Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using TikTok for Business

Published on 07.09.2026 by Chizoba T

As one of the fastest-growing platforms, with an audience that predominantly consists of Gen Z, TikTok can be a good platform for brands aiming to reach a younger demographic. However, with its funny, laid-back nature, it can be hard for brands to market on TikTok.

Additionally, the audience on the platform hates being marketed to, and therefore, brands need to have a good TikTok growth strategy that works in 2026. In this article, we look at some of the common mistakes brands and creators make when marketing on TikTok and how they can avoid them.

Top Critical Mistakes Brands Must Avoid When Marketing on TikTok

If you are a brand trying to market on TikTok, you need to avoid the following mistakes:

Disregarding the TikTok Style and Culture

One of the things that sets TikTok apart from other platforms is its unique culture and style. This culture often focuses on lightheartedness, creativity, and authenticity. Unfortunately, when marketing on TikTok, many brands use an overly serious tone and create ads sounding content. This kind of content is likely to fail.

Instead of such content, brands can focus on content that shows their authenticity and laid-back side. For instance, they can avoid corporate jargon and allow employees to turn on their accounts, where they can access behind-the-scenes content. They should also focus on creating TikTok-style content using cameras, quick cuts, built-in filters, and text-to-speech features, rather than on high-end production. They should also add catchy visual effects, trending topics, and music to increase their chances of success.

Not Participating in Trends

Trends and challenges are big on TikTok, enabling businesses to remain abreast of the latest developments. Here are several reasons why brands should participate in TikTok trends, especially for a seasonal content marketing strategy:

  • Instant visibility. Taking part in a trend can offer your brand instant visibility. If a trend or challenge goes viral, it can flood social media feeds, getting the attention of audiences from all over the world. When you join these trends early enough, you can increase your reach and attract new followers.
  • Drive engagement. When you take part in a viral challenge, you can create content that people can engage with through comments, shares, and likes. Viral trends usually thrive based on interaction. When you join the conversation, you can drive visibility as your videos get pushed to a bigger audience. Brands can take part in trending challenges, dances, and sounds to increase engagement and drive brand visibility. However, they also need to maintain their values and only take part in trends that align with their core message.
  • Showcase your lighthearted personality. We noted earlier that brands should take part in the TikTok culture and trends. When you join TikTok trends, you can showcase your brand as more genuine and approachable. This can work for TikTok users, as they love brands that aren't afraid of showcasing their creative and fun side. This also enables you to humanize your brand in a relatable and authentic way, resulting in a stronger bond with your audience and encouraging them to engage more with the content.
  • Experiment with creativity. Social media trends offer brands an opportunity to think outside the box and show their creativity. Whether it's a bottle-flipping challenge, a dance challenge, or a funny lip-syncing challenge, this can be a good way to experiment with new content formats.

Overemphasizing Polished Content

We have already mentioned that TikTok users are averse to content that looks like an ad. They will, therefore, skip those overly sleek corporate and scripted videos because they prefer content that focuses on authenticity, storytelling, and creator-led moments.

That means when TikTok users see highly edited videos with studio lighting, they feel like they are dealing with an ad, leading them to skip the content. This content format also lacks relatability, as TikTok users prefer casual, DIY-style videos. When brands make their content overly polished, it feels like they are trying too hard to sell instead of entertaining. Polished content also takes away the natural voice of the creator and reduces their level of trust.

There are several tips that a brand can use to make its content authentic and generate audience trust. These are:

  • Leverage TikTok built-in tools. Instead of creating polished videos inside a studio, they can shoot videos on their phones inside the TikTok app. These should be videos that showcase people rather than products and logos. It can be a video of a day in the life of the founder or behind-the-scenes videos.
  • Collaboration with other creators. Brands can work with other influencers whose voices match their brand. Since the creator already understands their audience, UGC content can feel more intimate compared to when a brand posts directly.

Overly Promotional Content

When people join TikTok, they are usually looking to be informed or entertained, not to be sold to. Even though people are increasingly using the platform for product discovery, creating promotional content on the platform can be counterproductive as it clashes with the entertainment-first nature of TikTok. That means any promotional content will be ignored, skipped, and ultimately penalized by the algorithm, which prioritizes content that generates a high number of comments, completion rates, and shares. Since users will not engage with the ad, the promotional content will not be pushed in the For You Page, tanking your organic reach.

The TikTok culture also relies on relatability, so when you create overly polished and traditional TV-style content, it will look out of place. Users will also feel used by an account that focuses on sales posts, leading to a lack of trust. Therefore, a good idea would be to focus more on entertaining or informational content instead of promotional content.

Neglecting Audience Engagement

Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok doesn't consider the follower count when recommending videos. Instead, the recommendation system on the FYP page considers the interaction level. If a video doesn't generate a high number of likes, comments, and shares, TikTok interprets it as a sign that it is a low-quality video and will stop distributing the video. That means if you are not taking action to drive engagement on your TikTok videos, you are missing a lot.

Additionally, no follower wants to be treated as a billboard. If they feel like you are treating him like a billboard, they will stop following you, resulting in a lower conversion rate. When you ignore your audience, you will easily struggle to build a loyal follower base. When you fail to respond to comments, the algorithm may struggle to understand your target audience. That results in your videos getting shown to the wrong audience, who will not interact, resulting in a low number of views.

The comments section can also be a good source of audience feedback. If you don't respond to them, you will miss the opportunity to get ideas for your future content. You can also address the negative feedback.

On the other hand, you can use the following tips to increase your TikTok engagement:

  • Create relatable content. Make sure that your TikTok content feels authentic and relatable. This could be videos of your products in action instead of static photos, behind-the-scenes content, or unboxing videos.
  • Create the right length of video. Many studies have consistently shown that videos between 15 and 20 seconds often have the highest completion rate, a key ranking signal. Therefore, make your videos short and snappy.
  • Be consistent in posting at the right time. The more frequently you post on TikTok, the more data the TikTok algorithm collects, enabling it to understand your audience, style, and performance. This will, therefore, enable your content to reach the right audience. For many brands, posting 3 to 5 times a week works for them, but this will also depend on your audience. Find out the best posting time depending on the location and habits of your audience.
  • Build a TikTok community. Creating a sense of community is a key factor that drives audience engagement. Therefore, brands need to monitor comments, respond to people’s inquiries, and drive meaningful interactions to cultivate a loyal audience.
  • Leverage data. You need to check TikTok analytics to see the content that is getting the highest number of likes, comments, shares, and saves. You can then A/B test different elements of the content, such as hooks, captions, and trending sounds, to see which one drives the highest engagement. Pay attention also to the positions, time, and trends that match your brand voice.

Using the Wrong Video Orientation

Many TikTok users access the platform on their mobile phone, and even the app is optimized to orient to the natural look of your video. If you use a horizontal video, it will not fill the whole screen, and the surrounding area will be blocked out. Black bars are placed at the top and bottom, turning your video into an eyesore.

On the other hand, a vertical video fills the whole screen of the viewer's phone, offering full-screen content that is more engaging. This prevents users from scrolling past. To provide your viewer with an optimal viewing experience, make sure your videos are shot in a vertical format at 1080 by 1920 pixels.

In Conclusion

With the lighthearted nature of TikTok, many brands find it to be one of the hardest platforms to market on. By using overly polished videos and not driving engagement, they end up making many mistakes. Fortunately, by reading our guide, you can better understand these mistakes and how to avoid them. This is especially important when you also read our comparison of YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok for marketing.