TikTok and marketing is it for you? I will give you the reasons that this latest social media trend may not be for your business and reasons to stay away.
Social marketing works
It is undisputed that Social marketing can be responsible for a large part of your business.
When it is used properly by targeting your specific audience and posted daily great things can be expected.
Advertising can also generate returns at a good cost of acquisition and certainly re-target marketing is very prominent.
Personal Information
We freely give out our company and personal details when we sign up to all media and think nothing of the consequences.
Facebook, Instagram ( the one company), Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. all provide business to those that use them.
Most business people have a LinkedIn account. Or should have.
So if you want the personal details they are all there for you.
Many businesses hide there emails on websites etc. so the marketers can't hassle them with offers.
Marketers know that these same people freely put their address on Facebook a great source of leads.
Use social media on a daily basis. A new entrant is Parler.com they listen to you.
Does social media listen to you
You will see something of interest and the next day an advert will pop up on Facebook about that very subject. How could they possibly know? Are they listening and do they care?
The experts will tell you all the correct theories that they ( being the social outlets) can't listen, it is all in association, pixels and location.
In the Google phones to be released late 2020 they have included two lights. One when your audio is open and the other when the camera is active. This is indeed an interesting inclusion and I don't know if it is just a peace of mind thing or a real indicator of intrusion.
Google can certainly track you anywhere in the world with google maps and location acceptance entered by you. You walk past a shop and get a mail from them selling product.
In the latest Iphones they came loaded with a health monitor that tracks your activity by steps.
Or by location? Are they looking at you?
The Western world bans Huawei from installing mobile networks because they fear intrusion.
The Chinese company Huawei is a low cost and highly efficient business in establishing wide area mobile networks as well as other similar network operations.
Many of the leading experts in cyber espionage consider this too big a risk to allow them to participate. USA, UK , Australia to name just a few that have not allowed them to compete even when they appear substantially better and certainly at a much lower cost.
There is, at this time, some mistrust in the activities of China in data collection. That distrust is wide spread.
On top of this the US has a huge problem with Russia as well. However no one seems to slam their search engine Yandex that delivers the bulk of inquiries in Russia. Perhaps because you have a choice in using this.
If you market in Russia it is an option but it is monitoring you the same as Google does.
TikTok and marketing the new entrant
Now we have TikTok
A China based business that is similar to Instagram and targeted at the younger demographic to post quick videos of their activities.
It is easy to apply for, just give your:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the full TikTok experience, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app. Anyone under the age of 18 must have approval of a parent or guardian — but there are plenty of young tween users. Apr 20, 2020
They do protect against Child exploitation and they say:
It will take down videos promoting terrorism, crime, violence, hate speech, or self-harm, for example.
So this all looks great if your market is 13 -20 year old kids. This is a business decision, not a game.
TikTok and marketing is a valid threat
Is TikTok a threat
In December 2019, the United States Navy as well as the U.S. Army banned TikTok from all government-issued devices.
wikipedia
It is also reported that TikTok must share all information with the Chinese communist government.
To be fair all governments have access to location and meta data on all networks so is it really any different when it is China?
A recent report asked for TikTok to be banned in Australia as probably a start in many places because of the perceived communist government threat.
The TiKTok political power
As I write this I notice that TikTok is to be banned in Hong Kong because of the civil unrest in the Chinese colony.
This would assume that the government has the power to manipulate the private based company to achieve results that they want.
Apple has had problems with hijacked information by TikTok. The problem may or may not have been fixed so that is at the top of the class.
Knowing the problem is important, can you therefore assume that TikTok will continue to be a data collection centre.
My conclusion
I think there is too much smoke around this to be an option to consider using it as a business tool.
Facebook has come under a lot of criticism for data breaches and has had its time in the light however the reporting is quite public, something you can not expect from China.
Just maybe let your kids play, but even that is a doubtful decision, however you have a lot more places to go for marketing than a new entrant with a whole bundle of bad press.
This is a playground for kids and not a serious contender to your business. The use of social media that has stood the test of time should be used.
Keep your media focused on your target market and not the latest gadget especially when it says Made In China.
About
Hello Peter,
TikTok and marketing is a nice article and your conclusion to let the kids play is just fine.
The problem is that China makes billions from these apps and uses the money it has to spread terror in the world. Sad but true. The Wuhan Virus is one example. The border disputes with ALL its neighbors is another. They are expansionist and there is no doubt about it.
So from that point of view, banning TikTok and such apps isa reality that we have to live with.
Aparna
Thanks Aparna,
Like you I don’t think we should use it at all and in the coming year this will be more so than usual.
All social media needs control and this more than any other.
Kind regards
Peter H