or stitch TikTok videos

There are two differences between a Duet and a Stitch feature. One is the layout, and the other is the purpose.

TikTok Duet

The duet format is a great way to add more faces to your videos who aren't from your brand or agency, and to offer your two cents on a trending topic. You can access this feature by clicking the "share" button.

There are several layouts you can choose from:

• Position two videos next to one another
• Use the original video as a background
• Add the original video in the box on top of your video
• Position two videos, one under the other

There are many ways you can use duets! For example, you can utilise this feature to:

• Educate your audience further on a particular topic
• Confirm or challenge what the original video claims
• Give a shoutout to the user complimenting your brand

TikTok Stitch videos

You can access this feature just like duets, by clicking the "share" button and opting for "Stitch".

Stitches are great for capturing attention in trending videos, as they're the first thing viewers see. So make sure to stitch viral content into your TikTok videos.

The way Stitch works is simple:

• Choose the video you want to stitch
• Trim it
• Record a new ending
• Share your creation

This is another excellent feature that allows you to educate your audience or get creative by offering an alternative ending to a viral video.

2. Go Live on TikTok

Like many other social media platforms, TikTok lets you go live. The only catch is that you need at least 1000 followers to unlock this feature.

This format is excellent for:

• Hosting a live Q&A session
• Taking your audience to your workspace or event
• Hosting a workshop

3. Create content based on trends

Start by creating content that aligns with TikTok trends.

It could be either a sound-based trend or a challenge-based trend. Either way, making TikTok videos based on trends is a "great way to jump on to something that's already getting a lot of viewership," in TikTok influencer Lauren Pope's words.

Find these trends from the Discover option at the bottom of your screen, or follow accounts that create reports on what's currently trending on TikTok.

4. Join or create a hashtag challenge

A hashtag challenge gives video-making challenges to users - they make their version of the challenge (the more creative, the better) and tag it with the specific hashtag. This way, the video is discoverable.

Here's an example of the user-generated content (UGC) from the #SpeakYourMind challenge hosted by mental health charity, Mind:

As you jump start your TikTok marketing efforts, it’s a good idea to get involved in the hashtag challenges that others create. However, as you grow and your account gains traction, you could think about starting your own hashtag challenge too.

One thing’s for sure, getting involved in hashtag challenges brings engagement. Mercedes-Benz introduced the #MBStarChallenge, asking its audience to re-envision their logo. The challenge got 1.64 million page views in the UK alone, resulting in lots of new user generated content and 30,000 new followers for Mercedes-Benz.

5. Collaborate with influencers

This works pretty much in the same way as influencer marketing on other social channels.

As a rule of thumb, aim to work with influencers who are relevant to your target demographic and who have a consistently engaged presence on TikTok, just like RedBull did with everyone's favourite @kallmekris to help her celebrate 10 million followers milestone:

6. Run ads on TikTok

If you’re looking to accelerate your TikTok marketing, you can explore this with the following advertising types:

Native video ads or in-feed videos

These ads run between 9 and 15 seconds and support multiple CTAs. As the name suggests, TikTok shows in-feed videos in between user videos. Users can skip these video ads.

For inspiration, look to French dessert company Danette, which used in-feed ads with other ad types to drive traffic to their hashtag challenge page:

Brand takeovers

These ads can be in the form of still images, GIFs or videos. They appear in users’ feeds before any UGC appears. The ad links to the business’s landing page or hashtag challenge within the app.

A good example of brand takeover ads is their use by makeup brand Too Faced for driving awareness and direct sales:

TopView ads

Unlike native videos, TopView ads fill the entire screen space. However, like brand takeover ad types, these launch first thing in a user’s feed before any other content displays.

A case in point here is Balenciaga, which used TopView ads in combination with brand takeovers to raise awareness of its brand:

Branded lenses

Lastly, you can create your own filter to promote your brand. Colgate ran this ad type by creating an effect with exploding hearts:

How to create a community on TikTok

Creating a strong community is essential for every brand that uses social media marketing to promote its business.

Here are some things your TikTok marketing strategy should include if you're serious about building a strong community:

• Reply to comments
• Encourage users to tag you in other creators' videos if they want to hear your opinion
• Address the negative feedback
• Create relationships with influential content creators by showing them some love

Want to dive deep into TikTok community management tips and tricks? Then head to our article Game Changer: How TikTok Reshaped Community Management.

4 Bonus ideas for TikTok video content

If you're already creating video content for other social channels, this won't be challenging. You only need to add your brand's unique spin to what's trending on TikTok.

Here are some ideas to get your creative gears moving:

Duets and stitches

Duets and stitches are great ways to share your opinion on a particular topic.

These two features allow you to show off your expertise, educate your audience, support a cause, and position yourself as a thought leader.

You can search niche hashtags to find videos you can duet or stitch, or you can ask your followers to tag you in videos if they want to hear your personal opinion on them.

Behind-the-Scenes (BTS) TikTok content (also known as Point of View)

This kind of content shows your audience how your brand operates or how your team works.

If you own an e-commerce business, you can create a video of how you package orders and give an anonymous shoutout to the buyer by including their order number. This can inspire others to ask you to make a video of their order, leading to even more engagement and brand awareness.

On the other hand, you can show your audience how your products are made.

Q&A TikTok content

TikTok allows you to reply to comments with a video. So, once you have an established audience, you can try asking your viewers questions to engage them or encourage them to ask you questions in the comments section.

How-to tutorials

Finally, you can educate your target audience - step by step.

Food, beauty, fashion, and home decoration-oriented TikTok accounts have been thriving on this tactic!

TikTok for Business: Wrapping things up

However you decide to experiment with your TikTok marketing strategy, you need to stay consistent.

This is the universal rule for success on any social network, not just TikTok. Your TikTok videos will pick up steam only if you show up daily.

Finding it hard to dedicate daily time to video shooting?

Then make sure to:

• Jot down ideas in a note app
• Utilise TikTok Save categories where you'll keep all the inspirational, user-generated, trending videos
• Create a content calendar where you'll map out all the content

TikTok for Business: FAQs

Is TikTok still worth using for business in 2026?

Yes. Despite ownership changes in the U.S., daily active usage has already stabilised at 95% of pre-transfer levels, and global growth continues.

Do I need a large following to succeed on TikTok?

No, but like every social platform, it’s a sign of positive engagement, especially for a business. TikTok's algorithm surfaces content based on engagement signals, not follower count — making it one of the few platforms where new accounts can still go viral.

How often should a business post on TikTok?

Aim for at least 3–5 times per week. Consistency and quality matter more than volume, but higher frequency generally improves reach.

What type of content works best for businesses?

Edutainment performs strongly. Short-form video content that teaches something useful in a short, engaging format. Tutorials, behind-the-scenes, and trend-led videos also consistently perform well.

Can I schedule TikTok posts in advance?

Yes, very easily with tools like Sendible, which allow you to schedule and publish TikTok content in advance, making it easier to stay consistent without posting manually every day.