You’ve heard a lot about Tik Tok. You’ve heard your friends or family ask if you have a Tik Tok. You’ve had marketers explain to you why you NEED a Tik Tok. But we know… you’ve seen terrible things on Tik Tok.
- People licking toilet seats during a pandemic.
- People yelling “SHEEESSHH” to literally anything at all.
- Your niece doing the nae nae… or worse… your mom.
We’re here to tell you what you’ve always wanted to hear – maybe you shouldn’t be using Tik Tok. Here’s why:
Your Target Audience isn’t on TikTok
Jealous of your healthcare competitor’s TikTok account? Set that jealousy free, my friend. No MRI meme is funny enough to convince a Gen-Zer to change their parents’ minds about their primary physician.
Okay okay maybe the whole “only Gen-Zers use TikTok” thing isn’t so true.
But according to Wallaroo Media, TikTok’s age distribution still favors 16 to 24 Year olds. So long as your audience falls within this range, you’d be a fool not to consider taking advantage of what TikTok has to offer.
If your target audience’s age exceeds these margins, however, you can go ahead and stop entering, “Are Fortnite dances still a thing?”, into Google. Tik Tok just isn’t going to happen for you, Depends.
It’s also worth considering the behavior of your target audience when they use Tik Tok. Is the content you would put out there going to work seamlessly and authentically with the rest of the content on the platform?
Video Takes Up Time (read: money) that you could be spending on your other channels
Video is one of the most time-consuming forms of content you can create. Not to mention you’ll be racing against the clock to stay up to date on current trends.
Unless you can be creative on the fly and execute an idea right when it comes to you, there’s a chance the moment passes before you get to publish your content.
Remember all those late-to-the-party Bernie with mittens memes? Not a good look…
Instagram might be winning out with Reels
TikTok has more competitors than an emperor penguin in winter, and they haven’t proven their reliability in terms of popularity. With the advent of Instagram Reels, it seems as though the tried-and-true “photo” app might be the death of TikTok.
Instagram has withstood the test of time, proving their worth against several competitors: YouTube, Snapchat, and now TikTok. People don’t often desert more versatile apps like IG for one-track apps like TikTok. Especially with Reels being a direct competitor (or rather, a proxy).
Maybe TikTok should consider releasing a 280-character limit, text only option… They could call it… TikTweet… or TweetTok.
Stop Using TikTok If:
- Your target audience isn’t on TikTok
- Reading this was the first time you realized it’s not “TicTac”
- You don’t have the time or the money for video creation or even ideation
- Your audience are IG diehards
- Your grandma is gaining followers on it
It’s too easy to get caught up in the hype of a new platform and its possible marketing applications.
But before you come up with your killer TikTok username (that definitely hasn’t been taken yet), get serious about the value of TikTok for your business.
If it’s not… don’t think twice clicking “remove app”.
If it’s there, contact us so we can work together to create the TikTok account of your dreams.
