Why I am suddenly obsessed about TikTok (and you should too) đ
18 May 2020.
That was the day one of my TikTok videos
went viral.
Captions: âwater gun and businessâ
2M views.
151K likes.
2700 shares.
I should be happy.
But I wasnât 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 wasnât 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 thatâs 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.
Hereâs 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 âFor You Page (FYP)â
so you get to see videos from creators
you may not follow.
Think of it like Instagramâs 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, TikTokâs algorithm doesnât
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 â which means
you will still be growing followers while you
rest!
And thereâs the kicker.
You donât 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 wonât get that
And the best part is I donât have to sing
or dance or point. Haha.
Oh one more thing.
You donât even need to record
super long videos.
In fact the shorter the videos,
the better they perform.
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 sound -> Itâs the hard knocked life
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 weekâs episode, I have a chat with
Violet Lim, CEO and co-founder of Lunch
Actually Group, Asiaâs 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.