143Swim’s TikTok Crises
Over the past year, TikTok has skyrocketed to one of the most frequently used and profitable social media platforms. More young influencers and simple active social media users are now able to make a profit of themselves and their personal brand, creating an entirely new marketplace. This “creator” ideal is something that appeals specifically to smaller, lesser-known brands and can easily give them the publicity they need to get their brand off the ground. With this, of course, comes error and missteps… but in this realm, everyone is watching.
One of my personal favorite influencers on TikTok, Victoria Paris, has accumulated upwards of 800 thousand followers within the past 4 months. This is an incredible feat and many brands have noticed that her fashion is one of her main focuses on the channel. This draws the fashion-based brands to message and her create a partnership or collaboration through free product and sponsored videos. Recently a swimsuit company, 143Swim, has reached out to Victoria for a brand partnership, sending her free swimsuits. She filmed a video reviewing the swimsuits and sent it to the company for their final approval. A day later, 143Swim posted her video, without informing her or paying her. She immediately went on to her page and posted videos explaining the situation to all of her followers, talking about how discouraging this was and how unfair this type of brand deal had become.
In my opinion, a crisis such as this can be easily avoided, and this is a horrible look for their brand. I would never go out of my way to buy from this company, knowing that they scammed a creator that I love. I think this is where the line is drawn. I can see how miscommunication can always play a role in this, but it is how an organization deals with a crisis that truly sets the tone for the remainder of their existence. It’s hard to escape social media and the paper trail never dissipates, so I recommend that all organizations take crises, even as small as this, very seriously.
This company in particular was not quick to defend themselves, nor take down the video of Victoria. A crisis must be handled quickly, and with social media users rushing to comment on their posts, put the company on blast, and cancel orders, timeliness is necessary. In addition, because this crisis happened specifically on a social media platform, every action taken in response to the crisis is visible, so steps must be taken carefully.
The responses of 143Swim should be an example of exactly what not to do in the midst of a crisis. Paying attention to each brand partnership and verifying response times and pay is an obvious necessity.
