How to Start and Grow on TikTok w/ Brian Bosche

UX Marketing

Blake: [00:00:00] on the podcast today, I have Brian Bosche who is here to talk all things tick tock. He's the first person to come on here and strictly discuss this with us about tech. So Brian, how are you doing today?

[00:00:10] Brian: [00:00:10] Doing well, Blake, thanks for having me. I am

[00:00:12] Blake: [00:00:12] super excited selfishly because I need to learn more about tick tock.

[00:00:16] My, my fan ship is really, really low and I do not get a lot of views, so I'm excited to learn how I can flip that around and I'm sure that the audience is going to do just the same, but before we get into it, I do want to get a little bit of context on you. Just basically your background. If you could give us a snapshot of your career so far, where you got started and how you got to where you are

[00:00:36] Brian: [00:00:36] now.

[00:00:37] Sure. So right now I'm on the product team at Smartsheet, which is a collaborative work management tool. it's a public company used by tens of thousands of different companies to help them manage their workflows and really managed our work as a team. And my company, my startup actually was acquired by Smartsheet last year.

[00:00:54] So I was previously the CEO and co founder of a company called slope, and we really made it easy for creative teams to manage their work. So we largely focused on content review and approval, so images, videos, photography, design, and that's really where I got to know more about the creative field, where I worked with lots of different marketing creative teams or trying out.

[00:01:15] Any new channel that would come up that we're trying to, you know, deploy their social media strategies at scale. So that's what really got me interested in tech talk when it first launched, is a lot of the customers that I work with and help build products for. I started asking questions about tick talk and how do we do this vertical video and how do we take advantage of this new channel.

[00:01:32]so I've always really been interested in the marketing creative world. I'd even run a video production company previous to, to slope. so yeah, this is a really exciting space for me. And if

[00:01:41] Blake: [00:01:41] I were to ask you what you think professional superpower is, what would you say?

[00:01:45] Brian: [00:01:45] creative workflows. so, you know, for the last eight years, I have.

[00:01:51] Worked really deep with marketing creative teams, helping them manage, you know, anything from, how do you request a project to planning it out to assigning. So going through the entire feedback and review and approval process all the way to getting something published. So, really the expertise on how companies, teams, people should, Build out their creative workflows. Well,

[00:02:13] Blake: [00:02:13] let's, let's dive into it as it pertains to tick tock then. So for anyone that's not using it currently, can you give an idea of what makes it different from what's already out there. Sure.

[00:02:23] Brian: [00:02:23] So tech talk is really powerful for brands and also for individuals or really anyone that's trying it out, because it gives you so much engagement and reach with no following.

[00:02:33] So I'm sure many of you have been on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter for years, and engagement's really tough. You know, I've had a Twitter for the last 10 years at 10,000 followers. I'm lucky to get a few likes, you know, they engagement is pretty low. And then once you actually. A tweet, something, it's gone, you know, within hours.

[00:02:50]so it's really hard to get that engagement and really hard, you know, on Instagram to get hundreds of thousands of likes. If you have 500 followers, we're on, tick-tock, you can literally have your first video published, get to a million views. So it really a, is a powerful channel because it gives you that engagement and reach without having to establish that following and really rewards great content over someone who's famous or someone who has a huge following.

[00:03:17] Blake: [00:03:17] Well, we'll, we'll definitely build up to that point of getting a million views by, let's start out here with just the framework of ideated content. Is there a good way to come up with ideas of what to post.

[00:03:30] Brian: [00:03:30] Yeah. So is actually great for that because it has, kind of that discover page, where you can go and it will actually show you the trending hashtags.

[00:03:38] It'll show you the trending songs. So I kind of like to think of them as a daily challenge where it'll show you like the top three or four hashtags for the day. And you know today it's, it's, it's st Patrick's day. So it's hashtag wish me luck hashtag make me a drink hashtag video call. Cause a lot of people are working from home.

[00:03:56] So you can start to see what other people are creating along those hashtags. And what types of content are doing well matched with the audio. And you can, you know, make your own video in whatever niche you have or whatever specialty you actually have on TechTalk to kind of fit within that trend with your own angle on it or your own no brand on it.

[00:04:15]so it's actually, it's, it's much easier to brainstorm concept for tech talk than other channels because it kind of gives you those trends built in.

[00:04:24] Blake: [00:04:24] Interesting. So it's, it's almost like on this platform, it's better to just look at what already is built out and exists. Then come up with your own original ideas.

[00:04:33] Like on LinkedIn for example, you don't really have any context. It's just like post something. But with, with tech talk, it's basically giving you the formula for how to succeed.

[00:04:42] Brian: [00:04:42] Yeah. And it actually rewards you for that. So when I do something that's on trend with one of the hashtags or with a trending song.

[00:04:49]it almost always does better, and that's anecdotal evidence, but, you know, it is pretty apparent when you use them. Kind of a recent song that has just been released. you can see your view count really go up as compared to using something, that isn't trending or hashtag that isn't trending.

