- TikTok, it's a weird new social media platform
and I'm here to teach you how to use it,
even if I am an old 35-year-old.
Here we go.
(upbeat intro music)
Hello and welcome back to another video.
I'm Alan Spicer, your YouTube Certified Expert,
who's twisting his social media skills
into other weird social media platforms,
including the Tok of the Tik.
Have I got rid of all of the teenagers now?
They've just cringed so hard
that they've clicked off the camera.
It's just me and you now.
You're ready to learn what TikTok is?
I joined TikTok at the end of October in 2019,
so just so you're in context right now.
And it's a weird social media platform
that's very fast-paced, young demographic,
and has a load of video-savvy kids
looking to create content.
But for some of us, it might be a little bit weird,
so here's a primer.
One, TikTok is a video-sharing platform.
You can create clips in two styles: 15 seconds
and 60 seconds, and it's working through
in a very similar fashion to like Instagram stories
and just the old Vine process.
You can add stickers and filters like Instagram story.
You drag them across, and you just add the to the video.
It films in portrait mode, the thing that, for years,
I tried to avoid.
And your entire profile is effectively
an Instagram stories feed, so you upload,
you say what you're doing within those 15 to 60 seconds,
and then it posts it to your profile wall,
which is then fired out to everybody on that platform,
subject to hashtags, subject to who they follow,
or if you're lucky, you're hooked by the trending algorithm.
The audience tends to slough quite young,
just like Instagram when it first started
and it was all about selfies, photos, and food.
TikTok is currently in the early stages,
where all of the younger teens have adopted it,
because they can laugh, they can joke, they can make
quick videos using the smartphones.
They can dub along, so therefore
the old style of just lip-syncing.
And it's the MySpace of this generation, I honestly believe.
Now this sounds familiar, doesn't it?
That's because this is Musical.ly.
Do you remember that thing, where people were flossing
and dancing and you didn't understand what it was,
and it was kind of semi-advertised against like
Britain's Got Talent?
That's now TikTok.
And why should you be on the platform?
Well, it is aging up, just like Instagram did.
Initially, it was, once again, very young, very selfie,
very egotistical, very vain.
TikTok is becoming a quick, fast method like Snapchat became
of delivering fun or knowledge
or something that you can chuckle and engage in.
Once you upload your content, it is fully integrated
with all social media platforms.
You can auto-share it as a story to your Instagram feed,
and that's what I've been doing.
I've been creating little clips on TikTok, it's quicker,
it's funner, it's weird.
I share it to the Instagram stories,
it's in two places all of the sudden.
I share it to Snapchat, it's now three stories in one place.
And it give you a little bit of leeway to kind of be cheeky,
and nerdy, and a little childish.
So why should you use it and how can it help
your YouTube channel or your brand?
Well, it's a growing platform.
Anywhere that is expanding at the reach that
TikTok is doing right now is a good place to experiment.
Get on there, get your name on there.
Deliver content, so you can teach and learn yourself,
and understand what's growing there.
It's a good way to practice your 15 to 60 second hooks
on your videos, because you've gotta hook
the attention of a teenager,
who's notoriously known for being flaky and flicky.
I'm sorry if you're young, but
that's the kind of perception that the media has of you.
But you can get in on the ground floor-ish now
of a growing, expanding bubble.
If I, now, could've been on YouTube five years before I was,
creating the same content I am now,
it would've been fantastic.
If I was on it seven years ago, right,
creating fantastic, valuable content
then I would be even bigger.
And that's the same with TikTok: get in now.
It might never explode, but at least you're learning,
and you're learning that platform, and you're getting
in front of the eyes of that younger demographic
then that might flick over to YouTube and go,
"He's on TikTok, she's on TikTok, subscribe."
The organic reach on TikTok is phenomenal.
I uploaded three videos, left it.
I hit the trending page within the first 12 hours,
I have 170 odd followers within two weeks,
and I've got thousands of views already,
and I didn't advertise that.
I just went on there to muck about, I used a few hashtags,
and bang!
They are now aware of me, I now have, as I said,
170 odd followers that check my content on a regular basis,
get to see my cat every other day,
and they're more than happy.
And when they'll level up and when they're ready
to make YouTube content or longer-form video content,
they know that I am that YouTube Certified Expert,
that weird old dude that makes me laugh on TikTok.
I'll go and check out his channel.
Anything that gives you that organic reach,
anything that pushes you out there is a very good way
to seed things in people's minds.
It's a very good way
of getting new, fresh eyeballs onto you.
It might disappear quickly, but because you're there,
and you can continue to create content very quickly
just using your mobile phone, why not?
Get it out, take a Snap, say something funny, Tok the Tik.
After all, we're all a little bit childish inside,
we all love a little bit of fun.
So it's your time to go out there
and start creating Toks of Tik.
There's a playlist here for all TikToky stuff
that might help you.