Now that the TikTok acquisition is trending toward Oracle, HGS’s chief technology officer, Len Buzyna shares what the acquisition means for marketers who need to be more vigilant about creating and posting a data use policy on their sites. Here are a few points Len  shared:
As a marketer, some of the first things that come to mind when you think of TikTok may be content promotion, reaching a new audience, and social media marketing. But when it comes to looking at why Oracle, the behemoth technology company, would have an interest in buying the Gen Z bad-dancing platform, it pays to dig a little deeper.
Oracle likely wants TikTok for two reasons: to bolster its cloud computing market share and its cloud security reputation. Increased market share is sort of a no-brainer, and has been covered widely, so we will focus on why cloud security is so important. Let us dig into why buying an app translates to cloud security wins, and how marketers, too, can capitalize on Oracle’s strategic play.
Learn More: TikTok’s Future: 4 Ways Brands Can Adapt as the Clock Ticks on the Short-Video App
Cloud Security Translates into Earning User Trust
According to McAfeeOpens a new window , on average, organizations experience 12.2 incidents each month in which an unauthorized third-party steals and exploits account credentials to gain access to corporate data stored in a cloud service. These incidents affect 80.3% of organizations at least once a month. Additionally, 92% of companies have cloud credentials for sale on the Dark Web.
In buying TikTok, Oracle will have an opportunity to show it can be a good steward of user data. Oracle establishes its defender-of-data reputation by storing user data responsibly and protecting it from being compromised, but the company also has the opportunity to make users feel comfortable about how that stored data is used. Once a user’s trust is earned, that trust becomes a marketable asset for a company. Oracle now has this chance to position itself as a cybersecurity leader and trustworthy partner. And by extension, Oracle’s marketing partners benefit from this association as well.
You do not have to be an Oracle partner to take a lesson from that playbook. Marketers may wish to consider creating and posting a data use policy on their website if they do not already have one. The situation with TikTok has brought a great deal of attention to what is done with the end-user data. Where is it stored? What is it used for? With whom is it shared? A robust data use policy posted publicly can make a strong statement and instill confidence in end users that their data won’t be misused.
Users generally expect that their data may be used to recommend more products or services from the website or app they are using, but they would certainly appreciate knowing that their data is not shared with third parties for data mining or sent overseas. This is especially true for PII (Personally Identifiable Information) data. These days many users have even become comfortable with third-party data sharing, so long as the data is being used in a responsible way.
Responsible Stewards of Data
As we touched on above, as more customer experience services, including account management, CRMs, analytics, and other data-driven collections move to the cloud, data security becomes paramount. This comes back to the point about being a responsible steward. By establishing policies and processes that keep user data safe, a company demonstrates that they respect their users’ privacy, particularly in sensitive situations.
In any industry, security breaches can cause major damage not only to a company’s reputation but also to its bottom line. Remember Equifax, the global credit ratings agency that experienced a data breach in 2017Opens a new window ? That breach affected a staggering 147 million customers, and the estimated costs of recovering from the incident were an estimated $439 million in that year alone.
And that doesn’t even take into account the number of lost customers due to loss of trust in the organization. Aside from the obvious loss prevention, a company that demonstrates it judiciously keeps data secure will surely increase in value via customer trust and consumer sentiment.
 Learn More: Tik Tok Acquisition: A Social Experience Trend You Shouldn’t Ignore
Partner Trust
Once you’ve laid the foundation with your own data privacy, you’re likely looking at the reputation of your vendors and partners. Given that Oracle has created its own opportunity to establish its credibility, through the TikTok acquisition, its partners will be held to similarly high standards. The reason Oracle has a partner ecosystem is to have known companies it trusts implementing its services. Considering that the highest bar is set for its most advanced tier partners, it should give you, as a marketer, some level of confidence in choosing a partner from the Oracle partner ecosystem. This is not only a signal for you as a services buyer, but a boon to the reputation of the Oracle partner ecosystem.
Conclusion
Even if you are already updating your marketing strategies to include videos of your employees completing the latest TikTok challenges, it’s worth considering the less obvious marketing implications of Oracle’s TikTok acquisition. If you, like Oracle, can continue to build your long-term brand reputation as a responsible steward of data and protector of privacy, it will pay enormous dividends in the form of increased consumer confidence—ultimately translating into revenue.