I posted on TikTok for 90 days. Here's what I learned.

Spoiler Alert: Everything your Gen Z team tells you is true.

I’m a millennial through-and-through - I’ve updated TheFacebook.com statuses from a desktop, I’ve thought WeWork would be a dream job, I’ve worn a LiveStrong bracelet for weeks on end. These formative memories are, as Gen Z would say, “cringe,” which is how I know posting on TikTok is not for people like me. (Which is to say, closer to 50 than 20.)

That said, I did it anyway.

I posted on TikTok for 90 days to see what I could learn. Why?

There’s three reasons:

1. In running my own creative strategy shop, I wanted to intimately learn the very tools and details I recommend to clients.

2. Draw my own hypotheses about what TikTok’s long-term growth potential and impact.

3. I want to sell a book someday. (Personal goal.) I want to prove that I can market it.

How did I approach it?

I approached the project like I would with my clients. I developed a content strategy based on my values, aligned to my goals, and in a space where I had expertise. I decided to go deep in booktok.

I also enlisted help. Brianna Lee, who interned with Williams Sonoma while I led the content team there, was interested in brainstorming, pulling insights and plotting out a plan. I was interested in having a college student tell me I don’t look like an idiot before I post. (She is excellent at all of these skills.) We decided to do this experiment together for 90 days and see what we could learn.

Peak millennial cringe.

What were some of the key learnings?

• Video editing has never been more easy. I used CapCut at the reco of my friend Mary Lou Pearl. Within 30 minutes I was confident in my ability to create a video. It’s bananas how simple they’ve made it. This is my bet on the lasting legacy of TikTok. Regardless of what happens with the app, the expectation of how easy it can be to create a video is going to be something people - customers - expect.

  • Learning: Keep your creative executions and brand standards flexible enough to test trends in the moment, because you can, and it will pay off. Also, learn to make a video now. It’s not going away anytime soon.

• Editing still takes a lot of time. It’s hardly post-production for Marvel movie, and the tools are so simple, but it makes sending a tweet seem like tying your shoes. I planned and blocked time to brainstorm, film, edit, write the post copy, research the hashtags, and finally, at some point, publish.

  • Learning: Batch your production into production days. Give your team the time to get through an edit. Prioritize which posts need to go first or are trend or time-sensitive.

• The algorithm is very real. Sometimes only 200 people view the thing. Sometimes 50,000 view it. You have no control. TikTok simply picks it up, or it doesn’t.

  • Learning: Insights have never been more important. Constantly test and track what you’re learning. Build flexibility into your planning to work into your insights.

• Followers are not your target metric. I’ll say this until I’m breathless, because you could have 1 follower and still go viral. It’s more of a vanity metric across channels than it ever has been, thanks to TikTok. That said, I was surprised to find it hard not to care about it. I still wanted that higher number because there’s no limit to it, and it’s a door into deals. So, sure, track it - but don’t make yourself crazy over it.

  • Learning: Communicate the priority metrics to your leaders and across teams, and communicate them often. Highlight where and when follower count does not effect reach or engagement.

• Paid still works. If I put $10 behind a post to drive views, it was a little bit of gas in the tank. I found that TikTok would of course prioritize that, and the targeting was easy to do.

  • Learning: You don’t have to spend much to make a minimal impact on priority messages. It’s also a good way to dip a toe into paid.

• Scammers gonna scam. There are SO MANY ADS out there about getting followers. I tried one. It was lame and I’m pretty sure I wasted $30. I can’t tell you how many times I went around with someone allegedly based out of LA who replied to my emails immediately but refused to get on the phone. (I’m certain it was a bot.) They couldn’t confirm for me how they marketed my account, or to whom, or measure who followed me from their efforts, but only to say that it resulted in “high quality followers”. (It did not.) The dashboard they provided was just a recycled version of what TikTok already offers. I was on a tear to find out which Elizabeth Holmes was at the bottom of this. Maybe I’ll make it another post.

  • Learning: Do community building the hard way. Continue to prioritize your content over your followers, and they will come.

• It’s OK if your posts are a little messy, especially at first. This is more than ever before - or, at least since maybe Twitter in the very early days, before single tweets started destroying careers or brands. It takes some unwinding to do and not feel so polished. But you can try something and fail and it’s fine because literally you have the data to show that no one sees it.

  • Learning: Take the risk.

• Social might be fun again? It took me about 15 days before other booktok people started reaching out and celebrating my work. Around Day 30, a writer offered me my first book sent to house. (The Lookback Window, by Kyle Dillon Hertz. It was INTENSE.) By Day 60, I had two more books on my doorstep and fun banter with a few other queer booktok people. It actually feels … very lovely and innocent. No one has been a jerk, because I think the algorithms work so well in keeping me in a bubble of people who just like reading. My friend and colleague Monet Sommers said she found herself using TikTok to create more than to simply scan, like we do on IG, and I appreciated that. It does feel more creative, and more fun. (For now.) That said, it might not be for everyone. It works for me because it’s aligned to my goals above. The benefit is it just happens to be delightful as well.

  • Learning: Don’t do it unless there’s a benefit to you and your brand. Not everyone needs to be on TikTok (or creating lo-fi video, for that matter.) If it becomes a chore and it’s not having the impact you need to reach your business goals, pivot. It’s fine.

These lessons are not revolutionary. I found myself saying things out loud in surprise only to realize that it’s something I already knew or repeat off a PowerPoint slide. That said, it was rewarding to get in there and experience it - so yes. Everything your team or agency tells you is true.

Oh! One more.

Do I still think that there potential for it to be used for misinformation and influence distributed by the Chinese government?

Yes.

Will I continue to post on it?

Yes. And you can follow me here.

In 2014 no one would have guessed the grid would look like this.