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"Cosmetics News" reporter Zou Xinchen
On March 23, local time in the United States, a hearing on whether the social software TikTok should be banned was held at the US Capitol, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended the question. Earlier, the Biden administration had warned ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social app, that the app would face a ban on "total takedown" in the United States if it did not sell its stake to a U.S. company.
This is also the second "big crisis" the social platform has faced in the United States since former US President Trump issued an executive order calling for the ban on TikTok in 2020. Beauty bloggers, brands and marketers in the United States have mixed reactions.
Beauty blogger: Can't accept it, protest to the end
For beauty influencer Koosha Nouri, TikTok changed his career. He has been operating on Instagram for decades and has nearly 11,000 followers. But two years after joining TikTok, he has already gained more than 151,000 followers on the platform.
△ Kusha Nuri TikTok homepage
"It's very difficult for content creators in the beauty space to gather a group of 'loyal fans' on social media," Nuri said in an interview with Glossy, "All this didn't change until the advent of TikTok, the amazing short video platform that gave us a way to break the traditional 'explosive' spread." Giving some beauty creators like me who were originally unknown have the opportunity to change their lives. ”
Nuri said that 70% of his own current revenue comes from video content on TikTok. For TikTok-centric beauty influencers like Nouri, the risk of TikTok's possible takedown has stoked fears of a huge hit to their fan numbers and revenue.
Since TikTok entered the United States in 2018, the social platform has changed the life trajectory of many beauty bloggers. They have attracted far more followers in a matter of months than they have earned after years of hard work on saturated Instagram, some of whom have even quit their day jobs or moved to Los Angeles to create beauty video content full-time. For Kol, who have yet to channel their TikTok "loyal fans" to other platforms, TikTok's takedown would not only mean a reduction in revenue, but could also mean the collapse of an entire lifestyle.
"Most people don't succeed overnight, they have to invest a lot of time and effort to reach their audience and followers on a brand new platform. Because of the decision of those who most likely don't even know how to use TikTok to ban the app altogether, it has to be said that it is very disappointing. Marjan Tabibzada (@youngcouture), a TikTok influencer who specializes in make-up short video content, said she has 3.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
Marjan Tabibzada's TikTok homepage
"As creators, we put a lot of effort and effort into trying to build relationships with our audience." Skincare and hair care content creator Amy Chang, who says she has 1.6 million followers on TikTok and 408,000 followers on Instagram, estimates 50 percent of her revenue comes from TikTok. "It's all taken away in just a split second, which makes us feel very unfair."
"TikTok banning to me is like the collapse of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank)." Another TikTok beauty influencer, Dulma Altan, said on Twitter.
On March 22, local time in the United States, many TikTok content creators gathered outside the US Capitol, holding signs to protest the possible imminent ban imposed by the US government, and loudly calling for "keeping TikTok" and "for our families".
Brand side: the emergency plan has been prepared, ready to "jump the car" at any time
With the risk of TikTok being banned in the U.S. "soaring" again, marketers and executives at many beauty brands have said they are preparing contingency plans. At the same time, other market researchers point out that the uncertainty of the potential ban makes it difficult to predict which new platform the brand's "next stop" will move to.
"We've seen a lot of platforms go through peaks and troughs in their development, so it's part of our job to have multiple contingency plans for anything that might happen." Han Wen, L'Oréal's chief marketing officer and digital officer, was asked by The Washington Post about a possible "TikTok restriction order," said: "As one of the largest advertisers in the United States, L'Oréal must be very pragmatic when considering the direction of investment, and having contingency plans is also a manifestation of our responsibility to each partner." ”
Han Wen, L'Oréal's Chief Marketing Officer and Digital Officer
While the risk of TikTok's takedown has resurfaced in the U.S., marketers and brand executives are well prepared to deal with the crisis — especially after former President Donald Trump also asked ByteDance to sell TikTok. With the possibility of a ban still up in the air, marketers and executives are working on contingency plans while waiting for a definitive answer.
"We don't have a 'God perspective' to determine where TikTok will go in the future." Han Wen said. "All we could do was make sure we had a proper plan and we did. We have developed our own contingency plans for all the different scenarios that may occur. ”
Marketers and brand executives say discussions around contingency plans tend to focus on "how to move to other short-video apps," such as Instagram-owned Reels, YouTube-owned Shorts and Snapchat.
"The impact on marketing spend can be diffuse – we don't think brands necessarily plan to move all of their marketing spend on the TikTok platform to another platform." Liz Cole, executive director and head of social platforms for the U.S. region at communications and marketing agency VMLY&R, said.
"From a content distribution perspective, we can predict that the content that can be distributed on TikTok will itself be adapted to some other short video platforms, including Instagram's Reels, Snap or Shorts. For brands upstream in the content distribution process, they may choose to tell their stories in a variety of other formats, not just short videos. ”
Of course, if TikTok is indeed banned by the U.S. government, marketers will have to consider not only where to shift their content creation efforts, or which platform to transfer their media marketing dollars, but more importantly, a complex set of aftermath issues. Joshua Lowcock, global chief media officer at UM, an all-media marketing agency in the United States, said in an interview with The Washington Post: "If TikTok is banned, in addition to stopping media operations on the platform, brands and advertisers will need to remove all ad tracking pixels and related videos that appear on TikTok."
In the future, beauty brands will be more cautious about launching social channels
At the same time, the potential ripple effect of the "ban" on TikTok is not limited to the platform itself.
"I think it's a false statement to call it a TikTok ban," Lowcock said. "If you look carefully at the proposed legislation in Congress, it's really about ownership and control by foreign governments, which could pose challenges for other companies that are owned, controlled or have China as a major investor."
Cole also pointed out that the ban may also make already concerned brands more "fearful" of advertising on social platforms.
Liz Cole, executive director of communications and marketing agency VMLY&R and head of social platforms in the United States
"As the saying goes, 'the rabbit dies and the fox is sad, and the thing hurts its kind'. If even a 'big hit' app like TikTok is at risk of being 'banned' after entering the mainstream market, how reliable can other social platforms be as advertising channels? Obviously, this incident will increase the brand's resistance to trying to enter other new social platforms. Cole said.
In fact, not every brand has the courage to jump into this wave when TikTok first "became popular". "Naturally, these 'slow half-beat' beauty brands missed the dividend period of TikTok's explosive traffic growth. But some of them are now 'raising their eyebrows,' arguing that the risks facing TikTok just confirm that they are right about their choice: brands should be more careful in choosing social platforms as advertising channels. Cole added.
The fact that social platforms have uncertainty about their "longevity" – both in terms of their popularity and utility – has also become clearer overall this year. "We can't assume that any social platform is 'everlasting,' no matter how mature or popular it seems." Lowcock concludes, "This doesn't mean brands should avoid trying anything new, but they need to develop a strategy based on the brand itself and consumer behavior, and always have contingency plans for 'overnight reimbursement' from current mainstream channels, rather than blindly jumping into the wave of channels." ”
Source: Washington Post, National Radio and Television, Glossy