Show Notes
TikTok has become one of the most powerful, and least understood, tools in modern PR, branding and crisis communication, and this episode breaks down exactly how. Jacki Vause sits down with Harri Brown, co-founder of TikTok-first agency Antler Social, to unpack why the platform has matured far beyond dancing teenagers into a genuine search engine. Around 70% of TikTok's global user base is now over 25, and roughly half of millennials saying they'd rather search TikTok than Google. At the centre of the conversation is Meghan Markle, whose As Ever brand sold out its first product drop in 45 minutes, only to be buried under accusations of unsold jam and wickless candles. Her total absence, along with the rest of the Royal Family, from a platform built on authenticity raises real questions about digital strategy, control, and trust. From there, the discussion moves into the mechanics PR and social media professionals actually need to know: how to read engagement quality and spot the difference between organic virality and paid-for influence, why low-quality comments and inflated view counts are red flags, and how brands and micro-influencer UGC campaigns have used TikTok to genuinely shift consumer trust. Harri also breaks down why the Royal Family's TikTok silence is a deliberate, if increasingly risky, crisis-communication choice, and offers a clear-eyed verdict on how Meghan Markle could better position As Ever if she wants the brand — rather than her polarising public image — to do the talking. In This Episode The search engine shift: How TikTok's maturing audience — now 70% over 25 — has turned it into a genuine competitor to Google for discovery and trust. Spotting fake engagement: Harri's litmus test for telling organic virality apart from bought views, bot comments, and over-engineered "authenticity." The authenticity trap: Why raw, unfiltered honesty beats performative "authentic self" branding, and what Gordon Ramsay, Hugh Grant and Kiki Palmer got right. Meghan Markle's As Ever problem: Why pairing a polarising personal brand with a premium product line is a high-risk strategy, and how Harri would fix it. The Royal Family's TikTok silence: Why the monarchy's total absence from the platform is deliberate, and the crisis-comms parallels between staying quiet online and off it. For more expert PR insight, subscribe and join us every week on Where Pop Culture Meets PR.
Links Subscribe: @WherePopCultureMeetsPR Listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4r2372Ggf2RrxOY3bsmlwm?si=oJDQk-z3QNCZYmtab4zqVA Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/where-pop-culture-meets-pr/id1640521954 Follow Us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherepopculturemeetspr/ TikTok: @WherePopCultureMeetsPR LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/where-pop-culture-meets-pr/ Substack: https://substack.com/@wherepopculturemeetspr Hashtags #MeghanMarkle #RoyalFamily #TikTok #TikTokStrategy #PRStrategy #AsEver #InfluencerMarketing #DigitalPR #CrisisComms #WherePopCultureMeetsPR
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