The last few days have been filled with headlines about TikTok. It started late last week when President Trump said the US would ban TikTok. Shortly after that, Microsoft got thrown into the mix as they are now in talks to acquire TikTok. Now, this morning, we are seeing China’s state-run media suggesting they might block Microsoft’s transaction.
While the future of TikTok in the United States is unknown, it’s time for a friendly Public Service Announcement from me. You should never be dependent on a single platform. I have spoken about this multiple times in podcasts and interviews. Businesses that depend on a single platform for their business are always at risk of 'losing' their business.
In 2015, BattlBox was dependent on Facebook. 99% of our audience and revenue were from a single platform. After our ad account shut down on a Friday evening that left us with no traffic until the following Tuesday (when our account was reactivated), we made an internal decision that we would never be dependent on a single platform. Learn from our initial mistake.
Now I know what you are thinking, there aren't that many businesses that are advertising solely on TikTok. Correct. But, there are thousands of Influencers that are 'advertising' themselves via their personal pages solely on TikTok which generates them revenue. Let's be clear, influencers are businesses. The business is their personal brand. The same concept regarding traditional businesses and single platform dependency reigns true here too. Making TikToks complaining about the situation or being scared you are going to ‘lose your business’ is not a solution. Diversify.
The smart ones diversified way before this potential banning. They were quick to launch YouTube channels and Instagram pages (the 2 most logical places for a TikTok’r to diversify).
Charlie D’Amelio already has over 6 Million subscribers on her YouTube page. She (or her team) gets it. She created her YouTube channel 8 months ago, way before the banning of TikTok was even a discussion.
Jason Derulo, who capitalized arguably better than any other entertainer on TikTok during the Corona lockdown, flawlessly grew his TikTok account while treating it as a funnel for all of this other channels. He (or his team) executed a marketing strategy where all of his platform accounts play nicely with each other. A perfect example of this. Genius!
The takeaway here (which you def should know at this point) is very simple, DO. NOT. DEPEND. ON. A. SINGLE. PLATFORM.
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