[00:05:04] Now, I will say all of this with, you should figure out what, yeah. Kind of what your brand is on tech talk or what your niches that you want to fill. So when I first started producing videos, I didn't know what to bring as I was just playing around with tech talk. I didn't really know what I was doing. So I do like a travel video.

[00:05:18] I would do like a funny reaction video. You do a lip sync, you know, you try all this stuff and it just kind of falls flat. Once I committed to producing videos around creative tips and photography tips and creative insights, that's really when my following started to take off because it gave people a reason to follow.

[00:05:35] And then any of those trends that came up, I could match too. A creative tip or creative workflow or whatever I was actually doing. as a part of my account.

[00:05:44] Blake: [00:05:44] Yeah. That, that brings me to my next question because it's pretty common, like you said, to get more views and likes than you have followers on your account right now because it's like content deficient platform per se.

[00:05:55] They're, they're just so many people that are on there, but not enough creating content. So it's being rewarded heavily when you do so you can get more likes and views, but at the same time it's, you still have to. Yeah, I've found at least it's a lot easier to get those likes and views than it is to actually convert them into followers.

[00:06:12] So. How can you actually optimize around getting more fans?

[00:06:17] Brian: [00:06:17] Yeah, it is. The fans versus views is really interesting because. You can have hundreds of followers and have a million view video. I have 250,000 followers, and if I produce a video that's not great, I'll get no low thousands of views. So even with my follower count that high, tick-tock, really pushes your content to new audiences.

[00:06:39] I found mostly. So it gives you analytics. If you go on kind of the pro mode, and I can see from most of my videos, the people watching it are not my followers. I think having that follower base gets you a boost, so it'll send it to more people to actually see if it's something that they want to spread more.

[00:06:54]as a part of that algorithm. But, but you know, you still get rewarded for the content itself being great and being something that people engage with. So I would think the best way to kind of build your following is to have that reason why someone would follow you. So that is a doubling down on whatever you, your topics that you're really interested on, what you, what you want your brand to be.

[00:07:14]so if someone sees a photography tip, I have. And they go to my account with that profile visit and they see, Oh, this person does a lot of photography tips. This person, there's a lot of creative tips or this person, there's a lot of travel or this person does make up, or this person does this. They know what to expect from your content and they'll follow you so that they can keep engaging with that.

[00:07:32] That's interesting to that. If it's just random content all over the place and there's no reason to actually follow you, they might just like it, think it's funny and move on to the next

[00:07:39] Blake: [00:07:39] person. Yeah. The one question that I really have is there are certain industries or niches where like if you're in fashion or beauty, it's pretty easy to be interesting on social media, but then when you are in finance or like marketing, like I also, let's take me for example, I'm in, I'm a marketer.

[00:07:59] How do I make that interesting on tech talk? Like what kind of stuff can I posts that's still relevant to marketing but isn't just totally dry?

[00:08:07] Brian: [00:08:07] Yeah. So I, you know, I also faced this challenge because, you know, I'm, I'm working with some of the top brands in the world on how to construct their, their creative workflows and their creative processes and with the tick tock audience, which tends to, it'll be a little bit younger or not that B2B focus.

[00:08:23] I can't give a, you know, this is the best way to deploy your social media strategy at scale that just, that falls flat. That's not the audience or. Even if I'm doing a photography tip with expensive cameras, and really it's not really a place for that advanced, you know, really in depth learning. So I've actually switched from doing, you know, DSLR camera tips to doing mostly iPhone or mobile photography tips.

[00:08:46] Did anyone on tech talk can use? So some of my most popular videos are around, iPhone live photos and what you can do with it, with the long exposures, with the loops, with the balances. And anyone has a phone and anyone can use that. so it gets a lot more engagement because it applies to that much broader audience.

[00:09:03] So if you're doing something with marketing or you're doing something with, with travel or fashion, make sure that it is kind of one Oh one stuff. or career advice or something that you would think high schoolers or, people in college or recent grads would find valuable. I don't think it's the best place right now for that kind of in depth B2B type content.

[00:09:22]But for people who are no really engaging with tick talk, like Adobe just launched a campaign where they're giving access to a lot of their beginner tools, like Adobe premier rush, which is a mobile video editing tool. That's an amazing kind of intro to maybe get people interested for premiere pro and they get a little bit more advanced or after effects.

[00:09:41]so I've really found kind of the beginner is the best way to do it. Yeah, and

[00:09:45] Blake: [00:09:45] obviously the audience currently is skews very young on tick talk, as it usually does with any social platform. Facebook, Instagram, they always start out really young and then over time the audience gets older and older, so I'm sure that take talk eventually is going to get to that place where.

[00:10:03] Basically everybody's on it, right?

[00:10:05] Brian: [00:10:05] Yeah. I even find that there are many different age groups, On tick-tock right now. So it doesn't seem, no, I don't get okay. Boomer very much. I don't, you know, there isn't a extremely young audience on there. and it's pretty spread out. And I, you know, I've, I looked at some stats recently and it actually has a pretty even distribution across different age groups.

