20/02/2020
Here’s episode 5 in a series exploring TikTok and Employer Branding. This time: one example from the world of retail.
When you drill down into the retail space on TikTok it can be shocking. There’s positive content but there are also many people venting (in uniform, both inside and outside their workplaces) about frustrations with customers, employment conditions, and pay. However, on TikTok it’s harder to find people being negative about working at Walmart.
Walmart’s employee advocacy model - supported by its social media team and management at store level - has garnered the company billions of views on TikTok. Its official verified account has 142.3k followers and 1.1m likes. But a growing number of individual stores, and even individual employees, have their own accounts. For example, has amassed 2.8m followers and 51.9m likes for TikToks that showcase his dancing skills - numbers that have gained him “popular creator” status on the platform. Other dancers within Walmart have been inspired to join TikTok as well.
Walmart has tested a variety of approaches: promoting hashtag challenges, showcasing its people, having fun with products, and engaging team members (such as Surge) in roving reporter-type roles, similar to Dave at The Washington Post. Of course, customers also TikTok while visiting stores, and as well as encouraging them to participate in branded hashtag challenges, Walmart also showcases customers and their experiences on its own account.