Should my Brand be on TikTok?

While the world was under quarantine & shelter-at-home orders, many of us were looking for entertainment. Enter TikTok, a four-year old social media video sharing app that has skyrocketed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. So what exactly is TikTok & how does it work? Should your brand be on it? And what’s the deal with security concerns? Let’s dig right in!

What is TikTok & How Does it Work?

TikTok is a short-form video app that allows users to upload original videos up to 60 seconds long. Like Instagram Stories, TikTok videos are vertical & feature filters (similar to Snapchat), as well as appreciation tools like hearts. As soon as the user opens the app videos begin to play automatically. From your location, the videos you interact with, hashtags you use, music choices & more, TikTok serves curated videos just for you. This is good news for brands as TikTok’s algorithm isn’t so focused on your account’s number of followers or impressions & more so on who interacts with your videos. This means your videos can go “viral” without your brand having a large following.

Should your brand be on TikTok?

Let’s start with the most important topic to cover: Whether or not your brand should be on TikTok, it’s always a good idea to secure your brand’s handle/account. We recommend our clients to always protect their brand by securing their handles as soon as they can so no one else can claim them.

That said, there are advantages to being on TikTok, especially since even accounts with very little followers can garner millions of video views (thanks algorithm). For the right brand, with the bandwidth to create original content, it can be a great addition to your social media strategy. From DYI to dance challenges & cute animal videos, cultural momentum — what’s trending — is at the heart of TikTok. To take advantage of what’s hot today, your team must stay up to date with trends & be ready to act quickly when the time is right. Your brand will want to create entertaining, easy to replicate videos that others will be inspired to copy & share. In other words, have fun with your videos! TikTok is currently the most informal social media platform so get ready to put your creative cap on & try new things.

Now let’s talk bandwidth, as original content can take a lot of work to pull off. When considering if your brand should be on TikTok ask your team: do we have the time & resources needed to create fun, sticky, videos? Do you have a team member who can manage TikTok & bubble up trends? Someone who can create these videos quickly? Is your brand willing to try more relaxed, fun content? And does this content align with your brand? If the answer to all of these is yes, it may be a good time to start building your TikTok strategy. We can help you with that!

But what about security concerns?

You may have seen articles floating around lately about the U.S. government looking to ban TikTok & other Chinese social media apps due to security concerns. This decision comes two weeks after Apple announced it caught TikTok copying the last thing an iPhone user had on their clipboard. Because TikTok is a Chinese company, it has struggled to shake accusations they’re passing on data to the Chinese government under Chinese law. TikTok insists that’s not the case (the app doesn’t operate in China though they’re headquartered there) however, several users have been outraged by their lack of privacy, with many deleting the app all together to protect themselves.

It’s too early to tell if TikTok will be banned in the U.S. yet, but it’s definitely something to keep our eye on. For now, we recommend you secure your brand’s handle & have conversations with your team on whether you’re willing to give TikTok a try while it’s still available.

Are you interested in exploring TikTok & adding it to your social media strategy? We’re here for you. We’d love to connect & discuss next steps for you & your team. Contact us today!