No, Your CEO Doesn’t Need to Dance on TikTok
5 million businesses are on TikTok; You don’t have to be one of them. Yes, there are spine surgeons doing the latest hip hop dance while medical statistics dance across the screen, and BookTok has taken debut novels to New York Times best-sellers. But for every perfectly lip-synched parody, there are hundreds of thousands of videos that are never viewed. In this vast social media landscape, it can feel impossible to stand out in the crowd, but you need to ask yourself - is this a crowd I want to stand out in? Social media platforms like TikTok are not one-size-fits-all, so how can you know if TikTok should be a part of your marketing strategy?
Industry Plays a Part
Many businesses in the B2B space, especially professional services like business law and accounting, will have a hard time building an audience on TikTok. Dispensing generic legal advice might boost a lawyer’s personal brand, but it will not have much of an impact on the reputation of their firm or entice general counsels to give it a deeper look. In industries like legal services, finance, and healthcare, a trusting relationship between practitioners and clients is something that can take years to build and is not likely to be based on how well you hit some choreography. Can TikTok be fun industries? Sure. But will it drive your business volume and brand? Probably not.
Size Does Matter
The brands doing the best and most engaging marketing on TikTok are huge. According to HubSpot, the best brands on Tik Tok in 2023 range from Dunkin’ Donuts to WWE to The Washington Post. These are companies that already had enormous and engaged audiences before they published their first video on the app. TikTok’s algorithm, like that of all social media, is going to favor accounts with large followings and perpetuate continued reach. Moreover, scripting, filming, and editing frequent video clips often requires a dedicated person - or team of people - just to keep TikTok relevant. That’s a big investment for something that might not move buyers.
Gen Z and Millennials Don’t Live in TikTok Vacuums
If your brand is trying to court a younger demographic, joining TikTok might seem like a forgone conclusion, but resist that temptation. Assuming that anyone under the age of 35 will only pay attention to content creators and glossy graphics is pretty shortsighted. LinkedIn boasts that 60% of its global users are ages 25-34. And while the younger generations may not flock to read the latest newsprint editorials, over 71% of them are listening to podcasts regularly. You can absolutely engage with a younger audience outside of TikTok.
TikTok can be a great platform for you to use if (and that’s a big if) it’s right for your industry. Look beyond your audience’s demographics to see how they engage with your content and your competitors. It may feel tempting to try out TikTok and test, but for many businesses and brands that will only be a distraction from more fruitful efforts. And make sure you are ready to commit the time and resources to ensure that your TikTok feed doesn’t become and often-neglected content graveyard. Ultimately, marketing time and dollars are finite, and you need to deploy resources where you’ll see the most ROI.