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2024 has been a year of seismic shifts in social media– none more dramatic than the potential ban of TikTok in the United States. While the app was temporarily reinstated, users and brands are scrambling to explore alternatives. Which platforms will rise to take TikTok’s place? Let’s dive into some of the frontrunners and explore how they might impact your marketing strategy.
The Background Behind the Ban
In July 2024, the Biden administration signed a divest-or-get-banned law targeting TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which was deemed a national security issue for its popularity, the data it collects, and its association with the Chinese government. In January 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the law and TikTok was taken down on January 19.
The following day, President Trump was sworn into office and signed an executive order postponing the ban for 75 days, presumably to be used as a bargaining chip with China. While the app is presently accessible, it has not been reinstated on the Apple App store and many TikTok users have fled to alternatives in anticipation of the ban. The fact is TikTok is likely on the way out, so the question is what short-form video platforms could step up to take its place. Let’s look at a few:
YouTube
This might present the easiest transition for content creators, as YouTube is already a platform designed for sharing video first and foremost. YouTube is the most popular social media platform, with Facebook right behind in 2nd place. Pew Research noted in 2023 that 93% of teenagers in the United States use the platform, and YouTube Shorts clocks in about 70 billion views every single day. TikTok, by comparison, averages about 1 billion views per day.
YouTube’s popularity has also made it a hot-spot for advertising, with pre-, mid-, and post-roll ad options that can be bought programmatically. The average cost-per-conversion on YouTube is somewhere around $14, though the amount varies greatly depending on your vertical. One year-long survey reported an average CPM of about $10 in the U.S.
Lemon8
Through the first week of 2025, Lemon8 was the #1 app on the Apple App store. Described as a “lifestyle community”, the app is a mixture of TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest woven into one. The app hit 1 million active U.S. users in January, but its growth suddenly halted. Why? Because Lemon8 is also owned by ByteDance!
While TikTok has been restored to service by the President’s executive order, Lemon8 and all other ByteDance apps (CapCut, SoundOn, Gauth, etc.) remain unavailable in the U.S. Unless ByteDance decides to sell Lemon8 to another entity, it’s likely that Lemon8 will remain a flash in the pan.
RedNote
The week that the TikTok ban went to the Supreme Court, this app started garnering a lot of attention, even reaching “top social networking app” on the Apple App store at the time. RedNote is often described as the “Chinese Instagram”, but it bears a lot of resemblance to Pinterest. Active U.S. user numbers sit around 3 million at the time of writing.
Unlike many other social media apps available internationally, RedNote does not maintain different versions of the app for different countries; it is the exact same across the world. That means all users are subject to the same Chinese-mandated moderation and censorship rules. Users in the U.S. have been surprised and largely frustrated by the censorship of certain topics.
As far as advertising is concerned, in-feed and keyword search placements are up for grabs. This inventory is only available through GMA, a Chinese-based digital marketing platform. The process of building a commercial account for the app is somewhat complicated, including applying to be a legal Foreign-Owned Enterprise registered with the Chinese government.
Furthermore, as RedNote is a Chinese company beholden to the same enterprise laws as ByteDance, there’s a good chance that it will also come under scrutiny in the United States before long as well. A personal profile might be useful for connecting with your audience, but the process of getting ads placed on the service might be more trouble than it’s ultimately worth.
Facebook Stories / Instagram Reels
Facebook remains one of the most-used social media in the U.S., and Instagram isn’t too far behind. As with all Meta entities, ads are handled through “Meta for Business”, generally considered to be one of the largest advertising walled gardens. The internal data is certainly plentiful, but the use of outside data to reach customers is quite limited.
The walled garden approach combined with their popularity makes advertising on Meta platforms relatively expensive. Advertisers can expect an average around $18.68 cost-per-conversion, with a reported CPM of about $10.83.
Having a Presence in the Digital Village Square
Genius Monkey has often cautioned its users against working social media too hard or trying to be trendy in general; it’s a lot of work and often burns out the team before you see a decent ROAS. That said, maintaining a presence on social media has other great benefits:
- It’s a great place to develop a unique brand voice and personality
- It can allow customers to see a more relaxed, less-serious side of your company
- A well-maintained profile can allow interested customers to easily find you
- Many online shoppers will learn about you on social media first, so it can be a good place to bid for keywords
Programmatic advertising on social media can work if approached wisely with the right tools. Genius Monkey’s powerful platform not only places ads right where your audience goes, but does so through the easiest and cheapest supply path possible. Cost-per-conversions on Meta and YouTube average out at ~$19 and ~$14 respectively; Genius Monkey cost-per-conversion averages less than $5.
Whatever your approach, it always works best as part of a unified campaign that reaches your audience regardless of the deceive or channel they are using. Social media is only one tool in the bag, and a Meta-DSP platform like Genius Monkey is designed to make the mediums like display, video, OTT/CTV, and much more all work in harmony together.
Are you ready to start increasing engagements and lowering your cost-per-conversion? The time has come to evolve your marketing strategy to the next level; get in touch with the Genius Monkeys today! For more specific information on your vertical, check out a few of the verticals we work in here!
