Higher Expectations for Content
When switching to a business account on TikTok, creators face higher expectations for content quality and consistency from their audience. Viewers expect more polished, professional videos from business accounts compared to casual personal accounts.
According to a LinkedIn article, business accounts need to focus on creating high-quality content optimized for their target audience, whereas personal accounts have more flexibility (Source). The stakes become higher with a business account to produce engaging yet branded content.
Users are more likely to hold branded business accounts to the standards of television commercials or other traditional marketing. So creativity, entertainment value, and production quality become even more important. Casual, off-the-cuff videos that work for personal accounts may disappoint viewers from business profiles.
Additionally, business accounts need to post frequently and consistently in order to satisfy audience expectations. While personal users can be more sporadic with content, TikTok audiences expect businesses to maintain a steady content schedule. Not doing so can frustrate followers who expect continual new content from accounts they follow.
Less Authentic Feel
Business accounts can come across as less genuine and relatable than individual creators on TikTok. Authenticity is a highly valued trait, especially among younger audiences. According to Forbes, “Authenticity is now the most important asset a company can possess” (source). When creators switch to a business account, their content often becomes more manufactured and promotional, which can turn off viewers.
Individual TikTok creators build loyal followings by being real, humble, and approachable. Their raw, unfiltered content feels authentic. Brands attempting to replicate that vibe through business accounts often fail. As this Forbes article explains, authenticity cannot be faked: “It’s up to businesses to figure out how to be seen as trustworthy” (source). Business accounts that seem disingenuous can hurt a brand’s reputation.
The key is for brands to focus on creating value for their audience with transparency. As Linda Basso states, “Authenticity is key to your business success” (source). Viewers want to support real people who are passionate about their brand, not faceless corporations. Maintaining authenticity should be a priority, even with a TikTok business account.
Harder to Go Viral
One of the key downsides of a TikTok business account is that it becomes harder to go viral. TikTok’s algorithm tends to favor authentic, individual creator content over more polished and commercial content from businesses and brands (Socialinsider). This means videos and content from business accounts often have a tougher time breaking through and gaining widespread viewership organically.
Research indicates that videos from accounts with larger followings tend to go viral sooner compared to smaller accounts. However, branded business accounts on average have lower followings than top individual creators. So even if a business account creates an engaging, high-quality video, it will likely take longer to reach a tipping point of views and shares compared to content from an individual (Metricool).
Additionally, the goals of businesses and brands are at odds with the unpredictable virality of the platform. While companies want consistent reach and engagement, viral hits on TikTok are extremely hard to manufacture by design (Forbes). So business accounts face a tougher challenge capturing lightning in a bottle and benefiting from viral effects.
More Content Restrictions
One downside of having a TikTok business account is that there are stricter rules around using copyrighted content and licensed music. According to TikTok’s advertising policies, business accounts are prohibited from using content or music without proper licensing and permissions in place (source). This includes using clips or audio from copyrighted TV shows, movies, or songs in TikTok videos.
Unlike personal accounts where users may be able to claim “fair use”, business accounts are held to a higher standard and must have explicit approval for any copyrighted materials. This makes it much harder for business accounts to leverage popular culture trends in their content without securing costly licenses. Overall, the increased restrictions around copyrighted content can be a significant downside for brands looking to capitalize on viral memes or songs in their TikTok marketing campaigns.
Higher Chance of Shadowban
One of the biggest downsides of switching to a TikTok business account is the increased chance of getting shadowbanned. Shadowbanning refers to when a platform’s algorithm restricts a user’s content without the user’s knowledge.
TikTok and other social platforms use shadowbanning to limit the reach of accounts that violate community guidelines or terms of service. However, the exact criteria for triggering a shadowban is opaque. Anecdotal reports indicate business accounts face a higher likelihood of shadowbans.
For example, one study found 8.1% of Facebook business page owners believed they had been shadowbanned, compared to just 2.7% of personal profiles (Shedding Light on Shadowbanning). Business accounts on TikTok likely see similar disparities.
Once shadowbanned, a TikTok business account’s videos may not show up in hashtags or recommendations. This severely limits potential views and engagement. Appealing a shadowban is difficult with little transparency into why it was triggered.
