Tiktok, Zero to 40k in 3 Months
This is a story all about how, my life was literally flipped, and got turned upside down…
Back in Mid September after downloading Tiktok “as a joke” I started producing simple video content. It was pretty basic, I was making silly videos (published to private) that I was saving and sending to my friends.
I really wasnt trying to do more other than entertain myself.
Then while working on a painting in my downtown studio in Las Vegas, I decided to grab my phone and start filming.
The video wasn't anything special, I was showing an art tip on better brush work by wiping the excess paint off your brush using the edges.
But as usual, I totally mis-pronounced “excess” and used the word “access”. I didn’t think anything of it. A few hours later I started to see an explosion of views.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a funky tongue. Going to college in the Bay Area and growing up listening to rap artists like E-40 and Mac Dre.
Talking bay area slang is tha thang.
Seems to me like I did something right!
WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?!
What I figured out was that I had accidentally made TRIGGERING content. I had a flood of comments “It’s Excess” and “Did he really just say access?”.
I figured out that by making videos that had either a grammatical or visual error, performed extremely well on Tiktok. The trick was to produce content that had half of the user base making fun of, and the other half defending.
The conversation engagement was crazy.
10 days after I had seen almost 1.3m views on my page total. This was nuts, so I tested my theory. I made a recipe for how to create educational yet triggering art videos.
My second big hit was a video on how I mix my solid black paint. I use a mixture of acrylic fluid paint and ink. But for this I said “add one drop” and proceeded to add like 50. Bam it was a hit, people were going nuts.
My content recipe totally worked.
Almost 3 months past and my content is banging. I get an average of 5–10k views per video and on my viral ones, hit around 200–500k. I’ve also surpassed over 3.5m views total on my content. WOW!
I’ve now received explosive growth, and am continuing to build and push new content on Tiktok. I’ve since retired the triggering content and have moved to legit art hacks and tutorials.
My theory is if you get stuck being known for silly stuff, you’ll stay there. If you want to build a real brand with real value. Figure out how to find your niche as soon as possible.
“Don’t play yourself.”
Over the holiday break I saw an insane spike of traffic.
I knew something had happened, after receiving comments
“I came from Rae Dizzles, youtube”. I didnt know what that meant, so I had to google it.
Guess what, Youtube superstar SuperRaeDizzle, had produced a Youtube video all about me. Rae Dizzle is an Artist/Youtuber with around 1.25m subscribers on Youtube. Her channel is an Art based channel, where she debunks and tries pro art tips.
At first I was super hesistant on what she had to post. I thought maybe my art hacks were crap, and she was gonna put me on blast. But no she tried what I had been teaching and they totally worked. Not only did she produce a video about my TikTok hacks, but also gave me a bunch of love on the internet.
I’m super grateful.
Currently as of Dec 1, here are my high level stats.
Followers: 41,908
Likes: 960,381
Views (last 28d): 3,000,907
Profile Views: 50,111
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Tiktok has proven to be an insanely empowering tool for content creators. The chance of hitting viral, getting organic growth, and a ton of attention is amazing.
I look forward to doubling my numbers in the next month.
Keep on the look out, Im gonna see if I can growth hack Youtube next.
Stay tuned!
tiktok.com/@frankynines
twitter.com/frankynines
instagram.com/frankynines_
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