I remember when TikTok first started showing up on marketing plans, and honestly, nobody wanted to deal with it. It felt like one more channel to post to, so it landed on the social team's plate along with everything else they were already juggling, and the rest of us went back to the work we thought mattered more.

That isn't the TikTok we're working with today. People discover brands there, decide whether they trust them there, and more and more often, they buy there. So if your brand still treats TikTok as a social channel, you're planning around a version of it that doesn't really exist anymore.

You'll see people call TikTok the new Google. I don't think that's quite right, and I'll explain why in a minute. But I do think it belongs in your growth plan, with the same thinking you'd give any channel that brings you new customers. And that means planning for two things a lot of brands skip, which are keeping the content that sells your product and keeping the customer who buys it.

People now find brands wherever they watch and ask

In a survey Adobe Express ran in early 2026, 49% of US consumers said they had used TikTok as a search engine, up from 41% in 2024 [1]. And this isn't only a young shopper story. YouGov data shows the largest group of people discovering products on TikTok is 25 to 34, and people 55 and older make up 16% of that audience [2]. So if you've been thinking of TikTok as something for your Gen Z customers, it's reaching a lot more of your buyers than that.

But the same Adobe survey shows discovery spreading out more than it's moving to one place. Gen Z's preference for TikTok over Google actually dipped, from 8% in 2024 to 4% in 2026, and 14% of consumers said they now prefer ChatGPT over Google [1]. So the way I'd put it is that people now find brands wherever they watch and ask, and TikTok has become one of the biggest of those places. I wrote about the AI side of this in how AI search is changing which brands get found.

TikTok Shop turned that discovery into a sales channel

And then TikTok made it easy to buy right where people discover. Momentum Works and Tabcut estimated US TikTok Shop sales at $11.8 billion in the first half of 2026, up 103% from a year earlier [3], and EMARKETER expects about $23.4 billion for the full year [4].

You should also understand that the wins are concentrated. Momentum Works found that more than half of the roughly 803,500 US stores on TikTok Shop recorded no sales in 2025, while more than 2,000 stores passed $1 million [5]. So just being on TikTok Shop won't do much on its own. The brands doing well there have figured out something specific about how their customers watch, talk, and buy.

The platform is also on steadier ground than it was. TikTok's US business now runs as a majority American-owned joint venture, and EMARKETER says that gives advertisers the near-term certainty to plan campaigns without worrying about a ban every quarter [6]. To be fair, there are still open questions. Forrester points out that the US venture has to retrain TikTok's recommendation algorithm on US data, so the experience may feel different, and it encourages brands to watch how well TikTok performs from here [7]. That's one more reason to stay curious and keep an eye on what's actually working, instead of assuming last year's playbook still holds.

When TikTok lives with the social team, the content and the customer stay on TikTok

This is what I see happen when TikTok sits only with the social team. A video takes off, it sells a lot of product, and then everyone moves on to the next post. The content stays on TikTok, and so does the customer.

Start with the content. A lot of what sells on TikTok Shop comes from affiliates, which are creators who post about your product and earn a commission on each sale, and many of them you'll never speak to. TikTok lets affiliates authorize sellers to use their videos in Shop Ads, but its own help page tells creators they can turn that off at any time and that their videos still belong to them [8]. Spark Ads codes, which let you run a creator's post as an ad, last 7, 30, 60, or 365 days, depending on what the creator picks [9]. And from what TikTok publishes, those permissions cover TikTok itself. Using a video on your website, a retailer's product page, an email, or your packaging generally takes a separate agreement with the creator, and TikTok's content policy says commercial use of a person's likeness requires their express permission [10].

Then there's the customer. When someone buys through TikTok Shop, sellers get an encrypted email instead of the buyer's real address, and when TikTok handles shipping, the buyer's name, phone, and address are masked [11]. TikTok's content rules don't allow links to other websites or QR codes in videos [10], and its packaging rules restrict marketing materials in the box [12], so check with your TikTok account manager before you add a loyalty insert. And if you sell through a retailer's TikTok Shop, there's one more layer between you and the shopper. Purchases on one major beauty retailer's TikTok Shop don't earn points in that retailer's own loyalty program, because TikTok is the merchant of record [13].

And once you repost creator content anywhere, the FTC sees it as your marketing. Its Endorsement Guides already apply to affiliate and creator posts [14], and its guidance on the consumer reviews rule says that reviews a business reposts become testimonials, which the business can be held liable for if they're fake or false [15]. We went deeper on this in our post on who owns the content you pay for.

Put the content to work where you own the relationship

I've lived the rights side of this more than once. At two brands I worked for, we created experiences where members took really impactful photos, and to use one, we had to go back after the fact for a waiver and a name, image, and likeness form. And often that permission only covered one place, like one email. Chasing it after the fact is a hassle, which is why I think requesting rights should be part of the workflow, at the moment you find the content.

