Lessons From TikTok: Never Bet on One Marketing Platform

The House on Wednesday passed its version of a bill that would allow the President to ban the video app TikTok unless the Chinese company ByteDance divested the system. The move also shows a weakness in how many companies, including those in CRE, manage their marketing.

First, the news. The House vote was beyond “bipartisan,” being 352 in favor, 65 against as representatives fretted about a perceived national security threat. “‘Communist China is America’s largest geopolitical foe and is using technology to actively undermine America’s economy and security,’” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after the vote, warning that TikTok could be used to access American data and spread “harmful” information.”

Whether the bill will become law is a different and more complex question. It might be that President Biden would sign it, but its fate in the Senate is more uncertain. “I think it’s more than likely that we will take up their bill and amend it and say we’ve come up with some areas where we think it needs improvement,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said.

The nature of Senate rules also means that if there aren’t 60 people ready to vote in favor, the body’s filibuster could end the measure before it could reach the White House. If it did go on, the result would likely significantly alter how companies using TikTok would need to change strategies. Their reliable marketing channel might be utterly gone.

This wouldn’t be the first time that the usefulness of a marketing platform changed and left companies wondering what to do. The reasons have varied. MySpace, once a social media powerhouse, disappeared in the face of newer competitors. Google has changed its search algorithms at times, with the result of largely reducing traffic to some websites. And Facebook has on multiple occasions told industries, like media, that it planned to operate in one way, only throwing that out the window later on in a shift to another direction.

A business cannot control what other companies do, which is why it’s important never to get too enamored over a platform that seems like it is perfect for your marketing. The more you focus on the one, the greater a chance that a sudden change in circumstances could undermine everything you’ve been doing. Plan as though the rug could be pulled out from under you at any time, because it might.