Be Imperfectly YOU

Over the last couple of weeks, I have convinced myself that I need to show up on social media and have more of a presence to gain traffic to my blog. I know it was the right thing for me, in many personal ways but also in the hope to boost my affiliate marketing journey.

I would convince myself that I was going to sign up and get started tomorrow. Tomorrow is always the better option as I would have more to say, my hair would be washed, and the house would be quieter so it would make more sense to start tomorrow, right? Tomorrow came and went and then tomorrow would come again. No videos appeared.

As I mentioned in my last blog, You’re Not Crazy, You’re Just First. I bought a book called “Worthy” by Jamie Kern Lima  and attended a LONG live event that really changed my mindset. I must be honest; this was in addition to the training I already receive by my mentor Dean Holland. Dean is the biggest advocate for all his trainee’s. He is genuinely happy for all our small wins and encourages us to shout about them all.

So, after my little mindset change, I filmed my first TikTok. I was incredibly nervous, all doubt running through my mind, the chimp even turned up to say hi, but he was quickly caged.

I have posted consistently every day since starting (nearly) 2 weeks ago and I want to share what I have learnt to help YOU start your affiliate marketing journey on TikToK. – If you have any further tips to help me, please comment below. 

How To Get Out of the 200 Jail

In 99% of cases the first couple of videos you post will hit anywhere between 700 to 800 views and then all of a sudden, those views will go from being 700 and 800 to about 200 or 300. If this has happened to you comment down below and let me know! If you are feeling discouraged about the sudden drop in numbers- I’m on the same train as you!  The good thing is, this is completely normal, and you are not on your own. What TikTok does when you first start your account is to try and push your content out to an audience to see what type of engagement it gets on –  do people like it? Do they want to  continue to watch it? Are they interacting with it? So TikTok gets behind your initial videos and pushes it out further to just get more Intel on who to send your videos to in the future.

 I think some of us are so used to the instant gratification on TikTok that if we don’t go viral right away or if all of our videos don’t hit the thousands of views that were not good enough, when realistically speaking TikTok is all about the long play it’s all about consistency. You have to be willing to show up, even when you don’t feel like it, even when views are down, even when you feel dreadful, SHOW UP and continue to stay focus and producing as much value as you possibly can on this platform. Connecting with people and allowing them to resonate with you by creating personalised content and also getting them results by creating solution driven content that they can implement and use right away and see results. 

A Video Structure guideline 

Talk to 1 person about 1 problem, and given them one solution or steps to achieve the desired result they are looking for.

e.g. Struggling to pay off your holiday? Are you a mum that works every hour but dreams about treating your children to a trip of a lifetime? Here are the 5 steps to…….

1. Hook – This needs to grip the audience in the first 1-5 seconds
2. Build up the excitement
3. Deliver the promised content
4. Action- Tell the audience what you want them to do e.g. like, share and comment on the post

“People go online to feel connected, educated and acknowledged, have their feelings validated or to be emotionally moved- weather that’s happy or sad” Vicky Owens

What TikTok wants to see in 2024

1. Do Not post and ghost. TikTok will reward you for scrolling on TikTok. Engage with content- don’t just like. Spend the time to comment, this will increase your engagement and help the creator get boosted to a larger audience.
2. Commenting back to the people that comment on your videos immediately. This will show TikTok you have an engage comment section- this pushes it out further to a wider audience.
3. Start posting long form content. Tik Tok shop is taking over. Many creators are selling everything from the TikTok shop and many users are scrolling past to engage in the emotional content. Wanting to hear about real people and real stories.
4. Make sure there is value packed into your videos. Provide examples that people can apply to themselves and their situation.
5. There is a new 10minutes feature, so naturally they will want to promote it. Try and make your videos over 1 mintue.
6. String hooks are important to capture the attention quickly. Here are some to help you

• This is your sign to
• Am I the only one who…….
• If I had to start over, this is what I would do first
• Don’t hate me but
• Why is nobody talking about…..

By acting on some of the tips I’ve outlined-  I’ve gained 157 followers in 5 days. It’s not crazy numbers BUT it does show progress so I’m taking that as a #WIN

EVEN MORE tips for extra value! 

• Stop caring about metrics at the beginning. I was slightly obsessed with this for the first couple of days and it was honestly a waste of time. Post quality videos that add value and leave your phone alone for a few hours. When you want to post another video, go onto the app, scroll and comment on other videos for 10 minutes, to show the algorithm gods you have shown up, post the video and scroll for a further 10 minutes before leaving your phone alone.
• TikTok scans the video- it looks for text on the screen or titles and then generates what the video is about. If there is no information, it wont know what to do with it. Add titles and captions to the video so TikTok knows what to do with it. 
• Finally, be imperfectly YOU. People want to see the everyday, genuine you. Not serious and sensible. They want to see you laugh, smile, cry, be angry and be passionate about your niche. Your audience needs to see the authentic you. They can watch and advert of perfection on the TV. They have come to TikTok to see REAL people do REAL things.

Always be imperfectly YOU