Case Study
Lucy Moorfield, January 2025
Table Of Contents
3. Findings & Analysis
TikTok ‘glimmers’
Focusing on Gen Z & Millennials
TikTok lifestyle & influence
TikTok Shop
TikTok Viral
Banning of the app
4. Conclusion Brand Strategy - What do do next?
5. References Harvard Bibliography
TikTok Marketing StrategyThe uses of TikTok Shop & video promotions
By Lucy Moorfield
Introduction
TikTok started in 2016, when it was originally called Musically and was owned by Bytedance This was an entertaining dance & lip syncing app that millions of ‘musers’ enjoyed By 2017, Bytedance decided to transform Musical.ly into a multifunctional app called TikTok
Since then, the app has had over a billion of users, making it one of the top apps internationally and even brought in businesses to adapt a new way of marketing to their consumers, but on a personal level In 2020, the app became so popular that the American government became wary of how the app was running with their data privacy This statement got shut down a year later through a deal between Bytedance and the government
After hitting 16 billion users in 2023, they decided to expand the app even further with a way for businesses to sell their products directly on the app, through TikTok Shop Many users were unsure if they should purchase from TikTok as there were cautions that it may be related to other online shopping markets, Shein and Temu Now that there are hundreds of official brands selling on there, TikTok shop has been the new, futureforwards way of shopping
As we now know that the talk of a banning of TikTok is settling in place, millions of influencers and businesses are unsure of what to do after investing in such a great app that builds a community for them Each brand should have a back-up strategy for if the ban does take place, but what should that be?
Methodology
The key findings of this case study comes from a range of primary and secondary research Including, the history of TikTok PESTLE reports researching the algorithm trends and behaviours, over 24 news reports with data analysis industry explorations, ELF case study trends, influencers and popular hashtags This research will conduct and guide businesses into a successful strategy, even if TikTok gets officially banned in the United States
Findings & Analysis
TikTok ‘glimmers’:
According to WGSN, In the US on average, adults spend 538 minutes on TikTok every day, seeing hundreds of videos that they may not even remember a few minutes later TikTok’s primary users are Millennials and Generation Z as they prefer digital content due to their needs for visual enjoyment This is because it actually would persuade them to watch the videos instead of endlessly scrolling and potentially ‘brain-rotting’ They rely primarily on moments of ‘glimmers’ on the app which replicates moments of joy and comfort, supposedly the opposite to triggers It is a perfect opportunity for brands to connect with consumers to a personal and emotional extent. A brand that companies should take an example of is ‘Jellycat’.
They create short stories online to advertise their plush toys which then creates a strong emotional connection between the consumer and the product This connection then creates a desire to purchase and becomes an ‘emotional support item’
Focusing on Generation Z & Millennials:
Generation Z and Millennials are the main drive for the popularity of TikTok (688% share of active users as of July 2024 - (Statista n.d.)) with nearly 6 out of 10 users saying they use the app daily (Paul 2022) 63% of its users find TikTok useful for trend-spotting, making the app ideal for companies to market on as it is so highly reputable for its ‘for you’ page (‘TikTok’s Impact on Consumer Rights: A Closer Look!’ 2025)
TikTok Lifestyle & Influence:
Findings & Analysis
Due to the mass range of users on TikTok, culture and community takes a large role to keep the app as popular as it is This is primarily through trends, algorithm and mutual connections Overall, personal TikTok accounts tend to get more views (32,108 on average) over business accounts (23,782 on average) which is why the business accounts try their best to prove how they are part of the community, so their posts perform better (Statista n.d., 2025) (1)
TikTok lifestyles that we see on the app aren’t always true which would often cause problems. This lead to many people wanting the same identity and interests Less people have a passion to be unique which is hugely impacting society. However, there were also many users that would use their platform to show the reality of their lives which would sometimes mentally give the viewers more strength. To see Generation Z’s opinion on how TikTok shapes trends and influence the buying behaviours of young people, a poll was conducted. Many of the responses were stating how
influencers were the main reason due to their persuasions and outfit styling videos Although this may seem like a positive thing as it creates community, some respondents mentioned how they believe it is ruining the use of personal style and creates a chain of very similar people (2) Due to large shopping hauls and easy accessibility to purchasing on TikTok Shop, people are over consuming This is primarily due to the constant pressure of fitting in with all the micro trends seen on the platform. influencers are now trying to reverse the issues that they are creating by ‘de-influencing’ their viewers (Marsh 2024)
TikTok Shop:
