TikTok Newsletter 20

💥 Newsflash 🤿 Marketing Deep Dive 🗃️ What else

Hi subscriber!

Welcome to your weekly infusion of TikTok related news. We have reached #20 together. Thx for reading and thx even more for spreading the news. I heard some complaints about this newsletter being stuck in the SPAM-folder. Please add the email to your contacts to avoid that.

I  am still playing around with the structure of the newsletter. This week you get these three sections. I am thinking about adding a weekly account check or a weekly TikTok school. Any thoughts on that? Please let me know: m@marcus-boesch.de

💥 Newsflash
🤿 Marketing Deep Dive
🗃️ What else

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💥 Newsflash

TikTok Doomsday – did not happen: “Everything was supposed to come crashing down, fire-and-brimstone-style, around the social media app on November 12, the day when President Trump’s executive order targeting TikTok would go into effect and essentially make it illegal for the company to operate in the U.S.” writes Forbes, Nov 12. So what happens next? Forbes: Given everything that has transpired with TikTok in 2020, any guess is as good as any made by Nostradamus.

Instagram Reels –  is here to stay: Instagram redesigns its home screen for the first time in years, adding Reels and Shop tabs (The Verge, Nov 12). Placing them within their own tab in such a prominent place underlines Instagram’s determination to edge into TikTok’s space. (Forbes, Nov 12). “It is absolute trash” says YouTuber / Makeup-Artist James Charles.  And while many (me include) agree, the question is if Instagram can force its way forward.

Fast Laughs. Netflix joins YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat – in copying TikTok: After inventing linear TV (scheduled programming) again - Netflix’s latest experiment is a TikTok-like feed of funny videos (Techcrunch, Nov 12). Sounds familiar. Well. There is YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Sounds, etc. 🤷

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🤿 Marketing Deep Dive: Turning employees into brand influencers

According to app analytics provider App Annie TikTok will exceed one billion users over the course of the next year. It's time for brands to get on-board, writes Social Media Today. Actually brands and businesses (big or small) are flocking to TikTok right now. Read more about an ad case study in newsletter 18, more on marketing strategies in newsletter 13 and more on analytics & tools in newsletter 17. And here by the way are 41 TikTok Video Ideas For Small Businesses.

Leaderboards and gift cards?!

Until now there is no single pre-formulated way for a brand to perform best on TikTok. Just use cases (best and worst), ideas and ideation. One of the latest trends seems to be for retailers to push their employees to become TikTok influencers (Digiday, Nov 11). Sounds familiar? Ever since social media brands have tried (and often failed) installing crew ambassadors programs, squads or employee advocacy marketing tactics.

Compensating workers by putting their names on leaderboards “built into the employee advocacy platforms” (Digiday) handing out gift cards to the best sounds like a terrible idea to me. I recommend reading some Ian Bogost here: 'Gamification Is Bullshit'.

Dunkin Donuts Crew Ambassador program

Dunkin Donuts is pretty active on TikTok. Their collaboration with Charli D’Amelio “boosted Dunkin' app downloads by 57% and meaningfully increased cold brew sales, according to a UBS report” (Business Insider, October 24). I am not sure if their Crew Ambassadors program can lead to similar success. The program so far includes a group of four Dunkin’ baristas and retail workers who already had more or less sizable TikTok followings. These numbers are especially interesting when you compare them to the relatively low numbers of views.

Dunkin's first four crew ambassadors—Caitlin Swindlehurst (28.2K), Patrick Navarro (31.7K), Morgan Massaker (458)and Ashley Darden (58.9K)—have uploaded TikTok videos touting their favorite menu items, explaining how to make a Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte and opening swag packages full of Dunkin’ t-shirts, stickers and tote bags. (Convenience.org, October 22). The message is clear: Working at Dunkins is fun and you get free stickers. Not sure if that is enough. Getting paid for promoting your employer does not naturally feel real and authentic while realness and trust are core values on the platform. And i do not see the four becoming crisis management tools or a shield against bad PR., as suggested in the Digiday-article. 🍩

Swiss Safety Dance 

Here is another example. Jaisli-Xamax is a swiss company in the electrical industries. Together with Serviceplan, a huge ad agency they came up with a TikTok campaign in order to get a young target audience excited for their apprenticeships. There were quite some people involved (i counted 13 here without the actual protagonists in front of the camera) in turning this idea into a product, namely a TikTok account (1027).

While i applaud the idea to use TikTok i do have some questions about the campaign. For instance: Why do they introduce four so called Lehrlingsbotschafter (apprenticeship ambassadors) Sidar, Noëlle , Ammar and Mahalya in the first TikTok video and do not allow these people to actually talk to the camera? Why do they use the concept of a Nope Yup video to introduce one of the four without using the actual sound? I first thought due to TikTok Changing the rules on music usage by businesses but that would not explain the other sounds being used on the account. And what is the idea and the plan for the account? The post are quite random and the account has been pretty silent after the press release.

Take aways

While working with TikTok influencers seems to work out pretty good so far for companies and institutions (Charli D’Amelia + Dunkin Donuts, Martina Socrate + Uffizi Gallery) installing brand ambassadors obviously takes more effort and time without a pre-defined outcome.

I suggest two things: Working with micro-influencers that are cheaper than the top shots, they nevertheless know the platform and know how to reach their audience. It could be fruitful to have collaborations and workshops here to boost the TikTok performance of employees. And of course companies, institutions and organisations are organized top-down. If the boss starts using TikTok the rest will follow. German politicans are a good example here with two general secretaries (SPD) (CSU) leading the pack.


🗃️ What else

How P&G and Grey advertising created TikTok's most viral phenomenon – Some background info on #DistanceDance “the platforms most-viewed hashtag challenge to date” that took 96 hours to make.

Harvard Students Helped Me Become TikTok Famous – “I can’t say that teaching an Emmy-nominated journalist a viral dance to “What You Know Bout Love” by Pop Smoke was ever on my bucket list, but it should have been. When the story aired that night, I decided that my life was complete. Graduating from Yale would be a bonus.”

The Quadrant of Deep Understanding – I just love expressions like that. Fantastic to show off. That is it. That is the newsletter. Come back and join me finding proper pillows for making the quadrant of deep understanding cosy.

Speak soon.

Ciao, Marcus 🔌