On November 1, I was at 52 followers. By December 1, my platform triumphantly grew to… 70 followers. So, where did I go wrong?
At the beginning, I committed myself to a few simple rules: post everyday, follow as many trends as possible and don’t be cringey. I think I followed them to a tee and yet, nothing
My official commencement of the experiment was marked by DM that I sent to four TikTok stars: Caleb Finn, Brittany Broski, Kevin Perry and the infamous Danielle Cohn.
My message explained how I was hoping to write this very article about becoming TikTok famous. I asked for advice on how to grow my platform as all four of these celebrities had been able to gain a mass amount of followers in a seemingly short amount of time.
None of them even read the message.
I thought this was going to be easy; honestly, I thought it wouldn’t even take a month. My very first video for the challenge was the pinnacle of class and comedy: a video of me, in my Gritty costume, doing a popular TikTok dance to “Calling All the Monsters” by China Anne McClain.
In my head, this TikTok had just the right amount of originality and “vine energy” to get big. Alas, it didn’t, so I continued my experiment.
I began by looking at what kind of TikToks were getting the most exposure at the time. One thing that always gets positive feedback is creating content with your pets, so I tried that.
I made a video with my dog that got above-average hype; 800+ views and over 50 likes. I was happy with this and saw it as a sign that things were going to get better.
Unfortunately, that would be the most “clout” that I would receive for a while.
Along the way, I dabbled in some more trends: duetting one of Charlie D’Amelio’s videos, made a few videos commenting on marching band culture and even a few dancing videos.
On top of experimenting with the types of videos I was posting, I also mixed up the hashtags that I put with them. I tried the staples: #foryoupage, #foryou, #fyp.
I also tried adding some of the trending or more liked hashtags at the time. However, this didn’t seem to help me much.
By the end of this trial, I have found that, for some reason, I don’t have “it.” Perhaps it’s how I look, the fact that my content is too bold or maybe I play it too safe.
My conclusion: maybe I’m not destined for TikTok fame, but that won’t stop me from trying. Regardless of how many likes and views I get, making videos is still fun and I’m going to keep on trying for that verified badge on my page.