027: What I Learned From Gaining 30,000 Followers on TikTok
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What I Learned From Gaining 30,000 Followers on TikTok
Hi, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you for listening. I'm happy you're here. So this episode is one that I've thought about a lot. Because I think about tick tock a lot because I love it so much. And I actually recorded a version of this episode right after I hit 30k like the next day, and I listened back to it and decided to scrap it because it just wasn't conveying exactly what I wanted it to convey, which is the first for me doing this podcast. Normally I have some notes. Actually, some episodes, I don't have any notes, I just talk. And then I listened to the episode when I'm editing just to make sure there aren't any things that I need to take out like big muffled noises or pauses or anything like that. But I've never entirely scrapped an episode and I think what I'm what I what I was having trouble with in that episode is just there's so much I want to say about tiktok. And there's so much that I want to just want to say about lessons I've learned the growth that I've gone through. And I just, I really have to distill it down into like a 15 minute podcast episode and I just didn't feel like I did a good job in that last episode. So I'm scrapping it, starting fresh. And what I want to talk about in this episode is the fears that I had about Tik Tok about putting myself out there. And then also the biggest lessons that I've learned and the lessons that I've learned will hopefully be things that you can take away.
Whether you are just starting out on Tik Tok, you want to be posting more, maybe you've been posting for a little while but you're not really enjoying it, you're not seeing engagement, anything like that, or, or maybe you signed up for Tik Tok, but have you you haven't posted a single video and you want to, but you have a lot of fear and resistance. So hopefully, there will be some takeaways in this episode that you can, you know, implement when, in your tiktok strategy, because here's the thing about tiktok and social media generally, it's crucial for writers, if you want to be published, if you want to have readers, or if you want to continue to be published and to continue to have readers. Social media is just part of the game, whether you are self publishing or wanting to be traditionally published, you can't get away from it. And I think a lot of the things that I talked about in this episode will apply to other platforms. So maybe for you, Instagram is your main social media channel or Twitter or Facebook, whatever. Some of the things I talk about will be specific to tiktok and to video content. But really, they can apply to any social media platform that you are devoting the most attention to.
Okay, so I created this tiktok account, the Katie wolf in June of 2021. So we're coming up on a year of this account. So I did have another account before the Katie Wolf, it was a tiktok account back when I was I hadn't yet narrowed down my business. And I was working with writers and creatives in general. So that tiktok account was kind of a broader account, and I posted, I don't know, a handful of times, I had maybe 100 followers. I wasn't really enjoying it. I wasn't getting a lot of views or engagement and I just felt like it wasn't enjoyable to me. So I really thought like maybe Tik Tok just isn't, for me, I'm not quite sure about this. So I stopped I deleted that account. And then when I made the decision to to pivot to just work with writers, then I decided to give it another shot. Eventually not right away, but then decided in June of last year to start this tiktok account. So that's kind of the backstory of of this. I had a lot of fears before I started on tiktok and before I started talking about writing on tiktok, my biggest fears were trolls mean comments, because i'd seen on on videos, how cruel people could be and how sometimes just rude for no reason. People could be, so I was very afraid of trolls and mean comments. I was afraid of people from my real life finding out Friends, family, coworkers, you know, I was still working in my day job when I started this tiktok account. So I was very afraid of anyone for work finding out. And I was very afraid of people not laughing at me. But I just was afraid of putting myself out there and making myself vulnerable and opening myself up to criticism and judgment and feedback from people.
There was a bit of impostor syndrome that I had, like, do I know enough to be talking about writing? Can I really do this? So those were the main fears that I had. And I'm so happy to say that for the most part, 99.9% of comments and interaction with people that I've had on tiktok 99.9 of it has been so positive and encouraging and warm and kind. That's something I was really pleasantly surprised by. And hopefully you will be to; the writing community, the book community, there's a lot of wonderful people like yes, there are some rude people and people who are determined to be offended by whatever you say, like, of course, they're out there. But the vast majority of people are lovely and kind and wonderful. And that's something that I really didn't anticipate. Because when I was on Tik Tok, before I was creating content, I was paying most attention to the rude comments, the haters, the haters, like the troll comments. That's what I was fixated on. And I was convinced that when I started making content that I would get a lot of pushback. And that turned out to not be the case, again, for 99% of it. So that has been lovely. It's been so fun connecting with people and feeling like I've kind of built up this little community in this little corner of tiktok. It's wonderful.
