I got 1 follower on TikTok!

that's right, i'm now better than you

What’s good young and eager mind?

In response to yesterday’s piece a subscriber, Chris, sent me an email.

Love the transparency. 

YouTube Shorts have a higher view threshold than TikTok. TikTok is when the video starts playing, YT Shorts say it needs be meaningful (likely the 2-3 second mark).

This is what I mean when I talk about the difficulty of entrepreneurial science.

Medicine is super difficult but at least the human/cat/dog/horse/rabbit body stays the same.

Whereas our environment is constantly changing.

That’s why I want you to view experts who’ve got all the answers with a healthy dose. of skepticism.

Anywho, to Chris his point, it definitely is apples and oranges.

And at any rate, reach is merely a proxy for other things. It likely is correlated with your business outcomes but you’re probably not gonna make reach your target.

Otherwise, just do porn or rage bait.

I do think TikTok does genuinely have more reach in the few days I’ve been posting on all platforms because of the likes.

I got virtually no likes on IG, a few on YT, and a few more on TT. I think likes are a slightly better indicator of how many people are seeing it.

However, social media engagement is poorly correlated with business outcomes anyway. The kind of content that does well on social is rarely the kind of content does that makes you money. BUT people with no background in stats or science love simple, and what is simpler than numbers. So as a result, people will optimize whatever that platform shows them.

According to the recent meta-analysis by Liadeli, Sotgiu, & Verlegh (2023), “Informational content is more effective, as it aids consumers in their purchase decisions.”

Which is why my recommendation still is to do “answer bombing” aka creating problem-solving content.

I also got my first follower on TikTok

I wanna make it clear that I’m still the same old RJY you know and love. Please don’t treat me any differently now that I got 1 follower and am an “influencer.”

Yes, I’m a celebrity now with a platform but I’m still also just a regular guy who watches Netflix and has to deal with taxes, same as you.

I also gained two fake follower accounts.

I follow a ‘how to grow on TikTok’ account and then fake accounts imitating her and stealing her content started following me.

I’m not sure what kind of scam they’re running but that seems like something TikTok should have a much better handle on.

On YouTube, you can’t start a channel called MrBeastt (extra t) and then copy/paste his vids onto yours. You’ll be deleted in 12 seconds.

To make matters worse, when you try to report them (which no one does because it’s a hassle), there’s an option to say that an account is imitating another account, yet when I use the search function, hers doesn’t show up.

So I think it might only be possible to report clones of huge celebrities (like Robert Downey Jr., and myself).

My emails lately have been super long and I wanna make them a bit shorter so you can get the gist faster. So for today, I’ll leave it at that.

Btw, if you wanna follow my journey as I figure out what kind of content to create

here are my socials:

TikTok

IG Reels

Shorts

See you Monday,

RJY

Wood & Water

References

Liadeli G, Sotgiu F, Verlegh PWJ (2022), “A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Brand Owned Social Media on Social Media Engagement and Sales,” Journal of Marketing. doi:10.1177/00222429221123250