For marketers, these past weeks have been a nail-biting rollercoaster ride as the deadline came and went for the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. For now, with the new presidential administration in its corner, the Chinese-owned social media platform continues to operate normally following a brief 12-hour shutdown. However, that could change in a few months should the underlying issues remain unresolved.
Adaptation in Shifting Digital Landscape
The backstory is already well-known. Driven by national security concerns that TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, was collecting and could misuse the personal information of the app’s 170 million American users, a bipartisan-crafted law was signed last April requiring ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s U.S. business or face a nationwide ban.
Close to 50% of users make purchases after watching content, driving $1 billion in monthly small business revenue.
The stakes are high, especially for marketers who support some of the 7 million U.S. small businesses that have found TikTok to be a highly effective platform. Should TikTok eventually be banned or its proprietary algorithm become inaccessible to any new U.S. owner, it will reshape how many companies reach customers online.
The fact is more marketers than ever are devoting a greater slice of their budgets to TikTok. This situation spotlights broader challenges in digital marketing and those who lean heavily on one platform, including millions of businesses and social influencers. With one basket groaning under the weight of so many eggs, it’s clear that a more diversified approach is needed, whether or not TikTok is eventually prohibited in the U.S.
Evaluating Your Dependency on TikTok
Social media ad spending in the U.S. is projected to exceed $82 billion this year.
This represents a nearly 10% increase from $75 billion in 2024, when U.S. ad revenue for TikTok amounted to approximately $8 billion. While that’s not the same kind of market share seen, for example, in Google’s search engine dominance, it’s significant. And it might be platform-specific. There’s no knowing whether dollars currently flowing to TikTok would have the same efficacy on, say Facebook, Instagram, or X, which some users are currently abandoning for more decentralized social platforms like BlueSky.
TikTok is structurally and experientially different from other social media platforms.
Users spend an average of 58.24 minutes daily on the app, nearly a full hour, typically opening it 19 times to check what’s bubbling to the top.
Its primary focus is short-form video, emphasizing entertainment and engagement. Its customized For You page utilizes a powerful AI algorithm to serve up highly personalized, addictive content based on user behavior. With its youth appeal, viral trends and challenges, and extensive and easy-to-use tools for users to create professional-looking videos, TikTok has no equal on the social media landscape.
With this unique package of assets, the question becomes: How dependent have marketers become on TikTok? What’s your Plan B, should it eventually be banned?
Diversifying Channels and Strategies
30% to 40% of TikTok’s spending would each be allocated to Google (primarily YouTube) and Meta, while 10% to 20% would go toward Snap, and another 10% to 20% to other digital platforms.
Whether or not a TikTok ban ever goes into effect, the benefits of diversification are evident. Marketers should consider expanding to other video-based alternative platforms such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight while exploring other marketing channels outside social media such as display ads, content marketing, podcast advertising, or even direct mail. Start strategizing how you plan to migrate your content – and audience – to new platforms.
Forward-looking companies and their marketing partners aren’t sitting idle. With advance warning from last April when the law was first signed, they’re already testing what works while TikTok is still in the U.S. marketplace. Each platform offers different advantages for reaching customers: Instagram Reels connects with established audiences, YouTube Shorts helps businesses appear in search results, and Snapchat keeps them relevant with younger buyers.
Building Long-Term Marketing Resilience
What are some key strategies for diversification and building resilience over the long haul? Customized for each business, these may include:
Utilizing automated advertising management platforms to reach target audiences across a breadth of channels more effectively
Today, there are several digital advertising platforms available to help companies and brands manage their advertising and marketing campaigns. Digital ad platforms allow a business to achieve greater ad performance and results with algorithms that can direct campaigns just like an experienced ad manager. These platforms have many helpful and often crucial tools to ensure your advertising campaign is reaching the right target audience, including:
- Acquiring Customer Profile and Purchase Data: One of the primary benefits of advertising automation is the ability to collect and analyze customer profiles and purchase data. This enables businesses to gain a deeper understanding of which ads have the greatest effect and contribute to higher customer lifetime value.
- Linking Ads to New Customer Revenue: Connecting advertising data with new customer conversion data – providing insights into the performance of each ad campaign – is a benchmark of an effective automation platform.
- Real-Time Optimization of Ad Budgets: Automation platforms are a solution for optimizing the allocation of ad budgets in real time. By analyzing data and dynamically adjusting ad spend, retailers can ensure that their investments are directed toward ad campaigns that attract high-LTV customers. This maximizes the effectiveness of marketing expenditures, reaping better returns across the board.
Repurposing TikTok content for other platforms while maintaining brand authenticity
It is never a bad idea to diversify your social media campaign and utilize more than one platform. However, if your company is heavily using TikTok, repurposing the videos for YouTube, Instagram, and even LinkedIn can be an important and strategic step. That said, every social media platform has its own format and length specifications for videos, so it is important to do the research. If you have a collection of videos for TikTok, just know that repurposing them for YouTube may take some editing as YouTube tends to support longer content, a nice forum for more storytelling opportunities. TikTok video styles are short and crisp while YouTube posts longer and more in-depth videos.
Instagram is also an important outlet for videos – especially if your business heavily targets consumers. Instagram videos tend to be short and sweet. LinkedIn is also a strategic forum for video marketing – especially if you have a business-focused or B2B product or service.
Investing in owned channels like email, loyalty programs, and direct mail
To maximize brand awareness, adopt a multichannel approach to connect with a broad audience. While digital and online campaigns are powerful, an effective marketing strategy should incorporate multiple touchpoints. Loyalty programs, email marketing, and direct campaigns may be legacy, but they help you reach a targeted audience and provide valuable first-party (1P) insights into customer behavior that can augment a digital marketing campaign.
- Loyalty Programs: With website cookies fading due to privacy regulations, traditional loyalty programs remain valuable. They offer perks and discounts while generating first-party data, such as customer demographics, to drive repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
- Email Marketing: Email campaigns are still effective and affordable, helping businesses engage customers and identify responsive contacts. People check emails frequently, making this a strategic tool for outreach.
- Direct Mail: Modern direct mail can be a hybrid approach. Adding QR codes or website links allows customers to redeem offers online, turning responders into a valuable first-party data source.
Turning disruption into opportunity is a cornerstone of business longevity. For marketers addicted to TikTok but unsure of its future, start preparing now by diversifying your approach and investing in sustainable, omnichannel marketing. Embrace strategies for diversifying, innovating, and future-proofing your marketing efforts. Business leaders do what’s needed to survive, and seeing TikTok CEO Shou Chew attend the recent presidential inauguration is proof enough that this wisdom applies to all of us.
