Do you have a young female adult as a friend? If you do, the odds are very high that they have a TikTok account and spend loads of time on the app. Maybe they are even influencers on the social platform.
However, this app is impacting an important aspect of life beyond sharing cliplets of videos and swiping through posts of other TikTok users.
How Mainstream Media Influences Lifestyle
In the 90s, young millennials were easily influenced by TV commercials and pop culture shows. For example, MTV profoundly influenced the lifestyle, fashion, and taste of that time.
However, TikTok has taken up that role among Gen Zs, and research shows that its influence is even stronger on women in this age group.
Time to Milk the Cow
Since the launch of TikTok Shop, an In-app purchase feature, in September, many users have confessed that they have done a sizable volume of online shopping on the app.
However, Gen Z women were the fastest to catch on to the e-commerce capabilities of TikTok. Indeed, recent polls reveal that TikTok has influenced the shopping habits of many Gen Z women.
Driving Profits Through Trends
As part of a promotion campaign for TikTok’s e-commerce feature, the company started the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag. As of the close of 2023, the hashtag already had over 7.7 billion views.
On its own, TikTok adopts an algorithm that keeps young users swiping for hours. Now imagine that influence coupled with in-app shopping outlets that allow users to make purchases.
Social Media in Everyday Life
In a recent survey by Morning Consult of Gen Z users of the top ten social media platforms, 54% claim they spend a minimum of four hours interacting with the apps daily.
Also, social media apps that afford users the privilege of monetizing their content and shopping in-app are starting to impact the lives of their users in many ways.
Buying Stuff at the Peril of Financial Health
For example, the new TikTok Shop feature is driving many Gen Z women to the fringes of financial instability. Some of them make spontaneous purchases.
Some social media shoppers admit that most in-app vendors offer very good bargains, so much so that they find it difficult to walk away without placing an order for the item, even if they never budgeted to buy it.
A Driver of Global Trends
It is safe to say TikTok has morphed into a trend-setting app. Indeed, many trends that have gone viral in the past few years have used TikTok as a pedestal for propagation.
This same tool influences the choices of the average Gen Z woman, many of whom are active users of the platform.
Marketing Departments are Hopping on the Train
So, many brands with hot and alluring products are adopting TikTok as a channel to raise awareness of these hot and trendy items among young women.
According to the laws of marketing, these Gen Z women are naturally influenced when an ad for a certain product appears repeatedly in the app.
The Temptation That Fits
Interestingly, the ads are also personalized, meaning the algorithm will show products that fit the user’s demographics.
According to Ellyn Briggs, a brands analyst at Morning Consult, “TikTok is a Gen Z women-centric app, and it is setting the tone and the narrative for what is ‘hot’ online.” Influences are also fueling the spending crisis.
Welcome to the Unboxing Show
Besides algorithms bringing up ads of promoted products, influencers with a large following also record products they feel their followers would find useful.
For example, some influencers promote certain brands by unboxing new products from them and posting videos of their users’ experiences using them on their pages.
How Can Someone Buy Things So Often?
The problem kicks in with how often these influencers get new products. Naturally, some Gen Z women get lured into the comparison trap. Despite many of these influencers being the same age as their Gen Z followers, they mostly earn a higher income.
Unknown to the TikTok followers, some influencers have ambassadorial deals with famous brands.
Living a Sponsored Life
Sometimes, the influencers are full-time digital marketers and earn enough to afford multiple purchases.
Also, in other instances, the influencer does not even have to part with their money as the brand sends promotional copies of their products for them to try out. Of course, no influencer would tell you this, as doing so could crash sales traffic drastically.
Be Not Deceived!
The inconsistencies in the narratives of TikTok influencers’ online and real-life spending habits may lead many of their Gen Z followers into financial insolvency.
“The bigger conversation is just how impactful our digital lives are on our real lives…TikTok is driving consumption patterns in a very real way,” said Briggs.
Fighting Against High Odds
So, with the subtle combination of the in-app ads, urgings from influencers, and the many perks that TikTok sponsors alongside the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag, Gen Z women may find themselves making purchases against their better judgment.
With the TikTok Shop feature comes coupon discounts, promotions, and special deals. So, it may take strong muscles of financial discipline to look the oIt’s way.
It’s All in the Fine Print
Gen Zs can not complain or call out TikTok for making their app so manipulative that it influences them to buy things they don’t need. Why? The turf is TikTok’s, and they have the right to call the shots.
In the course of signing up for the social media service, all users get to accede to or decline the terms and conditions, which most users know nothing of the content.
Do You Give There’s?
There’s also thTikTok’sof TikTok’s user data privacy, which has been the subject of recent lawsuits. However, it all boils down to consent because people are rarely required to use social media apps under duress.
According to TikTok, it already has over 200,000 sellers on its app. This means that many sellers are looking to get the attention of each user through targeted ads.
Keeping Up With the Latest Fads
According to Consult’s report on this topic, three out of every four Gen Z women are active users of TikTok. This figure is significantly higher than that among their male counterparts.
This high social media use ratio increases the fear of missing out (FOMO) among Gen Z women. Likewise, they are more likely to draw personal fulfillment from ‘keeping up with the Joneses.’
Purchases Driving Folks to Penury
Unfortunately, this trend has turned out to be the predominant driver of credit card debt among Gen Zs. According to Lending Tree, the non-mortgage debt of Gen Zs spiked by 99.3% between 2021 and 2023.
No young adult should struggle to build wealth from the depressing canyons of debt. It’s best to avoid unnecessary purchases.
There’s a Way Out of the Socioeconomic Enchantment
Experts offer some advice for young women who have to deal with their peers’ display of wealthy lifestyles.
One, someone who flaunts symbols of wealth only possesses a spent or dying form of wealth, their wealth is not preserved through savings or investments. Besides, you can’t be too sure what they’re flaunting is not sponsored.
Accumulate Your Funds, Don’t Sow It to the Wind
While it is easy to get manipulated into placing that online order, you can counteract that urge with another. Remind yourself that that money, no matter how small, can go towards something transformational, like an emergency fund or retirement savings.
Lay the foundation of your wealth portfolio early, and you are better off starting at ground zero than in a deep ditch of debt.