Emily De Sousa speaks on the value of TikTok in the seafood industry

TikTok has become one of the most-popular platforms of social media, and that popularity is beginning to show direct connections to the seafood industry.

Emily De Sousa, a fisheries scientist and CEO of online education platform Seaside with Emily, said at the 2022 Global Seafood Alliance GOAL Conference on 4 October that TikTok can become a valuable marketing tool for the seafood industry, especially in reaching Gen Z and millennials, the two generations with the “largest buying power in the market,” make it a prime target for marketers.

De Sousa said current high volumes of misinformation regarding the seafood industry, which is “dominating the mainstream media,” furthers the need for seafood companies to be active on social medias such as TikTok. The Netflix documentaries Seaspiracy, Salmon Wars, and Not On My Watch are all ways in which younger generations are learning about seafood and the seafood industry, to its detriment, she said.

De Sousa said TikTok is the best means of bringing a positive representation of the seafood industry to younger consumers. Younger generations are shifting their diets towarding eating more seafood – data shows millennials have increased their seafood consumption by 30 percent in recent years – and that they tend to cook it at home as opposed to eating out. 

“Young people want to eat more seafood,” De Sousa said. 

Through her own TikTok account, De Sousa has had success promoting “@seasidewithemily” and working for the Fisheries Council of Canada. She suggested anyone looking to tap into TikTok for marketing or exposure follow five tips: “Be authentic, be quick, be clear, be fun” and “share your why.”

Photo courtesy of Bhavana Scalia-Bruce/SeafoodSource