The TikTok Ban Wake-Up Call: Building Brand Resilience Through Video Beyond Social Platforms

tiktok bantiktok ban
Yael Kochman

03/02/2025

Video Commerce

The TikTok ban has sent shockwaves through businesses that relied heavily on the platform for revenue and visibility.

For countless brands, TikTok was more than just a social media app – it was a lifeline, driving millions in traffic, sales, and brand recognition through its unique algorithm and viral potential. Now, many are grappling with the daunting reality of losing a channel that had become a critical part of their business model.

From small businesses to global brands, TikTok has been a cornerstone for engaging younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, capitalizing on trends, and fostering community-driven commerce. With over 170 million Americans using the app, TikTok Shop and influencer partnerships became essential tools for driving income. But with the platform  being potentially no longer accessible, many businesses face significant disruptions, including plummeting traffic and sales, leaving them scrambling for alternatives to reach their audience.

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold the TikTok ban has sent shockwaves through the marketing world. Brands that heavily relied on TikTok’s unique platform for audience engagement are now grappling with the sudden loss of access to their established communities. This event underscores a critical lesson: brands do not own their social media platforms.

Social platforms are rented spaces, not owned assets.

Brands Don’t Own Their Social Platforms

While social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook offer vast audiences, they are ultimately third-party entities with their own policies and vulnerabilities. A change in regulations, platform policies, or unforeseen events can instantly disrupt a brand’s access to its audience. For instance, in 2024, social commerce accounted for 19.4% of online sales, generating $700 billion, with projections to reach $8.5 trillion by 2030. This rapid growth highlights how heavily brands rely on these platforms for revenue.

However, this dependence comes with risks. A sudden platform ban or policy change can sever the connection between brands and their consumers, leading to significant revenue losses and disrupted marketing strategies. Moreover, brands often have limited access to the data generated on these platforms, hindering their ability to fully understand and engage their audience.

In the case of Tiktok, the proposed ban stems from concerns over national security and data privacy, as TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. This decision impacts 170 million Americans who use the app regularly, as well as for the brands that depend on its highly specialized algorithm and TikTok Shop for driving visibility and sales. 

The ban will also disrupt influencer marketing strategies, especially for micro-influencers and small businesses that relied heavily on TikTok’s algorithm for organic growth. Creators will need to shift focus to Instagram and YouTube, where competition for visibility is higher and algorithms favor larger, established accounts. Additionally, TikTok Shop’s sudden removal leaves a gap in the social commerce space, forcing brands to rethink their strategies for integrating shopping experiences into other platforms.

Yet, the TikTok ban is a stark reminder of the risks tied to building brand presence on platforms you don’t control. It’s not just about losing a marketing channel; it’s about losing access to your audience, your data, and losing the control over your brand’s narrative.

The Importance of Control for Brands

Owning and controlling customer data is paramount in today’s digital landscape. Brands that rely solely on third-party platforms are at the mercy of those platforms’ policies and potential disruptions. By establishing direct channels, such as proprietary e-commerce sites, brands can:

  • Brand Integrity: Owning your ecosystem ensures that your brand messaging isn’t at the mercy of external algorithms or platform rules.
  • Maintain Direct Customer Relationships: Building and nurturing direct relationships fosters brand loyalty and provides deeper insights into customer preferences.
  • Ensure Data Privacy and Compliance: Handling first-party data allows brands to implement robust data privacy measures, ensuring compliance with regulations and building customer trust. Brands using first-party data for marketing have achieved a 2.9X revenue lift and a 1.5X increase in cost savings.
  • Adapt Quickly to Market Changes: With direct control, brands can swiftly adjust their strategies in response to market dynamics without waiting for third-party platform updates.

So where can brands go to garner the same level of enthusiasm and commerce that social platforms provide, like community engagement, trendsetting opportunities, and a robust environment for user-generated content?

How buywith Makes E-commerce as Dynamic as Social Media – but On YOUR Website

buywith offers a solution that empowers brands to regain control over their customer interactions and data. As a video commerce platform, buywith integrates interactive video shopping experiences directly into a brand’s e-commerce site with a simple integration. It alleviates the investment needed for logistics involved with social media platforms, and brings back the control to the brand.

This integration enables brands to:

  • Create shoppable videos and host events: Engage customers in real-time, showcasing products and answering questions to drive immediate sales.
  • Collect first-party data: Gather valuable insights from customer interactions to inform marketing strategies and personalize experiences.