This is a big part of what we built TrueLoyal to do. A brand can pull in content from TikTok and more than 25 other sources, request usage rights with a click and keep an audit trail of every approval, and then put that content to work in shoppable galleries on product pages, in email, and in ads. That's how a video someone found on TikTok keeps selling your product on the channels you own. You can see how it fits together on our products page.

If you work with a lot of affiliates, something to consider is asking for rights in two steps. Ask for permission to use their content on your own channels early, before anyone knows whether a video will perform. Then, if a video takes off, come back with a separate ask and a fee for paid use. I'd try it with a small group first, say your top 20 affiliates, and keep a similar group on your standard terms, so you can compare how many say yes and how much content you could actually reuse.

Turn the first TikTok purchase into the start of a relationship

So I think of that first TikTok sale as trial, and the job is to plan for the retrial to happen somewhere you own. That might be the product experience itself, a reason to register the product on your site, a member offer that only works on your own channels, or a receipt from the next purchase at a store. We've written about how a first-time buyer is still a stranger to your brand, and TikTok Shop buyers are a very clear example of that. If you also sell on shelf, receipt scanning gives a TikTok buyer an easy way to become a known customer the next time they buy your product in a store.

Your best affiliates may already be some of your best customers, too. Inviting them into a Fan Club™ you run yourself gives you a place to agree on rights up front, train people on disclosure, and build a relationship that doesn't depend on one platform's commission structure.

Before you put a registration offer in front of every TikTok buyer, test it on a portion of orders with a holdout. Then look at whether those buyers show up again as known customers over the next 60 to 90 days, compared with the buyers who didn't get the offer. And once they do join, the first 30 days after signup have a lot to do with whether they stay.

Go look at how other brands are using TikTok

If there's one thing I'd love for you to do after reading this, it's to go look. Spend some time on TikTok watching how your competitors show up, and then look at brands outside your category that are doing it well. Notice which videos sell, what people are saying in the comments, how the brand responds, and what happens after someone buys. Some of what you see won't fit your brand, and that's fine, because this won't work the same way for everyone. The point is to get curious, see what's working, and figure out how you'd do it in a way that fits your business and who you are as a brand.

And when TikTok comes up in your next planning meeting, bring a few questions with it. How much of our TikTok content can we actually use outside TikTok today? What happens after a TikTok sale that brings that buyer back to us? And how will we know when a TikTok buyer has become a customer we know?

If you'd like a second set of eyes on where TikTok fits in your plan, talk with our team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is TikTok a search engine for shoppers?

For many, yes. In an Adobe Express survey from early 2026, 49% of US consumers said they had used TikTok as a search engine, up from 41% in 2024. Discovery is also spreading to other places, including AI assistants, so TikTok is one of several places shoppers now find brands.

Can a brand reuse TikTok Shop affiliate videos?

Only within the permissions the creator gives. Affiliates can authorize sellers to use their videos in TikTok Shop Ads and can turn that permission off at any time. Using a video on a website, a retailer's product page, email, or packaging generally takes a separate agreement with the creator.

How long do TikTok Spark Ads codes last?

The creator picks the length when they create the code, either 7, 30, 60, or 365 days. To keep using the post after it expires, the brand needs a new code from the creator.

Do brands get customer data from TikTok Shop?

Only limited data. Sellers receive an encrypted email, and when TikTok handles shipping, the buyer's name, phone, and address are masked. Brands need their own channels to build a direct relationship.

How do brands keep TikTok Shop buyers?

By treating the first TikTok Shop sale as trial and planning for the retrial on a channel they own, such as product registration, a member offer that only works on the brand's own channels, or a receipt scan from the next purchase at a store. Testing the offer on a portion of orders with a holdout shows whether those buyers come back as known customers.

Does the FTC apply to TikTok creator content?

Yes. The FTC's Endorsement Guides apply to affiliate and creator content, and when a brand reposts customer reviews in its own marketing, the FTC treats them as testimonials the brand can be held liable for if they're fake or false.

Sources

1. Adobe Express, "Using TikTok as a search engine," survey of 807 US consumers, February 2026.
2. Chain Store Age, YouGov Profiles data, February 2025 to February 2026, published Mar 4, 2026.
3. NetInfluencer, Momentum Works and Tabcut estimate, Aug 10, 2026.
4. EMARKETER, Sept 23, 2026.
5. Momentum Works, The Lowdown, Feb 11, 2026.
6. EMARKETER, "TikTok officially secures a US future. What happens next?" 2026.
7. Forrester, "The Tale Of Turmoil Ends: US TikTok Set To Divest In 2026."
8. TikTok Ads Help, "How to authorize affiliate videos for Shop Ads."
9. TikTok Ads Help, Spark Ads.
10. TikTok Shop Academy, Content Policy.
11. AfterShip Help Center, describing TikTok Shop order data, Aug 7, 2026.
12. PPC Land, Sept 2026.
13. Beauty Independent, Mar 23, 2026.
14. FTC, "FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking."
15. FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A.