Who has never been impacted by a post or advertisement while scrolling through the social media feed? From makeup tips and fast recipes to the sale of high-cost products, the content on digital platforms already exerts influence over users, especially in advertisements that are attractive to the public. According to Daniela Cunha, who holds a master’s degree in Consumer Behavior, this influence happens through short videos that interact with the audience and showcase products and their actual uses.
In this sense, the advancement of social media has directly impacted consumerism by allowing wide dissemination of services and products in the palm of the user’s hand. Although many platforms have a significant role in this process, one specific app has been responsible for driving this phenomenon: TikTok.
Known as a social media platform with entertainment, culinary, sports and many other types of videos, the app has established itself as one of the most used platforms in the world, with more than one billion users per month. Becoming part of the public’s routine, the app not only spreads trends but also contributes to a new way of selling called social commerce, with its own channel known as TikTok Shop.
How this platform can dictate society’s way of life
Have you ever wanted to recreate a video because you felt a connection with the content or just because you wanted to belong to the groups that created it? As in any other social media platform, TikTok has the power to distribute videos that influence users on a large scale. This kind of content is called a “trend”.
Originated by creative ideas, trends are composed of videos that are replicated hundreds of thousands of times by people whose goal is to achieve views and engagement.
However, even though the public has a huge participation in this behavior, most of the work is done by the algorithm. With a combination of hashtags that spread information and the interactions of users on the platform, the algorithm can send personalized content to each audience using TikTok.
“TikTok’s algorithm is extremely intelligent. This tool analyzes user preferences by deeply examining their interactions with posts and influencers. The precision enhances delivery and quickly transforms content into a trend and entertainment into an immediate purchase opportunity,” affirms Daniela.
In this sense, videos that become viral in a short period of time are responsible for changing society’s way of life by contributing to new shopping habits. TikTok communities such as “BookTok” and “FashionTok”, where users consume content related to books and fashion, are examples of algorithmic influence, since people are encouraged to buy new products to keep up with new tendencies like the hashtag “TikTok Made Me Buy It”.
The master’s degree in Consumer Behavior highlights that this action boosts the app’s operating mode and creates a virtuous cycle: “(…) The more you watch and interact, the more the algorithm understands it is getting it right, and the more content along those lines it offers.”
Between having and belonging: the power of FOMO to induce consumerism
As mentioned previously, TikTok’s design can manipulate users’ behavior and reach many people through its algorithm. It also fosters social validation related to following trends and belonging to specific groups, a behavior that became known as FOMO.
FOMO is the acronym for the expression “Fear of Missing Out”, which refers to the attempt not to fall behind and to belong to a prestigious group. This fear of being excluded from society can be associated with the high speed of trends, which accelerates production and, consequently, consumption.
“The FOMO is deeply related to a social anxiety that induces people to shop compulsively just for the sake of participating in trends. (…) This need for belonging is a consequence of a social validation movement caused by the use of social media”, completes the professional.
This strategy has been used by brands, which build organic advertisements based on narratives that avoid superficiality and create a connection with the public, intensifying the sensation of desire and need. Influencers also have a huge contribution to this working system.
Credibility as a driver of consuming habits
Through direct interaction with the public — whether through livestreams or even content that has gone viral — influencers have contributed to turning TikTok into a stage for dispute over likes and followers, but also for consumers.
By establishing strategic partnerships with brands that operate in the digital environment, influencers transformed a legion of fans into a legion of customers who are always looking to consume more and more in order to keep up with the tendencies that have emerged on the app.
According to Daniela Cunha, the content created by influencers is attractive because it presents sincere reviews, or at least appears sincere, which demonstrates the impact of the product’s use. A study by YouPix in partnership with Nielsen confirms this. It found that 43 percent of users remember the influencer’s face more than the brand and, most importantly, 93 percent of consumers trust content creators’ recommendations.
This confidence originates from the sense of legitimacy, authenticity and credibility conveyed in the posts, since influencers include the products in their routines and adopt a language that brings followers closer to the advertising. However, this kind of content needs to be consumed with caution, since users can easily fall into a vicious cycle of shopping.
(…) There is a risk in the circulation of these videos, in other words, an impulse to buy that can increase consumerism and lead to consumer debt.”
Daniela Cunha
Does Social Commerce imprison consumers with a single click?
Even though shopping habits can be affected by manipulation on TikTok, the countless advertisements and the participation of digital influencers continue boosting commercial activity and sales, a tendency that has led to the emergence of a new way of selling known as social commerce.
Marked by the mixture of entertainment and business, this form of commerce combines the product with the experience, guaranteeing the consumer a complete journey inside social media. With its own platform, TikTok launched its own shop to follow the attention economy and use attractive content to sell products and services.
The platform, which arrived in Brazil on May 8, has changed consumption, since users no longer need to leave social media to buy something. According to Statista, it is estimated that TikTok Shop will move more than 39 billion US dollars in Brazil by 2028.
However, this e-commerce platform not only offers new opportunities to the economy and retailers. With users being bombarded with an excess of information, social commerce can boost consumerism by making this journey irresistible.
For Daniela Cunha, this system can expose people to a dangerous manipulation that can convince them to consume in seconds: “The quick process does not give the user enough time to rationalize their needs and they fall into these traps”, she affirms.
In this sense, TikTok’s contradictory actions benefit numerous merchants but at the same time draw users into the machinery of consumerism, leaving them hostage to the incessant desire for acquisition.
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The article above was edited by Júlia Darú.
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