Taking a Traditional B2B Business Viral on TikTok in 6 Months
Proving That "Boring" Industries Can Win on Viral Platforms
The Context
This project shouldn't have worked. A B2B wood wholesaler. Selling fire-retardant treated timber. To construction companies and contractors. On TikTok.
Every conventional marketing instinct says that's impossible. TikTok is for teenagers. B2B buyers don't make purchasing decisions based on viral videos. Fire-retardant treatment isn't exactly entertainment.
But when the founder approached me, I saw something different. I saw a woman running a successful business in a male-dominated industry, with genuine expertise that nobody was communicating well. I saw an opportunity to prove that the rules everyone thinks they know aren't actually rules.
They had zero social media presence. No Instagram, no Facebook, no YouTube. The business ran on relationships, word of mouth, and the occasional trade show. It worked, but growth was slow and unpredictable.
The founder wanted to change that. She wanted to be found by people who didn't already know her. She wanted to establish herself as the expert in fire-retardant wood treatment — not just among people she'd met, but among everyone searching for that expertise online.
The Challenge
The "Impossible" Platform
TikTok's algorithm doesn't care about your industry. It cares about whether people watch your videos. The question wasn't "can B2B work on TikTok?" — it was "can we make content about wood treatment that people actually want to watch?"
Technical Content, General Audience
Fire-retardant wood treatment is technical. There are certifications, testing standards, application methods, maintenance requirements. The people who need this information are builders, architects, safety inspectors. They need accuracy.
But TikTok reaches everyone. A video could be seen by a construction professional and a homeowner curious about wood siding and a teenager who just finds fire experiments interesting. We needed content that served the professional audience while being accessible enough for anyone.
Female Leadership in a Male Industry
The founder was a woman in an industry dominated by men. That could be invisible — just don't mention it, focus on the product. Or it could be an asset.
I chose to make it visible. Not performatively, but naturally. The founder appeared in content. Her perspective shaped the narrative. In a sea of construction content made by and for men, this was different. Different gets remembered.
The Approach
I spent time understanding the business before creating anything. Visited the facility. Watched the treatment process. Asked what made their approach different from competitors. Learned about fire ratings and wood types and application techniques.
The product was genuinely interesting once you understood it. Wood that doesn't burn — or at least burns much slower and safer than untreated wood. There's something almost magical about that. Fire demonstrations where treated wood chars but doesn't flame while untreated wood goes up immediately. Visual proof of an invisible treatment.
The creative insight was simple: this content is inherently dramatic. Fire is inherently engaging. We didn't need to make it entertaining — we needed to let it be entertaining.
The Creative Direction
The videos needed to stop thumbs from scrolling. That meant hooks, drama, curiosity. But the substance had to be real — actual information that professionals could use. We never dumbed it down. We made the smart stuff fun.
This was a Hungarian business speaking to a Hungarian audience. We leaned into that. References to Toldi, knight imagery, historical characters. Inside jokes that made Hungarian viewers feel seen. This wasn't generic international content — it was theirs.
We created a recurring main character — an actor who appeared in multiple roles, bringing personality and humor to technical content. The real team members appeared too, adding authenticity. Behind-the-scenes content showed the actual people doing the actual work.
Fire tests. Side-by-side comparisons. Wood types reacting differently to flame. The kind of content that makes people say "wait, what?" and watch again.
Content Rhythm
Three to four videos per week. Consistent posting schedule. Mix of formats — some educational, some entertaining, some showcasing projects.
We repurposed content across platforms. TikTok videos went to YouTube Shorts with minimal modification. The effort we put into one piece of content multiplied across channels.
The Execution
Finding What Resonates
The first weeks were experimentation. We tested different hooks, different formats, different tones. The data told us what worked.
- Trust-building content — showing the facility, the process, the team — performed best for views. People wanted to know who they were dealing with.
- Educational content about DIY applications and gardening uses reached the broadest audience. Not our core B2B buyers, but valuable for building overall presence and algorithm favor.
- Technical comparisons — different wood types, treated vs. untreated, fire ratings explained — drove the highest engagement. The people who watched these were the serious prospects.
The Numbers Started Moving
By month three, we were seeing real traction. The engagement rate stabilized around 3.4%. Industry average for B2B content is 1-2%. We were beating that by nearly double.
More importantly, 92.5% of our views came from the ForYou page — meaning the algorithm was actively recommending our content to new viewers. We weren't just reaching our followers; we were reaching everyone the algorithm thought might be interested.
Profile visits increased 97%. People weren't just watching — they were clicking through to learn more.
Leads Started Coming
By month six, we'd generated an estimated 120-180 qualified leads directly from social media activity. That's 20-30 leads per month on a platform where "B2B doesn't work."
The leads were real. Construction companies reaching out about bulk orders. Architects asking about specifications for projects. Contractors wanting to know about fire certification for their builds.
Google Ads Amplification
Organic social built the brand. Paid amplified it.
We ran Google Ads campaigns alongside the social content. The combination was powerful — people would see organic content on TikTok, then search for more information, then hit our Google Ads.
August results: 336 conversions. 36% conversion rate. HUF 133,474 spent (~$355 USD). HUF 1,813,000 in conversion value (~$4,820 USD). That's a 13.58× return on ad spend.
The Results
Social Media Performance
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Audience Growth | +171% |
| Reach Growth | +1,900% |
| Total TikTok Views | 165,000+ |
| Engagement Rate | 3.4% (vs 1-2% avg) |
| ForYou Appearance | 92.5% |
| Comment Activity | +900% |
| Shares | +70% |
Audience Built
The audience we built matched the target almost perfectly:
- Age: 35-54 years (52.6%) — decision-makers, not browsers
- Gender: 62-72% male — construction industry demographics
- Location: 90%+ Hungary — local business, local audience
- Device: 70% mobile — watching during commutes, breaks, evenings
What This Case Teaches
"Boring" is a creativity problem
Every industry has something interesting at its core. Fire-retardant wood treatment involves fire — and fire is inherently fascinating. The "boring" label usually means nobody has found the creative angle yet.
Platform rules are guidelines, not laws
"B2B doesn't work on TikTok" isn't a rule. It's a description of what most B2B companies have tried. Most B2B content is boring because companies assume it should be boring. Break that assumption and the platform doesn't care what industry you're in.
Cultural specificity beats generic reach
Making content specifically for Hungarian viewers — with Hungarian references, Hungarian humor, Hungarian cultural touchpoints — built a more engaged audience than generic international content would have. Specificity creates connection.
Organic builds the foundation for paid
The 13.58× ROI on Google Ads wasn't just about good ad targeting. It was about six months of organic content building familiarity and trust. By the time people clicked ads, they already knew the brand. That changes everything about conversion rates.
When Brenda first suggested TikTok, I thought she was joking. A wood wholesaler on TikTok? But she saw something I didn't — that our work is actually fascinating if you show it right. Now contractors call and say 'I saw your fire videos.' Architects mention our content in meetings. We're not just a supplier anymore. We're the expert everyone knows.— Founder, Wood Industry Wholesaler
Recognize This Pattern?
Founder dependency. Sales bottlenecks. Operations that can't keep pace with ambition. These aren't character flaws — they're architecture problems. And architecture can be designed.
If you're generating €1M+ annually but growth creates chaos instead of freedom, we should talk.