How I Went Viral On TikTok - Marketing Monday - 09/16/2019
My finger hovered over the “post” button.
It was Saturday morning, 9:55 am. I was debating whether to post a little video I made for TikTok where I recreated a scam call I received the day prior, and I launched into my Joker voice to mess with them. Would Saturday be a good time? Should I wait until Monday?
I had mapped out my previous TikTok posts and engagement (likes, comments, shares, etc) in a spreadsheet the day before in an effort to see if there was some discernible pattern to how well a post performed based on day and time.
I very nearly didn’t post the video. Then I checked the spreadsheet and saw that there was no drop off in engagement or views when I posted on previous Saturday.
I hit “post”.
About two hours later it was performing as well as any of my other posts: about 100 views, a few likes. I was still sitting on 30 followers.
I checked again around 6 pm.
23,000 views. 420 followers. About two dozen comments.
It had gone viral. I checked a few hours later, and the views and followers had doubled. A few hours after that, both had tripled.
24 hours after I originally posted, the viral cycle had simmered down. Over 322,000 views, 75,000 likes, 177 comments, and 4,249 followers (an increase of +14,163%). All of my other videos had seen dramatic increased views as well.
What did I do differently this time compared to all of the other videos I posted?
Nothing. I truly believe that this was a case of opportunity meeting preparation.
I originally thought it had to do with me using #Joker in the post and that the latest trailer for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie just dropped, but when I checked the post’s analytics, 97% of the views came from the “For You” page (essentially TikTok’s home page). This tells me that this was simply the post’s content was just put up at the right time, and that it resonated with people.
Or maybe something in TikTok’s algorithm said it was time to push my content more. Who knows?
Rather than try to hack the algorithm, I’m simply going to continue to create content the way I have been, and to do that consistently. Because, in the end, the post going viral wasn’t an end, it was merely a stepping stone, the next step on a much longer journey.
I posted another video this morning, and it’s gotten over 1,100 views (my average before was 100) and I’ve added 59 followers. This growth is likely based on the fact that I now have a much larger audience reach than I did 72 hours ago.
So, if I were to offer a step-by-step guide for what worked for me, it would be this (and these can apply to whatever platform you are creating on):
Create content. Just do this. It doesn’t matter if you are attempting to grow a following on TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or wherever. Just create.
Create content that interests you. Don’t pander. I have two thoughts on this:
Creating pandering content (i.e. making it just because you think other people will like it) may not be showing your genuine self, and that will eventually show. People who are being genuine in the same space will out-perform you. And those that figure out that you aren’t being genuine will start ignoring you.
You will be competing with a lot of other people who are attempting to glom onto the newest trend. Don’t go where the herd goes.
Be generous. I create the content for TikTok that I do because I think it’s funny, or fun, and my whole purpose is to create it so that others can use it (that’s how TikTok works). If I got some new followers, great; it was never my goal to be TikTok famous (and I’m still not, just saying). It’s great practice for me in terms of voice acting, and maybe someone gets a laugh out of it. Better yet, maybe they use my content and they get more followers. That would be awesome.
Be consistent. Create content and post every day. Don’t worry about bothering people or fatiguing them. AS Gary Vaynerchuk has said, the internet provides unlimited bandwidth. If you are following the above steps, you’ll be fine. If you are being selfish and only creating content so that other people will advance your agenda, they’ll see right through you and start ignoring you. Give more than you take.
Know your numbers. I don’t mean to manage to your numbers, but understand what they are. Had I gone with my inner voice and not posted the video and waited until Monday, would it have done as well? Who knows. But I used data to confirm that it wouldn’t be awful to post then. It also confirmed that I was wrong about the #Joker hashtag driving the views, as no one found the video via the hashtag.
If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m posting the video as well as the full analytics that I had as of this morning below.
