Despite the Potential Ban, Brands Are Still Choosing TikTok for Marketing. Here’s Why They Should Keep It Up.

Even as TikTok gets into trouble with the Biden administration and individual U.S. states over its supposed ties to Chinese company ByteDance, the short-form video platform remains popular with brands that use it as a marketing tool. Software solution intermediary and research company Capterra recently released a survey involving 300 marketers that use TikTok for marketing and landed on some interesting results: Despite the uncertainty surrounding the company, three out of four respondents actually planned to increase their expenditure on the platform in the coming year. And despite the platform’s privacy fears, a whopping 87% trusted it with their long-term marketing strategies.

So, what makes brands choose TikTok for marketing? With consistently-increasing user numbers and popularity across multiple age groups (but especially users under 30 years old), TikTok allows companies to share helpful viral content, such as tips and tricks, to engage potential and existing clients. Brands, whether B2C or B2B, can also partner with popular influencers on TikTok to tap into their loyal fan base. And with billions of users worldwide, experts believe that brands looking to expand their reach should capitalize on its popularity now before its potential ban in the U.S.

Award-winning marketer Dr. Marcus Collins, a professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and the Chief Strategy Officer at Wieden+Kennedy New York, explains why marketers should jump on the TikTok train sooner than later.

Dr. Marcus’ Thoughts

“TikTok is not a risky investment. In fact, I would argue that it’s risky not to invest with TikTok. Why? Because that’s where the population is. Not only is that where the population is, that’s where culture is being constructed, right? People are there, entering the discourse, deciding what’s in, what’s out, what’s acceptable, what’s not acceptable, and people go there because that’s where people are.

So for marketers who are trying to establish a greater reach for their products, for their brands, you cannot not be on TikTok. Now, considering the potential ban of TikTok, it may change things, which [is why] I would say even more so, it’s important to be there now, so you take advantage of the advantage, because who knows how long that advantage will last.”