Stop trying to “go viral” on Tik Tok
Stop trying to make “fetch” happen, Gretchen
I created my Tik Tok account back in November 2019, before Charlie D’Amelio really even took off. It was truly the calm before the storm. Back then, I was going to transition my annual Christmas Countdown over to the Tik Tok platform to start branching out my audience.
Two failed videos later, I switched my title to a watcher and not a player.
Even though I was was more comfortable in the Youtube/Vimeo space, and even Instagram for Stories, I didn’t realize how different Tik Tok really was. And having never been on Vine as a creator, I was unfamiliar with the mechanics behind it. To me, it seemed as though everyone's videos would always hit, so why wouldn’t mine?
I jumped right into the space without doing the research behind it
Had I had known how the algorithm worked and what exactly people were looking for, perhaps I would have had a better chance of starting out.
I wasn’t consistent
I remember I was scrolling in March 2020 one day to see a black creator dancing and saying “Day 5 of doing my dance until it goes viral.” It was a fun little dance number by the song Savage — Meg the Stallion. I thought to myself, “Man good for her for being consistent. I hope it takes off.”
And you know how the rest of that story goes.
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I only did two videos, two! And then I gave up. I didn’t give up on making videos. I went straight back to Instagram for the attention that I was seeking. But I gave up making an effort to continue on Tik Tok just because it didn’t work the first time. It’s similar to SEO in marketing, consistency is crucial to boost yourself.
I did not find my niche
I can honestly say that I’m still struggling with this. I’ve gone through many styles: fitness, vlogs, cinematic, storytimes, DIY (which did get the most views but I don’t have enough of those in my pocket nor do I care about it). None of them really landed. Right now I’m on a “New- girl -in -New- York-20-something-about-her-life-” moment which if that is a niche then that’s what I’m doing because at the end of the day...
If people want to follow you, they will watch whatever you post
I’m posting the content that I want to post. I’m tired of looking at the numbers. While there are some things I know I can tweak to improve on increasing my chances in the algorithm, I kinda just want to enjoy myself right now.
You’ll be surprised. If you just quite literally, “do you,” you might get an audience.
- Also: Don’t try to put all your efforts into going viral. It is not worth the toxicity that it will bring you.
