Going Beyond TikTok Bans
The reminder we all need to diversify our marketing strategy and income streams
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the app or have it banned in the United States. For details, here are a few articles:
NPR: Why the House voted to ban TikTok and what could come next
Scientific American: Banning TikTok Would Do Basically Nothing to Protect Your Data
No matter what happens with the popular social media app, this has me thinking about creators and businesses who have relied on it for income and connecting with their customers.
Which is why we’ve gathered here today…
Using TikTok or another social media app as your main marketing tactic can be a great way to form an online community, increase your sales and revenue, and build your following. But if this tactic gets pulled out from under you, what else do you have?
Here are some options to ensure you have a more holistic marketing strategy while reducing your dependence upon one platform and building a more resilient online brand.
But before we start! A caveat…
You do not need to accomplish all of these suggestions. I know small and micro businesses are running on limited time, energy and funding. So please don’t stress yourself trying to “win” by completing them all. Instead, start with the one that resonates the most, and go from there.
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Repurpose Your Content
If you’ve been creating for one social media app, you can likely repost the content on other platforms or easily re-edit the content to better suit a different platform.
Here are some quick ideas to repurpose your content:
Post popular TikTok videos to YouTube as Shorts or to Instagram as Reels
Take the content from popular TikToks and create photo carousels for Instagram (this is great for product information)
Take the content from popular TikToks and expand it into long-form YouTube videos
Use a popular TikTok to create a list of FAQs that you can address on a Facebook Live
This is great for starting social media accounts from scratch. Look at the content that has done well on your main app. Start with the posts that have the most views, the most engagement, the most comments, etc. And don’t forget to include posts that might not have had “the most” anything, but had interesting conversations in the comments or were shared a lot. Sometimes you notice different data compared to what social media apps track.
In addition to repurposing content for other social media apps, you should use the content as starting points for blog posts and website content. By using popular social posts, you’ve already done the research of finding out what your audience wants to know. This will give you a natural SEO boost as well.
Other Ways to Reach Your Audience
Content Marketing
Adding search optimized content to your website will better provide your audience with the information they’re looking for. When it comes to SEO (search engine optimization), there are four types of search intent, as shown in this graphic from Semrush:
Ensuring your content fits one of those categories is a great start to building your content marketing strategy. Including relevant keywords will also help.
Here are some free keyword research tools:
Want to learn more about SEO or go deeper into content marketing? Reach out to me about consulting opportunities.
Email Marketing
Email. Is. Not. Dead.
I swear we’ve been fighting the “Email is dead” saying for more than a decade now. But it’s still a viable way to communicate with your audience and boost sales.
Consider developing a newsletter that you send at a cadence that works for you–once a week, biweekly, twice a month, as needed, etc. Include business updates, product launches, new blog content, industry news, and/or anything relevant to your audience.
If you use a CRM tool for email marketing, such as Hubspot, Salesforce, or MailChimp, consider creating at least one email automation.
For example, when someone makes their first purchase, you could create the following flow: Thank you message > Related products > Leave a review > Coupon code or offer for next purchase.
Email automations are created so you can essentially set it and forget it. They will work in the background to help you stay in touch with your customers and encourage them to take action (buy product, leave reviews, visit the blog, and so on).
In-Person Events
Building an online community can be really special. Followers feel as though they’re part of something bigger than them. If you’ve fostered this type of connection, think about hosting in-person events, such as:
Meetups
Pop-up shops
Workshops
Exclusive events
Networking cocktail hours
Fundraisers
Product launches
VIP shopping experiences
Parties and anniversary celebrations
These types of events will not only help you bond more with your audience, but they’ll feel better connected to one another as well. People are always looking for ways to connect with others. Why not be the catalyst for it since they already have you and your business in common?
Online Forums & Groups
Alright, maybe you’re not quite ready to bring your community into the real world. Or perhaps your audience is much more spread out geographically. In this case, consider starting an online group or forum.
Platforms such as Discord, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, Meetup.com and Reddit offer ways to virtually bring folks together under a specific topic. Start discussions around topics that relate to your brand. Create a group based on a niche aspect of your products. Or join conversations that are relevant to what you offer.
Additional Revenue Streams
If your main social media platform is your main source of income, you should be thinking of ways to diversify your revenue streams. No, this doesn’t mean you have to create all new products. (But also you can if you’d like.)
Here are some revenue streams to consider.
Virtual Products – Provide options for people to continue learning or add on to their experience through webinars, online courses, digital downloads, etc.
Merchandise – If you have a core fanbase, consider creating special merch that aligns with their fandom.
Partnerships – Think about other businesses and creators you could partner with. Consider sponsorships, influencer partnerships, special collabs, and so on.
Subscriptions – If you have products that are frequently used, create a subscription to regularly replenish customers’ stock. You could also create subscription-based content through sites like Patreon.
Know Why You’re Doing This in the First Place
Going viral on social media is thrilling. Building up an audience of more than 10,000 followers over the years takes a lot of work. Behind every library of varied content is countless hours of creativity and insider knowledge.
If all this work and luck goes away in the blink of an eye… What’s next? Who are you then?
In my opinion, many solid businesses know who they are and why they create their products… But once they start seeing success on social media, they tend to branch off and become something entirely different.
Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
What’s bad, though, is when your true soul gets lost. Maybe you start jumping on every single trending piece of content. Perhaps you veer into clickbait or ragebait territory because it gets more views. Or maybe you find success with one type of video, and then only create that type of content from there on out.
If you’ve gone one of those routes, don’t fret. We all get swept up into pleasing Big Daddy Algorithm at one point or another. If you’re stuck in this mindset at the moment, pause and consider the following questions:
What type(s) of content is truly connecting with your audience?
What are you actually providing your audience through your social content?
Is your content aligned with and supporting your business goals?
Is your content servicing your audience through education or entertainment? (Or is someone being trolled?)
Are you able to provide consistent content in a timeframe that works for you?
Should you shift your main social media tactic to another one? Or even another platform?
When things are going well, we tend to shy away from looking outside of the success to see what threats may lie in the bushes. Why would we want to think about the bad when it’s all going so well?
Thinking about our “why” and other ways to connect with our audiences, we can create a more resilient business. That way, when the next social media app ban pops up or social platform becomes the #1 beloved app, your business is ready to adapt. You may experience a dip at first, but employing some of these tactics will ensure that dip is short lived and not as deep as it could be.
As always, if you’d like to chat about any of these tactics and how they can work for your business, reach out to me about a digital marketing consultation. I’d love to hear from you.
Take care, birdies! 💙
In the Akron Area? Join me at a brewery!
I’ve teamed up with one of my marketing besties–Ashley Baker, founder and CMO of Coastline Marketing–to bring you Margs x Mktg. This collaboration came about from our love of marketing, helping business owners, and connecting with fellow marketers.
Join us at our AI Networking Event!
Free to attend! (unless you want to buy food/drink and play pinball)
On Wednesday, April 3 from 5:30-8 pm
At Eighty-Three Brewery (Akron)
Join us for an exclusive networking event that brings together NE Ohio marketers and business owners who are passionate about artificial intelligence (AI).
Learn more and save your spot.
Hope to see you there!