Environmental communication on TikTok
How can TikTok, as a successful form of entertainment technology, be used to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst a younger audience?
A study project by Hannah Krapp, Svea Spieker and Tabea Fürnsinn
1st semester, 2020
Supervising lecturers: Prof. Dr Peter Schuhmacher, Prof. Dr Thomas Pleil
Initial situation
The societal and economic restrictions caused by the coronavirus crisis have led to a positive shift in environmental protection. Nevertheless, communication on environmental protection should be further promoted. Among other communication measures, it is important to reach a younger target group and inspire young people to join the fight against climate change, as they are the ones who can change our world in the future. This project addresses the question of how this younger target group can be reached most effectively.
The idea
In order to reach young people, a concept for environmental communication on TikTok has been developed, using the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) as a case study. We therefore proceeded step by step:
Step 1: A review of existing literature on communication campaigns, TikTok and young people’s interest in the environment formed the theoretical basis. This was supplemented by interviews with experts in environmental communication and TikTok. As the planned communication concept uses the Federal Environment Agency as a case study, the agency’s current online communication was also taken into account.
Step 2: In a structured content analysis, the hashtag campaigns #forclimate and #cleansnap, as well as the @wwf_deutschland account, were examined to gain insights into current environmental communication on TikTok. The analysis was based on a coding manual developed primarily using a deductive approach and was evaluated descriptively.
Step 3: Based on the results of the research and content analysis, a communication concept was developed to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst young people.
The outcome
The research and analysis have led to several findings. The most important of these are outlined below.
The expert interviews conducted as part of the project show, for example, that collaborations between companies and influencers are not always the best approach, particularly when it comes to environmental issues. Another finding from the interviews is that, alongside the widely discussed environmental topics such as plastic waste, less frequently discussed and more complex topics must also be addressed on TikTok.
This is essential if the aim is to educate young people about environmental issues and, ideally, to encourage a change in behaviour.
Content analysis can be used to identify similarities and differences between the campaigns and the account. One finding, for example, is that all videos deal with roughly the same or similar environmental topics, which suggests likely important and widely accepted issues that need to be addressed on TikTok to be successful. Furthermore, both hashtag campaigns – to give another example of commonalities – are produced in collaboration between two organisations, which demonstrates that partnerships can be beneficial for hashtag campaigns on TikTok. As a third example of commonalities, all the analysed videos evoke emotions through strikingly frightening or delightful content. It can therefore be concluded that environmental videos should convey strongly emotional messages. However, all these findings cannot be considered definitive without taking the context into account. Differences revealed by the analysis include the fact that the structure and purpose of hashtag campaigns and TikTok accounts differ. Campaigns are more focused on changing behaviour, whilst accounts such as that of the WWF are more geared towards raising awareness and transferring knowledge. It also becomes clear that, in contrast to TikTok accounts, hashtag campaigns are often less credible because the campaign hashtags can easily be misused by users who simply wish to increase their reach. These users employ the hashtag for purposes other than its original intent.
In summary, the project methodology demonstrates that a content analysis can be extremely helpful in developing a communication strategy. Content used as the basis for the strategy and for guidance can be made easily and clearly comparable by listing key aspects in tabular form. It is possible to gain a better sense of what works well for the communication strategy and what is unlikely to fit in so well.
One key finding of our research is that, for the Umweltbundesamt, a TikTok account is the better choice initially, rather than launching a campaign straight away. The reason is that by opening its own TikTok account, the Umweltbundesamt gains an additional point of contact for people interested in the environment. Furthermore, for the Umweltbundesamt as a government department, communication via an account is more credible in terms of the risk of misused hashtags and dubious user-generated content, which is more likely to occur in hashtag campaigns.