How to get 100K TikTok followers | insights from Piglet in Bed

DTC brand, Piglet in Bed, creates luxury bedding inspired by the English countryside. Since launching in 2017, they’ve  achieved several significant milestones. They opened their first brick-and-mortar store, introduced a new line of homeware products, and cultivated a thriving online community.

As the Head of Brand, Rhiannon Johns has played a pivotal role in shaping Piglet in Bed’s strategic direction. She also leads the brand’s TikTok account, which currently has 100K followers.

In this episode of Ecommerce Marketing 101, Rhiannon explains how she’s grown their following so quickly. She’ll talk about some of the content that resonates with Piglet in Bed’s audience, as well as how to maintain your brand integrity as you grow. 

Listen on: 

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/49Yx7fm

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3x6dZO7

Or, watch the episode on YouTube.

7 ways to increase your TikTok followers 

When Rhiannon joined Piglet in Bed in 2021, not many brands had embraced TikTok yet. But as Rhiannon immersed herself in the platform, she realised the channel could be a fantastic opportunity to expand Piglet in Bed’s reach.

Here’s the tactics she used to grow their channel, along with valuable tips for managing your brand’s TikTok presence. 🤳

1. Discover what resonates with your audience 

TikTok embraces authentic content. That means you don’t need to invest in expensive video creation to get started —a few scrappy videos shot on your phone is a good place to begin. Rhiannon began by sharing videos of her bedroom, showcasing Piglet in Bed’s products.  

“I just started off by posting anything and everything to get an idea of what was going to resonate. Having said that, I was posting stuff then that I wouldn’t post now. That’s because we now have a good understanding of what works and who our community is.” 

Once you learn what resonates with your audience and you start seeing results, you might want to consider investing more time and money into the platform.

Key takeaway: Remember, a big budget isn’t necessary to begin on TikTok. Start by shooting quick videos on your phone, learn what resonates, and then invest in what’s working.

2. Maintain brand consistency

While it might seem obvious, ensuring your content aligns with your brand is crucial. That means your colours, aesthetic and tone of voice should always tie back to the core of who you are. 

For Piglet in Bed there are several different elements to their brand, all of which feed into the content they produce. Here’s a look at the different parts of their personality: 

Bold and cheeky

As a challenger brand, Piglet in Bed deliberately opposes the conventional ‘sleepy’ and ‘dreamy’ tone associated with traditional sleep brands. As Rhiannon says: 

“We're bold, cheeky and scruffy—just like piglets. And what you see is what you get. The tone of voice that we use on social media is cheeky and we often post funny memes which you wouldn’t expect from some of our competitors.” 

Safety and comfort

Piglet in Bed’s goal is to make people feel safe and comfortable. And this feeds into their community: 

“It's a very safe community. We create and commission content that people feel is comforting to watch—whether that's a morning routine or a nice baking recipe. People don’t even have to be our customers to be invested in that side of us. 

Here’s an example of one of Piglet in Bed’s baking videos. 🥰

Countryside aesthetic

Finally, Piglet in Bed’s products are inspired by the English countryside. This helps Rhiannon and her team film content with a particular aesthetic. 

“Linen, for example, has natural crinkles. That's why there's no point in ironing it because it looks beautiful the way it is. And that's the countryside aesthetic that Piglet in Bed tries to capture.”

Key takeaway: Look at the different elements of your brand personality. Tying your tone of voice, aesthetic and brand ethos to your video goals will help you brief, plan and create content. 

3. Blend in with your community

Rhiannon emphasises the importance of creating content that aligns with what your community is engaging with. And to not be too focused on selling your product. This is a tactic she saw a brand doing really well: 

“I saw this video by a TikTok account that didn’t even have a logo at the time. They were showing a video that featured a piece of furniture. When I went to the comments, I saw people were asking where the furniture was from. I assumed this was a video created by an influencer. However, it turned out it was actually a homeware brand and they were able to point people to the product in the video.”

Rhiannon saw this as a clever way to blend in with the rest of the community. She says people don’t want to see advertisements all the time; they want to be educated or entertained. So make sure your content is providing value, without overselling your products.   

Check out this tutorial on Piglet and Bed’s TikTok. They demonstrate how to keep your towels soft in the washing machine. It’s not pushing any products, but you can hop over to their store to buy the featured towel or detergent if you want.

Key takeaway: People don’t want to see ads on TikTok. Instead, they want to be educated or entertained, so make sure your content is providing value to your target audience. 

4. Don’t get too tied to a content plan 

TikTok is fast-paced and trends are constantly changing. If you want to stay relevant, it's important you’re reacting to the content your audience is engaging with at the time. And having a tight content plan is going to get in the way. 

“Trends come and go. Things like music trends and topics are constantly changing, so it’s important you’re on the ball. If you’ve got to wait for rounds of approvals, that’s going to slow you down.”