[00:10:25]So I wouldn't, yeah, I wouldn't necessarily just assume that it's all, it's all kind of gen Z or, or it's all people in high school. I think that there is a big group there, but yeah, it's actually already to the point where a lot of different age groups, are on TechTalk.

[00:10:40] Blake: [00:10:40] Let's, let's get a little bit more tactical then and dive into specific posts and ideas here.

[00:10:44] So if I have a general idea of what might take talk account is going to be about, I know the types of videos that I'm going to post, so the ideation is not a problem anymore, right. Once I actually get into posting, are there any, I guess, how do you optimize for engagement? Like if, if you're going to be posting a tip about shooting for long exposure on your iPhone.

[00:11:07] What elements have to be in there for you to feel comfortable that it's going to reach a decent amount of

[00:11:13] Brian: [00:11:13] people? Yeah, so most, most song licenses that they have around 15 seconds long, that's how you know the duration of the song, that you can actually include it in your video. So I would recommend most of your videos should be under 15 seconds or at 15 seconds.

[00:11:27] So you can have that song choice for the entire video. And I put, I've, you know, got it. I've gotten inspiration from different tick-tock accounts that have these templates for videos. So basically, you know, for photography, for example, there's the wait for it video where it's about four to six seconds of behind the scenes where you actually see the photographer setting up the shot, and then they do the big reveal at the end of what the shot looked like.

[00:11:51] That's one template that you can just do over and over and over again. It makes it really simple to shoot. It makes it really simple to edit. and it's a really effective format. There's another one for tutorials where I'll do an intro slide for two seconds. I'll go to like two to three seconds, steps.

[00:12:07] So like step one, step two, step three, and then I'll do the reveal for about three seconds. At the end. So you come up with these different video templates, that you know, fit within that timeframe, you know, that are easy to film and shoot, that are easy to edit. So you can actually, yeah, save yourself a little time and be more efficient and you can just double down on those.

[00:12:25] So, for my iPhone photo tips, I will typically do that 15 second format tutorial format. And it makes it really easy to shoot, and I just keep doing them over and over. So that's one of the biggest things I found is if you find a video type that works well. I've done these live photo where you take the live photo, you swipe up and you go to long exposure.

[00:12:47] I did my first one, they got 2 million views. That was like my first viral video. And I did nine more and almost every single one got to over a million views. One is at 14 million views now, and it's because tick-tock keeps sending it to new people so it doesn't get repetitive and you find something that works and you kind of do a little bit of a no twist on it or doing it in a different place and it just keeps working.

[00:13:11] And I started doing that because some of the most popular tick talkers will. Make the same dance with the same song over and over and over again with different backgrounds and they all get millions and millions of views. So I would encourage you to find those templates, find what works and don't be afraid to kind of repeat, and continue to do what successful.

[00:13:31] And diving

[00:13:31] Blake: [00:13:31] even deeper into that. I'm curious if you found any particular times of the day that worked particularly well for you, or if it's just, it's strictly based on quality of content.

[00:13:42] Brian: [00:13:42] Yeah. It's all over the place. you have an analytics dashboard that you can go see of when people are most active.

[00:13:48]I found it doesn't really matter that much. You know, it tends to swing towards, beginning of the day at the end of the day. so, you know, during school, during work, people aren't as honest as much, so I'll tend to post in the morning or post at night. But tick tock is one of these platforms where unlike Twitter or Instagram where it's gone.

[00:14:06] I have videos from December, from November, so months and months ago that are still my highest performing videos. They get thousands of views every day. So tech talk has much more evergreen content, than other social media platforms. So when you post, and let's say you post, you know, in the morning, let's say you get a thousand views the first day or, or 10 views the first day, don't worry about it.

[00:14:29] It's, it's going to. Give it a second chance, it's going to live longer. so I always recommend, don't delete your videos, because ticked off, we'll promote it. And it does catch on, you know, later on than any other social media platform I've

[00:14:41] Blake: [00:14:41] seen. And, and going along with that, what, what do you and particular know about the algorithm that can help us get more exposure.

[00:14:52] Brian: [00:14:52] I don't know much about the algorithm. It's always a guessing game. And you know, these companies change them all the time. But what I've found is when you use the trending songs, when you use the trending hashtags, when you use the featured songs, especially, you know, things that they are promoting, along with the artists, or if you'd go along with a branded campaign.

[00:15:10] So Nike did this amazing campaign, I'm called the replay, where you would do kind of a trick shot or you do something athletic along with their brand itself. you get a lot more engagement when you participate in those because tech talk is incentivized to make those campaigns successful for those brands.

[00:15:27]So yeah, I would, I would try to just use the trending topics, but it's really just about producing content in your niche or what you want to produce content about as a theme consistently, cause that will keep people coming back. That'll keep them engaging. That's where you build your following, which will continue to promote it to new people.

[00:15:44] Blake: [00:15:44] And one question that's strictly based on editing, I guess not super related to the actual platform itself, but what do you use to actually edit your videos?

[00:15:55] Brian: [00:15:55] Yeah, so I use Adobe premier rush. so Adobe has...