Tick Tock: Is Time About Up On TikTok?

The TikTok ban has forced higher education social media teams to think creatively about how they engage with their audience.

The TikTok logo where the end of the music note is a red ban icon.

By now, I’m sure we’re all pretty familiar with the phrase, “TikTok ban.” But here in Colorado, we’re still largely unaffected (for now).

Still, it would be a huge disadvantage to not consider the ramifications of a ban in Colorado (or a nation-wide ban), and what that would mean for brands building their community in the TikTok space.

The ban-wagon

Before getting into any backup plans (or backup plans to the backup plan), let’s quickly review what’s going on with TikTok in the U.S.

TikTok gained immense popularity over the past couple of years and was the breakout social media star of the pandemic. But, it’s faced numerous controversies since its inception, with the latest being the potential ban in the U.S.

Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning the app in August 2020, citing national security concerns, but the ban was temporarily halted by federal courts. The Biden administration has yet to make a final decision on whether to ban the app.

The concern over TikTok is that the Chinese-owned company, ByteDance, could potentially give the Chinese government access to the data collected from the app’s users. The app collects a vast amount of personal data, including location data, user behavior, and preferences. TikTok has been accused of sharing user data with the Chinese government, which is seen as a potential threat to the U.S. government. And the U.S. isn’t alone. More than a dozen countries have implemented partial or total bans of TikTok, including Australia, Canada and India.

https://twitter.com/CSUCollegeOfBiz/status/1646951456854118400

 

While it doesn’t sound like the ban is hitting Colorado anytime soon, there is a chance for a nation-wide ban, or a state-wide ban of TikTok on government-owned devices, like computers or phones used by university employees.

#HESM’s solutions to the ban

The potential TikTok ban has implications for universities in the U.S. that use the app to engage with students and promote their institutions, and many HESM teams in states with bans have already had to pivot to new strategies.

Last month, I attended a couple of great webinars on this exact topic, including the APLU Council on Strategic Communications and Council on Governmental Affairs webinar, which explored how public universities are addressing and navigating TikTok bans and restrictions.

Here are a few ways in which universities have responded to the potential ban:

  1. Pivoting focus to Reels and Shorts: One of the most obvious ways higher education social media teams have responded to the TikTok ban is by turning to other platforms, like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat Spotlight. Before saying so long to TikTok for good, I recommend not deleting your university’s TikTok account, even if you’re no longer posting to it, to prevent another user from taking the handle and creating an impersonation account. I also recommend making one final TikTok video sharing that the account will no longer be active, and including other ways your followers can engage with your brand (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc.). Buffer also shared a great suggestion to download all of your TikTok videos sooner rather than later as a way to backup your content.
  2. Using third-party vendors or devices to post on your university’s behalf: This was a super creative solution to dealing with a state-wide TikTok ban on government-owned devices. The university social media team that took this approach still creates the TikTok videos, but has a third party (like an agency) actually post the videos to TikTok on their own devices. Similarly, some social media teams used their personal devices to manage their university TikTok account, instead of their government-owned devices.
  3. Leveraging influencers: Influencers have become an essential part of social media marketing, and higher education institutions are no exception. Social media teams have been collaborating with influencers to create engaging video content on TikTok to still meet their audience where they are. One major positive in taking this approach: the content will likely be seen as even more authentic coming from influencers’ personal accounts, rather than the university account. However, this approach also comes with a lot of risks, like: paying the influencers (and further, ad transparency), other content that the influencer is creating that could be seen as risky or controversial, etc.

Disclaimer: If TikTok is banned on government-owned devices in your state, I highly recommend consulting with your university’s general counsel to discuss different options and workarounds before making any decisions.

While our team has discussed what we’ll do if we face a total or partial ban, we haven’t come to a full decision. For now, we’re sitting tight, and waiting to see how this plays out.

The potential TikTok ban in the United States is a contentious issue that we’re watching play out before our eyes. It’s important for all universities (and brands, for that matter) to take proactive steps to ensure that they can continue to engage with their students, even if TikTok is banned. Whether Colorado will ban TikTok remains to be seen, but we’re thankful for the tips, tools and strategies other universities facing the ban have shared so willingly.