Why TikTok's Creativity Beta Program Beats Meta's Ads on Reels Program

Meta recently introduced the option to monetize your reels through advertisements, but let me tell you, it's not worth it. As a member of the Meta Creators Community Facebook group, I've had the opportunity to witness what other creators are earning from this program. Although I can't participate myself because my Instagram is temporarily ineligible due to a minor violation, I'm not too disappointed about not bombarding my followers with more ads. Especially when I see creators being paid a mere $5 for every 500K views on their monetized Reels.

Instead, I want to share with you an alternative that I recommended to the fellow members of the Facebook group: TikTok's Creativity Beta Program. As the name suggests, this program hasn't been rolled out to everyone yet. However, if you have access to it, I highly recommend making the switch. While you'll have to forgo the creator fund and only have the ability to monetize content that's over a minute long, TikTok offers a payout ranging from $0.50 to $1.00 per thousand views, and the earnings accumulate quickly. Last month, my qualified views reached 314.5K, earning me $299.51, which is significantly better compared to the now-defunct Meta bonus program.

The main hurdle you'll encounter with TikTok's Creativity Beta Program is the requirement for videos to be over one minute long to generate monetized views. You'll need to get comfortable speaking on camera within a short span of time. My advice is to study the trending video you were planning to post, and instead of a lip sync or text overlay, present your opinion or narrate a story directly to the camera. Edit the clips tightly, and you'll be amazed not only by the profitability but also the increased engagement. Viewers want to connect with a personality; otherwise, they'll swiftly scroll past your content.

If your goal is to earn money from your content, TikTok should be your primary focus. Meta is oversaturated and clearly reluctant to compensate creators adequately. TikTok, on the other hand, recognizes that its creators are the lifeblood of the platform and offers legitimate earning potential.

Like many creators in the social media space, I got my start on Instagram. Myspace created the ball, Facebook got the ball rolling, but it was really Instagram that got the ball to its goal. The influencer market as we know it would not exist without Instagram, for better or worse. So before I get into the utter dumpster fire the social media platform has turned into, I want to give credit where credit is due. Instagram pivoted social media culture in remarkable ways.

Which is why it’s so disappointing to see how far the platform has fallen in regards to how they treat their creators and their user base. When they implemented an algorithm instead of showing us posts from the users we follow chronologically, we outcried. When every third post became an ad, we outcried. And when the platform decided to copy Tiktok and tanked any account that still primarily posted still images (which, if you recall, is the foundation of the platform) we outcried.

Now, with the valid threat that Tiktok has become, Instagram is not only lobbying HARD to get Tiktok banned, but they’re doing it at the expense of the internet as we know it. This new bill will allow the government to ban anything they deem disruptive or threatening to “sensitive personal data” which is INCREDIBLY vague and if you think this only poses a threat to Tiktok and won’t be misused in the future, you’d be wrong my friend.

Does Instagram Value Their Users? Naw Dawg

Ignoring the lack of general ethics Meta is displaying, let’s talk about how they treat their creators and businesses on the platform. I have the unique perspective of having a business account for my cosmetics company, as well as my person page which is a creator account with about 50K followers.

On my business page, if I’m not running ads, my posts do not get traction. It’s gotten to the point where doing beautiful product shoots and paying influencers to create UGC (user generated content) for me is no longer a strategy that works. I’m sinking money if I don’t also please the Meta Gods by paying them to show my hard work to my existing followers. My business page has around 20k followers and it will get a good 20 likes per cultivated post, which is exactly why people moved from Facebook to Instagram originally. They hated having to pay Facebook to show the followers they already had their posts, and Instagram is doing the exact same thing.

On the creator side, the ONLY reason creators started doing reels was because they were being incentivized. Instagram started by simply suppressing still images. Giant creators who had been posting their still images for years started to see a 50% decrease in their engagement rate, forcing them to try their hand at video content even if they weren’t comfortable with it. And that wasn’t ultimately enough, so Meta rolled out their bonus program.

This is when I personally started posting to reels. I’d long since given up on my posts performing and my aesthetic content didn’t translate to video without a significantly larger amount of effort, which I wasn’t ready to commit to. Turns out I also have a child, a partner and a day job. But once reels started actually paying, it was more worth my time. Over the course of posting on reels, I’ve probably made around 10 grand, which is more than most and less than some. Getting around 6 million views would garner me maybe $500 a month, so anyone who wanted to make a living wage off of being on Instagram would have to either be spending ALL of their time making content or doing a lot of brand deals.

