Georgetown University, PRCC Program, Communications Consulting, Case Study

1. TIKTOK
CASE
STUDYPresent by Ming Liu

2. The Executive Summary
• TikTok emerged to one of the viral social media in the U.S.
• Its Chinese origin and the relationship with the Chinese
government have received scrutiny for national security reasons.
The Committee on Foreign Investment has launched a national
security review of TikTok’s owner ByteDance over the 2017
purchase of Musical.ly.
• Due to the similar accusation, other Chinese companies, such as
Huawei and Grindr, have also suffered in the U.S.
• As a result of the continuing distrust, TikTok may incur similar
punishments, escalated consequences and even banned.
• This plan, which costs $20,000, will assist TikTok to build or
maintain trust with the stakeholders.

3. The Company Overview
• TikTok is a social media app where people create and share up to one-minute videos.
• It has two separate systems: one is for China; the other is for the rest of the world.
• Dubbed as Douyin, TikTok was first launched in China by Beijing-based digital startup
ByteDance in 2016. One year later, ByteDance introduced TikTok to the world and
bought Musical.ly, a lip-syncing app. Combined with Musical.ly’s product innovation
and 200-million fan base in the West, TikTok quickly became one of the most popular
social media apps in the world.
• Adults and teens in the U.S. alone have downloaded TikTok over 110 million times.
Latest data from Statista revealed that TikTok has become the second most popular
social media by engagement among adults after Facebook and the top nine most
popular social media among American Generation Z based on daily usage.
• ByteDance is now worth $78 billion.
Emerging Social media

4. The Challenge
Distrust from the media and the lawmakers
• U.S. media including The Washington Post and Blomberg, have reported that
TikTok posed national security threats.
• U.S. lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Tom
Cotton and Senator Marco Rubio, requested the government to probe into TikTok
and ByteDance.
• TikTok stated
• did not serve the Chinese government and its data was not subject to Chinese
law as an oversea operation.
• to form a committee of outside organizations and experts to help the
company refine the transparency and assess its policies. Only The Wall Street
Journal reported the announcement among other major news outlets.

5. Key Findings
• The summit where the U.S. and China planned to sign the
interim trade agreement was canceled due to violent protests
in Chile. This summit was expected to settle down the nearly
16-month trade war.
• TikTok has offices in Los Angeles and New York. California
Consumer Privacy Act, effective on Jan. 1, 2020, will grant
users the rights to control companies over the use of their
personal information.
• Facebook launched its own short video app Lasso in late 2018.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned TikTok over concerns of
privacy and freedom of expression during his remarks at
Georgetown University in October.
Conts.

6. Key Findings
Conts.
• Companies have joined TikTok for advertising. Videos with the
“#InMyDenim” that promoted Guess Jeans has generated
about 39 million views.
• TikTok ran campaigns, such as “You are in Control” and “Safer
Internet Day” to inform users on how to maintain a friendly
environment on TikTok. The related articles are available on
TikTok’s website. They used plain, long text and a few visual
illustrations.

7. SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength
• Financial resources
• AI technology and innovation
• Large user population in the U.S.
• High engagement among users
• Strong influence pop cultures
Weakness
Opportunity
• Teen users on rise
• Mobile savvy populations
• Companies and celebrities started joining
TikTok
Threat
• The trade war between the U.S. and China
• Laws and regulations
• Attacks from influential lawmakers
• U.S. native competitors such as Facebook
• The Chinese origin and relationship with
Chinese government
• Lack of transparency

8. Strategies & Tactics and Cost
Strategy 1: Create a crisis management plan.
($5,000)
Tactic 1: Develop a maximum three-page crisis plan, including
crisis team contact information, principles, self-reflecting
questions and online response protocols.
Tactic 2: Deploy the local crisis team. List their duties and
contact information. Each leadership role must have
alternative members. Do crisis training every two weeks under
potential scenarios relating to national security allegations.
Update the crisis plan after each training.
Tactic 3: Design a dark website that explains TikTok’s
relationship with China. When needed, activate it on the
TikTok’s homepage and set as the landing page. Buy URLs that
includes “TikTok” and “China.”

9. 1. Are planned members in the crisis team in order?
2. Is everyone in the organization informed about the news and updates?
3. Is everyone, especially spokespersons, equipped with talking points and press releases?
4. Has TikTok relayed the news to ByteDance? What are their decisions?
5. Did TikTok prepared press releases tailoring to the official website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram?
6. Does TikTok need to halt regular social media activities across those three platforms?
7. …
Self-reflecting Questions

10. Strategies & Tactics and Cost
Strategy 1: Create a crisis management plan.
($5,000)
Tactic 1: Develop a maximum three-page crisis plan, including
contact information, principles, self reflecting questions and
online response protocols.
Tactic 2: Deploy the local crisis team. List their duties and
contact information. Each leadership role must have
alternative members. Do crisis training every two weeks under
potential scenarios related to national security allegations.
Update the crisis plan after each training.
Tactic 3: Design a dark website that explains TikTok’s
relationship with China. When needed, activate it on the
TikTok’s homepage and set it as the landing page. Buy URLs
that includes “TikTok” and “China.”

11. TikTok should deal with crises independently like other
Americam companies in the U.S. Any closer affiliation
during the crisis could only reinforce the perceptions
that TikTok has an unjustified relationship with the
Chinese government.
Please Note

12. Strategies & Tactics and Cost
Strategy 2: Use TikTok’s voice online to build
the transparency. ($10,000)
Tactic 1: Add values and the company history on the website
in the “About” webpage. Use TikTok-styled videos and
images. Text should be concise.
Tactic 2: Create the “Company” tab on the website. List
leadership bios including their headshots and TikTok
accounts. Introduce the company culture. Create job posts
on the website to further show U.S. workforce contributions.
Tactic 3: Run short video series “#VoiceMatter” to show how
TikTok obeys the U.S. First Amendment and embraces the
freedom of expression. Descriptions under videos should
provide links of the full reports to the website.
Tactic 4: Publish annual reports on employee benefits and
the workplace diversity progress. Publish annual moderation
reports and transparency reports.

13. Strategies & Tactics and Cost
Strategy 3: Strengthen media relations
($5,000)
Tactic 1: Research journalists from major news publications.
Create a target list. Develop relationship with them by sharing
helpful resources.
Tactic 2: Proactively share stories with journalists on how
TikTok is increasing its transparency and assessing its policies.
Tactic 3: Create front faces of TikTok by using regular
spokespersons when releasing statements and accepting
media interviews.

14. The Desired Outcomes
•TikTok will be prepared to control reputational damages
and maintain trust when a related crisis occurs.
•In the long-term, TikTok will increase its transparency
and win trust with its stakeholders.
Build Trust