TikTok Q&A: Ask us anything about the new Square TikTok integration!📱

[Tom]

We recently announced the Square TikTok integration, which enables you to reach new customers on one of the fastest growing social media platforms! With that, we were thrilled to host the team that built this feature for a Q&A in our forums on Wednesday, February 23, 2022. Read on to see what sellers had to say so far and keep watch for a summary post from our product managers.✨

A few example questions:

• I'm new to TikTok, what are the top three things I should keep in mind when I'm promoting my business?
• If I could do "_______" with the new TikTok integration, it would make a big difference for my business.
• How do I set up Shopping tabs, ads, and product links?

As always, we can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

[#2]

Hi everyone, wanted to share an important update:
Due to recent developments on TikTok, from Tuesday, 11th October 2022, we are no longer accepting new sellers into our Square x TikTok integration.

For now, TikTok has decided not to accept new merchants to Storefronts. Square is always testing and experimenting with commerce channels that enable our sellers to share their products, and we look forward to continuing to offer more ways for you to reach and engage buyers.

For any questions, please contact TikTok directly.

[#3]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks again for taking the time to share your questions and feedback!

We hope you got your questions answered—the experiences you've shared will help us as we continue to iterate based on your feedback.

As we close out this event, we wanted to do a recap on three themes that came up frequently:

• Reaching more customers via TikTok

• Setup and content posting strategy

• TikTok content moderation and approval policy

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and we'll continue to improve Square’s products based on your business needs. If you’re looking to start selling on TikTok, follow this link: https://squareup.com/dashboard/online-channels/overview  

Again, thanks for your participation. For the latest updates, keep watch for announcements of new features in Product Updates.

[Vness]

I set up a tic toc business account but don't actually use tic toc so i don't really understand what i'm supposed to be putting in there. is it just photos clipped together with weird music. there wasn't really a topic to assign for equine/horse so how can we target our actual market. 

If we sign up for the account connection will it automatically make videos out of our square items catalog or will we still have to manually do that? if we have to manually make the videos what is the benefit to linking the accounts? and if it automatically makes videos out of our items will there be a way to group items that we think would be a better representation of our store? 

[DLRosenberg]

You need to make your own content. If you don't understand what type of content to create I recommend you spend at least 30 minutes a day consuming content on tiktok. That will hopefully give you a better understanding of the community and what type of content they're interested in.

[ForeverAnnoyed]

I think MANY older business owners do not even understand that TikTok is a SOCIAL MEDIA platform, not a shopping or marketing platform.  It is solely up to the users to engage with our accounts - but TikTok's algorithms deliberately downgrade business accounts in favor of standard users.  So theres not much benefit to this unless you're ALREADY using TikTok regularly and have a very large following to drive your sales to your shop.  

[Vness]

sounds like it's as useless as twitter for a store. if you are celebrity trying to market a perfume great, or a political loud mouth great. but a brick and mortar shop it's a waste. i don't see much value in this, would be better to get google sales and ads connected for non food places so we can have our items searchable on google. and even bing and yahoo searches. people search for products through those but google is such a hard system to de-code and their customer service is zero, and they don't care if you list or not. it's the most odd system to deal with. so getting square connected to google selling would actually reach customers. 

[DLRosenberg]

It is 100000000% valuable to be on TikTok- but as mentioned it is Social. I liken it to word-of-mouth... or running a commercial on a traditional TV network. Pre-social media it would take multiple interactions for a customer to purchase your product: print, TV, radio, EDDM, etc. 

We started TikTok about a year and a half ago- it has driven traffic to Instagram (which we sell live on weekly) and it drives people into the shop if local or our website if not.

I understand that it is tricky to know what it is- but with a little bit of time, (there are how-to videos all over Youtube) you can figure it out. 

To date I have 1.9 MILLION likes on my TikToks. Let that sink in- 1.9 Million people have interacted with educational content about what we sell. FOR FREE. The fact that we have the ability to do this for our businesses for free is a game changer. If you aren't leveraging it- you're missing out.

[Vness]

glad you have that kind of shop but in using the tic toc business section there was no return on a very costly investment to advertise. i don't even know one person using tic toc and when setting up the parameters for who to advertise to it was not specific enough not to waste my money on showing it to people who would not have any interest in my store items. 

[DLRosenberg]

We don't spend any money in TikTok Ads- our reach is 100% organic and free. What type of shop do you have?

