Marketers Bracing For The Unpredictable As US Tiktok Ban Looms

(MENAFN- PRovoke) Update: The Supreme Court has upheld the law calling for TikTok to sell its US operation by Sunday or be banned.

Looking at a potential US TikTok ban starting Sunday, industry leaders are bracing for what could go down as a“game changing” moment in the annals of social media, albeit with notable cool.

“In the last five or so years, brands have invested in really building meaningful presences on the TikTok platform and leaning in there in ways that we've never seen before,” said Megan Hueter, MikeWorldWide's head of digital.“And this is very much less than ideal.”

The numbers attest to that. According to Statista , US influence marketing spend on TikTok rose to roughly $1.25 billion in 2024, up 26.7% from the previous year. Only Instagram, which saw $2.21 billion in influence marketing dollars, topped the platform. Advertisers as a whole spent an estimated $7.7 billion trying to reach TikTok's 170 million US users last year.

And it's not just brands, many of which have the comfort of corporate and agency backing, that could lose their footing should the ban, which grew out of national security concerns, take effect. Legions of creators who have built communities and careers via brand collaborations also stand to have their digital worlds rocked.

“It is disrupting everything,” Hueter said. Larger upheaval in social media - from Elon Musk's rising influence to Meta dropping its fact-checking - only adds to the current unpredictability, she said.

Hueter said that there are brands already pulling off TikTok, but she is not recommending they do so, particularly since the platform could still get a reprieve. The Supreme Court is expected to decide today whether to uphold the law behind the ban and Washington pols are lobbying to give TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, more time to avoid a shutdown by selling its US operation.

At the same time, the industry's experts appear notably calm about the potential loss of TikTok, a nod to social media's brief history being defined by users' ever-shifting loyalties to once-popular apps.

“Part of what makes social media marketing great is the same thing that makes it challenging sometimes: change,” said Finn Partners senior partner Greg Swan.“We have seen platforms launch, evolve, and disappear often since the days of MySpace and FriendFeed, and the fact is that marketing and communication pros most likely already have a playbook for how to manage shifts, like the potential ban of TikTok.

“Brands should always be evaluating where their audience is spending time and how they want to engage on behalf of the brand to determine if a platform should be added to a channel mix. They should always be determining measurable objectives to justify the investment of time and resources. And they should always be watchful and vigilant for platform changes that may affect those two variables,” he said.

Marketers by and large are advising clients to brace for the unpredictable by considering alternative platforms like Meta's Reels and You Tube shorts while not rushing to newfound user favorites, like RedNote or Lemon8 (they also are Chinese-owned, and could raise the same concerns fueling the TikTok ban).
Brands should also be archiving their content and reviewing influencer contracts.

“For the most part, we're not recommending starting anything new at this point. It's very much a wait and watch and see moment,” Hueter said.

Rob Longert, Day One Agency's co-founder and managing partner, noted that marketers have been preparing for a potential TikTok ban since April when President Biden signed the law requiring ByteDance to sell its US operation by Sunday or be shut down.

“While we do a lot of work for clients on TikTok, the conversation regarding a TikTok ban in the US has been ongoing and we're prepared to quickly pivot as needed and create customized platform transition plans that are tailored to the audience, brand, and campaign goals,” Longert said.

“We see the overall challenge of the potential ban as something that's three-fold across brand reputation, legal, as well as creative. We are counseling our clients across the board on the facts and potential ways forward,” he said.

Griffin Haddrill, founder and CEO of digital and influencer agency LV8, said regardless of TIkTok's fate, brands' experience leveraging the platform shows social media marketing works.

"What we do know with absolute certainty is that creator content works and has the ability to influence the masses. It's imperative for companies and brands to spread budgets across a multitude of platforms with creator content and learn their new audience behaviors quickly.
Those who hesitate may face an uphill battle to rebuild their audiences, while legacy marketers who thrive on "first-time" experiences are in for a treat. The fight between algorithm and user privacy is just beginning," he said.

Said Swan,“Ultimately, shifts in social platforms happen in this business, and the key is to be flexible, strategic, and planful when deciding where to invest limited resources,” said Swan.“And better yet, perhaps this is an opportunity to test a new strategy, invest in a new platform, or get creative.”

In addition, marketers are far from writing off the platform. Hueter says her gut feeling is“somebody will come and find a way to save TikTok.”

“The next couple of weeks are going to be fascinating. Let's just put it that way,” she said.

Additional reporting by Leo Zevin.

Read Singapore-based Camillia Dass's story about how a US TikTok ban would impact Asia here .

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