Crypto firms hiring from TikTok to get people excited again
TikTok’s meteoric success in recent years has seen it become one of the top 6 social media networks in the world according to Statista. A number of staff have been leaving towards the end of the year, with their destination surprising to many.
Kevin Yang left his position as product lead for entertainment vertical monetisation at TikTok today. In a goodbye post on social media, he said “I will be joining Crypto for my next adventure.” He did not specify his exact destination.
Yang also spent two years as a data scientist at Facebook before working on consumer engagement at Paypal. He said “I'm very bullish on the industry long term and I strongly believe it's a great time to build up the foundation for the next bull market.”
He’s not the only one however. Binance in particular has seen multiple hires from TikTok this month. They include content partnerships manager Xiaomeng Cui and social partnerships manager Alexandra Flodin.
The clear emphasis on these hires is consumer engagement. It’s worth noting that in July the crypto firm brought in Stacey Dsylva as senior director of global brand and creative from TikTok.
A Datareportal global statshot shows that significantly more young men own cryptocurrency than young women, with 16% of 16-24 year old males owning it compared to just 8% of women in the same age bracket. That same report also says that female ad reach TikTok makes up 53.1% of total ad reach despite only 46% of total social media users being female.
This could suggest a more feminine shift in the target consumer base, reflected by the hiring also being female dominant. With crypto at large struggling against its "bro culture" allegations, these hires could be seen as an effort towards closing the gender imbalance of crypto ownership among the youth.
The industry is suffering from an image problem, so turning to a brand with such monumental growth makes much sense. It’s going to take a lot more than catchy songs and fun dances to get people amped about digital assets anytime soon, however.
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