Meta expects the Tiktok ban to go through, and they’re probably right. Because of this, they’ve “paused” the bonus program. Many creators depended on this money. I made about $200-$500 monthly and relied on it as supplemental income. Meta is saying that they’re pausing bonuses to “improve their monetization”, but it seems like very odd timing that they’re implementing this change directly after their attack on Tiktok. Big Zuck is also saying that reels isn’t making the platform enough money to pay creators, right as they’ve rolled out a function allowing creators to pay for their verification. Odd that they can’t pay creators at all when they now have a new stream of income flowing in.

So to summarize, Instagram is bullshit.

I recently had the unfortunate experience of having a client so bad, I woke up every day with horrible anxiety. I had spent 10+ hours setting up a full content calendar, and select members of the team were supposed to review the calendar and fill in the copy section so that I could post the content. But because the calendar was going completely ignored, I couldn’t push the posts through, and I knew the second I opened my eyes every morning I’d have texts complaining that the posts were up late. The work was almost entirely done and there was no reason for the posts to be late, but it was completely unavoidable due to the lack of attention the calendar was getting.

On top of the obvious disregard for the social media aspect of the project (which was incredibly important as the project was promoting a self published documentary), the client was verbally abusive. If a small mistake was made, I would receive calls from the client yelling and swearing, throwing an adult tantrum. Frankly, if I wanted to be verbally assaulted by a grown man, I’d give my father a call.

Beyond this project being a blatantly toxic environment (I could tell the team was used to the clients tantrums, and they just dealt with it. Couldn’t be me.), the core issue for me was that it made it look like I was bad at my job. I was being blocked from doing my job well, and I couldn’t even use the time I’d spent with this team and client as a portfolio builder because it was such a poor reflection of my work. There was not a single aspect of this job that benefited me besides the money, and they had haggled my prices down.

So after only a month of working together, I called the marketing director and quit for a second time. The first time I’d expressed my concerns, right after the first abusive client call, he implemented a new structure so that I would be willing to stay on. But just like any toxic relationship, the changes were never made. This is only the second client I’ve ever had to fire, and I hated every second of it. It’s awkward and I hated the thought that I’d be losing all of these contacts, but what’s worse than losing the contacts is losing my drive. The experience was so bad that it was starting to make me hate my job.

How To (Politely) Fire Your Bad Client

Once you’ve decided that the job can’t be salvaged, it’s time to gracefully take your leave. It doesn’t have to be as extreme a situation as the one I’ve described. You can end the relationship due to unmeetable expectations, unpaid invoices, or simply unpleasant working conditions. If the client is a bigger hassle than the money is worth to you, leave.

The question then becomes, how do you fire the client without negatively impacting your own image? For a freelancer, reputation is everything. The last thing you want is to be blackballed in your community. So here’s a step by step guide to (politely) booting your problem client.

Step 1: Make sure you voice your concerns early

Just quitting out of nowhere is going to frustrate your client and makes you look unprofessional. Once you start to see consistent issues that are going unsolved, send an email or schedule a call to try to implement a solution for the issues you’re noticing. By doing this, you look like you’re attempting to stay on top of your task list, and it gives you the genuine opportunity to salvage the project and strengthen your relationship with the client if they’re receptive to the changes you propose.

Step 2: Make sure you’re meeting your obligations

Even if you’re in a situation like I was where the work I was doing was going ignored, I was still doing the work. So when I got the inevitable call demanding to know where the work was, I could point to the 95% finished calendar that required their attention. Make sure that your side of the bargain is done and done well. Don’t give them any opportunity to point the finger at you.

Step 3: Ask yourself if the relationship is past the point of no return

Have the solutions you recommended not been met? Can you sense tension between you and the client/team when you communicate with them? And the most important question, can you afford to let this job fall through? Being able to fire a client is absolutely a privilege. Personally, it was worth it to me to spend the time I’d have spent with this client every week finding a new, better fitting job.

Step 4: Pull the trigger

If you’ve done all of the above and are satisfied with your decision, it’s time to pull the trigger. But how do you do this while keeping things professional and removing emotions from the mix?

Personally I recommend starting the process with an email. Calmly and rationally state your reasons for terminating the project and set an end date. This should reflect the contract you’ve exchanged with the client. Schedule a follow up call so you can answer any of their questions, and put together a task list to complete so you can leave them set up for success. If possible, give them a referral of someone you know who may be a better fit.

Here’s a template of the exact message I sent to terminate my contract:

“Hello (marketing director name), I wanted to touch base. I’ve been in this industry for a while and I’m pretty good at sussing out when I am and am not a good fit for a client/team, and I’m sensing a critical disconnect between the social management services I provide and the needs of the client.

The process of content ideation to posting is very disjointed, and unfortunately none of the solutions we discussed are being implemented successfully. I can sense that it’s getting more frustrating for your team members, not less, which doesn’t reflect the quality of work I aspire to bring to the table. Due to this mismatch, I wanted to reach out and see if you wanted to loop in your previous social media manager as of Feb 2nd, which will be when our first month ends. I’m happy to continue working together until that point.

