How To Master TikTok As A D2C Business

Jacob and Victor Eriksson, Co-founders at playtech startup Boxbollen, explore…

TikTok’s growth over the last few years has been crazy, to the point where it is now considered the pinnacle of online marketing; crack TikTok and you engage with an entirely new audience of young consumers.

If done right, TikTok can be an extraordinarily powerful tool. The algorithm means videos are shown to users who might not have ever interacted with your account – or have any prior knowledge of your brand. This combined with its popularity and shareability makes it really valuable to reach a fresh audience.

As of today, videos on the TikTok account of Boxbollen – our company, which creates the head-tethered Boxbollen boxing ball and linked Boxball App – have had over 50 million combined views, driven by an engaged user base. And that’s not even to mention the many millions more organic views of videos created by fans of our product.

Virality and shareability has been key to Boxbollen’s online growth, and TikTok has proved to be the perfect platform to engage with young people who want to see something fresh and fun. In fact, we regularly have people approach us in the street and tell us that they’ve seen our product on TikTok.

D2C companies looking to master TikTok should consider three core areas.


Your Product


Having a good product is, of course, key. We are fortunate that Boxbollen is, as a sport, very visual, which is very suited to a platform like TikTok. As a D2C company, we try to engage our customers as much as possible in our product. One method we use to enact this on TikTok is by creating challenges for our user base.

For example, we have recently launched our ‘5 Sec Max’ challenge, where users upload videos of themselves attempting as many hits as they can in 5 seconds. Not only does this generate bite-sized footage that is ideal for TikTok, but demonstrates what the product is actually for in an engaging way. The competitive edge encourages users to challenge each other, and is an ideal way to demonstrate the product in a fun, playful way – as well as encouraging mass participation.

Your Branding


With the above in mind, it is important that the brand is featured and distinctive in clips that are shared on TikTok. Marketing your product is redundant unless the brand is recognisable within the videos. If done effectively, this means that every view of a video amounts to a pair of eyes on your product – and when the views run into the millions, this is inevitably converted into sales.

We have a really strong and recognisable visual brand, which is part of what separates us from the crowd.


Your Influencer Strategy


A sophisticated influencer marketing strategy is crucial for social media success. SoMe personalities not only come with the ability to drive views, but with a dedicated audience of engaged fans who consume and interact with the content produced. Collaborations with influencers can also help a brand’s positioning. For example, we teamed up with the internet personality and entertainer Chunkz – a decision and process that we as founders were directly involved with. We knew that he was a great guy who likes to have fun, and would align with our brand and share the values that Boxbollen is founded on.

While there is no exact science to marketing on the platform, TikTok appeal has been a great help in our massive growth over the last two years, and our decision to focus on mastering the platform – and creating a great and shareable product – has proven that you don’t have to invent a dance to go viral on TikTok.