A few years ago, no one had ever heard of TikTok. But here in 2023, TikTok is one of the most used social media apps with over 1.5 billion users between the ages of 13-60. In a nutshell, TikTok is a video-sharing app that allows users to create short videos, typically between 15 seconds to 3 minutes long, as a way to express themselves through dance, song, lip-sync and comedy. Users can then share their videos with the TikTok community.

It goes without saying that a lot of these users are young individuals, however, businesses have also wised up to the exposure that can be gained by using the app effectively.

How does GardenSite use TikTok?

Here at GardenSite, we like to think that we understand how to use the app in the most effective manner possible for our unique business. We create videos that appeal to our consumers through humour, emotion, laughter, etc. and keep in mind that this app is more of an entertainment space as opposed to Instagram or Twitter which tend to be more formal in comparison.

GardenSite learns the ropes of TikTok trends and going viral.

To be or not to be… that is the question!

The marketing team comment on the inevitable skepticism surrounding TikTok from a professional point of view - understandably, a lot of staff members are initially hesitant to participate in a dance or lip sync trend, some considering the idea quite frankly ridiculous! However, that’s all part of the fun… our TikToks showcase our personalities whilst simultaneously showing off our wonderful products in a subtle manner. For example, we may film a dance trend in front of our new Moon Gate on a beautiful sunny day.

The post that went viral

5 days ago, Gaby posted our version of the ‘Ceilings’ trend on TikTok, however, unlike most other versions, ours featured our Chairman, Robert Hall! At the ripe age of 68, Robert put his all into his performance and, well, it certainly paid off! We were absolutely stunned when the post hit 10k views, so to now have over 2 million is absolutely surreal! 

It's not just local people who have seen this, it's people from all four corners of the world! We have had comments from users in the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and more! And, whilst we cannot service the globe with the plant featured (as much as we would love to), we can certainly offer advice to those who are interested!

Rob reacts to his newfound TikTok fame

Here’s what Robert had to say when he found out how popular his video became:

"I am overwhelmed with the lovely comments made from people all around the world on my first-ever TikTok video! I didn’t know what the trend was, I just did what I was told and we got the shot in 2 takes only. I must be a natural! My favourite comments were from users that said I remind them of Mr. Bean!"
Robert shows the team how its done, by giving a star-studded performance on TikTok that went viral!

Is Tiktok here to stay?

Well, we like to think so! It’s been a fun and exciting exercise for us discovering this new platform and we would love to keep creating quality content for our followers. However, recently, there has been some controversy in the media against the use of TikTok for businesses. In recent days, we have seen headlines that urge staff to delete TikTok from company mobile phones due to a threat or concern amid fears of sensitive data being accessed by the Chinese government, owing to its ownership by the Chinese internet company ByteDance. This is, of course, all speculation, but is definitely something to keep in mind. Here at GardenSite, we take privacy and data protection very seriously and would certainly never compromise our staff or customers' privacy.