From 0 to…9?! Growing pains on TikTok.
A couple of weeks ago I created a TikTok account and started to post marketing advice, commentary, and musings. Here’s what I’ve learned (so far) from starting a social media account from scratch.
Screenshot of my TikTok account in June
In lockdown, TikTok reigned supreme. I, like many others, got caught up in its infectious scroll, falling asleep to the ghosts of trending music and dance challenges replaying in my mind. We all went a bit screwy during that time, but I decided when it was all over that for me, personally, TikTok was not a healthy use of my personal time. So I delete the app.
Fast forward five years and the world of social media feels like a different place. TikTok has become more than just a video platform - it’s a shop, a community, a way to support your favourite creators as well as post content yourself. It has become what Instagram was a few years ago - optimised for business, and a great way to see you brands and businesses connect with their audience.
As a marketing consultant, I’ve never really specialised in social media. In fact, my specialty is that I have no specialty - I’m a 360 marketing management solution. I always thought that there were more than enough people (mostly younger than me) who understood the ins and outs of social media content a whole lot more than I did and that I would be content with posting Stories and Reels on a platform I personally used every day, namely, Instagram. I could handle Meta Business Suite (just - Meta, please stop updating the interface every five minutes!) and knew the ins and outs of video editing. I even partook in a few trends on my personal accounts.
But this summer I came to realise that this wouldn’t be enough to stay competitive in a busy market. I needed to have a better grasp of the social media landscape, and there was one, huge, gaping hole in my understanding:
TikTok.
So, I did what any rational Millenial with an afternoon to kill would do - I started a TikTok account.
@ellieyoungmarketing. Ta-dah!
I created a content strategy, using Google’s Gemini AI tool to help tailor content I wanted to make to a TikTok audience (red: AI is not bad!!). I wrote captions, planned out videos, and started to record them. I created backgrounds and got used to the TikTok interface. I figured out how to green screen my videos, what filters were available, how to post music properly. I went on a crash course in the platform and absolutely LOVED it.
Now, I will acknowledge that 9 followers is hardly the greatest achievement in a month. I’m also not getting the best numbers of views on my videos, although they are creeping up and I am learning a lot about what does well. While nobody likes seeing themselves on video or hearing themselves talk, I have gotten more used to it than I thought I would. It’s great to be able to have a portfolio of content ready to share with prospective clients, especially when it comes to showcasing User Generated Content examples. I’m especially interested in seeing how best to tag content so that the magical TikTok algorithm knows who to push my content out to. Are hashtags dead? Should you just use keywords? I get to find out first hand and learn for myself.
However, by far the greatest thing about having this platform is that, even in a few short weeks, I’ve had two different people message my account (my tiny, baby little account with 9 followers and 11 videos) asking if I wouldn’t mind helping them with a marketing issue or giving them some advice on how to market their business. TWO WHOLE PEOPLE! Who saw my content and thought ‘maybe this person can help me’. I was so surprised, because of how small the account is, but I was equally blown away by the genuine engagement TikTok nurtures. Yes, it’s fast-paced. Yes, you can scroll and scroll and never linger or engage. But because the algorithm is so wicked fast at serving you what you want to see that day, that hour, that minute, you’re likely to build a deep affinity with the creators on the feed you are given.
It is definitely early days, and that if nothing else this experiment will be a great way for me to create a more dynamic and engaging portfolio of the services I can offer to clients. But my hope is that I can keep growing the account, keep sharing what I’ve learned, and keep learning as I go. I would love for this to become a training hub and a place where either marketing professionals or business owners can come for advice and support.
But if I only stay at 9 followers, then so be it. I’m still having too much fun.