A specialist sleep posture brand has championed the power of TikTok for building patient awareness in the health and care space. Manchester-based Levitex was launched in 2019 by James Leinhardt, a sleep expert working with the NHS, through a kickstarter fund that achieved triple the target investment – and has since established an international customer base, as well as a highly engaged TikTok following of over 679,000 users through TikTok marketing.
The sleep brand has established themselves as the ‘go to’ experts for sleep health and wellbeing on TikTok and seen a compound of growth – as well as being featured in TikTok’s case studies of retailer marketing success spotlight.
With over 679,000 followers on TikTok and over 20.1 million likes, James Leinhardt is the ‘go-to’ expert for sleep health and wellbeing, his TikTok content reflecting his extensive decade-long expertise in 24-hour postural care, particularly catering to clients with complex neurological illnesses and injuries as well as working alongside the NHS in a consultancy manner.
James, founded Levitex after identifying a gap in the healthcare system when it comes to patient sleep posture management in both hospitals, the care sector and at home.
James talks about how the help of TikTok has allowed them to propel to success and highlights that whilst the platform is great from a reputation perspective, it also offers the healthcare industry a dynamic way to engage patients.
With 1.5 million UK businesses now using TikTok as a key marketing platform, the profound influence the app has on growth, especially amongst smaller businesses is huge.
A lot of the work I do is about educating patients about the ways in which sleep posture can impact our health and lives, as there’s so little awareness of the importance of having a good sleep surface to lie in. If people have a bad back, they might think of going for a massage or taking some pain killers, but often we don’t realise that the root cause of the problem is the surface you’re lying on for 8 hours every night.
Through my clinical work, I’ve seen first-hand the complications of poor sleep surfaces for patients, and the injuries that they develop which could have been avoided if proper sleep posture management was in place. This can be things like severe pressure sores that cause a lot of pain and discomfort, or reduced mobility that leave patients losing even more of their independence.
Education about the importance of sleep posture must start at home, and TikTok offers a way for experts to offer advice and insight in a very digestible format. It’s very easy to get side-tracked by the numbers when it comes to followers and engagements, but really TikTok is more than a social media platform for healthcare professionals; it’s a way to empower patients with the information they need to make informed decisions about their health. I think that’s why Levitex’s content has landed so well on the platform, because patients can use the information we give to genuinely improve their health and wellbeing.”
– James Leinhardt, CEO, Levitex
Whilst Levitex has used lots of different marketing tactics to amplify the brands growth, TikTok has been a standout channel for patient engagement.
James’ TikTok following has almost doubled in a year, and with over 5 thousand people joining his regular TikTok lives, in which James shares his expertise and also answers patients’ questions live, James explains how the social platform has been a key component in the sleep brands sales growth. Beyond contributing to their commercial success, James emphasises the brand’s commitment to sharing sleep advice globally, a core value that remains the central focus.
I think it’s no secret that there are challenges in the UK around people accessing the support they need, and often this can result in patients trying to find quick fix solutions that numb symptoms rather than fix the root cause. So has also enabled us to reach patients who are struggling to access the care they need, as they can reach us in a completely different way through TikTok lives.
During Levitex TikTok lives, I often find people approach me seeking guidance for themselves or their loved ones, which has sparked a further relationship with that person in where I can share my guidance and expertise. Many have shared their challenges, including health issues such as multiple sclerosis or a history of strokes, which has therefore impacted their sleep routine. TikTok provides them with a platform to obtain available advice that might otherwise require months to access through referrals from their healthcare providers.
We plan on continuing to use Levitex as the vessel to help address sleep posture and help be that change in their life, whether it is a big or small impact.
Along with sharing my advice on our TikTok videos and lives, the rise of TikTok shop has also been a game changer for small businesses like us. It has allowed us to propel our growth and has played a huge role in doubling our sales figures in 2023.
Although TikTok has helped us with our financial growth, our key purpose will always remain the same: to change lives through sleep.
But we can’t stop there. Whether this be through sleep consultations or sharing my expert advice on global platforms like TikTok to people that need it the most, my commitment extends towards an ongoing mission to positively impact and transform lives through sleep.
– James Leinhardt, CEO, Levitex
