Nothing makes me happier than having someone ask me to spout off on something I am passionate about. So, here goes.
People are being fired for making TikTok videos.
In one case, a new employee made a video talking about how excited she was to land her new job and mentioning their salary. One person was fired for making videos doing their job on the job. Another person was fired while wearing a branded shirt, representing the brand in a way that is distinctly “off-brand.” The reality is that more than a million people create TikTok videos, and it’s mostly people who film silly little things: pets, children, dancing, concerts, and, yes, work.
Think of TikTok as a silly little place to lose a few hours of your life.
But this silly little place is home to 1.6 billion people who spend about 90 minutes daily scrolling and being entertained. Its algorithm shows you more of what you interact with, so if your TikTok is showing you things like people fighting, it means you interact and linger over the content of people fighting. For the record, my TikTok is overrun by raccoons and otters because they are hilariously adorable animals, but I digress.
However you feel about this channel, it is a powerful and potent media vehicle that is sticky, has content that runs every possible spectrum you could imagine, and frankly, from a legal, marketing, and compliance standpoint, it can be terrifying…if you let it be.
The people who create on TikTok have an audience—some of them have huge audiences—and some of them are making a very nice living, making content for themselves and for sponsors. This is why I am guessing some of the above-mentioned firing incidents happened. Brands feel they are losing control of the narrative, which is where we have run into a problem with TikTok and Talent Acquisition. We LOVE control. We try to control who says what about our companies and how they say it.
Here’s the unvarnished truth: You will not put TikTok back in a box.
It’s here; it’s not going anywhere, and if you’re laying someone off, they may film it and post it. If you allow customers to abuse your employees, they may film and post it. If you have a great brand and employees who love working with you, they may film it and post it. If you have jobs posted online, no one will stop anyone from popping a link to your job in their LinkedIn feed. We cannot put the whole internet back in a box. It’s not going back in a box.
Many people are fired for making TikToks because marketing didn’t approve it, but how can they control it? The answer is they can’t. You can have policies, enforce these policies, and try to control all of this, but you won’t. Because even when you fire someone from your company for making a TikTok, guess what? They’re going to make more TikToks about being fired. They’re going to grow their reach and possibly take their talents to a competitor who will grow their business.
There is so much to be gained from embracing, trusting, and letting go of a little bit of control. What if you could encourage your employees to share what it’s like to work with you? What if they shared jobs with their followers? And how is this different than a referral program? You can reach new audiences in new ways. You can lean into the marketing magic of pattern disruption and win some new candidates and fans, and maybe even a little loyalty from your employees because you train them, you teach them what’s ok and what’s not ok, and let them build their brands while they build yours. There is more to gain than lose, but if you take anything away from this post, I hope that one of the most viral platforms we’ve ever seen is not going away.