Please let me know when you have availability for a wrap up call, so I can put together a task list that leaves your next social media manager in a good starting position. I will also be emailing you all of the assets I’ve collected over the past month.

Sincerely,

Brittni”

After our final call, I built them a calendar for the subsequent month that their new social media manager could use as a base template to work off. I also expressed that I was open to working together in the future with a different client/project, so the relationship wasn’t completely cut. If you’re feeling nervous about their reaction, or simply feeling like a bit of a quitter, remind yourself that your worth is not directly connected to your job. It simply wasn’t a good fit, and that is completely okay. Most of your clients will be lovely people who you learn from and them from you.

In the days of old (like 2005), we had YouTubers and Myspace stars and the buck pretty much stopped there. The word “influencer” wasn’t a word anyone uttered, certainly not with the feeling of immense embarrassment that most of us now feel saying it, but with the rise of new social media platforms like Instagram came the creation of the influencer market. As a creator, you likely have one platform that contains most of your audience, and this is typically the platform you started on. But is it wise to leave that audience in one place? And how easy is it to migrate said audience to a different platform?

Long explanation short, diversifying an audience can increase audience outreach, foster a larger community, and assure that you’re never at the whim of a single algorithm. That’s easier said than done, however. The Kardashians and Jenners have been vocal about their declining platforms on Instagram as Tiktok takes over the younger market. Tiktok values authenticity before all else, and the Kardashian/Jenner brand isn’t exactly known for being authentic. That said, if people like the Kardashians with massive audiences are having a tough time migrating to a new platform, then it’s definitely going to be difficult for the average creator.

Instead of focusing on migration, the focus should be on building anew. With cross promotion, some of your audience will inevitably follow you to new platforms, but that number is finite, and most likely low. Once that initial group of loyal viewers converts to your new pages, you’re unlikely to get many more beyond that. Instead of cross promoting to the point of irritating your followers and potentially losing some, put yourself out there and get new ones! Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, and the others have their own built in user base. Each platform also has their own form of monetization, making it absolutely worth it to learn a new skill and grow a new community.

As long as you understand the ins and outs of your niche, you should be able to find your footing again. The learning curve is discovering what content to post on each individual platform and how to optimize that post. Instagram is entirely visual and heavily favors brands. Twitter values real time updates. Tiktok is personality focused and wants to see your human side, not your highlight reel. Learning how to be flexible and optimize your content to fit each platform's needs is a necessary skill if you want to expand your community past what you have now.

There’s also the added perk of the additional data you’ll get from each new platform, allowing you to look better to brands and potential partnerships. The content you make on Instagram may mostly appeal to an 80% female audience between 20-35, whereas your Tiktok content could garner more of a male audience, allowing you to work with more diverse companies that appeal to men.

Knowing what you now know, the next step is to get started! Review your niche and brainstorm how to turn that niche into video content, still image, and text. Making these changes and learning the skills each platform requires can as much as triple your audience, and therefore your earnings!

As freelancers, it is so easy to get in our heads about every little decision. Unlike working a 9-5 for someone else, the choices we make directly affect our businesses and this can be incredibly intimidating. Every choice, such as the way you present your prices to customers or clients matters, but even so, you can’t let this pressure make you hesitant when setting the price for how much your goods or services are worth.

Value yourself by being transparent

It can be our kneejerk reaction to hold our prices out of sight when speaking to a new potential customer. In actuality, this behavior is unprofessional and can make you seem untrustworthy to that customer. Even worse, you’re very possibly wasting your own time if what you charge is vastly out of their budget, and your time is money!

We’ve even seen instances where hiding prices until the last minute has caused a potential customer that the business owner has been going back and forth with for days to simply go ghost. The entire relationship is lost because it’s so late in the process, the customer was likely too uncomfortable to try to haggle the cost into a range that made sense for their budget, so it was easier to not respond at all. Both parties lose out here.

Retain control over the sales process

The way to avoid all of this awkwardness is to be transparent upfront. When you initially have that first interaction, clearly and concisely state what your prices are. You will be able to tell how the relationship is going to go based on their reaction to your prices, and this is ultimately not a bad thing. The hard truth is that you will likely go through the experience of not getting a client or customer due to your prices being out of their budget. However, you have worked hard to think about your offerings and packaged your offer so that it provides great value for your potential customer base.

There is certainly a time to price yourself competitively, but if you have an established business, you’re past that! Lowering your rates is the same thing as devaluing your work. If you know what you provide is something of value and that what you charge is fair, then you will get customers. This is simply the bottom line. The few you don’t get will be vastly outnumbered by the customers who can afford you and do see how much what you provide will benefit them.

