Source: iStock
Should Brand Founders Get Personal on TikTok?
The brains behind brands are getting more personal with their fans and customers on TikTok.
Founders and CEOs of brands have taken to posting “day in the life” videos, sharing first-person accounts of their personal histories and even responding directly to customers on the popular short-form video platform, according to an article on Inc. by Lauren Huttner. The article suggests that brand founders communicating with customers from personal accounts rather than brand-specific accounts is a more effective use of TikTok.
Jade Beguelin, founder of e-commerce skincare brand 4AM Skin, told Inc. that 88 percent of her purchasing customers discovered her through TikTok and speculated that most were followers of her personal account, not her business account. Ms. Beguelin’s personal account has more than 65,000 followers and 3.4 million likes, well outperforming the 13,500 and 428,000 likes of her business account. This gap between personal page reach and business page reach is a phenomenon often seen on the app.
Since social media went mainstream more than a decade ago, brands and retailers have been using popular social media platforms to message and interact directly with their customers. Having such a close relationship with the customer has sometimes proven beneficial and other times proven dangerous. The immediate nature of social platforms allows brands to make damaging public missteps and there is a danger that individuals managing accounts can get drawn into arguments in ways that can reflect poorly on the brand.
Social media-reliant brands can also suffer due to sudden, unexpected algorithm changes and platform revamps that negatively affect their marketing strategies.
For U.S. brands with a big TikTok presence, one concern may be the uncertain future of the app stateside even though it remains popular despite government concerns about privacy and state security, as CNBC recently reported.
The recent ban of the app on the state level in Montana has drawn criticism for potentially violating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Others have pointed out that a nationwide ban on the app would reduce competition and yield market share to already powerful tech corporations like Meta and Twitter.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of founders and CEOs speaking directly to customers on TikTok? Should these conversations take place on business or personal accounts or both?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Nikki Baird
VP of Strategy, Aptos
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
I think it’s actually helpful to have a bit of separation between a brand founder and the brand itself. People will be interested in the entrepreneurial aspects of the founder and work/life balance and all that kind of thing related to the person, which is not really appropriate for the brand. If it becomes an avenue of brand discovery, then awesome. But also, I would hope every brand founder wants the brand to become bigger than just them. A day will come when they are no longer associated with the brand, whether because they got pushed out, sold it off, of retired. Keeping that distance is helpful. Because the flip side is true: when the founder IS the brand, the brand lives or dies by what the founder says and does. And sometimes they do things that can kill a brand. See: Yeezy.
I think it’s a good idea to put a human face on “the suit.” Especially if there’s a touch of humor and empathy in there.
But if the founder is not willing to drop the mask, what good does it do?
Look at how Ben & Jerry did as the face of their brand!
Speaking directly to one’s audience can be a powerful way to drive home authenticity and reinforce the brand proposition. Transparency and interaction are key for younger consumers. A case in point is Dan-O’s Seasoning…a small brand that has amassed over 5,000,000 followers thanks to its founder and chief chef.
Depends on the motive. Hearing directly from the founder about the originating Brand Promise can be both illuminating and differentiating. But if the founder is in it for the fame and the ego stroke, then it could easily do as much harm as it does good. What are the boundaries? And who is going to talk to the founder about those boundaries?
When it’s working at its best, Social Media can provide a unique channel for brands and brand leaders to reach their customers uniquely and genuinely.
Key- Genuine. There is always a risk of course, but if a CEO can come across as a brand ambassador and be genuine in their interactions, this can be a great marketing and loyalty play. If they come across as sales or on an ego trip, it will backfire. CEOs need a good check and balance if they decide to engage this way, and they need to be open to feedback and be willing to step back if the desired outcomes aren’t achieved.
Personal branding and motives are key here. If you’re doing it to get more likes and shares, it’s not going to end well for you. If founders genuinely want to connect with consumers, they’ll have to be prepared to an honest face of the company. Like all things social media, to be genuine, have an opinion and be interesting, this takes time, effort and planning. It can take a lot of time – be deliberate!
