If you are connected TikTok Over the past week (haven’t we all?), you’ve probably seen the latest #goodbyetiktok and #savetiktok content as users in the United States prepare for the very real possibility that the national ban on the application will come into force on January 19.
As we eagerly await the of the Supreme Court decision on the fate of TikTok, brands, creators and the app’s 170 million American users (including a third of all American adults) are weighing their options for the fate of TikTok. which platform to turn to next. Do they double on Instagram Reels? Go directly to the original homepage of user-generated video content with YouTube Shorts? Test the waters with ByteDance’s Lemon8 or Chinese-owned RedNote, both of which could meet the same fate as TikTok?
Difficult decisions, of course. Because beyond the entertainment factor of TikTok, he found more social commerce success than any other platform. It’s remarkably easy to make an impulse purchase on TikTok, and 17% of American adults consumed TikTok Store according to CivicScience. TikTok has estimated that small businesses could lose more than $1 billion in revenue per month if the ban goes into effect.
Despite impassioned appeals from TikTok users and creators and strong arguments from TikTok’s lawyers, it seems likely that the Supreme Court will uphold the ban upon publication. While a last-minute Hail Mary to back up the app in the US is still possible, if you’re a brand or business owner on TikTok, now is definitely the time to prepare. the end of the TikTok era.
Because let’s be real: while there is no other platform that can easily replicate the success of video-first social shopping created by TikTok, the TikTok Shop boom has proven that social commerce works, which should give competitors a clear roadmap to improve their own shopping offerings.
Bottom line: If social commerce is your goal, the two most viable options are Meta and YouTube short films.
Meta
Social commerce is not new to Meta, which means brands, creators, and consumers are likely already active there, removing the initial barrier to entry. Direct-to-consumer brands with streamlined product offerings have seen the most success with Meta Shops to date, combining the ease of Meta Checkout and advertising with comprehensive paid social campaigns on the platform to drive sales.
The good news is that there are plenty of active Meta users to reach and a strong advertising platform do exactly that. The bad news is that there is a lot of competition for the attention of these users. Additionally, setting up a store on Meta is, as any seasoned user of Meta Business Manager would expect, very complicated.
Meta integrates with existing e-commerce platforms such as ShopifyChannelAdvisor and BigCommerce, but businesses can also create a store directly with Meta Commerce Manager. Creating a new product catalog or adding an existing product catalog is necessary, as is having a website for your business, which is not a requirement for TikTok Shop. For each transaction, Meta charges a processing fee, ranging from 2.9% to 3.49% depending on the transaction type.
Unlike the TikTok Shop, shoppable content, including video, is unlikely to reach users without a healthy ad budget to support it.
Before TikTok, and before the term “content creator” was part of our social media lexicon, Instagram was the platform for influencers and tastemakers. While TikTok may have opened up a different space for creators, many are also active on Instagram, posting the same content on both platforms. If the ban goes into effect, these creators should prioritize their existing presence on Instagram, leveraging Reels and driving social commerce through affiliate marketing platforms such as LTKas well as directly with retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart.
YouTube
When it comes to YouTube, it’s fair to say that for many brands, creating enough content to maintain an active presence on YouTube is already a challenge. Most of us are frankly aware that the platform is (too) often used as an archive of TV spots and miscellaneous content from old campaigns.
However, for creators, it’s quite the opposite. YouTube’s creator community has effectively changed the media landscape, turning influencers into their own successful brands and media companies.
Since YouTube focuses on video content, shoppable videos and live streams work more similarly to TikTok than Meta, with an easy buy button displayed on content and within a product “shelf” under the content.
To set up YouTube Shopping, channels must have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public views of Shorts in the last 90 days. YouTube Shopping also requires a connection to an existing e-commerce platform, like Shopifyand does not offer its own native solution, which can be limiting for both brands and creators.
Until YouTube’s business options expand, the platform is best suited to creators or brands with a healthy, engaged subscriber base and frequently produced, timely content that stands out.
Social search and alternative commerce platforms
Regardless of platform, shoppers are increasingly turning to social media rather than Google to research and research products before making a purchase. Behavior change is driven by younger consumers on TikTok, and this preference for visual and video search results has pushed Meta and YouTube to offer paid social search ads as a complement to paid social campaigns.
For brands creating Meta or YouTube shopping experiences, adding social search to the media mix and targeting younger audiences can help drive social shopping success. And partnering with creators to amplify these efforts will likely pay off: Creator content drove more social purchases than any other type of content, including brand-produced content, according to one study. March 2024 survey carried out by eMarketer.
Beyond Meta and YouTube, there is still a place for Pinterestgiven the focus on visual content and shoppable pins that can fuel product discovery. Creators have also supplemented their visual content from TikTok and Instagram with longer-form content through the subscription-based platform. Substackwhich not only offers monetization to creators through its subscription model, but can also easily integrate affiliate links for subscribers to shop.
On the retailer side, Amazon Inspire is an app that connects brand and creator content directly to Amazon’s marketplace with a focus on user-generated content. Since many creators promote their Amazon storefronts through the Amazon Affiliate Program, Inspire takes it a step further with video content.
While these platforms aren’t an exact replacement for TikTok, they still give creators one or two other options to keep an eye on.
Moving forward
Change always happens in one way or another.
Maybe it’s the impending deadline of the ban or the ease of adding to cart, but for my part, I found myself making a few impulse purchases in the TikTok store from small businesses. Within minutes I checked out and received updates on my order. Then I swiped to the next video and suddenly felt “seen” by a creator’s video listing all the things TikTok hadsuccessfully handled“make her do it.
So whether you call it manipulation or incredible marketing, there is one thing we know for sure: platforms succeed, platforms evolve, and some disappear. While we wait for the Supreme Court’s decision, let’s all enjoy TikTok, consumers and marketers, as much as possible, while preparing for a future without it.
