Many international organizations have shied away from using TikTok as part of their social media strategies — perhaps because it is seen as too much work for communication teams that are already stretched across several platforms, because of concerns around data privacy and other controversies that have surrounded the platform, or because the young audience that dominates TikTok is seen as less relevant to their work.
But some organizations have demonstrated that there is a place for the global development and humanitarian sector on TikTok — and none more so than the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has a whopping 3.4 million followers on the platform.
“It took us 10 years to get half a million followers on Facebook, it took us 10 years to get 200,000 followers on Twitter, and it took us one year and a half to get to 3.4 million followers on TikTok,” said Dante Licona, senior social media officer at IFRC. “Are those vanity metrics? Yes. [Do] followers tell the full part of the story? No. That said … we are very excited that so many TikTokers find our account useful.”