A recent webinar co-hosted by trend analytics firm Spate and supplement brand MaryRuth’s examined how TikTok is accelerating wellness discovery, what it means for category leaders, and how brands can respond with agility and credibility.
The event, Virality to Vitality: How TikTok is Driving Wellness Discovery, offered insights grounded in Spate’s real-time consumer data and MaryRuth’s firsthand success on the platform.
From curiosity to cart: How TikTok is shortening the sales cycle
The traditional path to purchase is being compressed by social commerce. Consumers are no longer researching across multiple channels before deciding. Increasingly, they are watching a 30-second video and converting on the spot.
“TikTok has collapsed the path to purchase,” Alyssa Williams, category insights manager at Spate, told NutraIngredients, citing that data shows more than half of wellness product consumers are now purchasing through social media platforms.
Williams noted this behavior shift calls for a rethinking of product development and marketing.
“Go-to-market strategies now have to be social-first and built around content that can spark curiosity and conversion in the same moment,” she said.
This shift has also elevated TikTok from a discovery platform to a commerce engine, where format, messaging and fulfillment must align seamlessly.
Ingredients with clear benefits dominate trending content
Magnesium, collagen, probiotics and ashwagandha have all gained momentum on TikTok, thanks to their strong link to familiar wellness outcomes.
“These ingredients thrive on TikTok because their benefits are easy to understand and share—magnesium for stress, collagen for skin, probiotics for gut health and ashwagandha for calm and energy,” Williams said.
Creatine is also seeing renewed attention among women and older adults.
While the supplement has a well-established reputation as a muscle recovery aid for exercise enthusiasts, “we’re now seeing new interest because it also supports hydration and bone health,” Williams said.
She pointed to the hydration category’s +369.5% year-over-year growth as a signal that supplement makers can reposition existing ingredients around emerging consumer needs.
MaryRuth’s: Turning platform reach into revenue
MaryRuth’s, a leading supplement brand on TikTok, reported 220% year-over-year growth with 58% of views tied to TikTok Shop content. The brand’s strategy focused on translating awareness into action through benefit-led content and a seamless purchase experience.
“We focused on bridging the gap between awareness and conversion by leaning into hero SKUs with clear, functional benefits,” Catalina Levya, senior director of ecommerce and retention at MaryRuth’s told NI. Products that have been particularly successful include the brand’s Liquid Multi + Hair Growth, Hair-Skin-Nails Gummies and Liquid Nighttime + Skin Renew Multivitamins.
Mary Ruth’s found success on the platform by following a simple content strategy that focused on product benefits driven by the creators themselves, “while pairing it with time-bound offers and bundles that encouraged immediate action,” Williams said.
To ensure performance on-platform, the brand fine-tuned listings for conversion. Optimizing for seamless checkout, offering options for bundles, subscriptions and fast fulfillment ensures that the TikTok Shop customer “journey from scroll to add-to-cart was as frictionless as possible,” she added.
Managing scale without losing credibility
With its emphasis on user-generated content, MaryRuth’s had to build processes that protect brand integrity without stifling authenticity.
“We start with creator-first storytelling: Content feels like a trusted recommendation, not an ad,” Levya said. “We encourage creators to speak in their own voice and share their real experiences.”
The company developed a structured yet flexible approach to messaging.
“To build credibility, we highlight education over hype, focusing on ingredient transparency, certifications, and customer testimonials,” Leyva added. “At scale, we maintain guardrails by providing a ‘credibility playbook’ (science-backed talking points, claims compliance, brand tone) while still allowing creative freedom.”
This has enabled MaryRuth’s to scale creator marketing efforts while maintaining trust with its target audience.
Picking trends with intention, not impulse
Not every viral moment translates into long-term relevance. MaryRuth’s uses a disciplined framework to decide which trends to pursue: “trend fit + brand fit + product readiness.”
“We look at the intersection of consumer search data, social buzz and brand authority,” Levya said. For trends that fit areas where MaryRuth products address, such as stress support, the brand will move quickly to produce appropriate content, but if a trend is “fleeting, misaligned with our values, or lacks scientific support, we pass,” she added.
Spate’s data analytics model supports this evaluation process by identifying early indicators of sustained consumer interest.
“Our data shows what’s breaking through with consumers before it hits the shelves, separating fleeting hype from real purchase intent,” Williams said.
The next frontier: ritual-based content and live selling
Looking ahead, MaryRuth’s is adjusting its TikTok strategy to reflect changes in consumer behavior. Content will focus more on routines, product pairings and educational formats.
“We’ll expand storytelling into wellness rituals, product pairings and everyday moments rather than single-product spotlights,” Levya said.
The brand is also exploring live selling and short-form education to integrate product education and conversion in real time.
“We see opportunity in shorter, snackable education formats and live selling, which allow us to combine storytelling, community building and conversion in real time,” Leyva noted.
With TikTok acting as both trend forecaster and transaction platform, speed remains essential.
“Agility is key,” Levya said. “We’re investing in real-time social listening and creator feedback loops to stay ahead of shifts in consumer curiosity.”
Williams added that TikTok’s role as an innovation engine is likely to continue growing.
“It helps brands know which trends are worth betting on— and when,” she said.
To download the webinar recording and accompanying report, click here.