Understand that online transactions have become the norm

Many times our fears of failure for our online business come from an outdated standpoint. We think that if we can’t pitch ourselves in person or over the phone, we won’t be able to land the sale because this is what salespeople have been preaching for decades. Hiring a company online without ever interacting face-to-face is completely standard in today’s day and age.

Personally, we have never met our SEO specialist, web developer, or the person who creates our products but have wonderful relationships with each of them. Two of the three have even raised their prices a few times. Having a face to face interaction is, of course, valuable in many respects, but it’s no longer necessary. Just like you no longer have to call a travel agent to book a flight or go into a lot to buy a car, you don’t have to interact in person to make a sale or get a new client.

Don’t sweat pricing yourself competitively

One of the very valid fears that come with plainly listing your prices for all to see is that a competitor in your industry can easily come in and undercut you. This fear is by no means crazy, but what you have to understand is that the clients you want comprehend that they will get what they pay for. The customers we discussed earlier that couldn’t afford you and rejected your original offer will likely go with this cheaper competitor, and they’ll quickly learn that they get what they pay for. They may even hire you to clean up the mess that was made!

Understand that there will always be someone who does what you do for less, but keep in mind that if they’re charging a significantly smaller amount, they’re not doing their job as well as you are. With this knowledge, you shouldn’t give a second thought to listing your prices plainly. Your customer may ask you why your prices are higher, and that’s well within their rights. It’s part of your job to be able to clearly articulate why your prices are what they are, and more often than not, that customer will stick around and move forward with you.

In the end (it doesn't even matter)

In the end, if you let talking about what you charge scare you away from doing it, then part of you is not yet seeing the true value of what you provide. Please know that you got where you are based on your effort alone and be proud of that fact. When you practice your business with confidence, clients and customers will recognize that and be inspired to work with you. So don’t be afraid to be honest and charge what you’re worth. Doing so will only help you and your business grow!

We all have dreams that drive us, but sometimes it can be difficult to put one foot in front of the other and make it happen. Life gets in the way of our dreams all too often. Kids, our day job, coffee with that friend from college that you haven’t seen in a few years. Suddenly the book you wanted to write or the business you wanted to start seems to slip from your fingers, moving further and further away from becoming a reality. When someone asks why you never did it, you respond that we simply don’t have the time.

The hard truth, however, is that you do have time. It’s how you prioritize that time that makes all the difference. In Cal Newport's book Deep Work, he discusses the concept of Deep Work vs. Shallow Work. According to him, shallow work is what has become the standard in today's society. We sit down to write a blog post, and we stop five minutes in because we got an email notification that distracted us. Fifteen minutes later we’re starting to settle back into the groove of the writing and an Instagram notification pops up on our phone. Suddenly we’re out of the zone again. Shallow work is never your best work, and it’s easy to replicate making it less valuable.

Deep work is achieved by removing distractions from your area and getting into a state of hyper-focus. The result of content produced by deep work is of higher quality and can not be easily replicated. Now that you know the difference between the two, it’s obvious which type of work is going to assist you in reaching your dreams.

How to Achieve Deep Work

• Put your phone away - At its core, getting your mind into a state of deep work means getting rid of distractions, and what is your phone besides one big distraction? It’s constantly buzzing and dinging and ringing, all of which your mind is conditioned to focus in on. If you’re trying to get into the zone, put your phone in another room before you sit down to work.
• Stay off the internet - This is easier said than done, as many of us use the internet for research when we’re working. A great tip to utilize is to collect your research prior to digging into deep work. That way the tabs you need are already open and at your disposal, meaning you can turn off your wifi and settle into your creative headspace without the distraction of emails coming through.
• Make time for laziness - According to Cal Newport’s book, laziness is vital to deep work. The mind can only stay hyper-focused for so long. For those of us who are new at it, about an hour is typical. Any more than that and we start to falter. For experts at the craft of deep work, four hours tend to be the maximum amount of time they can spend a day in a state of extreme focus. It’s vital to give your mind a break in between. We’re humans, not machines, so rest easy knowing that vegging out and watching Netflix is actually part of your to-do list for the day.
• Set a timer - As mentioned above, there’s only so much time our brains can handle being in a state of hyper-focus. When sitting down to work on a project, estimate the amount of time you have for uninterrupted work. If your toddler is down for a nap and they typically nap for an hour and a half, set a timer for an hour. While the timer is going, you’re only allowed to work on the matter at hand. Once the timer has gone off, you can choose to end your work and pick it back up later in the day when you have another block of uninterrupted time. Having a specific start time and a specific end time eases the mind and allows you to crank out your best work.