Enhance brand experience: Maintain consistent branding and messaging without third-party platform constraints, While retaining the same level of engagement and dynamic features, as exhibited on our VOD page.

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How E-commerce Brands can Regain Control with buywith

Now that we have established why it is important for brands to regain control of their content, brand, and overall marketing with solutions like buywith, this is why buywith specifically can help, as it allows brands to:

  • Maintain Data Ownership: Gain full access to customer data, facilitating personalized marketing and informed decision-making.
  • Ensure Platform Stability: Operate independently of third-party social platforms, reducing vulnerability to external policy changes and algorithm shifts.
  • Multistream to social media: If the need arises that brands and retailers still need to stream their shoppable videos or video content onto social media, our multi streaming capabilities make this possible, thereby still maintaining control on the e-commerce site.

By leveraging buywith, brands and retailers can create immersive shopping experiences that not only boost sales but also strengthen customer relationships and data ownership.

The Ripple Effect of the TikTok Ban on Social Media Advertising and Ad Spend

The TikTok ban will significantly disrupt the social media advertising landscape, with brands scrambling to reallocate ad budgets previously earmarked for the platform. TikTok’s unique algorithm and massive reach, particularly among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, made it an invaluable tool for performance advertising and audience discovery. Its removal leaves a gaping hole that other platforms will vie to fill.

  • Shift in Ad Dollars to other platforms: Meta and YouTube are expected to capture a significant share of displaced TikTok ad dollars. Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, both modeled after TikTok’s short-form video format, provide natural alternatives for brands looking to maintain their reach and engagement. These two platforms are poised to absorb nearly 50% of the ad spend previously allocated to TikTok.
  • Exploration of emerging platforms: Beyond the obvious beneficiaries like Meta and YouTube, other platforms such as Snapchat, Pinterest, and even emerging players like Clapper and BlueSky are being considered by brands seeking to diversify their media strategies. While these platforms currently offer lower ad costs due to less saturation, they face challenges in replicating TikTok’s engagement levels.
  • Retail media’s growing role: Retail media networks are emerging as a key alternative for ad dollars. These networks, operated by retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger, provide brands with the ability to target consumers at the point of purchase using first-party data. With TikTok’s absence, retail media offers an attractive option for advertisers aiming to reach shoppers in highly relevant moments, while mitigating dependency on traditional social platforms. Moreover, the same kinds of video content can be used for retail media advertising, making it a win-win based on content as well as targeting. 

Championing Retail Media Advertising as an Alternative to Social Media Advertising

The Tiktok ban serves as a stark reminder of the volatility of social media platforms and the importance of diversifying advertising strategies. As advertisers adapt to this disruption, they’ll need to reassess their reliance on any single platform and invest in more stable, multi-channel approaches to maintain reach and revenue.

With the growth in retail media budgets, the question arises – how can brands leverage retail media to foster an engaging video experience, like their Gen Z and other audiences are after?

buywith recently launched myAthena – an AI-powered studio that enables brands to create engaging video ads for retail media, while interactive features like clickable product tags and direct calls-to-action to boost conversions. An AI director ensures that the ads are on brand, as well as enforcing the retailer’s guidelines to ensure consistency with the retail platform, while analytics-driven insights provide actionable data to refine strategies and maximize ROI. 

myAthena brings the engagement level of a TikTok feed to retail media, capitalizing on engagement with the hyper targeting, allowing brands to monetise their retail channels instead of relying on social media platforms that may or may not stay as they are.

tiktok ban

Let’s Regain Brand Control

In conclusion, the TikTok ban serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in relying solely on third-party platforms. To safeguard their brand and maintain control over customer relationships and data, it’s imperative for brands to invest in direct channels and solutions like buywith, especially when digital landscapes are continually evolving. 

By leveraging solutions like buywith, brands can create resilient, engaging, and data-rich e-commerce environments that are insulated from the uncertainties of third-party platforms.

To learn more about how buywith can empower your brand with interactive video commerce solutions, join us to our webinar with  Michael Zakkour (CEO, 5 New Digital and Video Commerce expert) and Yael Kochman (CBO at buywith)!

Yael Kochman
Chief Marketing Officer at buywith

Yael Kochman is the Chief Marketing Officer at buywith, a leading video commerce platform and creator marketplace. Yael is a retail and commerce innovation expert and marketing leader with over 15 years of extensive experience in marketing and business development. Recognized as among the 100 influential people in retail tech and acknowledged by HubSpot as one of the 59 female marketers to follow, Yael’s remarkable career spans co-founding Re:Tech, an innovation hub for retail tech.

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