Montana governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation on May 17, 2023 which bans TikTok from operating in the state starting January 1, 2024. This legislation is intended to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China. Following this announcement multiple lawsuits were filed claiming it violates Montanans 1st amendment rights. I am not an expert in constitutional law, so instead of discussing legality I will be talking about what it means for marketing in the state of Montana. If you do want an article about the legality, give this a read.
Social media marketing is a big factor in modern marketing campaigns designed to target Generation Z (born 1997-2012). Tik Tok is the platform of choice for many Gen Z-ers. Tik Tok has a unique way of serving up advertisements that can range from the company posting content to keep users engaged to paying influencers to create unique content highlighting their products. View a few Tik Tok paid advertisements from Google and Amazon. Check out this example from Rin which gives you a discount on hostels.
Another factor of banning Tik Tok is that it causes an ultimatum for Social Media Managers, Content Creators and Influencers based in Montana. Move or lose your job.
What is the draw for marketers using Tik Tok? The demographic statistics are impressive and leaves no doubt that Tik Tok is easily the best way to reach Generation Z via social media. Generation Z makes up about 47.4% of Tik Tok’s 1 billion users. Tik Tok also boasts the highest engaged time on social media, being 10.8 minutes. For comparison Pinterest has the second highest engaged time of 5 minutes. This all sounds great to a marketer especially when the average time to capture attention in a commercial is about 8 seconds. You can target a very specific demographic and almost guaranteed engagement because of how the platform serves content. The best way to get engagement is paying a content creator or purchasing a sponsored content, like other platforms. Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube are attempting to replicate Tik Tok’s magic and stay relevant with things like reels. These have been successful, but still don’t compare to Tik Tok.
Will the ban on Tik Tok change a lot for marketers? Only time will tell if the legislation holds up in court. If it does hold up, then marketers will need to figure out new ways to market to Generation Z, not just in Montana, but in other states.
Let us know what you think about how the Tik Tok ban will affect marketing in the comments below.