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The career space has greatly evolved with the rapid development of growing social media platforms. These days your social media presence can determine whether you get a job or not.
Interestingly enough, with the cancel culture that has gained popularity, a social media post can get you fired within minutes. Just ask Gina Carano who got fired by Disney for comparing cancel culture to the Jewish holocaust on Instagram.
As the century progresses in its second decade, social media has in a way levelized the field. This is because social media has made people who traditionally didn’t have an opportunity gain visibility.
You recall Azziad Nasenya, a 19-year-old Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, who rose to fame after her Tik Tok video trended on various social media platforms. After that success, she landed enviable deals in the media world. She got an opportunity to host famous shows on TV. Most notably, she got contracted to act in the popular local drama series Selina.
The bottom line is that this is the era of possibilities. It gives people an easier and smoother path to opportunities that they would have otherwise struggled to get. Probably, without it, they would never have accessed those opportunities.
The conundrum
This new reality presents a conundrum. We all know the famous saying Rome was not built in a day. While Social Media has opened the door, people need to build careers for the long haul.
How can we build long-term careers with these platforms and most particularly Tik Tok?
What is Tik Tok?
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Tik Tok is a platform owned by Chinese giant internet technology firm Bytedance. Tik Tok was previously known as Douyin which was launched in 2016. However, according to BBC, the video-sharing app started as an App called Musical.ly. It grew immensely in Shanghai and attracted more than 100 million users in China and Thailand.
Byte Dance at the time did not own Musical.ly but was continuing with Douyin. Byte Dance later purchased Musical.ly for $1 billion and folded it. In 2017 they called it Tik Tok and launched it in other nations such as India, Europe, United States, and many others.
It has grown to rival “old hands” in the game such as Instagram, Snapchat, and others. It currently has more than 800 million users.
Intolerance for long videos
Tik Tok has gained popularity because it allows people to share short videos that range different topics and interests. People lip-syncing videos, challenges, inspirational clips and so much more.
Audiences have proven that they are actively shunning long content and heavily opting for shorter videos. In fact writer Deepak Meenon says that attention spans are reducing. In his article, how to be the best candidate in the “Tik Tok” era, he says that attention spans have shrunk to 8 seconds from 12 seconds in 2000.
People have a lot of information to consume these days just as is rightly articulated in the Social Dilemma documentary. As a result, people pass over long-form content because they feel it is wasting their time.
Evolving with the times
In such an era, the solution is knowing how to summarize a lot of information into short and interesting clips. With the right communication skills, one can be able to communicate in a few minutes. These skills can allow you to relay loads of information in smaller, simpler consumable chunks.
For example, you have come across the term elevator pitch. In an elevator pitch, one is told to assume that they met an influential business leader in an elevator. Because you only have less than a minute with them in an elevator, you are expected to pitch your best ideas in that small time window.
That is where you pick the main points and share the best points that would capture their interest. At the same time, an elevator pitch should be so unique that the influencer will not forget it. Remember they are bombarded with numerous ideas by other people on a daily basis.
It is the same case with a Tik Tok audience. You should come up with a content strategy that is unique, summarized, and interesting at the same time. Since people get bored easily, you should also find an effective way to entertain them and keep their attention fixed on your content.
Tips for building a career on Tik Tok:
1. Establish your niche
Having a unique selling point will bring people to you repeatedly. That‘s why you need to know what gift you have. You need to ask yourself, “What is the one thing that I can do well like no one else can?”
There are people like John C. Maxwell who have an extraordinary insight on leadership that you can only get from him. People flock to his podcasts and conferences to gain that unique wisdom.
2. Consistency
You need to have a calendar that guides your content strategy. It will help build a following. Set goals and stick to them. It’s very advisable to start small with achievable goals rather than doing things that you can’t sustain.
Start by posting once a week, twice, and then grow to daily. Let your small start help you build discipline and consistency.
The good thing about consistency is that it helps you build a following organically that grows and engages you. It’s no use having millions of followers who don’t engage.
3. Make it simple
You have to make it simple and understandable. How do you ensure that what you are sharing is digestible to any ordinary person?
Think about a 10-year-old and digest information for them. Take complex concepts that you understand and simplify them for a small child. That way people will take an interest and start following you because they understand your content.
When information is too complex people tend to shun it. As a journalist, I was taught that my work is to take complex reports and explain them to a high school dropout. It requires skill and practice but it’s worth the effort.
In conclusion, take your time, establish a niche, make it easy to understand, and most importantly it has to be interestingly short. On Tik Tok, we have several doctors who explained what Covid-19 does to someone’s lungs in very short but informative clips. You too can stand out in your field.