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Welcome to episode number 23 of The Social Smarty Show.
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Now, I've been talking a lot lately about TikTok, about how much I love the platform. And I've been working with a bunch of really awesome business owners to get them up and running on TikTok. Now, I will be honest, I am deep in the honeymoon phase with TikTok. I just love it. It's definitely my social media app of choice at the moment. But I do get it. If you're out there thinking, oh, just another platform for me to learn, I totally understand. If you're flat out you're super busy and you just don't have the capacity to add to your load, don't worry.
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Do not stress about getting on TikTok. Just focus instead on nailing the social media platforms that you already know, like Instagram, Facebook. But maybe you are feeling a little bit jaded with Facebook or maybe you've ditched Twitter because, well, elon. And maybe TikTok just seems like a bit of a, I don't know, a breath of free share that you need in your business. So today I wanted to share with you the five things I love about TikTok.
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Now, this is not in an effort to convince you that you have to be on TikTok. It's more maybe a bit of an understanding of what is cool about the platform and maybe it will give you a little bit of encouragement to try it out. Right, let's dive in to reason number one that I love TikTok and that's because of the creativity. Now, we know that TikTok is largely about video content and the platform actually is a built in video editor. So in the past, when we've created video content for Facebook, Instagram, I've often been asked what app do you use, how do you edit your videos?
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Well, with TikTok, you don't need to worry about that because it's all built right into the platform. So there's filters, there's templates, there's music, there's everything you need to create really cool, fun, engaging and quite different content. The other cool thing about TikTok is that you can take inspiration from others. It's not just okay to do, but it's actually encouraged as long as you do it the right way. So you're not going to rip off someone else's idea and copy it completely.
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And if you do take inspiration from other creators, we are going to give credit to them. So let people know where you found that inspiration. But adding your own spin on something, your own twist, that is really at the heart of TikTok and it's really cool to see the creative ways that someone interprets a trend or they recreate something in their own way. I really love that about TikTok. Now the other cool thing about TikTok is, and I think this is the reason why we see so much effort being put into creating really cool content is that really early on in the piece, TikTok launched the Creator fund.
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So this meant that creators on the platform would actually get paid for creating content and that payment is based on views. So you get paid for the number of views you have on your content. Now, how do you get more views on your content? Make better content. You make it more entertaining, more exciting, more creative.
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So instead of having to create content and then send the viewer off to like a website or patreon or somewhere where people can pay you money so that you can make money from being a creator, the creators then objective becomes keeping you on TikTok, keeping you coming back and watching their stuff. And I think that has had a big impact on why we see such cool, different, fun, exciting, creative content on the platform. Cool. On to reason number two, why I love TikTok. It is the best platform for discovering new content.
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Now, I've talked about this many times before, but I just love the way that you can rely on TikTok's algorithm to show you the stuff that interests you. Now, normally when it comes to social media marketing, we can be kind of negative about the algorithms and how it sort of feels like they're working against us and making it really hard to get our content seen. But in the case of consuming content on TikTok, like when I'm sitting back and scrolling, I love that I can see stuff that I actually enjoy without having to go hunting for it or without having to scroll through stuff that just doesn't interest me at all. But yes, it does take a while to train the algorithm. I feel like there's kind of a period at the start when you first sign up to TikTok where you kind of have to stick with it.
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You have to teach the algorithm. The algorithm has to learn what it is that you're interested in. But over time it becomes better and better at showing you content that is relevant and interesting. So stick with it. If you're still in that sort of awkward phase at the start, stick with it because I promise you, the algorithm just gets more and more clued up on what it is that you're interested in.
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Cool. So that leads me right into reason number three, why I love TikTok. Is that also well, it's also because of that TikTok algorithm. So it's great from a consumer perspective where we can sit back and be shown content that is interesting to us without having to go and search for it. But from a business perspective or from a content creator perspective, it is really cool because it means that you can get your content seen by a really big audience, completely organically.
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So without paying any money, without the need to build a big audience, or without the need to have an audience at all. So most people will scroll through what we call their FYP or their for you page. So that means that we don't need to be following businesses or creators to see their content. The algorithm is at work and it's just showing us content that we are interested in. So as a business, as a brand, when we're new to the platform, what we just need to do is get creating content.
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The more content we create, the better because this gives the algorithm something to work with and it will go out and hunt out the most relevant audience for your content. So if TikTok determines that your content is entertaining, interesting, informative newsworthy, then the algorithm can push it out regardless of the size of your audience. Now we are starting to see this happen on the other social media platforms. So over on Instagram and Facebook when we look at the Reel feed, so when we're scrolling through Reel, that's the same sort of idea. So the algorithm is showing us Reel.
