In this edition of Marketer of the Week, Ignite Visibility spotlights Cheryl Gresham, Head of Marketing, Media & Partnerships at TikTok.
TikTok
Ignite Visibility applauds the TikTok team for recently surpassing Facebook in time spent per user.
Just this past January, App Annie reported that TikTok saw a 325% year-over-year increase in hours spent on the app per user per month.
In 2020, Facebook hovered around 17 hours per user per month. TikTok exceeded 20 hours per user per month during that same year.
TikTok also ranked #1 in top breakout apps during 2020. That category ranks apps by growth in monthly active users (MAUs) during the past 12 months.
The app will likely hit 1.2 billion users this year.
By the way, “The One Billion Users Club” is fairly exclusive among social media apps. Thus far, only Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, YouTube, WeChat, and WhatsApp have joined it.
TikTok also ranks as the #2 non-gaming app when it comes to consumer spending. That’s because TikTok allows users to purchase digital products.
And that kind of success is thanks to the marketing efforts of Cheryl Gresham.
Cheryl Gresham
Gresham joined TikTok just seven months ago. It’s her job to inspire cross-functional teams and promote marketing programs that target key groups.
Further, Gresham also makes it her goal to increase the app’s user base as well as generate higher engagement and retention metrics.
She also recently launched the first ever mass brand campaign and drove full-funnel metrics.
Additionally, Gresham led support of live tune-in and brought more users (and even some non-users) to TikTok’s e-commerce programs.
She also led a team from North America and Australia to develop the app’s first-ever consumer segmentation study. The company used the results of that study to further enhance audience strategy.
Additionally, Gresham also leads TikTok in its effort to get the most out of market research and analytics.
Oh, yeah. She was also awarded Ad Age’s “Marketer of the Year” Award in 2020.
Finally, Gresham coaches team members to ensure future leadership is in place for TikTok.
At Google
Before joining TikTok, Gresham was Global Head of Integrated Media and YouTube at Google.
During her 8-year tenure with the Big G, she led a team of performance strategists to increase awareness, viewership, and subscriptions of the YouTube brand.
Gresham focused on driving viewership to entertainment channels like YouTube Originals, YouTube Live, Gaming, YouTube Kids, Live Sports, and more. She also helped increase subscriptions to paid services like YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV.
And Gresham also managed the external agency partners to ensure that YouTube’s marketing message remained consistent and drove growth.
At Mattel
From 2016 to 2018, Gresham served as VP, Global Integrated Marketing & Media for Mattel.
While there, she led the Global Media Team as well as the Marketing Integration Team to develop media strategies, content plans, and marketing initiatives. Her efforts in that role helped accelerate brand growth, increase in-store sales, expand audiences for content viewership, and improve ecommerce sales.
Additionally, she maximized the value and return on investment (ROI) of Mattel’s investments in consumer media by developing innovative approaches to reach both parents and children.
Wrapping It Up
Like many other online platforms, TikTok saw a bump in user stats during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it’s safe to say that with Cheryl Gresham as a key player on the marketing team, TikTok can thrive in any economic environment.
I look forward to seeing where she takes the company next.