The other fear of, of people finding my tiktok So at a certain point, I think over the winter, maybe I did have some extended family that found my tiktok like my cousin's kid, found my tiktok, and then my dad's entire side of the family was like Katie's on tiktok, and there was a little part of me that was kind of embarrassed about it. But then I was like, You know what, I'm doing this really cool thing, this thing that I enjoy, you know, so what if they judge me, like, I don't care. And most people, you know, at least to my face are like, this is so cool. Like how this is awesome that you're doing it. So whatever. And with the the fear of co workers finding, you know, my tiktok, I didn't have that happen, and I ended up quitting my job. So that turned out to not be an issue. And the fear of being seen of putting myself out there. That is something that got better, the more that I posted. In the beginning, each video was a really big deal. Like Video number 1.2.3.4.5, all the way up through like, 15. Each video was a really big deal. And I was nervous about it. I spent a lot of time and energy on those videos. Because it was new, I was figuring out a routine and a rhythm with creating content, I was figuring out what types of content I wanted to create, like what types of videos, it was all just trial and error, it was all an experiment. So if you're in that same boat, where you are feeling this, this fear of being seen, and of putting yourself out there, like please, no, this is not the kind of thing that you can just think about and think yourself to a more competent place. Like, yes, you can do some work on your confidence and kind of like, you know, talk yourself up and build yourself up.
But really, you have to just start posting, and then it's going to get better. Now each video that I create is not a big deal at all, like it's just, it's just a video, it's a 15 second video, it's a 30 second video, it doesn't matter. And it's also a lot easier to release expectations when that's the case. Because if you're posting once a week, if you've only posted five Tik Tok videos, it's easy to get caught up in the numbers and to think, well, crap, like none of these have gone viral. None of these are doing well like I might as well just quit. Whereas if you're, if you're creating a tiktok a day, or it doesn't even have to be that frequently. But that's what I did in the beginning the first two or three months, I kind of made this promise to myself that I would post once a day. Then it's sort of like you can just release expectations because if a video doesn't do well, like who cares, you're gonna post again tomorrow and that one might do well. Probably. I don't know the percentage, maybe 5% of my videos have done really, really, really, really well. And the rest haven't and I'm totally fine with that. I still think they're good content.
They're good videos, even if they don't get seen by 1000 and 1000s and 1000s of people like, that doesn't mean that those videos aren't good, it doesn't mean that that those videos aren't helping people or entertaining people or sharing the story with them, you know. So please don't let numbers be the only thing that you go by. I think it's also important with this whole fear of being seen and judged, to create videos that are fun for you. Because that energy is going to come through if you are forcing yourself to create videos and talk about things that you think people want to hear, but that you don't really care about, or you're like, Well, I guess I'll post about this because I have to, but it's not really what I want to be talking about, that energy will come through. I guarantee it. I have done some videos based on not like copying other people. But I've seen how tiktok is there are trends, and you see different video styles. And I've incorporated some of those. And some of them I really like and enjoy. But some of them I'm like, why am I doing this? This doesn't feel good. And then I I just those videos don't feel as good energetically? Yes, it's an experiment to see what people respond to and what's what gets engagement and views and followers. But it's also an experiment to see what you like, what types of videos do you like creating, because if you enjoy the process is going to be so much easier to actually create videos, instead of feeling like this forced, obligatory thing that you have to do because you you want to have readers or people buy your book, or eventually down the road, you want to have readers or people buy your book, like that's just not, it's going to be so much more enjoyable for you. Trust me.
So a few of the things that I've learned, I want to talk about boundaries, because I think that's something that's really important. In the beginning, I responded to every single comment that I got on my videos, partly because I was just so I'm still just so like honored and tickled when people leave a comment on my video, because a lot of the comments that I get are so thoughtful. And I really appreciate the time and effort that people take to comment on my videos. And so I want to be like, Hey, I see you I acknowledged this. Thank you for your thoughtful comment, like I want to, I want to honor that comment, right? Eventually, when I got to a certain point, I don't know exactly the number of followers. But sometime over the fall or the winter, I started noticing that tick tock wasn't notifying me for every comment. Like I wasn't getting a notification for every single comment that was left on my videos. And I had been before that point. Like, I remember going on an older video for some reason. And then I was looking at all these comments that I hadn't liked, hadn't responded to. And I'm like, wait a second. All of these comments are new, I didn't get a notification for any of these. And it felt really discouraging at first, but then I just had to sort of release it like, you know what, I'm going to do my best to respond to every comment, but I simply can't. I can't do it, I don't get notifications for all of them. I don't see all of them. Like it's just not possible. And I do my best to respond to comments.
