Why Tik Tok Is The Place You Should Be. Period.

If you're reading this, and you're not on Tik Tok yet, you're no longer an early adopter. Tik-Tok has now reached a mass level of traffic and influencers. Most of the influencers I follow on YouTube and Instagram have moved over to Tik Tok. And the reason is clear as day: the amount of followers you can get on there quickly is noticeably larger than any other social media platform.

I would say those influencers who come on to Tik Tok now are early majority or late majority at best. And eventually, the laggards, otherwise known as the people who are late to adopt something new, will join Tik-Tok.

The idea of Tik Tok as a viable new social media platform is no longer anything new. If you had joined a year ago when Gary Vaynerchuk was screaming for everyone to get on there, you would have been an early adopter. And you would have potentially reaped the fruit. The top influencers on there, Charlie D’Amelio and Addison Rae have 60 million and 30 million followers respectively. And that number is taking up everyday. I've noticed both of them have started monetizing with sponsorship deals oh, so the platform should no longer b e seen as some un-monetizable thing.

Jason Derulo was one a list musician who saw the trend early. Many of his videos get comments like, "he's the only celebrity that gets Tik Tok” and his social media engagement numbers on their speak for themselves. Almost every few days, he creates a well-produced video celebrating yet another million followers he gained on there. And you can tell he's investing on their. Every day, he releases a handful of Tik Tok's related to the trends and sounds on there. Some are well-produced and respectful of the culture and vibe of the platform, which newcomers don’t understand initially.  

Additionally, he's taking another massive step by inviting a lot of the top influencers over to his Mansion to collaborate with him. About a dozen or so have done collaborations with him to grow each other's Tik Tok recently, a risky move given that we're currently in a pandemic and people should be quarantine. But likely, it will pay off since none of these influencers are likely sick and they're sharing there are tens of millions of followers between each other.

Jessica Alba is another one of a few celebrities who have adopted the app quickly. Like with other celebrities on there, I noticed that she was likely spurred on to adopt the apps so soon because of her daughters, or very young and in the ideal age group of most of the Tik Tok audience. You can tell because her daughters are often in her Tik Tok Dance videos and her first videos feature just her daughter or her with her daughter. Jessica has been incredibly smart with social media for years, being one of the first celebrities to appear on YouTube, doing a staring challenge with KevJumba. She continues to exert her expertise of business and social media since many of her recent TikToks involve so the promotions of her beauty and health care line of The Honest Company while paying respect to some of Tik Tok’s latest trends.

So, the question is: is it too late to join Tik Tok as a business or influencer?

The answer is, emphatically, no. Well it's not as easy as it once was to grow a following and there's more competition on there, it's still a lot easier than on any other social media platform. Almost every week, I am seeing new influencers, some I've never heard of and some I am familiar with on other platforms, join Tik Tok and grow rapid audiences quickly. See the image below, which showcases the story of a Thai YouTuber who transitioned over to Tik Tok and amassed a hundred thousand followers in two days. On top of that, two of his videos have hit over 1 million views.

To get that type of growth on Instagram or YouTube in such a short time would be unheard of. It would take at least a month, if not six months oh, if you're really good.

 That being said, Don't expect massive results. Just because it's easier doesn't mean it's easy. I joined Tik Tok a year ago back when it was musically and posted several lip sync videos. I continued to post more for a couple more weeks and quit because the video is barely generated a dozen or so views each. I guess I'm just not a good content creator.

Around March of this year, I returned to to Tik Tok and started posting videos almost everyday. Sometimes, I would post multiple times a day. The videos would range from Comedy themed to Dance videos to other challenges related to the latest trends and hashtags on there. I dedicated a lot more time to the platform because I was seeing a payoff for a lot of other people and I saw the huge amount of traffic on there. Despite my investment, I only amassed 300 followers and my videos average 60 views each. It's not nothing but it pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands or millions that other people are getting.

So, if you can bring your A game in terms of the quality and quantity quantity of the content you put on there, it will pay off. But for the people like me who still having nail down the formula to create quality content, don't expect and become famous.

But for those high quality content creators who have already figured out how to create content in our creative enough to translate that to another platform in a way that makes sense, Tik-Tok is your oyster. I won't be surprised if you go on there and generate millions or at least hundreds of thousands of followers.

 While it's late, it's not too late. You may have missed out on the easy followers when it first launched. You may not get millions. But you can get hundreds of thousands. Now is the time to get on before it gets too crowded. And it's already getting crowded. I can usually gauge that by the average quality of entertainment and production of the Tik Tok's I see on there. And the average level has increased dramatically in the last couple months as influencers have flooded on there. 

For any businesses looking to advertise on there, now is the time. It's better to do it sooner rather than later. There are plenty of new influencers on there who have never been sponsored before by anyone and may be willing to take discounted rates. Going directly to an influencer for a deal usually beats waiting for the platform itself to create a self-serve app platform because you can usually strike a better deal. Man, I wish I had a business to Market on there right now. In fact, the opportunity is so large that I may just dabble in sponsoring my personal brand there just to learn about it and test.

And, if you're just a consumer and you're looking for a new way of being entertained or informed, Tik Tok maybe your place. I find a lot of the dynamic and cultural and are to be similar to Instagram but with a slightly younger audience. Just protect yourself from getting addicted or sucked into the common points of comparison that you might find on other platforms. I believe Tik Tok is now the central hub for certain trends and cultural motifs to appear in the US currently. I saw discussions of black lives matter there before anywhere else a few weeks ago. 

Good luck and Happy Tik Toking!