It’s easy to write off the concept of deep work. You may say that you’re great at multi-tasking so this doesn’t apply to you, but simply the act of switching between tasks takes away from our mental energy. Shifting tasks quickly leads to shallow work. Shallow work may be easier, but doing less than your best won’t get you where you want to be. Developing your ability to achieve deep work will take time and effort on your part. Like any good habit, you’ll have to make it a daily priority before it becomes natural. Whenever you’re in a rut, give this article a reread and remember why you’re trying to develop this skill in the first place. Keep your dream at the forefront of your mind so that every time your brain tries to choose distraction over deep work, you choose instead to focus on the tasks that will benefit your life in the long run.

Influencer marketing is easily one of the most under-utilized tools that businesses have in their arsenal today. Because the influencer industry is so new, it’s easy to turn up your nose at “these crazy kids just asking for free stuff”. In reality, that kind of thinking is outdated and dismissive. For example, there was a headline that read, “Virtually unknown US blogger and his 8000 screaming fans bring Birmingham city center to a shocked standstill.” This headline sums up how the general public perceives influencers. Even when their very presence at a shopping mall causes it to be overrun with screaming teen girls, we call them virtually unknown.

Influencers work hard on their branding. They spend time and money building a loyal following that trusts and believes in their promotions. Frankly, if an influencer deems your product worthy of a shout-out, whether it's a paid post or you traded your product for a post, you should feel blessed. As someone who has been on the influencer side of things and the brand side of things, I find that most influencers will only work with companies they actually believe in.

If you're curious about influencer marketing, you probably have something you want to promote. Maybe it's an Amazon product you're selling, a gofundme that you're trying to attract attention to, or maybe an Etsy account where you sell things you craft. You have the product and you want to get more eyes on it. What do you do?

What is an Influencer?

An influencer is defined as a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.

This definition is rather broad, so it makes sense as to why some would be confused by it. The best way to understand it is to categorize influencers into tiers. You have your small influencers, which are people with under 100k followers. Then you have medium, which is anywhere from 100k-500k followers, and finally, you have large. These are the Kylie Jenners of the industry, and unless you own Pepsi, you’ll likely be focusing on working with small and medium-sized influencers.

The first step to influencer marketing

First, you have to ask yourself if you know your category. Figuring out what your category is will dictate what types of influencers you should be working with. If you make costumes for dancers, you would look for dance-related Instagrammers and Youtubers. If you're selling pet supplies, you'd look for accounts people have made for their pets. Most of the time your category will be clear.

When it comes to service-based industries, the process is the same. If you’re trying to promote your restaurant business, you would look for local food bloggers and Instagrammers.

Now you want to figure out how to contact influencers you've found in your category. Most of the time they will have their email in their bios, which is the section at the very top of their social media page. If not, you can send them a DM (direct message) and ask for it. I highly discourage commenting on their page and requesting their information there. This seems impersonal and most influencers will brush you off as spam.

How to write your Influencer Outreach email

When writing your email template, you'll want to be straightforward and to the point. The goal is to quickly present who you are, what you do, and what you’re offering them. If you get an email back, this is when you can really explain what your company is at length. In that first email, however, we’re just trying to get the attention of the influencers. Here’s a great example:

"Hi ____! My name is ___ and I'm with ___ company. I admire your page and I'd love the opportunity to work with you. Let me tell you a little about our product." Proceed to explain your product or service to them and let them know what you're offering, whether it be trading products for a post or a paid sponsorship. I find that if I'm not sure how much I should offer someone, I ask them what their rates for a post are and that helps me gauge if they're within my budget.

Trading product for post vs. Paying for post

That brings us to our next question. What are you willing to give to an influencer in exchange for their post about your business? If you're a small business just starting out, you'll most likely be trading your product for a post. That's totally fine and there are plenty of influencers out there who are happy to accept that deal, but there are a few things to note when you're not involving money.

1. There is no guarantee that the influencer will actually make the post. As someone with a brand, I have sent many a product and never heard from the influencer again.  Likewise, I've been sent a product for free and decided not to post about it. Maybe they didn't like the product, or perhaps they simply never got around to it. When there isn't money involved you're pretty much just taking a leap of faith.

2. To increase the likelihood that the influencer will post about your product, you want to target smaller accounts, around 1k-5k followers. Smaller accounts want to look like they're getting regular sponsorships so that other brands will recognize them as someone worth working with. However, this obviously means less exposure to your product, but you have to start somewhere.

In my personal opinion, it is worth working with small accounts just for the photo when you're starting to build your own business on social media. I would seek out talented people who just hadn't gotten a ton of recognition yet and they were almost always happy to post about my product for free. Then voila, I had a great-looking new post for my business Facebook and Instagram.

Let's assume you've worked with smaller influencers or perhaps your company is already more solidified and you have the advertisement budget you need.

