Digiday+ Research Briefing: A look at the state of social marketing as the TikTok ban draws near

What social media platforms will marketers focus on if TikTok is banned? Examining consumer usage of various social media platforms may help answer this question. According to the Pew Research Center, TikTok’s main users are Gen Z, or consumers aged 18 to 29. Gen Z uses TikTok at higher rates than other age groups, even though the group’s most-used social media platform is YouTube, followed by Instagram. Among all age groups, YouTube is the most-used platform, Pew’s study found. Gen Z uses Snapchat and TikTok more heavily than other generations.

Bearing this data in mind, it’s possible that TikTok’s younger users might initially turn their attention to Instagram and YouTube if TikTok is banned. The short-form video formats of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts provide a similar experience to TikTok, and marketers could use the formats to attempt to recreate the TikTok ad experience. At this point, it seems unrealistic to expect other social media platforms, such as Snapchat, to create their own short-form video experiences. 

However, marketers could consider looking into Snapchat as an advertising opportunity should the TikTok ban take effect due to its strong base of Gen Z users. But it’s important to consider that the platform is primarily used for sharing personal content, which might not make it the best TikTok replacement. Reddit is another platform with a strong Gen-Z user base, which could put it on marketers’ radars in the event of a TikTok ban. The platform’s interest-based forums, or subreddits, build community among its users, similarly to how TikTok’s hashtags, such as “FoodTok,” bring together communities with similar interests. 

To that end, Digg, a once-dominant social news aggregation platform, will relaunch with a Reddit co-founder as part of its leadership team. Sara Wilson, digital communities strategist and founder at SW Projects, said that Digg can create spaces for niche communities around certain topics that go beyond what people can currently find on TikTok or Reddit.

“That’s what I see as a really big opportunity in terms of what’s out there: to go deeper,” she said. “Everything else that we’re seeing is really — like the TikToks of the world — you’re getting a high-level taste of something. If you really want to find your people and go deeper, you’re probably going to need to go to a different platform to be able to do that. And what is that platform?”

Since TikTok has both visual and community aspects that make it a valuable marketing tool, if the social media platform is permanently banned in the U.S., marketers will have to place bets on what types of content users will be most attracted to in its absence. Instagram and YouTube are already popular platforms, and they have the infrastructure to replicate TikTok’s short-form video experience. On the other hand, platforms like Reddit that focus on building community around niche topics may become a gathering place for TikTok refugees looking to dive deeper into those special interests.