5 Actions to Take Before the TikTok Ban Begins

When I saw the TikTok ban was signed at the end of April 2024, I knew the questions about how to prepare were close behind.?

Nano-influencers, creators, and billion-dollar businesses have made a home on TikTok by finding community and making insane revenue.?

According to an EMarketer report on social commerce, TikTok gained more shoppers than Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest combined in 2023 (totaling 11.6 million). There is only 1 thing that could slow it down: an impending platform ban.?

Remember when Elon Musk bought Twitter? We knew big changes were coming but didn’t have a clue what to expect or how to prepare. Now we have the luxury of a 7-month runway to make plans.?

Here are 5 steps brands and creators can take to reduce risk and engage their TikTok audiences.

1. Continue posting great content.

If you’ve built a big following on TikTok, don’t abandon your audience just yet. The deadline is currently January 19, 2025, so there’s still a chance a US company could purchase it before then.

I suspect there are conversations about this going on at Meta, X, and other US social media companies right now —?Imagine it: A Pinterest & TikTok merger would change the makeup of our top platforms.

Until then, you’ll want to continue nurturing your audience if you already have a healthy following on the platform.

Abandoning a healthy audience and jumping ship now could mean you cut yourself off from countless cultural trends, launch activations, searches for your product (TikTok Shop), and creator partnership opportunities.

TikTok is far from a declining channel, so it’s wise to wait it out.

2. Use CTAs (calls-to-action) to point to your email list.

The risk you take when you “build your house on rented land” is this exact situation: Major platform changes that can alter your business you have no control over.

Capture your audience by inviting them to an “owned” property. AKA: add them to your email list. You can do this by pointing to a linktree in your bio, inviting followers to DM you their email address, or sign up for your Substack account.

(See this example from Brandi | Grow Your Groceries.)

Some CTA examples for this could be:

• “Subscribe to my Substack for the full story”
• “Email subscribers get a special offer - Join now for the deal”
• “Don’t forget me with the TikTok b@n. Join my email list so you can always hear from me in your inbox.”

3. Do a TikTok video talking about your other platforms.

Invite followers to follow you on your other social media platforms. One benefit of every platform rolling out vertical video (LinkedIn, too) is that there are plenty of places to repurpose your content and build the same following across various platforms.

If TikTok is your primary platform, you could do a video asking your followers to follow you on Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.

Here’s one way to do this without feeling like you’re selling snake oil.

Create a TikTok video giving a tour around your other platforms. If you make different types of content for each platform (ex. long-form video on YouTube), show what you talk about in the long-form they don't get in the short-form.

If you’re a podcaster, try a greenscreen video over a screen recording of your full episodes on YouTube.

If you’re not currently on other platforms, now is a wise time to build equity in another platform like Instagram or YouTube.

4. Track your metrics.

When Elon Musk bought Twitter, people began leaving by the hundreds.

A previous client of mine started hemorrhaging followers by the hundreds each month. Our followers didn’t leave because our content had changed (actually, we had invested more time and resources into content creation and our other channels were growing). It was because people were deactivating their accounts in droves.

When your favorite social media channels change quickly and significantly, people turn into social media refugees and begin experimenting with new channels.

In the Twitter case, Meta picked up on this and quickly launched Threads which became the fastest-growing app of all time.

The only way you know the trends of your followers is to track your metrics.

You can use a third-party tool like Sprout Social or Later to do this quickly, but if you’re looking for accuracy you’ll want to go into TikTok itself for their numbers and track them the old-fashioned way— via spreadsheets or pen and paper.

My friend Kerry Rego has the best reasoning on why this method still holds water against scheduling and analytics systems:

“I prefer to use data from the native platforms. I’ve done enough data reporting that when comparing native metrics to third party tools, they’re always wildly different. I’d rather stick with native because I consider them to be closer to accurate data.” - Kerry Rego, Social Media Consultant

The 3 metrics you should track are:

• Video Views (closest to impressions for your other social platforms)
• Engagement (Likes + Comments + Shares)
• Total Follower Count (so you can tell if you're growing or declining)

5. Archive your content, analytics, DMs, etc.

If you do nothing else, archive your content in a content repository.

Creating a backlog of your content takes time and energy, but once you download the data and raw files – you’ll always have this no matter what happens to the platform (and can repurpose it on any platform moving forward).

A content repository means you can reference a piece of creative, the post copy associated with it, any analytics it racked up, any links within in, and any post link to the live asset.

The companies I work with who use a content repository reference it constantly to compare historical information they no longer have access to in the native platform or in their scheduling or analytics tools (ex. GA4’s Google-signals only retains data for 26 months).

Here's how you build a content repository/archive.

Set aside 1 hour to start building a content repository with your posts from the previous 1-3 months, depending on how frequently you post.

Create a spreadsheet with the following columns:

• Date Published
• Post Copy (caption)
• Creative Asset (linked to a Google Drive or Dropbox folder)
• Link to Post
• Notes (add any feedback around the post you noticed)

From now (May 2024) until Jan 2025, many developments could alter the TikTok ban landscape: rival platforms improving their vertical video features, TikTok acquisition bids, and changes in U.S. policy or political leaders.

No matter what happens, following these steps helps you prepare for the TikTok ban and improves your social media game overall.

How? These tips are a best practice during times of change and times of stability. Content and social media are always changing, so keeping these steps as part of your everyday marketing hygiene means you're always prepared.