Here are some things to note about paid sponsorships on social media:

1. As opposed to trading products for a post, legally you should be asking your influencers to put #ad in the caption of their post. Full transparency is very important. Otherwise, you could potentially get fined.

2. When paying for a post, you can get pretty specific with what you want from an influencer. From what the photo should look like to key points you want the caption to hit on. For an extra price, some may also put your website in their bio for a period of time to make it easier for their followers to access your product.

3. I've found that most (but definitely not all) of the time that you pay for a post, influencers will include your product for free in future posts if they like it enough. This is where knowing your category and marketing to the correct influencers come in handy. If you have a cosmetics company and send your product to a beauty blogger, they’re more likely to use that product again later, even if it’s unpaid, because it’s something their followers were genuinely interested in.

Influencer marketing is a constantly shifting variable, so you’ll have to try your hand at all of the steps I laid before you and find out which combination works best for your company. Test out influencer marketing on different social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. By doing this, you’ll quickly be able to see which platforms your product or service has more success with, allowing you to optimize your sales.

The people who watch your Instagram stories are your most engaged following. They are the people your posts will always reach, despite the Instagram algorithm being evil. Your stories are incredibly valuable and show the most of your personality. The biggest difference between your feed and your stories is that your stories show your real life, while your static feed is your portfolio. That’s where you post the best of the best. Your stories can show the behind-the-scenes, and even the messier aspects of yourself, without having to be half as cultivated.  

For example, I would post a video of me singing loudly and badly in my car to my stories. I'll post my face halfway through my makeup, bad outtakes of my Reels videos, and anything that my followers might find funny and relatable. Don't let the professionalism of your main Instagram grid stop you from showing your quirks and your personality. Those aspects of yourself will set you apart from the rest!

Quantity over Quality

When it comes to your stories, more is better. Value quantity over quality. Instagram users will just tap through your stories and quickly consume what you did that day, but if you generally only post one a day or less, they’ll stop tapping your icon. Ideally, you want to post at least 5 stories on your Instagram every day. I know, that sounds like a ton. However, it’s actually not hard, you just have to get into the habit of doing it. When you make yourself and your child breakfast, snap a pic of what you made and post it. Take a selfie in the car. Take a pretty picture of some scenery (and tag the location). Got lunch with a friend? Take some photos. Your followers are interested in your life. Let them see what you’re doing. Just decide beforehand what your limits are, and what you are and aren’t comfortable showing.

Utilize Story Functions

One of the best ways to boost your account's engagement is to use Instagram buttons in your stories. If you're deciding between which outfit to wear to an event, post them both to stories and use a poll to let your followers pick! If you're not sure what type of content to post that week, use the question button to ask your followers what they'd like to see from you. I just recently used the question button to ask my followers why they followed me in the first place, and it was not only insightful but allowed me to reconnect with my core following!  

Are you ready to dive into Tiktok creation?

Whether you have a personal brand or a business, it’s worth taking the time to learn how to create Tiktok content. The platform is definitely more competitive now than it was a few years ago, but there is still plenty of opportunity to find space in your niche! However, if you’re coming at Tiktok with an Instagram mentality, there's a good chance you'll fail. While Instagram is a highlight reel, only showing your best angles, Tiktok values truth and authenticity.

If you want to learn how to use Tiktok and become a creator yourself, follow this practical tips and tricks guide!

Don’t be a perfectionist, post trash!

Down the line, there will be plenty of time to increase the quality of your posts. But as a social media manager, one of the things I see most often in my clients is a hesitation to post anything that doesn’t reflect their exact vision of perfection. As I mentioned previously, Tiktok values reality, and Tiktok users can spot a fake person from miles away. Users on the platform would rather see you in a hoody in a badly lit room, as long as the content of the video is interesting or informative.

One of the highlights of using Tiktok is how easy it is to create content. Tiktok itself is a straightforward platform with simple editing software. When starting out, it’s recommended to film on your phone in the app, as this actually gives your video an organic boost to the For You Page.

Speaking of the For You Page, it’s smart to spend some time scrolling and studying what type of editing is popular at the time. You’ll notice people editing in jump cuts, cutting out their ‘likes’ and ‘uhms’ to make the video snappier and save time (and attention spans), and putting in text overlay so people know what your video is going to be about.

It’s completely okay to try different types of content when you’re starting out to see what converts best and what feels most authentic to you and your brand!

Focus on community management

Community is everything on Tiktok. If you want to build a following, you have to be an active user of the platform, and enjoy using the platform. The most basic way to do this is to make sure you’re responding to any comments on your own videos, even if it's simply to say hello. If you start to see specific usernames on multiple posts, give those accounts some special attention! Simple social interactions can guarantee a loyal follower for years to come.

