'More Than Marketing Tools': Some Business Owners Are Worried About the Possible TikTok Ban

As TikTok attempts to pause a fast-approaching deadline that forces it to separate from its Beijing-based genitor institution ByteDance aliases look a prohibition successful the United States, mini business owners are starting to hole for the worst. The Supreme Court listened to arguments connected Friday and is expected to norm connected the lawsuit by the extremity of adjacent week.

In the meantime, creators are building email lists, joining different societal platforms, and starting newsletters.

Lizz Smoak, co-founder of branding and trading agency, Maiden Media, and a mentor and chairwoman for unpaid business mentor statement SCORE said the prohibition is astir much than the app.

Related: 'Sent Ripples Through the Marketing World': What Businesses Can Do Now to Prepare for a Possible TikTok Ban, According to a CEO

"It's astir the businesses and creators that trust connected it," Smoak told Entrepreneur. "I've seen really captious platforms for illustration TikTok are for entrepreneurs. They're much than trading tools; they're lifelines for businesses."

Creators who protested extracurricular the Supreme Court Friday successful Washington said the same. Andrea Celeste Olde, a TikTok contented creator, told the New York Times that the level helped her motorboat her business aft being a stay-at-home mom for 10 years.

"TikTok is wherever I created my community," she told the publication. "I person made friendships. I person business partners. That's really we connect."

Smoak says that TikTok's algorithm makes it 1 of the only platforms wherever mini business owners and emerging entrepreneurs tin spell viral without spending a luck pushing their content, and a prohibition would propulsion "thousands of businesses disconnected track."

In December, TikTok warned successful a court filing that if the prohibition goes through, creators and mini businesses successful the U.S. could suffer $1.3 cardinal successful gross and earnings—in 1 month.

Related: Looming TikTok Ban Has Creators Questioning How Much of Their Business They Really Control

Still, a Statista survey, conducted from April to May 2023 among U.S. TikTok users recovered that 73% of respondents thought TikTok was addictive and 27% said they knowledgeable antagonistic intelligence wellness effects because of the app.

"A prohibition could beryllium a wake-up telephone for healthier online habits," Smoak stated.

The laminitis and CEO of handwritten notes work Handwrytten, David Wachs, told Entrepreneur past week that brands should fortify the organization they person grown connected TikTok by hosting virtual events for illustration webinars, unrecorded Q&A sessions, and virtual merchandise launches that promote real-time interaction.

"The imaginable prohibition of TikTok has sent ripples done the trading world, urging brands to rethink their strategies," Wachs said. "While it whitethorn look for illustration a setback, this displacement opens up a valuable opportunity for brands to heighten nonstop engagement pinch their audience."

Related: Is Kevin O'Leary Buying TikTok? 'Shark Tank' Star Teams Up With Frank McCourt for 'People's' Bid

Other experts propose reaching retired to large brands pinch influencer marketing programs, for illustration Walmart and Amazon, to diversify your contented and options.