The 7 Most Common Mistakes Businesses Are Making On TikTok
- Nov 1, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 5, 2025
Written by: Samantha Vlasceanu, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
As a TikTok coach, I’ve had my fair share of experience helping brands put their best foot forward on the platform - and I’ve also conducted extensive research on what makes an account successful. Over several months, I’ve noticed trends in common mistakes businesses make on TikTok that severely limit their growth potential and, subsequently, hinder their results. Today, I’m sharing with you the top seven mistakes I see business owners making on TikTok - and how you can avoid similar pitfalls.
1. Their content is not linked to what they’re actually selling
It can be tempting to hop on trends in order to get more engagement, but it’s super important to always link your videos back to your business in some way. For example, if you want to use a trending song, consider featuring some of your products in the video or giving your audience a behind-the-scenes business look.
2. Their entire page is saturated with how-to content
How-tos are great - but it’s also extremely important to remember that your target audience must overcome their limiting beliefs, objections and lack of knowledge before they are ready to take actual instruction from you. By focusing on those barriers first, you’re allowing your audience to understand first WHY they need how-to content from you - growing your conversion rate.
3. They are focused on short-term engagement over long-term engagement
Speaking of engagement…long-term engagement is SO much more important than short-term engagement. This means that, rather than focusing on the number of likes your videos get or followers you have, your focus should instead lie on the type of people liking your videos and following you. Are you building a community made up of your target audience?
4. They don’t know the difference between free and paid content
Your free content should cover the who, what, where, and why of your services or products, while the majority of significant value - the how - should be paid for. Many business owners make the mistake of giving away all of the information covered in their courses or programs for free online - and thus, their sales suffer.
5. They’re not interacting with their audience
If someone takes the time to engage with your content on TikTok via a comment or duet, don’t be afraid to engage back with them! This shows that you, as a business owner, are respectful of their time, attentive, and interested in what they have to say - the hallmarks of fantastic customer service.
6. They don’t keep up-to-date with what competitors are doing
If you post a lot on TikTok but rarely watch TikTok videos, you may see your engagement suffer. First of all, you can’t stay up-to-date with trends if you aren’t watching videos. Secondly, if you don’t know what your competitors are doing, you can’t make content that competes!
7. They have an account - but rarely use it
Last but not least, so many business owners on TikTok have created an account, posted a few videos which didn’t receive immediate attention, and subsequently given up right away, failing to create more content to drive engagement. Success on TikTok doesn’t happen overnight! Growth on the platform requires consistent posting and content creation over weeks, not days.
These mistakes are called “common” for a reason - so don’t feel discouraged if you’re guilty of some of them.
TikTok thrives on authenticity, genuinity, and effort - meaning there is always a way to revamp your content and win over the support of your target audience!
If you want to truly maximize TikTok for your business, you will love my LIVE workshop! We are going to be diving deep into TikTok. Create content that resonates with your industry. Grow your audience and turn those followers into paying clients. For more information and to see how this program can make a difference for your brand, click here.
Samantha Vlasceanu, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Samantha Vlasceaunu, The TikTok Coach, is on a mission to convince businesses and brands that TikTok is not just for our teenagers (and no dancing required)! When COVID-19 hit, her other traveling business had to shut down and she had to pivot - FAST. That's when she realized that she'd been organically reaching her audience on TikTok all along and realized the power TikTok could have for businesses if they gave them a chance. Fast forward to today, Sam works with marketing agencies, coaches, lawyers, corporate Brands - you name it! Sam ensures all her clients are using the app with intention as a sales funnel in finding their target audience and coaching the strategies of converting their followers into ACTUAL paying clients.