While shadowbanning impacts personal profiles too, the bar for triggering algorithmic restrictions appears lower for business accounts. The desire to sanitize branded content for advertisers likely contributes to this (Shadowbanning is real: How social media decides who to …). As such, business accounts sacrifice some algorithm favor in exchange for monetization features.
Less User Engagement
One of the biggest potential downsides of using a TikTok business account is that it can be harder to build an engaged following compared to using a personal account. According to a 2018 study, the median engagement rate for Instagram personal accounts was 7.07%, while for business accounts it was significantly lower at only 1.22% (1). This trend appears to hold true on other platforms as well. For example, the average engagement rate on Facebook is 0.77% overall, but tends to be lower for business pages compared to individual profiles (2).
The main reason for this discrepancy is that audiences connect differently with brands versus real people. Viewers tend to engage more actively with content from individuals they relate to and find authentic. In contrast, a business account by nature represents a company, product or brand. Even when the content itself is engaging, users may be warier of liking, commenting, and sharing too much. This makes it harder for TikTok business accounts to build the same level of user engagement compared to popular individual creators on the platform.
More Resource Intensive
One of the downsides of switching to a TikTok business account is that producing high-quality branded content will require substantially more time, effort, and resources compared to a personal account. As noted by Semrush, quality content that satisfies users and generates brand awareness takes thoughtful planning, ideation, content creation, optimization, and promotion. An analysis by Harvard Business Review also found that maintaining quality requires ongoing investments in market research, customer surveys, focus groups, and testing. For a branded TikTok account, this means dedicating staff, budget, and systems to regularly create content, analyze performance, and make improvements. Interviewing target customers is one technique that can provide insights to guide quality content efforts, though this adds to the workload. Overall, while a personal account allows more spontaneity, a branded presence demands greater structure, coordination, and continuity to consistently produce high-value content worth engaging with.
Less Data Access
One significant downside of using a TikTok business account is having less access to audience analytics and data insights compared to personal accounts. While TikTok provides analytics like impressions, comments, likes, shares, and video views for all accounts, business accounts have limits on accessing user demographics, audience interests, and detailed statistics.
For individual creators, TikTok’s analytics provide in-depth data about followers’ age, gender, locations, device types, top videos, traffic sources, and watch time. However, business accounts only retain audience data for 18 months and cannot export or access individual user analytics. This makes it harder for brands to optimize content and tailor videos specifically to their target audience.
While business accounts can view some aggregated demographic data through TikTok’s analytics, the data is far less granular. Brands have a tougher time understanding their viewers and identifying viral content opportunities without access to per-user statistics and interests.
Higher Cost
One downside of a TikTok business account is that it often requires a higher cost to maintain compared to a personal account. Businesses need budget for professional content production, influencer partnerships, and advertising in order to grow their audience and promote products/services effectively on TikTok.
Unlike regular users who can spontaneously create authentic short videos with their phones, businesses are expected to invest in high-quality visuals, engaging scripts, and potentially influencer sponsorships. The production costs add up quickly, with professional TikTok videos ranging from $500 to $5,000 each (source).
Paid advertising is also a significant investment for brands on TikTok. Campaigns start at a $50 per day minimum, and it takes consistent spending to gain traction (source). Influencer marketing can also be pricey, with top creators charging up to $100,000 per sponsored post (source).
While regular users can easily amass fans through fun homemade content, business accounts require ample budgets for high-quality productions and promotions to properly utilize the platform.
Harder to Stay Relevant
One of the biggest challenges for brands on TikTok is staying relevant amidst fast-changing trends. What’s popular one day may be old news the next. According to an article on Forbes, “Social media marketing can be maddening. Here are three tips to ensure you’re making the most of every TikTok trend.” (source) Brands need to be nimble and pivot quickly to capitalize on viral trends before they fade away. This requires close monitoring of trending sounds, hashtags, effects and more. Brands that can’t keep up risk seeming outdated or irrelevant.
TikTok’s algorithm also makes it difficult to stay current. As noted by Buffer, “You’ll need to post consistently, use trending sounds, engage with your audience, and optimize your captions” to beat the algorithm. (source) This level of effort may not be sustainable for some brands long-term. Overall, the constantly evolving nature of TikTok poses a real challenge for brands to produce creative content that resonates with users day after day.