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TikTok Is Owned By China But Teens Don’t Care

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ALT="Marketing Charts TikTok Spend Increasing, Graphic for Marketing Expenditures"

Do you TikTok? Honestly, I tried to join in on the fuss, but I’m obviously not of the age group that watches stupid pet tricks on 15 second repetitive videos. Remember Vine? Yeah, that was short-lived, too, but TikTok may have more staying power with marketers now paying attention.

And, why do marketers suddenly care about TikTok? Because it’s all the rage with teens, exactly as the data say: early teens and even my 18-year-old daughter spend hours guffawing at the ridiculous simplicity of the stunts people pull to get a claim to fame.

I applaud Heidi Thorne for putting up a TikTok to promote her videos. She is reachable on Instagram and TikTok @HeidiThorne. I love this woman for putting herself out there to tell her story and marketing tips.

Back to business…

Marketing Charts says 1 in 3 agencies will increase spend on TikTok in 2020.

Is TikTok Worthy Of Your Time?

Granted, we can dissect every piece of data like this. The fact that an emerging channel like TikTok is making the grade enough to even chat about is noteworthy. Case in point, TikTok’s owner is ByteDance of China. That raises so many red flags about privacy, hacking and tracking of our teens that it’s something to think about.

This week, I attempted to find an international conference calling app to set up a meeting with China. In one year, the U.S. and China no longer communicate on conference calling tools like Skype, What’s App, Zoom, GoToMeeting, Free Conference, and many more. I found DingTone, but to get the app to work, you need to earn free points.

Further, the U.S. military seems to think that TikTok is a danger to armed forces. This is likely due to data collection from the video app accessible to the Chinese government. The Committe on Foreign Investment in the United States initiated a national security review of ByteDance in 2019. It cited concerns about TikTok in espionage, censorship and foreign influence, according to Slate.com.

I went to find Heidi Thorne’s handle for TikTok and noticed my comment about she being a TikTokker. She asked whether I was up there and what my handle was. I replied, “Well, what is the value of me talking to teens…on a platform owned by China?”

Heidi’s blog post on her foray into TikTok experimentation, references Vox, stating that in 2018, TikTok downloaded 1 billion times with 27 million U.S. users.

Ask About Marketing Value

And that, my friends, is the crux of the matter. When considering social media platforms in integrated marketing, look at the value each brings to that mix and audience reach. Determine whether your audience includes Gen Z, the teenagers, in this case, as that is the demographic of TikTok.

As with any social media, you need to be consistent with your content. If you don’t have content suitable for that audience, then you may just be talking to a wall.

So, what do you think? Does a social media app owned by a Chinese company bother you? Privacy concerns are rampant, and I know my email is on many breach lists by now. The bigger question: when will Americans feel threatened by damaging privacy attacks to make everyone take notice and then action?

7 Social Media Tools Reviews Via @TomPick

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As the use of social media marketing tactics have expanded and matured, two consistent challenges that remain are 1) finding enough time for all the tasks that need to be done, and 2) measuring the impact of social media marketing activities.

Into these voids have stepped all manner of developers and entrepreneurs with tools for social media monitoring, management, measurement, and more.

Need to find out how widely one of your links was shared on Twitter? Identify your most influential fans and followers for outreach efforts? Automate repetitive social marketing tasks? Find new industry influencers to engage with to help optimize your overall web presence?

Social Media Tools

Here are helpful reviews of tools to assist with all of those tasks and many more from half a dozen social media experts.

  • Nicole HarrisonNicole Harrison is “adamant” that, properly managed and executed, will deliver measurable financial results to a business, and provides brief reviews of 11 free social measurement tools including Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, and TweetReach, which she calls “a great tool for tracking a campaign or conversation on Twitter.”

Douglas KarrDouglas Karr shares an infographic which showcases 25 helpful social media marketing tools across five categories: social listening, social conversation, social marketing, social analytics, and social influencer identification. The infographic also identifies high-profile customers, strong points, and ideal users for each tool, as well as whether it is free or fee-based.

Nicholas ScaliceNicholas Scalice highlights his favorite social tools across eight categories, such as Social Report for analytics, Klout for Business for identifying “your most influential fans and followers,” and Bitly for link shortening.

Sheye Griffin reviews three social media management toolsóHootSuite, Agency Platform, and Sproutófor their value across three areas: ability to capture streams from multiple social networks; keyword search and geographical/trend analysis; and ease of engagement with followers.

Ian ClearyAsking “Do you struggle to get all your social media tasks done every day? Do you find that you perform repetitive tasks?,” (questions likely to elicit two “yeses” from many social media marketers), Ian Cleary reviews more than half a dozen time-saving social tools, including Social Oomph and Zapier (a tool similar to IFTTT).

Priit KallasPriit Kallas reviews 69 free social media tools, divided into two groups: “the services that I use regularly or seem interesting to check out immediately” and “an alphabetical list of tools for you to play with.” Included in the first group are popular tools like SocialBro, TwitterCounter and Klout.

About The Author

Tom-Pick.jpgTom Pick is a digital marketing consultant who helps clients increase their visibility, credibility, and business success online. His expertise in web presence optimization, SEO, search marketing, social media, content marketing and social PR has helped b2b technology clients ranging from single-person businesses to $1 billion+ corporations. Tom is managing editor of the Webbiquity b2b marketing blog, and a co-founder of: WPOinc, a provider of web presence optimization metrics; the B2BMarketingZone.com portal for B2B blogs; and the Social Media Informer social media content aggregation site. He can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn and .

Blog Owner’s Note: Here’s a perfect example that guest blogging is NOT dead! Thanks, Tom!

