TikTok Newsletter 39

Going viral. Micro-Influencers. 22.000 pieces of content

Hi subscriber,

this is Understanding TikTok your weekly TikTok snack 🍓. My name is Marcus. And if you dare you can hear my lovely voice on Deutschlandfunk Kultur talking (german) about #OldTok. So why not get your grandma right in front of your selfie cam like Lewis Leigh. 

Today we talk about:

🌪️ Going viral
🐿️ Micro-Influencers
🧱 22.000 pieces of content

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🌪️ Going viral

You are still not going viral? Even though you try. And try. Well, you are not alone. Even when a creator scores a viral hit, repeat success can prove elusive, writes Georgia Wells for the WSJ. And introduces us to Kendra Womack. The 26-year-old student filmed her aunt’s Labrador retriever Daisy and a yellow squeeze toy. The 12 seconds went viral and have been seen by more than 1.4 million people. So where is the catch?

“She’s posted about 50 videos since her viral video of Daisy, and none has received more than 1,700 views. She tried making videos about trending challenges, such as costume changes and funny bits of dialogue, but none clicked.” Damn. I leave it to diligent Reddit-users to discuss Shadowbanning and pass you on to this Bloomberg article: How TikTok Chooses Which Songs Go Viral.

Bottom Line: Social media has never been as spontaneous as it seems, but TikTok’s management of its platform is particularly active, with executives pulling the levers on the hitmaking machine. That includes advising “popular creators on which hashtags and features are important to the app and its advertisers, who are often guaranteed a minimum number of views per campaign.” Top users receive weekly emails with instructions on which videos to make to increase their exposure, says Gabby Murray who is quoted in the article. He is a 19-year-old TikTok creator from Florida with 8.5 million followers. Did you go viral? By chance? By accident? Tell me all about it!

🐿️ Micro-Influencers

It works. Paying people on TikTok that do not have 500,000 followers to promote your brand. At least this is what a study found out. 82% of consumers were likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer (a person with more reach than the average person — though not a celebrity — in a very specific category or demographic like college students), says a study by Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and research firm Keller Fay Group. Read more in this CNBC article on students becoming brand ambassadors.

Yeah, but where does Micro actually start? This Insider-article from 2020 might be a good reference to start with: How to start making money from TikTok as a 'nano' influencer with fewer than 10,000 followers — and how much you can earn. Quote: “A "nano" influencer with fewer than 10,000 followers will earn an average of $25 per sponsored post...A "micro" influencer with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers on TikTok will earn roughly $200 per post. For "mid-tier" influencers approaching 500,000 TikTok followers, a typical sponsored post will cost roughly $750.”  

And if you ever happen to become a TikTok creator with around half a million followers you might charge a $500 flat rate for a sponsored video with an additional fee earned based on a performance metric like app downloads or views the article says. But now, a year later, it might be more.


🧱 22.000 pieces of content

Victoria Paris. Her bio says: the only living girl in nyc. If you are reading Alice’s and Faye’s newsletter High Tea you already know everything about the creator gaining 16,000 TikTok followers per day by relentlessly sharing her life. And if you are reading Rex’s newsletter Digital Native you already know his very-unscientific chart underscoring just how prolific modern creators can be.

Victoria Paris posts up to 80 TikToks each day. And i had to think back to newsletter 22 featuring Trisha Paytas: Why you should be posting 73 times a day or less. Back in November 2020 this number sounded rather odd. Now 80 seems to be okay if you want to be a 2021 vlogger. 

🕳️ This is the end.

If you want more, why not read about brands being reluctant when it comes  to an active channel while not being reluctant when it comes to branded hashtag challenges. Or this NYT article on domestic workers in Gulf countries using TikTok to speak out. Hype House has a reality show on Netflix. Or get in the mood with some #RamadanVibes. If you are into ISO-numbers TikTok is now ISO 27001 certified in the UK and the US. 

Speak soon, Marcus 🐇