However, creating content on the fly doesn’t work for everyone. So Rhiannon has some great tips on creating a rough plan that you can fall back on:

• Build a bank of content: Create some core content for each of your products. For example, if you’re doing a photoshoot for a new collection, make sure you’re capturing short videos that can be used in the future. There might be a piece of music that’s trending on TikTok, for example, that would go really well over some content you created a few months ago. This is also something that Toby from Nusa Films recommends on his episode: How to create thumb-stopping video ads.   
• Plan your seasonal content: Lots of brands ramp up their marketing efforts around certain times of year. Think: Christmas, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and New Year sales. If there are any holidays your brand needs content for, these can be solid pillars in your content calendar which you can plan in advance. 

💡For inspo, check out our article that offers 15 creative Black Friday campaigns from DTC brands. 

Key takeaway: The reactive nature of TikTok means it can be hard to plan content in advance. Something that’s trending today might be old news tomorrow—so make sure you’re regularly checking in with what your audience is engaging with. However, you can build up a bank of content and plan for seasonal campaigns to help you feel less overwhelmed. 

5. Experiment with image carousels 

TikTok is a video-first platform, yet, Rhiannon says image carousels have been working really well for the brand. Everyime they launch a new collection, they’ll fill their TikTok with gorgeous product photos. 

“We have really beautiful imagery every time we launch a collection. And so something like an image carousel which uses the photography from the new collection - which is not what you’d have seen on TikTok two years ago - are actually doing really well. They’re driving people to our website as well and getting people excited about future collections from us.”

If you head over to Piglet in Bed’s website, you can shop everything showcased on their TikTok. 

Key takeaway: Use carousels to highlight product photography from your shoots. They provide a refreshing break from continuous video content and allow you to showcase products up close. Plus, you can link viewers back to your product pages.

6. Find creators who align with your brand 

Content creators and influencers are a huge part of TikTok. By collaborating with people who already have a name for themselves on the platform, you’ll be able to spread your brand message to a new audience. 

One of the first content creators that Rhiannon and her team worked with was Alana (alanalavv). Alana runs a cookbook club and regularly posts recipes and ‘day in the life’ videos. Rhiannon discovered Alana when she posted a video featuring Piglet in Bed’s linen. 

“We need lots of home interior shots - but we don’t want it to be in the same home all the time. So it's nice to have different aesthetics and different spaces to inspire different people. Alana and I have gotten really close over the last few years and we regularly collaborate on ideas.”

See how Piglet in Bed and Alana collaborated to promote a press preview day at a London house.

‍Key takeaway: When partnering with creators, look for people posting about your brand. The content they create will be authentic because they already love your products. Amiee Caswell from Lick Paints discusses this in our podcast episode on building a social media community.

7. Clearly brief your creators

Whether you’re working with creators or producing videos yourself, having a clear brief of what you want to achieve will be essential. Rhiannon’s tip for briefing is to treat it like a photoshoot. Here are some things to include: 

“Make sure you have all the deliverables listed in your brief. Include the kind of lighting that is going to work best for you. Point out the type of props and pieces around the home that wouldn't quite be right for your aesthetic. You should also be clear on the length of the video and whether you want it produced on an external platform or in TikTok itself. Be clear on styling and the types of video formats that work best for your audience.”

Key takeaway: If you need to brief your team or a creator on videos for TikTok, it’s a good idea to treat it like a photography brief. Include all the important elements that are needed to align with your brand. 

Rhiannon’s key takeaways for success on TikTok

Ready to smash your TikTok marketing goals? Here’s a round up of Rebecca’s tip from the podcast. 👇

• You don’t need a massive budget to get started on TikTok: Embrace authentic, unpolished content from real people. This means you can shoot scrappy videos on your phone at no cost. 
• Tie your content back to your core brand values: When creating content, ensure it aligns with your brand’s core elements like personality, aesthetic, and tone of voice.
• Create content that fits naturally into your community: People don’t want to see loads of ads from brands. So make sure you’re creating educational and entertaining content that your community’s already watching. 
• Be reactive to your community: Trends change fast on TikTok. Regularly check in on what’s hot and creating content that’s relevant. 
• Use image carousels to promote new collections: No doubt you take lots of gorgeous imagery everytime you launch a new product. And although TikTok is primarily video-led, try experimenting with carousels to show off your new collections. 
• Work with creators who already love your brand: If you want to work with influencers and creators, start by looking for people already posting about your brand. This’ll make it easier to spark up an authentic collaboration and to help you reach a wider audience. 
• Be detailed with your briefs: When you work with creators, sometimes you need to be specific about the type of content you’d like them to create. In this case, put together a brief just like you would for a photoshoot. It keeps everyone on the same page and means your creators are posting content that’ll resonate with your audience. 

Listen to Rhiannon’s full episode on Ecommerce Marketing 101: 

• Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/49Yx7fm
• Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3x6dZO7

💡If you want to learn more about TikTok, read our guide for getting starting with your TikTok marketing strategy.