TikTok Flip Flop: Why limiting yourself to one social media platform is a risky digital marketing strategy
TikTok is facing dire straits in the United States. I’m not going to go into the reasons which have a distinctly political flavour to them. The app was supposed to be banned on 17th January, but new president Donald Trump signed an executive order for a 75-day stay on the ban. Note that this isn’t an overturn of the ban, but merely an extension of its implementation.
As for what will ultimately happen, only time will tell.That’s why phones with TikTok pre-installed on them are a hot commodity in the United States right now. Punters can pick one up for four-figure dollar amounts on eBay or other marketplaces. Meanwhile, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is offering TikTok creators up to $5,000 to transition to their platforms.
Censorship or banning of social media platforms isn’t new. According to this September 2024 article by The Economic Times of India Times, at least ten countries have been identified with total or partial restrictions on various social media platforms. These range from ultimate bans on all external social media platforms (and the global internet as a whole) by countries such as North Korea, to more selective bans such as those imposed by Turkey and Brazil during times of unrest. We’ve also had similar things happen in Sri Lanka in the past few years. The bottom line is, social media may appear somewhat stable on a global sense, but if you zoom in, it’s not the case.
So, if you run a business, it would be foolhardy to place all your social media efforts on one platform. And yet, that’s what I’ve come across from time to time. For example, my wife uses TikTok and she’s bought items from various businesses on that platform. I, on the other hand, am not on TikTok and these businesses aren’t on Instagram or Facebook, where I am. So, we never cross paths. I don’t know about them, and they don’t have me as a potential or definite customer. On the other hand, my wife rarely uses Facebook now. So, there’s subset of businesses that she would possibly patronize, but doesn’t encounter because they are not on Instagram or TikTok. And if you’re not on LinkedIn, you’d better think about getting there soon.
In today’s world, I firmly feel that you’ve got to have a decent presence on at least two, if not three social media channels if you’re running a business of any sort…or if you’re a freelancer, like me. I am on three platforms (if you discount YouTube) and I find that to be the manageable limit for an individual. Even that might be excessive, given that the American Psychological Association says that limiting social media usage to just 30 minutes per day is beneficial to mental health. My current social media usage is about three times that recommended amount, mostly spent under mindless scrolling, punctuated by the odd like, comment, and ‘haha’ reaction. Sometimes I may get lost in one platform and not use any others at all for that day. So, I’m more likely to encounter a business that is on several platforms, than one that’s restricted to just one.
So that’s my two cents worth for today – if you want to do social media marketing properly, spread your wings across more than one platform.
Ashraaq Wahab - Director of Sales & Marketing and Technical - Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer, Photographer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
|
|
|
|