TikTok shop is known to be a transformative social commerce platform that seamlessly leads a customer through viewing a product, straight to purchasing it without even leaving the app It is now one of the top ways which alternate the way brands strategise. There are also many benefits already to using TikTok shop as a brand These include: Viral potentials for small businesses, collaborations with users, access to live selling, targeted advertising and analytical insights that can create community building. To help the sellers even more, theres an arrangement of key features that make the app more accessible when the consumers are purchasing. These are: product anchors (tags that allow customers to easily find and purchase an item on TikTok) catalogue management (allows sellers to track orders & communicate with customers, promotion and discount tools)
According to an article from WGSN X TIKTOK SHOP, 78% of consumers believe that brands have the power to create a community and 87% of US marketers believe that TikTok is the ideal platform for long-term marketing strategies By 2026, people globally are projected to spend over $1,000 on average, within a year, on social commerce sales This proves how the market for TikTok shop is very worth investing in as a brand When using to TikTok to sell and market your products, Brands should go out of the box and host live videos where they can sell products, partner with creators related to their identity and capitalise on trend merchandising To be a successful seller on TikTok shop as a brand, they must find the perfect balance between content, influencers, community and usual advertisement If not, there is a potential threat of losing a wide audience
TikTok has contributed $24b to the US economy as of 2025 with its total of 170m active users. This could potentially grow
(2)
‘How does TikTok shape trends and influence the buying behaviours of young people?’
with the app’s popularity but due to the potential banning, this might no longer happen 74% of small businesses who are on TikTok were able to sell out due to the accessibility to promote on the platform. (‘TikTok’s Impact on US Economy and Small Business | TikTok Economic Impact’ 2025) (3) With the current debate of the TikTok ban, smaller businesses might be affected with how much they can sell as their promotion would have been through social media as it is free to use, while targeting the right audience. ‘Word of mouth’ is also a huge factor for brands on TikTok as it get their name out around different demographics and invites new customers. An example of this is MySmile. They originally started advertising their company through the use of TikTok Shop and relied on their small community and customer engagement. They used their small audience to promote themselves more as ‘friend recommendations’ over traditional marketing This lead to their TikTok Shop sales outperforming Amazon and even their own website.
Findings & Analysis
TikTok’s digital advertising revenue is projected to increase from 1804 billion USD in 2023 to 5395 billion USD by 2027 (Statista n.d., 2025) Plus, the ‘TikTok effect’ had an additional €4.8 billion contributed to the GDP and supported more than 51,000 jobs across Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands and Belguim. (‘The TikTok Effect: €4.8 Billion European Small Business Boost, New Oxford Economics Report’ 2019)
TikTok Viral: Trends go viral for various reasons. Sometimes it will be funny, relatable but mostly it will randomly appear on peoples For You Page and everyone will start a small community based off of it. A good example of this was the ‘hyperpigmentation’ trend This was a video posted over a year ago but now it is currently trending with people recreating the video. Brands should constantly be engaging on TikTok so they can understand what consumers enjoy watching and find a way to relate it to their brand image so they can get the best out of their marketing
The top video trends of 2024 were: (4) (‘TikTok Trends 2024: Tracking the Latest TikTok Trends as They Emerge’ 2025)
‘since TikTok is being banned, heres something I want to say’ revealing secrets kept throughout TikTok ‘oops I flipped the camera’ videos ‘subtle foreshadowing’ for funny fail videos with the ending given away ‘Gen Z marketing scripts’ employees reading Generation z slang Many brands also took part in these trends and became successful and popularised due to it Duolingo ended up reaching 245M views after taking part in the ‘since TikTok is being banned, heres something I want to say’ trend and is talked about all over social media since Although this may seem fun, brands must make sure to only take part in appropriate trends Labor was caught for posting a video on the platform that featured inappropriate language, which went against the TikTok guidelines. This featured a Portuguese-language song that had lyrics related to misogynistic and rude lines This lead to many viewers going against Labor politically
Banning of the app:
In the US, TikTok is in the process of being banned unless the owners sell their app to an American company 56% of respondents believe that TikTok is connected to China 28% of US adult citizens strongly approve that TikTok should be banned compared to only 17% of TikTok users strongly agreeing (Statista n.d., 2025) (5) Bytedance and the US Supreme Court are finding alternative ways to bring back TikTok for the 150 million American users. (World News Daily, TikTok, 2025)
(6)
Conclusion
Brand Strategy: What to do next?
