What Will You Do if TikTok Goes Away?

It’s an unprecedented situation the likes of which we’ve never seen before: one of the largest vehicles ever for marketing is potentially going to be banned and all of those companies who rely on it to reach their customers are going to have to find another way to do so.

Legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President is requiring TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company to sell the online platform or risk it being banned in the U.S. No doubt there will be legal challenges and this is likely to play out for potentially years before it is resolved one way or another but for the time being it is causing great concerns for all of those American companies that have spent a lot of time and money building up their presence on the platform.

But a new study from research company Capterra says that three out of four marketing professionals expect to increase their spending on TikTok over the next 12 months, remaining “committed to investing in the platform and steadfast that it will be a viable option for the long run.”

Other findings from the study:

• 59% of respondents agreed that national security and privacy concerns on TikTok are justified. Just under half agree that the platform’s algorithms are not transparent and they believe that TikTok “spies on U.S. users.”
• More than nine of ten marketing executives on the survey say a TikTok ban would impact their businesses, given that their current use of the platform for short-form video content is “extremely or somewhat valuable to their company’s marketing objectives.”
• 82% of marketers say that a ban would have a “significant or moderate impact on achieving their company’s social media marketing or advertising objectives.”

But more than half of the group surveyed, 58%, think a national ban is unlikely and that they will continue to invest in using the platform. Marketing pros overwhelmingly said they need to diversify their digital media strategies by using Facebook (80%) and YouTube (79%) more and “70% think their company should expand its presence in other digital channels such as email, mobile or video.” 

Even as TikTok’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain, there has been no widespread movement to abandon it and develop alternative ways to market online. Since the early days of social media we’ve seen platforms like MySpace and Friendster rise and fall and that could ultimately happen with TikTok but for now most companies are betting it’s not going to be anytime soon.