Our Favourite Creators & What You Can Learn From Them
Let’s look at some of the best performing creators and learn from them!
There is so much noise in the online space, especially in the world of social media. What you should or shouldn’t do. Instead, together, let’s look at the top-performing content creators on the top performing social media app (yep you guessed it, TikTok) and infuse some of the things we learn from them into our own social media marketing strategies!
THE GOLF GIRL
Cass Holland, @cassholland, now has 2 million followers from making daily vlogs about her life as a golf cart girl, working on a golf course. She has a pretty regular, everyday job, that she shares stories about on her TikTok.
What we can learn from her is the more “boring” or “regular” you think your life is, the better. People want to relate to you and the truth is that the majority of people on TikTok have regular lives. There is no element of the “that girl” or “clean girl” aesthetic in her videos, which essentially means the “perfect life” aesthetic. Cass is actually doing better than any “that girl” type influencer, because people relate to “regular, everyday” creators more than creators showcasing unattainable lifestyles. We predict that more creators like this will gain popularity in 2023, which you can read more on our blog about our 2023 Social Media Predictions, linked here.
Another thing we can learn from her is the power of story-telling. In her videos, she tells stories about what has happened on the golf course, what she did, what people said to her - pretty regular stuff, but also stuff that people want to know. People are nosey, so the more information you can give them - the better. Watching her videos feels like you’re facetiming with a friend!
THE ICONIC SINGER
Rodger Cleye, @RodgerCleye, is a total icon. He has an army - like fans and has grown 3 million followers by creating short-form meme-like videos of him singing popular songs, and songs his audience ask him to make. Do yourself a favour and scroll through his page: he has no professional lighting, ring lights, no set up, no intro and no outro. It’s just him, the camera and doing what he loves. People love him because he’s genuine and and like-able. He’s been made into many memes, like this one, which also makes him extremely relatable. Rodger has not once followed a trend or done any competitor analysis, because there is no one like him. So stop being a trend follower, and be a trend setter, like Rodger.
THE TIKTOK POLICE (THE GOOD TYPE)
Drew Afualo, @drewafualo, and Joey Swoll, @thejoeyswoll have grown their platforms with almost 8 million and almost 6 million followers by being a voice for the people, who don’t have a voice. They stitch (or react) to controversial or mean-spirited videos, to stand up for the people that are victims to these types of videos.
Drew stitches misogynistic-type videos on TikTok and stands up for women who are victims of these types of mentalities that some men hold, while Joey stitches videos showcasing mean culture occurring in gyms, and educates people on what the right thing to do is in those types of situations, as well as standing up for the victims of that type of behaviour.
Both give a voice to the people and add to these very valuable conversations that need to be happening in society. Another important lesson from these two, are that they aren’t afraid to voice their opinion. They come across as very strong spoken, they don’t beat around the bush and they get straight to the point.
THE MAKEUP TREND SETTER
Mikayla Nogueira, @mikaylanogueira, has grown to 13.6 million followers by making makeup videos. There are thousands of makeup influencers on the platform, what makes Mikayla different? Well, she started making talking-type videos back in 2020, when it wasn’t a thing. Like Rodger, she’s not a trend follower, she’s a trend setter. Watching her videos also felt like you are talking to a friend on Face Time, like our friend Cass!
Another important thing to note about Mikayla, is she is very relatable, personable and authentic. The way she speaks to the camera, is casual, again, like she’s talking to a friend. She is also very honest about the makeup she uses in her makeup and product reviews, which shows she’s not in this for the money, or to be liked by brands, she’s in it to genuinely give value to her audience.
THE AUTHENTIC VLOGGER
Anna Paul, @anna..paul has grown 5.6 million followers by vlogging. Again, like Mikayla’s industry, there are tons and thousands of vloggers on the app, what makes Anna different? Anna, like the rest (do you notice the pattern?) is unfiltered, real and authentic. A lot of the time, it feels like she just whips out her phone and tells you her unfiltered thoughts, like this one (our fave). She’s genuinely giving value to her audience, who she treats like her friends.
While watching her vlogs, it feels like you’re right there with her, not only because it’s like she’s face timing her friend (as we’ve mentioned a million times before), but also because she speaks in the present tense! Make sure to start doing this, if you create vlogs!
A lot of the time, we see some mono-tone voice overs, that feel like they’ve been scripted and planned. Anna’s voice overs often include slip-ups, laughs and it feels like she does them in one-take, which again, is much more authentic, real & unfiltered, which is what people want!
A RECAP
Here are all of the lessons learnt from our favourite top-performing creators.
the more “boring” and “regular” your life is, the better — people want to relate to you, so be you
don’t be afraid to be repetitive with the type of videos you’re making
don’t be a trend follower, be a trend setter
add value to important conversations online with topics you’re passionate about
don’t be afraid to be controversial in calling people out when needed
be unfiltered, authentic & real
stop setting things up for videos & film as you are
don’t script out every bit of your videos or voice overs - start being unfiltered and embrace the slip ups
If you need more help and personalization with your social media and what you can do to become the next creator, book a 30-minute 1:1 call with Miriam here.
