Thread by @FerdyOmondi

Yesterday during #Maandamano, I went live on Tik Tok for the first time.
In 30 minutes, I gained 8,000 new followers.
To put this in perspective, I gained less than 500 followers on Instagram the whole of 2022.

I have been trying to "hack" the General Z audiences. My age mates (you 🤣) on Twitter and FB already know me. Well, I got the answer when I decided, "Today, I will share my serious content on my dull, dormant Tik Tok page first." The response was dramatic

Thousands watched every snippet I sent. And when I went live, everything exploded.

I streamed live, non-stop, for 30 minutes. Started with an audience of 3. By the time I had to cut off the live stream, more than 4,000 were steadily watching, and sending flowers, diamonds and all manner of those-things-they-share-to-show-that-they-care.
Active validation bro

This also taught me something. This theory that younger audiences don't watch news is a inaccurate. Younger audiences care about what's happening around them. But you must take that information to them. Because they're never coming to you.

Short videos are popular. They tell a lot in a short time. This gem here got over 600,000 engagements. It's now doing rounds via WhatsApp, the world's 3rd most popular app.

And that means that your content will spread like wildfire beyond your handle, and with a nice little watermark which owns your work for you.
What happens on Tik Tok stays on Fb, and Twitter, and Instagram, and Telegram and WhatsApp.

Tik Tok is the 6th most popular app in the World [statista]. But it's the fastest growing, and the only app that doubled its audience in the last 2 years.

More than 60% of Tik Tok's 1 billion users are aged 25 and below. Yes, the data shows they primarily love entertainment, but not all of us can dance, or act, or scream in public, or spend 8 hours before a green screen generating content. So how do you "hack" this audience ?

My answer: Focus on your strengths, and do what you do best. I grew my Twitter audience purely on journalism. When i shifted to Tik Tok and tried the stereotypes, they didn't work for me. And then I took what I do best to Tik Tok. Boom.

At this time yesterday, I had 444 Tik Tok followers. In 24 hours, I am pushing 30,000. And my content is now being suggested in the "for you" section. Mama I made it 🙌

Stop this Tik Tok is for kids nanzenz.
Tik Tok is the Home of the most populous demographic in the world.
GEN Z are the future. Period.
If you're serious about growing your brand, ignore Tik Tok at your peril.
Chinese spy stories notwithstanding

Younger audiences- Tik Tok- content- viral-forwards- growth.
And that's digital first 101.

Got 777 new followers while composing this thread. And so, goodbye.

@threadreaderapp unroll.

PS. I thought I'd check my Tik Tok analytics.
Unless I'm not reading well, my video views done gone up 3 million % in 7 days!
Oh, and I've hit 40k.
🙏.