[brianstanish]

Hi @Vness. I answered a similar question here: https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Seller-Community-Events/TikTok-Q-amp-A-Ask-us-anything-about-the-...

[artistisind]

I have never used TikTok and wouldn’t even know where to begin. How much integration is there?

[sargos1]

Hi @artistisind! With the Square x TikTok integration, you can activate several TikTok commerce features to grow sales to your Square Online site. Get started with our help article here. After you’ve connected TikTok and Square, it takes 3-5 business days for TikTok to approve your account for use of Shopping features. After that, you’ll see your Square items synced to TikTok in your online Square Dashboard >> Items >> Channel Listings and can follow steps 4-6 here to activate a Shopping tab on your profile and include product links in TikTok videos.

In terms of best practices, we recommend creating TikToks that 1) Share your story and the story of your business 2) Showcase your products 3) Share your customers’ stories and testimonials. Without coming off as overly sales-oriented, you can feature your products in your TikToks, and now with this integration, you can include Product Links that give viewers an easier way to purchase directly from your videos instead of visiting a link in your bio. More tips on getting started with TikTok available here.

[Tuttyplace]

I'm new to tik tok as well. Upon creating account, it said my business items wasn't 

eligible and they also said to verify my age. When setting up the account , I never was asked for any personal info. I really don't understand what's going on. Also are there any fees associated with selling products?

[sargos1]

Hi @Tuttyplace - We have now fixed a technical issue which caused your account to be ineligible, and you should be able to complete setting up Square x TikTok. Please note: Your products must meet TikTok’s guidelines in order to be approved for Shopping. TikTok’s review process takes 3 to 5 business days, after which you’ll see your items synced and published from Square to TikTok.

[loribradeen]

How do I fix a problem when it says I am "connected" but then says my account is ineligible? I have checked the criteria and don't see where I have any lack. There doesn't seem to be a troubleshooter for me to move forward.

[sargos1]

Hi @loribradeen - We have now fixed a technical issue which caused your account to be ineligible, and you should be able to complete setting up Square x TikTok. Please note: Your products must meet TikTok’s guidelines in order to be approved for Shopping. TikTok’s review process takes 3 to 5 business days, after which you’ll see your items synced and published from Square to TikTok.

[iwachiw2001]

can NFT be sold and transferred thru integration?  how?

[sargos1]

Hi @iwachiw2001 - With the TikTok integration, TikTok commerce features point TikTok users back to sellers’ Square Online sites, where the purchase takes place. Square Online does not currently support backend infrastructure for crypto wallet connection and transactions or NFT transfers, but this is something we will be looking into in the future.

[DBask65]

What is the demographic of people using TikTok?

[Tom]

Hello — thank you for participating in the Square x TikTok Q&A today! We received a lot of really great questions and insights from each and every one of you. 💯

While the event has ended, I wanted to let you know that our product team is confirming some details for a few remaining questions and will follow up as soon as they have more information. Appreciate your patience and keep watch for further notifications. 🙏🏻

[SumedhaDeo]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks again for taking the time to share your questions and feedback!

We hope you got your questions answered—the experiences you've shared will help us as we continue to iterate based on your feedback.

As we close out this event, we wanted to do a recap on three themes that came up frequently:

• Reaching more customers via TikTok

• Setup and content posting strategy

• TikTok content moderation and approval policy

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and we'll continue to improve Square’s products based on your business needs. If you’re looking to start selling on TikTok, follow this link: https://squareup.com/dashboard/online-channels/overview  

Again, thanks for your participation. For the latest updates, keep watch for announcements of new features in Product Updates.

[Tom]

Hi Everyone — I wanted to let you know about another TikTok learning opportunity! ✨

TikTok is running a free webinar on Wednesday, April 13th from 11am - 12:30pm PDT, with a recording available afterwards. This event will cover best practices from the TikTok team as well as business owners.

Check out this announcement for more details and RSVP: [Free Webinar] TikTok: TikTok Commerce KickOff Webinar 📲 

[SumedhaDeo · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone, wanted to share an important update:
Due to recent developments on TikTok, from Tuesday, 11th October 2022, we are no longer accepting new sellers into our Square x TikTok integration.

For now, TikTok has decided not to accept new merchants to Storefronts. Square is always testing and experimenting with commerce channels that enable our sellers to share their products, and we look forward to continuing to offer more ways for you to reach and engage buyers.

For any questions, please contact TikTok directly.