Teens who can’t vote just voted. What happened at Trump’s Tulsa Rally shows the power of young people to influence an election and the power of TikTok to influence a brand. (In case you’ve been living under a rock, teens reserved nearly a million tickets to the rally with zero intention of attendings.) So, how is this brilliant and unexpected move by the Zoomers related to advertising? Allow us to explain.
Millennials are selfish. Gen Z is lazy. Gen X figured it out. Boomers don’t get it. What a bunch of crap. There is no way to generalize about an entire demographic. It’s silly. Do adults of the same age range in red states behave the same as those in blue states? Eighteen to 24-year-old poor kids from Alabama are different than 18 to 24-year-old wealthy, kids living in LA.
Algorithms, on the other hand, generalize using behavior models, psychographics, proven interests, actions, and likes. And that’s where TikTok just influenced the November election and reaffirmed its position as the social media platform that can best influence your brand. Let’s be clear, this is not another post about the power of data. That too is misleading without taking emotion and the content posted into account.
We recently wrote about how TikTok is different for everyone that goes on the platform. As @Aridennn, points out “There’s far more than one TikTok.” There’s “Dad TikTok,”, “VSCO Girl TikTok” and “Jock Tok.” The algorithm sends different people different videos based on other videos they’ve watched and liked.”
The Trump campaign just learned there’s also K-Pop Stans TikTok (fans of Korean Pop) and ALT TikTok (a loose band of kids that are the polar opposite of the dancing lip-synchers you might imagine.)
K-Pop Stans started posting videos with messages about reserving tickets to Trump’s Tulsa rally and not showing up. Those messages spread quickly to followers and the ALT TikTok followers. The messages were deleted within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mainstream detection.
Another factor, or the main factor, was the fact that Black TikTokers had been expressing frustration that Trump’s rally was on Juneteenth (he later changed the date) and teens from all walks of life, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, stepped in to make their voices heard.
The result was an embarrassing rally for Trump, lies about protesters blocking people from coming into the rally, and proof to young people that their opinions matter. Likewise, it proves that those who can vote should, while those who can’t can still influence.
However, this whole event is also a continued demonstration of the power and importance of the TikTok platform.
Certainly, advertisers can use social media marketing to sell stuff to specific groups of people with similar interests. Facebook data started that and still kills it in the hyper-targeting department. But the group loyalty isn’t there in the same way. (Not to mention the current Facebook boycott #StopHateForProfit.) But stop me before I tangent again.
TikTok, however, gets to the brand level. It demonstrates what great brands have been doing for years: creating messages that people love thereby creating brand loyalty. If you just try to sell a group of people a bunch of crap, you’re only as good as the crap you’re selling.
Look at the ads on TikTok and you’ll quickly see all the classic mistakes. Product sellers try to make their ads “look like TikToks” but users see through the lameness and scroll past instantly.
It’s really just like TV was back in the day when advertisers first started using it and they were all rational and boring and figured just being in front of the right people was enough to sell those people. But then Bill Bernbach, DDB, Lemon and VW to the power of creativity to invoke an emotional trigger that makes purchase intent a natural byproduct.
So what are the takeaways: If you want to sell, stop selling so hard. Create messages that matter to people and action will follow. Also you don’t need to pay influencers if you can motivate the masses to be your influencers. Finally, if you can vote and you don’t, you’re an ass-hat. When people that can’t vote are accomplishing so much, the least you can do is pull the lever.
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