Why Brands Struggle With TikTok
TikTok is more of a game than a social network.
When new technologies emerge we have a tendency to pin it to a frame of reference within our comfort zones. TikTok is often regarded as a social networking app. Its popularity has given rise to many theories trying to explain the cause of the meteoric rise.
Numerous articles on TikTok branding strategy tend to emphasize that brands should ‘be authentic’ on TikTok. Authenticity, however, is table stakes at this point. We had established very early in the pandemic that tone-deaf posts that highlighted celebrity lives didn’t cut it any more.
The pandemic brought about a serious shift in how we saw celebrities and each other. According to Lisa Nakamura, director of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan,
“Other people flaunting their wealth on social media hasn’t typically made us angry because it’s viewed as aspirational content — we believe we could be the next one to strike it rich. But this [pandemic] showed that is never going to happen. When you see an influencer’s toned body, you could think, I can get that body. When you see their clothes, you think, I can buy those clothes. But when you see their capacity to live wherever she wants, while other people are stuck at home, it’s ridiculous. And that’s not…