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So yes, we see Reels from people that we follow or accounts that we're following, but we'll see a lot of content from people we're not following because the algorithm is sort of determining what is appropriate for us. But TikTok really is the OG of that sort of I call it the Discovery Feed. I'm sure I've read that somewhere. But it's about showing your feed of content, helping you discover creators without having to follow them. Now, a little bit of a side note here.
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You might have seen in the news recently, or even if you're in my email community, I shared to you something called TikTok Heating. So reportedly there's some staff who work for TikTok or its parent company Bike Dance, who have the ability to heat a specific video, which basically means that they push it out to gain sort of viral views, hundreds of thousands of views. So it's not always the algorithm that decides what goes viral. But it could be that that TikTok team are giving some creators a massive helping hand. Now a TikTok spokesperson did comment on this and they basically said that yes, they do promote some videos, but it's basically to help diversify the content experience.
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So introducing some celebrities and new or emerging creators to the TikTok community. Now apparently there's only a few people at TikTok and Bike Dance that have the ability to approve that content for promotion. So to heat the content. And apparently that only makes up 2% of the videos we see in our For You feeds. But I still think that's a really interesting side note that it's not always just the algorithm that is pushing out these creators, that there is a little bit of behind the scenes stuff happening as well.
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Right. Reason number four, why I love TikTok and that is because of the sense of community. Now I found on TikTok that it's almost like I'm part of a really fun community of people that are just like me. And that's because the algorithm is showing me stuff that I might be interested in, but it also shows people like me that same content. So when I go into the comments section on videos, I find a lot of people who have a similar sense of humor to me or might have a similar background or outlook on life, all these sorts of things.
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So it's really cool. It's actually sometimes the comment section can be more entertaining than the actual content itself. And I have made some comments on videos that have had hundreds of likes. So people basically saying, yes, I agree, or basically just endorsing my comments, I thought that was pretty cool. But the other part of it is that I feel like I'm kind of in on private jokes or like stories that other people don't know.
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And I laugh when my husband shows me an Instagram reel and he's like, look at this, it's so funny. And it's just a repurposed TikTok. And I saw it like a week or two ago. So that always makes me laugh. It's like when someone tells you about a cool new band that they're listening to, but you've actually been listening to them for years.
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And the other part of that is that there are some creators that I really, really enjoy watching, almost like my favorite TV show. So I jump on TikTok and I love it when their videos pop up in my FYP or my For You feed. I've got to know them. I really look forward to seeing them in my feed. It's kind of like having we call it a parasocial relationship.
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So I'm having these parasocial relationships with TikTok creators where I know so much about them in their lives, but they don't even know that I exist. It's like a one sided relationship. I know that sounds a bit sad saying it out loud, but I don't think it's any different to having like a favorite TV show that you watch every night or every week, particularly reality TV. You can get to know someone really well from watching reality TV and they don't know that you exist. So yeah, the other side of it is it's quite comforting.
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So when I've had a stressful day or I'm just sort of unwinding when I see a video from my favorite creator pop up, it's kind of like that same feeling I get when I watch an episode of Friends. It just seems to feel really comforting. Now, before I share with you the fifth and final reason that I love TikTok, I have something else I wanted to share. Now, if you're listening to this episode and you're thinking, actually, I might be keen to add TikTok to my business marketing mix, but I have no idea where to start while I have got your back. Introducing the TikTok tutorial vault.
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Now, I have created the TikTok Tutorial Vault to help you go from never having posted a single thing on TikTok to confidently navigating your way around all of the editing features and understanding how to create a ton of different content styles. Now it is for complete beginners. It's very easy to follow. Everything is step by step, and it's just $25. So if you're keen to check it out, head to Socialsmarty cocktail. And if you have any questions, just come and find me on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook. I'm at @socialsmarty.co or you can flick me an email [email protected]
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Right now that brings me to the fifth and final reason that I love TikTok, and that is the fact that I don't have 15 years of connections on the platform like I do on Facebook. Now, in TikTok, I don't have connections with old colleagues, old school friends that I never see, family members that I felt obliged to connect with. I see content that is interesting to me. It's relevant and I enjoy it. Yes, okay. The algorithm is not perfect. Occasionally I get to be in my bonnet about something that pops up in my feed. But compared to Facebook, it's just so much more enjoyable for me right now.
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Those are the five reasons that I love TikTok. Let's run through them again. Number one, the creativity and the content. I just love seeing creators make some really cool content. Number two, it's the best social media platform for discovering new content and new creators because of the For You feed. Number three, I love that you can reach a massive audience with your content without having to focus on audience growth and getting followers. Number four is the sense of community I feel on the platform. And number five is the fact that the content feels far more relevant to me today and not who I was 15 years ago.
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Okay, if you're already on TikTok come and find me - I'm @socialsmarty.co I would absolutely love to connect with you. Until the next episode. Stay social.