Since the threats are so inconsistent, brands should make sure that they have a back up plan for their social media marketing for if TikTok does get banned This could be making sure that they have more store locations globally, meaning that they can have a UK or European account as well as the US main one
This way, they can still use TikTok as a platform to promote if it was to ban again. This may take a while to come in place, but is a reasonable action to start now, before it is too late Another option would be to push towards another social media platform, however as TikTok is one of the highest grossing apps currently in the marketing industry, it would be advised to try keep the app for as long as possible
ELF is an ideal brand to look into when it comes to promoting on TikTok as they create engaging content, influencer partnerships and always-engaged strategies. They dedicate their focus on their high quality, cruelty free products through their social media accounts, this then attracts an ethically-
conscious community, according to House Of Marketers One of the biggest promotions for ELF was the viral song ‘eyes, lips face’ in October 2019. This was so successful due to the research of analysing what content performs well on TikTok already The song became effective with over 12 billion views, and a massive increase in sales followed.
Since then, their net sales increased by 85% to US$2709 million in December 2023 It is now forecasted to reach $896 million. Due to this mass amount of money, they are able to create more unique marketing strategies An example of this is the Roblox game they created, E.L.F Up!. This reached 4 million plays with a 96% rating. When brands are strategising their social media techniques, they must look into and take inspirations from other brands such as E.L.F.
References
‘About AI-Generated Content | TikTok Help Center’ 2025 [online] Available at: https://supporttiktokcom/en/using-tiktok/creating-videos/ai-generated-content
‘AI Has an Environmental Problem Here’s What the World Can Do about That’ 2024 [online] Available at: https://wwwuneporg/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about
‘Are Influencer Partnerships the Inevitable Future of Business?’ 2023 [online] Available at: https://wwwbbccom/worklife/article/20231013-are-influencer-partnerships-the-inevitable-future-of-business
‘How Has TikTok Changed Marketing?’ 2024. [online]. Available at: https://cleverbusiness.ie/how-has-tiktokchanged-marketing/
‘How TikTok Is Reframing Cybersecurity Efforts’ nd Security Intelligence [online] Available at: https://securityintelligencecom/articles/how-tiktok-is-reframing-cybersecurity-efforts/
‘How TikTok Recommends Videos #ForYou’ 2019 Newsroom | TikTok [online] Available at: https://newsroomtiktokcom/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you
MARSH, Jane 2024 ‘Environmental Impact of TikTok: Scrolling Your FYP Emits Tons of Carbon’ Environment Co[online] Available at: https://environmentco/tiktok-environmental-impact/
PAUL, Kari 2022 ‘What TikTok Does to Your Mental Health: “It’s Embarrassing We Know so Little”’ The Guardian, 30 Oct [online] Available at: https://wwwtheguardiancom/technology/2022/oct/30/tiktok-mentalhealth-social-media
‘Social Commerce Market in the UK Projected to More than Double to Reach £16 Billion by 2028’ 2019 Newsroom | TikTok [online] Available at: https://newsroomtiktokcom/en-gb/retail-economics-report STATISTA. n.d. ‘Digital & Trends - TikTok’.
TEAM, H O M 2024 ‘How Elf Cosmetics Conquered TikTok: A Case Study on Beauty Brand Success’ House of Marketers [online] Available at: https://wwwhouseofmarketerscom/elf-cosmetics-beauty-brand-tiktok-casestudy/
‘The TikTok Effect: €48 Billion European Small Business Boost Revealed by New Oxford Economics Report’ 2019 Newsroom | TikTok [online] Available at: https://newsroomtiktokcom/en-eu/the-tiktok-effect-europeansmall-business-boost-revealed-by-new-oxford-economics-report
‘TikTok Ban: US Supreme Court Upholds Law That Prohibits the App’. 2025. BBC News [online]. Available at: https://wwwbbccom/news/articles/c3e18qylq5do
‘TikTok’s Impact on US Economy and Small Business | TikTok Economic Impact’ 2025 [online] Available at: https://tiktokeconomicimpact.com//tiktok-economy-impact
WEBB, Claire 2024 ‘What Is TikTok Shop and Is It Safe to Buy from? - Which? News’ Which? [online] Available at: https://wwwwhichcouk/news/article/what-is-tiktok-shop-and-is-it-safe-to-buy-from-asiDe6z3gDwB [‘WGSN - Brand Strategy: TikTok Glimmers’ 2024 [online] Available at: https://wwwwgsncom/auth/login? lang=en&r=%2Finsight%2Farticle%2F669e5ce7c813a0021146e19f