If you happen to work in social media (or tech and promoting extra broadly), then you’re conscious that TikTok has been beneath scrutiny over knowledge privateness issues for years. It’s not the primary time the platform is going through stress; most not too long ago with the Biden administration demanding that ByteDance (the app’s father or mother firm) divest its shares of the social media platform or face a complete U.S. ban. Any potential ban could be a big shift within the social panorama, particularly now that the platform has 150 million U.S. customers and is about to hit over $18 billion in advert income this 12 months.
So, what do manufacturers and advertisers have to know?
TikTok will not be prone to go anyplace, anytime quickly
There’ll virtually actually be authorized challenges to the Biden administration’s actions that might take months and even years to resolve. It’s unlikely the platform will stop to function inside this time.
There could also be a settlement or state of affairs that appeases regulators and permits the platform to stay lively
This could possibly be within the type of enhanced knowledge privateness and oversight from regulators and/or U.S. firms. It might additionally contain a U.S. purchaser stepping in to fulfill U.S. regulatory calls for and hold the app working. Oracle and Walmart are already in talks with the platform.
What’s TikTok doing to handle security?
TikTok’s response to regulators is taking form within the type of “Undertaking Texas,” a $1.5+ billion-dollar effort to shore up privateness issues and transfer U.S. consumer knowledge away from places which may be weak to Chinese language interference.
Underneath the plan, TikTok is creating U.S.-specific variations of the corporate’s inside methods, reminiscent of ones that monitor content material virality, have an effect on what customers see, and even the algorithm that powers the platform.
The brand new methods will embody all U.S. consumer knowledge and be hosted in servers owned and monitored by Oracle (headquartered in Austin, Texas). Moreover, the system will probably be restricted to a U.S.-based crew that ByteDance executives will probably be restricted from accessing.
What does this imply on your model and the way do you have to proceed?
- Don’t panic: Preserve producing compelling content material that satisfies the TikTok viewers and the platform’s algorithm. Quick-form video content material isn’t going anyplace, and, within the extremely unlikely case the place TikTok goes away, there will probably be one other platform that fills the void.
- Make a contingency plan simply in case: The excellent news is that a lot of the similar content material, developments, and inventive methods you’d develop for TikTok could be utilized on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
- Ask your company (or in-house advertising crew) to assist present methods that mitigate any fallout ought to TikTok be banned, together with methods to:
- Diversify your content material codecs and platforms the place your model reveals up.
- Analysis rising or underutilized platforms to which audiences usually tend to migrate.
- Improve methods to “recycle” content material meant for TikTok on Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.
- Create or increase your influencer advertising capacities to faucet into extremely engaged audiences, it doesn’t matter what platforms they’re on.
The scrutiny surrounding TikTok goes to stay excessive, however it doesn’t imply the platform goes to vanish (a minimum of any time quickly). Manufacturers ought to proceed promoting on the platform, whereas growing a “Plan B” that minimizes any disruption that might emerge from a ban.
