Why I am suddenly obsessed about TikTok (and you should too) 👈

18 May 2020.

That was the day one of my TikTok videos

went viral.

Captions: “water gun and business”

2M views.

151K likes.

2700 shares.

I should be happy.

But I wasn’t as the hate was savage.

This is the dumbest thing ever.

CEO of trying to sound smart.

Sleep came to me.

Typical influencer. Good at selling words.

Ching Chong.

I learnt nothing.

That day I decided TikTok wasn’t for me

and I stopped paying attention to the

platform.

Sure, I still posted occasionally

but they were all just repurposed content.

I even applied for my TikTok blue tick

but that’s only because it will help me

increase my chances of getting the

Instagram blue tick.

Instead, I put all my attention on

creating my own podcast.

And we did very well.

But a week ago, I decided to give

TikTok a second chance after listening

to a podcast on TikTok (what an irony haha!)

A few videos in, I am obsessed.

Here’s why.

The organic reach is crazy!

Case in point: this video went from

10 views to 20K views within a few hours!

You may have only one follower but your

video can still be seen by hundreds

if not thousands of people in your country.

Why?

Because the default page for all users of

TikTok is the “For You Page (FYP)”

so you get to see videos from creators

you may not follow.

Think of it like Instagram’s explore page!

This is unlike mature platforms like Instagram

or LinkedIn where you only see content

from people you follow.

And since TikTok is currently the most

downloaded app here in Southeast Asia,

you can imagine the number of active users

watching your content.

Also, TikTok favours new content creators!

Which means that if you just started,

your chances of success on TikTok is high.

Take one of my mentee for example.

She only has 27 followers but her first video

had 21.3K views!

TikTok has also launched a $200M creator

fund to support creators in becoming full-time

TikTok content creators.

Your TikTok account can still grow even

if you are not actively posting content!

Unlike Facebook and Instagram which

only shows you the latest content from

people you follow, TikTok shows you

content you want to see regardless of

when it was posted.

In other words, TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t

run on recency, but longevity.

This means that your popular videos can

continue to be seen by people for 4+ months.

In fact, this video was posted a year ago

but I still get a lot of likes from this video.

So even if you take a short break from

creating content on TikTok, your old content

will still be seen by new people – which means

you will still be growing followers while you

rest!

And there’s the kicker.

You don’t have to dance or sing to

do well on TikTok!

After experimenting with different types of

content on TikTok for the past week,

I realise that TikTok rewards AUTHENTICITY.

When I tried recording perfect scripts with

perfect lightings on my expensive Sony

camera, the videos flopped.

But my super casual selfie videos with

just a ring light did exceptionally well!

Case in point: this super casual selfie video

got 5K views just like that (you won’t get that

on IG for sure)

And the best part is I don’t have to sing

or dance or point. Haha.

Oh one more thing.

You don’t even need to record

super long videos.

In fact the shorter the videos,

the better they perform.

My best video is only 15s!

And because it is so easy to create

TikTok videos, I could record 5-7 videos

in an hour which means I can post more

often.

And this is always a good thing on

any social media platform because the

more active we are on a platform,

the more the platform will reward us

with views, likes and follows.

As with all social media platforms,

things change over time.

Instagram used to be THE platform that

we all want to be on.

But now, it is just a super curated platform

(read: inauthentic) with very little organic reach.

So before TikTok goes to the dark side,

I suggest you take full advantage of this

growing platform that is trying so hard to

win you over.

For a start, try out the trends

(under your discover page).

They put your creativity to a test and

you will have a lot of fun.

My favorites:

Trending # -> #university

Trending sound -> It’s the hard knocked life

Trending effect -> Catch me

I am sure you have A LOT more questions

about TikTok.

You can go to my TikTok page

and hit the Q&A button (in red).

See you on TikTok,

Eric Feng

P.S. If you are more of a podcast fan,

I got you!

In this week’s episode, I have a chat with

Violet Lim, CEO and co-founder of Lunch

Actually Group, Asia’s largest dating company.

She will share with you how to differentiate

yourself from your competition and dominate

your niche.

There is a part about how you can get on

media too.

Listen to the podcast

Watch the video interview