Another way to socialize on the platform is to duet and stitch videos relevant to your niche. Many creators will make videos with prompts, utilizing hooks that ask the viewer a question. Use these videos as opportunities to answer those questions, giving your own perspective or telling a story that relates back to your personal brand or business. And use duets to react to videos, giving commentary or visual reactions.

Also make sure to follow and engage with accounts like yours in your niche, so you can connect with like-minded people and potentially collaborate on content together!

Consistency is still key

Even as a beginner, being consistent is insanely important. Tiktok's algorithm will categorize your account early on. If it sees that you’re mostly a viewer, not a creator, your videos are less likely to get pushed to the For You Page.

The most popular creators on the platform are uploading at least one video a day, and that is definitely what Instagram prefers. If you can post once a day, you should. However, if you can’t, make sure you have a posting schedule you can realistically stick to! Keep in mind that the content doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, it can be text overlay on a video of you drinking coffee over a trending sound.

If you want to get ahead of your posting schedule, utilize Tiktok's draft function. Take one day a week to batch your content and keep the videos in your drafts until you’re ready to post. Remember to use relevant hashtags! This will help Tiktok know what users to push your videos to.

By posting regularly and consistently in your niche, you will quickly gain the following you’re aiming for. Success on Tiktok doesn’t mean going viral, it means getting the right eyes on your content! A million people who don’t care what you do and don’t convert to follows/sales have nothing on ten thousand people who are interested in you and your business.

Before you even get started on content creation and working on your engagement, ask yourself, what do I want to gain from having a platform? Do you want to work with brands for money, do you desire fame and recognition, or are you a product based page trying to boost sales? Understanding your goals is the first step to actually reaching them.

Be Realistic.

I find that the easiest mistake to make when setting your goals is setting them way too high. If you currently have 200 followers, setting 10k as your goal for the end of the month probably isn’t going to happen. This will make you feel discouraged when you don’t meet it and you’ll be less likely to continue with the project that is growing your account.

I’m not saying not to set big goals. Five year plans keep us going, they light a fire under our asses. However, keeping those lofty ideals as your long term goals and also setting some short term goals, for instance gaining 50 new followers by the end of the week, are the attainable goals that keep us motivated in the day to day.

Social Media is a Part Time Job.

You have to be aware that to reach your social media goals, you’re going to have to dedicate actual time to this process. I recently read The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck, and in it he talks about how when he was a kid he really wanted to be a famous musician. Well into his adolescence, it stayed a dream of his. But he wasn’t motivated to learn to play music well, or lug the bulky equipment around small venues so he could eventually play at big venues. He didn’t love the process, and that’s because at the end of the day he didn’t want to be a musician.

As a micro influencer and social media manager myself, I can tell you with confidence that you will not grow if you don't genuinely love something about the process. I spend 20+ hours a week focused on studying trends, creating content, and fine tuning my posting schedule. Simply posting once or twice a week and not glancing at your social apps again is not going to cut it. Make sure you have a set amount of hours a week, however many that might be, to dedicating yourself to the process.

Goal Examples

If you know you want to grow but aren't sure what your goals should be, here are some examples:

• Gain X amount of followers by the end of the month
• Increase content quality
• Create X amount of stories per day
• Increase post engagement
• Increase website taps
• Focus on more video content
• Start partnering with Influencers/Brands

When it comes to organic growth, no social media platform currently beats the reach you can get on Tiktok. Instagram and Facebook have both become “pay-to-play” games, prioritizing only the users who use their built-in ad function to boost their content. Tiktok has added advertisements, but it’s not quite as money-motivated just yet. That said, the algorithm isn’t as generous as it was in 2020. It’s more common than ever for a video that you’ve worked hard on to level out at around three hundred views, which can be really discouraging for creators on the platform.

If you find this happening to your videos, it’s time to sit down and audit your own content. Take a look at the following five organic growth tips and compare them to your current content to see where you might be able to improve!

Tiktok Growth Tip #1 - Niche Down your Content

When you search for how to grow on Tiktok, you will get one resounding answer, and that is to niche down. It may be redundant, but it is genuinely the fastest way to grow on the platform. The days of doing a dance to a popular song are long gone unless you’re coming to Tiktok with an existing following. Most of us aren’t going to be Charlie D’Amelio, so we have to find something a little more interesting to do or talk about to entice Tiktok’s growing audience. However, I’m going to put a spin on this tip to make it a little more attainable.

Being told that you have to choose one single topic to post about for the rest of your content-creating career is a big ask, and can absolutely lead to burnout. When you choose your niche, whatever that may be, find 2-3 subtopics that relate back to your niche. For instance, if you’re a creator on mental health Tiktok, some subcategories of the niche could be healthy habits to improve your mental health and what you personally do to keep your brain healthy. That way when you’re burnt out on being purely educational, you can make some lifestyle content that your following will still benefit from.

