TikTok Tricks: How to Leverage Social Media Trends During Spooky Season

From Beetlejuice Lips to Boo Baskets, find out how you can join the conversation and develop a community — and have fun doing it

Halloween is a special time of year for beauty businesses, a time when everyone can let their hair down a bit and embrace their inner goth kid. It’s also a perfect opportunity to show off your styling skills on TikTok, as the entire community gets into the spirit with a seemingly never-ending stream of trending content. 

Looking for ways to get involved during the spooky season and expand your social media reach? Boo-levard’s got a few TikTok tips in its cauldron to help out.

Take part in a TikTok challenge — or create your own!

Sure, TikTok is primarily known as a short-form video-based social media platform. But what makes TikTok unique is the way it gives creators tools to remix and build on other users’ videos. That’s what TikTok challenges are all about. 

In case you’re not familiar, they go a little something like this: One user comes up with a dance or action and encourages the broader TikTok community to one-up them. The best part is that anyone can join in on the fun, giving everyone their chance at viral fame. TikTok challenges are a great way to boost your account’s reach while also having some fun.

TikTok challenges are huge around Halloween, as users come up with increasingly outlandish costumes, hairstyles, and makeup routines based on their favorite horror movies or characters. Right now, the Beetlejuice Lips challenge is popping off, where makeup artists and amateurs alike apply a wild combination of colors to the natural crinkles of their lips to recreate the look of the iconic Tim Burton character. 

If you want to participate, first, you should look for challenges that can be performed in your business, not at home — remember, you want to create content that fits your brand and remains authentic to what services your business provides. Then, make a video in line with the challenge request (whether it’s a brand new video or a response to someone else’s video is your call). It doesn’t necessarily have to be a one-to-one recreation, either — look how Boho Medspa took the Beetlejuice Lips challenge and added its own twist by turning it into a facial treatment filled with fake eyeballs and a live snake(!).

Once you’re done filming, add the appropriate hashtags to your post. That’s it! It’s a relatively low-lift way to make your business a part of the TikTok community without appearing as if you’re trying to force engagement. Since it’s part of a larger trend, it also increases the likelihood that your content appears in other users’ For You pages. And because the challenge is inherently a call to action, you’ll inspire your current followers to participate and spread the word, too.

If you’re brand new to TikTok and are still trying to build a following, consider starting by piggy-backing off other challenges before creating your own. Once you’ve got some followers, consider working with local beauty influencers to develop Halloween-themed TikTok challenges so you can start leading the conversation.

Find other spooky trends to join

Beetlejuice Lips isn’t the only trend blowing up on TikTok right now. Consider poking around the For You Page a bit and picking out a few popular ones to join that also fit the type of content your beauty business account typically produces.

Here are just a few popular Halloween TikTok trends that you could make for fun and engaging content:

• Boo baskets: A ton of TikTokers are making Halloween-themed gift baskets for their significant other (or “boo” — get it?), full of fall treats, candles, makeup, and other special goodies. Consider putting your own boo basket together — rebranded to fit your beauty business, of course — full of recommended beauty products for the season, and offer it for sale through your website or the TikTok Shop. Not only is it a great sales opportunity (everyone loves a gift basket), you’ll also get a chance to share your product knowledge to the world.

• Spooky makeup: Like the Beetlejuice Lips challenge, this trend sees creators try to create Halloween-y makeup routines to shock and delight their followers. Gorgeous, creepy, subdued, outlandish, and everything in between — consider coming up with your own look and offer a quick tutorial breaking down how you put it together and which products you used to make it work. You can even bring on other team members to collaborate, giving them a platform to show off their skills to potential clients.

However you choose to join these trends, remember to make sure that your content is in line with the other TikToks you produce for your beauty business account.  For example: Suppose your account is primarily known for tutorial videos and you suddenly start posting dances to the Monster Mash. You might come off as inauthentic to viewers, which will hurt engagement and prevent people from following your account. On the other hand, sharing videos of your staff being goofy and having fun can be a great way to show off your brand’s personality. The bottom line is, feel free to experiment, just remember to stay aligned with your salon’s brand and aesthetic. 

Whatever content you produce, don’t forget to use hashtags to make it easily searchable and more likely to show up in relevant feeds.

Drive engagement and meet your goals with a call to action

Most people on TikTok merely want to make fun videos and share content with friends. You’re different — you’re using TikTok as an advertising platform to meet your business goals, whether that’s acquiring new clients, selling product, or boosting retention rates. To do that, all of the content you post should include some kind of call to action — a short, direct request that encourages the viewer to do something that drives further engagement with your brand. 

There are a lot of ways to implement a call to action, and you’ll tailor this message to meet the goals you want to achieve. Looking to grow your TikTok account? Simply end with a request to like the video and follow for more content. Want to boost your user acquisition rates? Drop a coupon code that first-time visitors can drop on a seasonal beauty package if they stop by the salon (Bonus: It’ll also give you some valuable data about how good your TikTok account is at converting viewers into clients!). Want to sell more product? Share the link to your online shop so viewers can buy what they saw in the video. You could even ask viewers to stop by your website and share an email address to stay up to date on the latest events and receive booking reminders.

You only have a few seconds to make your pitch, so be quick and direct. Use action verbs like “sign up,” “follow,” or “save,” and connect those verbs to the value the action will provide. Examples like “follow this account for more beauty tips” or “save 10% on your next appointment” provide clear, tangible results for anyone who completes the action you request.

Remember: As fun as TikTok is, the goal is to grow your audience and revenue. Including a call to action is an absolute must to achieve those goals.

Post frequently and consistently

If you don’t already have a presence on TikTok, you may find that your posts don’t get a ton of engagement. That’s ok! The important thing is to keep trying new ideas, post often, and post consistently. You’ll eventually start making better videos more efficiently, hone in on your niche, and signify to TikTok that you’re an active account catering to a specific audience. And the more you do that, the more likely your content will be a hit for Halloweens to come.