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We’re Drowning In Marketing

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It’s daunting being a marketer these days. The lexicon in how we market has widened into an array of confusing methods to attract better brand positioning, growth, ROI, influencer authority, social this and that, and consumer loyalty.

The latest favorite is influencer marketing. Last week on this blog, we took an angular look at Google+, Google Authorship and Influence Marketing.

Buy Influencer Marketing Books

Several books written by peers in my own social circles are must reads to keep us thinking strategically and visionary.

You may pre-order Influence Marketing: How to Create, Manage and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing (Que Biz-Tech) written by Danny Brown and Sam Fiorella.

Influence-Marketing-BookThey have been writing it up with a large amount of content on blogs, Google+ Communities, and in comments all over. It promises to be a must-buy and read.

 

 

Meanwhile, a dear colleague of mine, Mark W. Schaefer, has written a quick read,Return on Influence, The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing, his second book that has hit the corporate world (IBM recently bought 500 copies) and the social media sector by storm.

Mark-Schaefer-BookBecause I know all three of these peeps and vouch for their own cred and influence, you ought to consider purchasing these books for your reading pleasure.

Now, back to the topic at hand…If some marketers think they’re drowning, how does a company cope with that?

Does every marketing team need to know every aspect of marketing, or can they learn in a steady trickle?

The good news is, everyone is in the same boat absorbing knowledge and learning new tactics at the same time. How marketers execute on these evolving techniques is how one differentiates.

Here are my thoughts on how companies should stay the course with these basics and never mind the marketing buzz until prepared to address them head on:

Five Marketing Basics

1. Set up a solid team of people with the right mix of marketing for various types of organizations, someone in PR, another knows email and inbound marketing, a copywriter, a social media enthusiast, and someone familiar with advertising for all media.

2. Assess and solidify brand and dust off that mission statement! It’s critical to revisit this to ensure the company is growing in alignment with founders’ goals and vision.

3. Hire Jayme Soulati (shameless, I know) to do your message mapping exercise. No matter if your company is established or just starting, message mapping charts your company’s communication course.

4. Build a responsive website. I’m not talking about a website that looks good on a mobile device; I’m talking about a scalable site that conforms to smart devices and positions calls to action and contact information on the top of the screen followed by all the rest of the goodies. When your company keeps a website that requires visitors to slide windows back and forth, then the message you’re sending is pretty much, “We just don’t care.”

5. Pay attention to social media and engage already. You have to; you just do. In this post-social media adoption era, there are still companies without the basics in place. Companies owe it to consumers to connect via social media channels. If all we get is a direct mail coupon with no other channel, that is grounds for negative online reputation.

Confused about any of the above? Please ask me, I’m right here.

By Jayme Soulati

SUBSCRIBE AND NEVER MISS A POST!

 

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Soulati Media On The Street: Body Z Alive Hydrotherapy

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In Santa Monica last week, a surprise “gift” by my cousin provided a bit of nervous Nelly freak out, fear and eventual appreciation for the oft misunderstood service called colon hydrotherapy aka colonic.

In this Soulati Media On The Street interview, you’ll meet the zenmeister herself, Louretta Walker, owner of Body Z Alive in Santa Monica. She shared with me why hydrotherapy is important to a healthy colon for detox, lightness, emotional balance, and for hydration.

Here’s a secret, because the first time is always a bit scary, I recommend going again knowing the process. And, when you have a pro like Lou to lead one through the steps, there’s no question you’re in good care.

I promise to answer all curious George questions in comments and more sensitive ones via email! Giggle.

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How Social Media Blends With Cause-Related Marketing

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Credit: World Hunger Relief Campaign

Everyone ought to have a pet cause or perhaps you work for a not-for-profit where all your attention lies. What’s the role social media is playing in your attention-getting campaigns?

Yesterday, Geoff Livingston invited me to a tweet bomb. Having never really heard of one, although it was easy to get the purpose, I heartily agreed to support World Hunger Relief, From Hunger to Hope, for children in poverty and malnourishment throughout the world in tandem with World Food Day today.

Today’s tweet bomb is 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in all time zones at #HungerToHope in honor of World Food Day sponsored by Razoo and Yum! Brands.

When I clicked the link to see what resources were available, I saw an entire blogger resource kit with:

  • Sample tweets
  • A Twibbon
  • Details for a blog post
  • Hashtags and timing
  • Images from Flickr
  • Facebook cover image for timeline
  • Social media buttons
  • Full campaign website
  • Fact sheet
  • Logos

When I saw the kit, I was surprised Geoff hadn’t asked for a blog post, so I volunteered. I also just scheduled about eight tweets to run on two Twitter accounts during the scheduled time of the tweet bomb.

How Social Media Works

Let’s review what just happened above…

1. Geoff and I are in social media marketing; we know one another through the Interwebz. He comments on my blog, I comment on his blog. I bought his book, Marketing in The Round with Gini Dietrich.

2. That gives Geoff the opportunity and comfort to ask his blogger peer network to help support a cause. I do it all the time and have done so with Danny Brown and his 12for12K, and for Shonali Burke to support UNHCR, and we bought blue keys. It was a highly successful campaign, as well.

3. Geoff didn’t ask for a blog post, but I knew that would help the campaign. I’m asking for your consideration to help World Hunger with tweets and even a few of your pennies.

Those who manage causes cannot ignore bloggers’ influence or social media networking. A tweet bomb is a perfectly easy way to showcase an issue and even create a trending topic (which is likely exactly what #HungerToHope is aiming for).

When you decide to incorporate social media into a campaign on any scale, pay close attention to the blogger resource kit; it’s exactly what I needed to write this post with ALL the detail at my fingertips.

So, today’s ask is for you to support World Food Day with tweets, pennies, posts, or a nod in the direction of your favorite charitable cause.