Tiktok Growth Tip # 2 - Use Relevant Hashtags in your Captions

Once upon a time, hashtags were used in the hopes that your video would rank highly under that hashtag when a Tiktok user searched for it. Now, in the current age of SEO, Tiktok hashtags serve a new purpose. When you put hashtags on your video, what you’re actually doing is telling Tiktok who is going to be interested in it. If you’re a sports psychologist and you don’t use hashtags on your video, Tiktok’s algorithm is going to show that video to a random set of people who may not be your target audience. When you add #sportspsychology to the video description, however, Tiktok now knows to show that video to people who have searched for similar topics and your video has a much higher chance of being shown to users who will engage with it. There are many theories on how many hashtags to use on Tiktok, but everyone has agreed that at least three to five is preferable.

Tiktok Growth Tip #3 - Stay Consistent in your Post Schedule

If Tiktok has its way, you would be posting upwards of five times a day. The algorithm values high quantity, and if you’re able to do this, you’ll be rewarded. But if you’re not a content-pumping machine, five is probably not an attainable number. Instead, enforce a schedule that you can actually be consistent with, and try to aim for once a day, or every two days max. Not only will a consistent schedule build trust in your audience, but it’ll also show the algorithm that you’re more than a casual viewer who posts to Tiktok at random. Lack of consistency is an easy way to get yourself stuck at 200 views per video.

Tiktok Growth Tip #4 - Improve Your Video and Sound Quality

There’s something to be said for content that feels organic. We’ve all seen videos hit one million views when it’s just a girl telling a story from her bed with only her cell phone as lighting. Generally speaking, however, better lighting and sound quality will help your video performance. Tiktok can tell when your video is grainy, and users who can’t hear you over the background noise will skip past your video in just a few seconds. Invest in a ring light and a tiny microphone, or film in front of a window when your house isn’t at its noisiest.

Tiktok Growth Tip #5 - Relate Current Trends Back To Your Niche

While Tiktok is starting to compete with Youtube, similarly valuing long-form videos, short trending sounds are still very relevant on the platform. The trick is to figure out how you can spin a trend to fit your specific niche. I’ve seen business pages completely flop because they were too nervous to use trends, deciding that it was inappropriate for their culture. I would encourage everyone, companies included, to go a little outside their comfort zone and use trending sounds when possible. If you start seeing a sound on your page more than twice, check the number of videos that are under that sound. If it’s less than twenty thousand or so, then you’re still early and could potentially rank highly under that sound.

If you consistently utilize all of the above tips, you should absolutely see an increase in your engagement in just a few weeks. But above all else, try to have fun! Tiktok users can tell when you yourself are a user of the platform, and they like to see people simply enjoying themselves.

Finding your social media aesthetic is easily the hardest part of building your personal brand. You know what you like and what your interests are. At this point you know what your Instagram goals are and what it is you’re working towards. But how should it look? Out of all the advice I'll give you in this blog, this is the only topic that I can’t give you a formula on. What I can give you is suggestions and tell you what I did and how I reached the aesthetic I have now. When I post a pic, you know it’s mine before you look at the username, and that is the goal.

What draws your eye?

First, I spent a few hours on instagram just scrolling my home page and the popular page. This was pretty easy, as I do it anyway, despite the protects of my screen time app. I used the save feature to save photos from users who really stood out to me. I essentially used my saved photos as an inspiration board, but you could also use a Pinterest board for this process if you feel so inclined. When you’re going through the photos that you saved, take notes of the common themes you see. I’d like to add for the business accounts reading this, this is also how I put together ideas for future product photos.

When I was saving photos, the users I saved the most of were @cozykitsune, @carlycristman and @jennymustard. These three are some of my absolute favorite accounts and it’s because I really really enjoy their aesthetics. It’s a good idea to choose a few people who are at the top of the category you're striving towards and study how they got there. Now, if you look at their pages you can see they’re very different from mine. (For one, they’re better. I know a lot but I also have a lot to learn.)

Put your own spin on the idea.

I want to be clear that I’m not recommending that you copy other creators. Copying and being inspired are completely different things. You’re still adding your own personal flair to the category you’ve chosen. My theme is literally just white. It doesn’t have to be a color, you just want to make sure there’s consistency. Some people do this by adding the same filter or stacked filters to every photo. I might even recommend going this route as it’s less restrictive than having a color theme. I happen to know this is what @cozykitsune does to tie her photos together, as well as many other popular creators.

Whatever aesthetic you end up going for, just make sure you love it. Ultimately, that’s what matters!