Should accountants use TikTok? Only if the people you want to reach are watching

The short answer

Only if the people you want to reach are on it. TikTok can suit accountancy firms that want younger business owners, sole traders and future trainees. It suits almost nobody as a first channel if most of your work comes from referrals, LinkedIn and your local reputation.

If you go ahead, keep it simple: one short video a week answering one real question, filmed by a real person in your real office, with no client details anywhere. If you decide against it, that is a sound decision. Most firms will get more from an extra hour on LinkedIn.

Which firms TikTok suits

TikTok is worth trying when your ideal clients are young, run their own small business and are used to finding answers in short videos. Ask one question: if a new client in their twenties told you how they found you, would "a video on my phone" be a believable answer? If yes, read on.

• Firms serving sole traders and first-time business owners. People starting out as freelancers, online sellers, tradespeople or creators often have basic questions about tax and registering, and a clear short answer can be the first contact they have with your firm.
• Firms with a niche. A practice that works with content creators, hospitality or e-commerce can speak straight to that group. The niche gives every video an obvious angle and an obvious viewer.
• Firms hiring trainees. School leavers and graduates may look a firm up on TikTok before they apply. A few videos showing the team and a normal day can help recruitment even if they bring in few clients.
• Firms with someone who enjoys it. TikTok needs a person on camera week after week. A manager or trainee who is happy to do that is the single biggest reason it works or fails.

When to skip TikTok

Skip TikTok, at least for now, if any of these describes your firm. The hours will do more elsewhere.

• Your work comes from referrals and established companies. Company directors, finance managers and the solicitors and bankers who refer work are far more likely to see you on LinkedIn.
• Your other channels are not in order yet. If the LinkedIn page is quiet and the website is out of date, fix those first. A new channel on top of a neglected one spreads the effort thinner.
• Nobody will be on camera every week. TikTok is video only. If no one in the firm will film, the account will stop within a month, and a dead account looks worse than none.
• A rival firm is on it and you feel you should be. Their clients may not be yours. Copying a channel without a reason rarely brings enquiries.

If your younger clients are local and you want something less demanding than weekly video, Instagram is often the better first step. Our guide on whether accountants should use Instagram covers carousels, reels and stories for a small firm.

What works on TikTok for accountants

The videos that work are short, plain and about one thing. You do not need to be funny. You need to be clear and to sound like a person, not a brochure.

Short explainers that answer one question

Take a question a client asked this week and answer it in under a minute. "Do I need to tell HMRC about my side business?" "What is a payment on account?" Say the question in the first line so the right viewer stops scrolling, give the answer in plain English, and finish with one next step.

Deadline reminders in plain language

A short "this is coming up, this is who it affects, this is what to do now" video works well before the dates your clients worry about. Check every date and figure against GOV.UK on the day you post, because a wrong date on video is hard to correct.

A human face and a real office

Film a person talking in your own office, not stock footage or animated graphics. Viewers on TikTok are deciding whether they would like to deal with you, and a real face does that job far better than a logo.

The same slot every week

Consistency matters more than any single video. One explainer every week, at roughly the same time, builds a small audience that knows what to expect from you. Our guide on whether accountants should make videos for social media covers the phone, the light, the sound and what to film first.

That outline is ours, written to show the shape: a hook, who it is for, the answer, one next step. Fill in the rule and date from GOV.UK yourself, because they change.

What does not work

Firms that give up on TikTok usually made one of the same few mistakes.

• Dance trends and memes with no point. They may get views, but the viewers learn nothing about why they should hire you, and the clip dates within weeks.
• Jargon."Basis period reform" means nothing to a new sole trader. Say what it means for them, in the words they would use.
• Chasing views. A video watched by thousands of people outside your area and your type of client brings no work. A few hundred of the right viewers can.
• Posting the same video everywhere without adapting it. A landscape webinar clip or a LinkedIn post read out word for word does not suit TikTok. Rework the idea for a short portrait video.
• Bursts then silence. Ten videos in a fortnight, then nothing for three months, tells viewers the firm has given up.

How much time it takes

Be honest about the time before you start. As a rough guide, allow an hour or two a week once you have a routine: a few minutes to pick the question, a few takes to film it, and a short edit to trim and add captions. Expect the first month to take longer.

One short video a week is a sustainable rhythm for a small firm, and it is enough. Many firms find it easier to film four in one sitting at the start of the month and post one a week. That keeps the account going through busy weeks, including January.

Keep the rest of your posting on its own track so TikTok does not swallow it. Pillr does not post to TikTok, but it does draft a month of LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram posts from your firm's website and schedules them only once a partner has approved each one. The written channels are then sorted in one sitting, your TikTok hour goes on filming, and the client questions in those drafted posts make a ready list of things to answer on camera.

What never goes on TikTok

TikTok feels casual, and that makes it easy to slip. Agree a short list of what never appears, and check every video against it before it goes out, including what is in the background.

• Anything that identifies a client, including names, faces, premises, logos or a story they would recognise, unless they have agreed in writing to that specific use.
• Client figures, even rounded or "anonymised". "We saved a client £8,000" invites questions you cannot answer.
• HMRC correspondence, even blurred or partly covered.
• Screens, files and whiteboards behind whoever is filming.
• Claims you cannot back up, such as "the best accountants in the North West", and digs at other firms.

Who may film and post as the firm, and who approves each video, belongs in your wider rules. Our guide on whether accountants should have a social media policy covers both. If the person on camera also posts on their own account, our guide on whether accountants should post personal content sets out where the line sits. And because TikTok comments can be blunt, read how accountants handle negative comments before your first video goes up.

How to tell if it is working

Judge TikTok by whether the right people act, not by views. A video can reach thousands of people and bring nobody who could ever hire you. Check these each month instead.

• Profile visits and clicks to your website after a video goes out.
• Messages and enquiries. Ask every new client and every job applicant how they found you, and write the answer down.
• Who follows and comments. Local business owners, sole traders and would-be trainees are a good sign. Other accountants and random accounts are not.

Give it about three months of steady weekly posting before you decide. If it has brought no enquiries, no applicants and no useful followers by then, stop, and put the hour into LinkedIn or Instagram. To see a month of written posts drafted for your own firm, paste your website address on the home page.

Questions accountants ask about TikTok