But I think it's just something that you have to release expectations at a certain point, you know, do your best, but it's just not going to be possible all the time, especially on videos that go really viral and have a huge, you know, get really high view counts. There are a ton of comments on those videos. And it can be really, really hard to keep up so and the boundaries piece of it comes in like yes boundaries of not spending every waking minute responding to comments, but also choosing what comments to respond to. I had to learn this the hard way. The very first rude or snarky comment that I got. I obsessed about it all day. And my mood tanked. I felt like total crap. It was it was really hard. Because I'd never experienced it before. And it felt like a personal attack. And I just couldn't understand why this person was being so mean. So I responded and I did a follow up video. And now I love I kind of learned my lesson like I don't need to give energy to those types of comments. Like if someone is really offended by a tip that I give or like is really pissed and just completely disagrees with me. That's fine, but I don't need to respond and try to convince that person why I'm right. That's a losing battle. You know, I would much rather respond to positive comments, or I would much rather respond to questions that people have or help people. Like that's a better place for me to spend my energy. I also got really caught up in a political back and forth on one video. I went back and forth with this woman like eight or 10 times and finally was just like Why am I doing this, neither of us is going to change our mind. I don't need to spend any more time and energy convincing her that I'm right and she's wrong. This is pointless. So I was like, okay, you know what I'm stepping back. Have a good night. So I think that's something that you have to get comfortable doing is sort of like choosing where to devote your energy. Are you going to devote your energy to the negative comments, and spend, you know, video after video after video convincing them that they're wrong? Or are you going to spend your energy on positive comments on questions on helping people on whatever, like, I have found that it's much easier and more beneficial for me to devote my attention to comments that aren't rude and snarky, and just, in some ways, I think are just looking for attention.
So I have also learned so much about myself through posting on Tik Tok I've learned one of the things I've learned is to sort of be confident in my own voice, to not be afraid to state an opinion, a strong opinion about something, and to sort of steal myself for blowback or to steal myself and say, okay, not everyone is gonna like this. And that's okay. Not everyone is gonna like me, and that's okay. And that was very difficult for me to wrap my head around in the beginning. Because I want everyone to like me, I'm such a people pleaser. And to be honest, this is something that I'm still working on, I feel sometimes, like I'm watering myself down a little bit on tick tock. And I, I just don't want to do that I want to be confident in my opinions, I want to be confident in the tips I'm giving, instead of watering things down and being like, well, this won't apply in this situation. And like, if this advice doesn't resonate with you, that's okay. Like I kind of water things down. And I'm really trying not to do that. That was actually one of my New Year's resolutions for my business. And it's, it's been moderately successful. I'll just say that's, that's still a work in progress. But it really has taught me, I've gotten so much better at owning what I think and feel. And that's such a powerful lesson for me as a writer, as a person who's on social media as a business owner. It's really, really valuable. And I've also learned that I like being on video. I like creating videos, I like creating tiktoks I like engaging with people that way. And it's sometimes it's still surprising to me, because I'm this introverted, shy person who also wants to put myself out there. And I think I've, I can't quite always understand that duality, and that conflict in me where it's like, pay attention to me, but also don't look at me. I've sort of accepted that I'm never going to completely understand that duality inside of myself. And that's okay. You know, it's just who I am. But I've really learned that I enjoy this so much more than something like Twitter or Facebook, or even Instagram, sometimes I do really like Instagram, particularly Instagram Stories, again, video content, who knew?
But that's been interesting to see and to really learn about myself. It's been this process of discovery. So those are the fears and the lessons I've learned, and I just want to say, you know, I hit 30k, I didn't hit 500k or a million, like, I realize I'm not a massive creator, you might be listening to this and have 250,000 followers and be like, 30k is such a small pond. But you might be listening to this and have 30 followers and think Wow, 30k Like, that's insane. It's all perspective. And because I was coming up on a year, I really wanted to kind of, I don't know, do an episode about tiktok because it's such a big part of my my writing life as weird as that sounds. And it's also such a big part of my business like I could not have quit my day job. I could not have had the success that I've had in my business. Without tiktok. There's just no way so I'm eternally grateful for it because it has changed my life. And it's also just so much fun. So hopefully there's some takeaways in this episode. If you want to be posting more on tiktok if you want to be getting involved. There's so much mindset stuff that goes into tiktok that sometimes they feel like gets left out of the conversation. It's not just a matter of like, posting this many times have posted this time of day and make sure you do this. It's like there's a lot of fear that people have about video content, and Tik Tok because, I think the unknown of Tik Tok is exciting where you could post a video and get 500 views. You could post a video a video and get 50,000 views or 250,000 views. You just really don't know and that's exciting. That possibility is exciting but it also can be really nerve racking let me know if you want to follow up episode on tiktok as you can tell this episode is going to be over 20 minutes. I'm pretty fired up I have a lot to say about this.
So if you want a follow up episode about something that I didn't cover in this episode, something you're wondering about with social media or tiktok in specific you know, specifically or if you want more on something that we talked about in this episode, send me a DM on Instagram at the Katie Wolf. Thank you for listening. I'm gonna keep keep growing on Tik Tok and keep posting and keep experimenting and trying things and seeing what y'all respond to and seeing what I like you know, I'm just gonna keep keep doing it. Keep trying things and and keep having fun.