Everyone loves a good story behind every brand’s origin and humble beginnings. Having the founder be the face of the company is particularly important during the startup period. What better place than TikTok to have the founder provide an authentic perspective and POV of their brand and mission statement and differentiate the company’s products or services from the competition.
We have seen companies such as Apple, with Steve Jobs, Amazon, with Jeff Bezos, Nike with Phil Knight, and Tory Burch, have their founders/CEOs at the forefront of the company’s narrative for the initial launches of the brand, mission statements, keynote speeches, etc. During this ramp-up time, in our modern social media and digital-driven society, what better brand ambassadors are there than the founders during the ramp-up?
However, there comes a natural progression where the founders will take a back seat as the brand’s products or services resonate with consumers and build relationships that transcend the sales transaction. Focusing on the product vs. the founders is vital, and it’s a delicate transition.
Back in the day, in the more traditional sense, CEOs talking about their brand has been effective. Think Dave Thomas of Wendy’s and the Colonel of KFC. They and others added a human element. The right leader and the right message create a connected feeling.
Today, technology has multiplied that effect. Users are already more connected to their social media than they ever were to the traditional TV advertising of the past. The appearance of the communication coming from a personal account adds to the earnestness of the messages.
Getting personal, as long as founders are authentically themselves, will help them connect with their consumers. Building a relationship could be the differentiator in gaining loyalty vs. a faceless brand that a consumer can’t connect with. We have more choices than ever – standing out authentically could help the bottom line.
On the flip side, it could backfire if the founder is not authentic. Take JLo and her newly launched alcoholic beverage. The backlash towards her and the fact that she does not drink yet is promoting an alcoholic drink is annoying to say the least. She has lost loyalty.
People like to know the face behind the business. It’s not easy to put yourself out there but if your goal is to truly connect with customers then it can work. But it can also turn on a dime and go in the other direction. Founders and CEOs on social media have to be ready for that too, and have a plan in place.
In my view they should not do it, period. If they feel “compelled” to do it, then it should always be on a business account. Someone not connected to the company (okay, an “influencer”) has a lot more credibility on a channel like Tik Tok. Further, (depending of course on the size of the company) having the CEO become a spokesperson of sorts carries some risk. Sometimes that risk pays off but many times it does not, because by putting the CEO “front and center” you take away some opportunity for the rest of the company to shine.
Many countries and even some U.S. states have imposed various types of bans on the use of Tiktok, citing cybersecurity and privacy concerns. Do you really want your brand’s leaders associated with something potentially controversial?
If TikTok users are your target, do you think they really care about the association?
For some brands (mission-driven, emerging or niche) it makes perfect sense for founders to go direct to consumers to share their story, personal messages and point of view. Especially if the target customer is already engaged on TikTok.
A company has a personality. If that includes the personality of the CEO or founder, that’s great. Some leaders are meant to be out in front of the public. Tik Tok (and all other social channels) are the stage for these personalities to get noticed. As for business or personal, as the CEO and founder, it’s all business, but it’s okay to put the personal personality into the company’s personality.
Depends, if being a celebrity is tied to the brand then yes.
Otherwise, the brand is the priority in any social platform.
TikTok users value transparent, raw communications, which build trust and sales. These benefits may convince more CEOs to migrate to TikTok — but do they have the time to commit to frequent posts?
People like doing business with people. We want to see CEOs’ eyes for sincerity. Business accounts alone can seem professional yet impersonal. Overall, posting on both business and personal accounts can maximize reach, impact and authority.
This is highly dependent on the brand, their strategy, and their maturity. There are some brands (Paula’s reference to Ben & Jerrys, and a more modern one Kendra Scott Jewelry) where the founders have an immediate genuine appeal to their target customers, an appeal that can be leveraged to drive awareness, growth, and success. However, some founders, despite being driven and capable, are not a good face to the brand and they and their marketing team need to be self-aware enough to avoid the temptation.