Or, “why having a strategy in place is so important for small businesses”.
If you’re in the United States, you’re probably aware of what went down this week in terms of TikTok.
Avoiding politics altogether, the briefest version is this: content creators and small businesses who were using TikTok as a means to make money or drive traffic are in a troubling limbo, as the app’s future remains uncertain. As of this writing, access to new downloads has been restricted within the US, but existing users still have access. This is following a brief outage enacted (not by the US government, but) by TikTok itself.
The content creators and small business owners who rely on TikTok for monetization and high converting traffic are, understandably, upset. This puts them in a difficult position, and in some cases, is interrupting their ability to support themselves and their families.
A caveat: my intention in writing this post is not at all to be a “gotcha” or to be insensitive to those who this change affects. My intention is to use a real-world example to illustrate a legitimate and often overlooked issue in the microbusiness world.
Strategy and diversification protect your interests
Why is this interruption, and the looming possibility of the platform being inaccessible such a big deal from a business perspective?
To put it simply, relying on TikTok for traffic has become the old “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, which of course, cautions that if you’ve placed everything in one spot and something happens to it…it’s all gone.
TikTok is a platform with great monetization potential and an active community, leading to increased conversion rates and referrals [the official statistics for conversion of TikTok ads is 1-3% which is fairly standard across most social media platforms, but anecdotal evidence has shown some industries/users with significantly and notably higher stats]. So why wouldn’t you just focus where you get results?
The answer is simple: because you don’t own the platform.
Focusing energy where your data shows you get results isn’t a bad thing. The trouble is if that is your only effort. That’s when you may find yourself in a precarious position.
In The Seller’s Checklist for Etsy Shop Success, I talk about making connections and protecting your interests. A business that is built solely on Etsy can be taken away at the whim of Etsy. Whether its due to a legit complaint or a system error, that shop can go dark on you. If your images, descriptions, prices, and full content reside on that platform and you’re now locked out – it’s gone. If your community knows the shop URL as the place to find you and that shop gets removed – you’re out of the game.
While it makes sense to focus your energy on the platforms that drive the most traffic/referrals to you, the TikTok issue is a stark reminder that if you are relying on a platform you don’t own, it can be taken away from you.
Have a plan to keep your virtual doors open
This is where your strategy comes in. Feel free to focus on the platform that works best for you, whether it is TikTok or Etsy, social media, or another selling community. But have a backup plan.
A backup plan? Well, there are a couple of things you can do:
- maintain at least 1 other social media platform that you get reasonable interactions on, and refer to it regularly
- invest in a website on a platform you control the content of (like WordPress), or be sure to save your text/images if building on a platform you don’t control
- consider creating an email newsletter to maintain contact and communication with followers; brainstorm content that followers will engage with and appreciate
An email list is considered the holy grail of business marketing – you have a list of people who opted into getting content from you, directly into their inboxes. And while you are using an email service like MailChimp or ConstantContact, you own the access and content of everything on that list.
A true business will survive without you. It can be sold and scaled, run by someone else. Many of us (myself included), don’t run a true business in that capacity. That doesn’t mean it isn’t legitimate or important!
Many, many microbusinesses are doing the heavy lifting of supporting individuals or families and they deserve respect and resources. If your microbusiness is simply a monetized social media account or small Etsy shop and it is working for you, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as it is a conscious decision you’ve made.
If you have concerns as to viability and longevity, then be sure you own at least some of your business assets, and create a strategy with a backup plan built into it to make sure you don’t lose access to everything you’ve worked so hard on.