Why Tiktokers Fame Never Lasts — And What I Would Recommend You As a Marketer Advisor

Analyzing the most popular Tiktokers mistakes and how they stopped being relevant.

If you start thinking about the Tiktok content from the beginning of 2020 versus the one this app has now, you probably could feel there are two different platforms.

When this app started growing exponentially, the videos that predominated on the platform were basically dances and pranks. Practically anyone could become famous doing anything, and thousands of users grew their followers from 0 to 100,000 in less than a month just by being funny.

According to an article on BBC, something that captured more users than ever on this app was the fact that, as a normal person making jokes, talking about your life, or dancing without even knowing what you are doing, you could have more followers than the Kardashians or other big celebrities, different to what happens on Instagram.

This led to the creation of influencers that everyone talked about and followed. Many of them reached the big screen with movies on Netflix, made music videos, and others made contracts with luxury brands that were only exclusive to already established models.

However, most of these people who gained millions (or even billions) of followers in 2020 are practically missing today. Many who also entered the platform later (between 2021 and 2022) are also irrelevant.

Many people say that it is because, right now, other types of content are going viral, not only simple dances or lip-sync songs.

But those same famous people that became well-known at that moment with simple videos are still making different content now (you can see Addison Rae still posting daily Tiktoks, or Charlie Damelio still making different videos), but are still ignored by the majority of us.

So what really happens with the fame of the Tiktokers? Here I will show you the main mistakes they make and how you can fix them if you want to grow an account.

Mistake #1 — Believing that they have to create a brand of the product that identifies them.

The first mistake most influencers make when growing an account (or when they feel popular enough) is feeling like they have to create a product.

They want to have a soda product because they advertised a soda brand and millions of people bought them, or makeup owners because many brands constantly look for them to promote their products, etc.

And until that point, this is not something bad. It is wise to desire to make money outside sponsorships and create a business that lasts after your popularity.

The problem is creating a product based on the brands that already give you money for advertisement and trying to compete with them.

You already are making money for promoting this type of content, so creating a product based on that same content is not diversifying. You will lose money from advertisements (because you won’t be able to promote any other brand), and you will still have to work hard to sell products.

Also, unless you have enough resources to make something of quality, your product will be lost to the hundreds of other brands that, in the end, are just a name.

People might buy the first one just because it’s you, but not become customers because bigger brands have more ways to make something better and reliable.

This happened to Arianna Renee, an influencer with 2.8 million followers that wanted to create a t-shirt business, but she couldn’t even sell 36 t-shirts because people saw her clothes brand as uninteresting and poor quality. She failed because she didn’t have anything new or good to offer apart from her name.

Another example is the Addison Rae makeup brand Item, which started very well because she had millions of followers but quickly disappeared because people preferred already established brands of makeup that other influencers are constantly promoting:

Addison’s failure to promote her own product line was evident when she posted about Item Beauty for the last time on her personal Instagram feed on Sept. 29, 2022. The lack of effort led to a decline in consumer interest, resulting in a drop in the brand’s social media following. On the other hand, Selfless faced backlash in September 2020 for diminishing black voices in the beauty space, causing the brand to go inactive on Twitter.

Addison stopped receiving money from other brands and now doesn’t have its own makeup business, either.

What would I recommend instead of creating a product based on marketing that you already have

I recommend creating a business based on things that already make you money but are not the main product.

For example, if you know that makeup brands have good numbers when you promote them, instead of creating a makeup product, create a makeup consulting business.

This way, you can continue working directly with different brands and earn more money without spending on a product you don’t know will go well. You can also collaborate with different brands to create seasonal products that you can promote in your networks without starting something from scratch.

Followers would be more connected to an influencer that sells help and consulting to others than just another boring product.

Mistake #2 — Most of them stay on the same platform creating the same content because they already have an audience there.

Many influencers got their first viral video and used that video to create their whole personality from that moment.

And while that helps them grow exponentially, it also works against them when people stop finding the same joke “funny” or interesting over and over again.

This happened to Loren Gray, who used to be the most followed account on Tiktok at the beginning of this platform but was overtaken by Charli D’Amelio with her dances and reality show, who then was dethroned by Khaby Lame with comedy.

Currently, none of those accounts are in anyone’s mouth. They have millions of followers, but they are not currently relevant. Many people didn’t even remember them.

The reason is that they stayed making the same content because they feel this is what the audience expects from them. But the world is changing, and so is people’s attention to the content they consume.

A perfect example of this phenomenon is to see how Tiktok began as a platform where people danced and made mimics with their lips, to the point of being one of the main sources of information preferred by the population.

And this doesn’t just happen on Tiktok. Applications like Facebook have made entire businesses based on a platform disappear overnight.

What should you do to continue earning money outside of the same platform

Create a way to earn money outside of the platform you are popular on.

Influencers like Sophia Allen and Leana Deeb create fitness content for their audience regularly, but they also have their own diet and exercise guide app where people who want to change their physical condition want to be part of a subscription.

An app that provides a subscription is one of the best ways to make money outside a platform because it gives you regular revenue month by month with the same content you are already making.

Also, test different platforms, not only stay on the same one forever. If you feel that your content will not be popular outside one app because you only do trends, that means that you probably will become irrelevant when people don’t find you good anymore. So find a niche that you could attach even if everything else falls.

Mistake #3 — Start acting like famous people.

Finally, one of the biggest mistakes that Tiktokers make when they start to have a large audience is to start acting like they are famous, which costs them their popularity.

People are tired of famous behavior. For that reason, influencers, as we know, are dead because what is popular now is being genuine, natural, and relatable, as I talked one of my previous posts:

“Influencers, as we know, are dying. People want more real individuals willing to talk about real advice and show an ordinary life that others can relate to.

I consider this the perfect moment to grow on any platform as an ordinary person because this is what attracts now. Normal people give honest advice about what really works for them in any area and look easier to make because they have the same possibilities as us.

Nobody wants to know how a millionaire bought a Lamborghini unless is for entertainment. And right now, what is working is education. People want real advice from regular people because it is what they can replicate.”

An example of this behavior is that of “the hype house,” a group of Tiktokers who created a reality show to show their fame and great life but was a failure because the members started acting like they were famous and unreachable, which made this project another boring tv show.

Another case was that of the D’amelio family reality show, in which they were affected by several controversies for their “problems” to which no one relates, such as “anxiety because I don’t want to make videos today” or “I don’t want to eat what the chef made.”

What should you do the more popular you become

Keep your essence of a genuine person. Keep connecting with your followers as you have done since you started. Do not think that you are better than anyone because you have reached a certain position.

Nobody will care about your life if you start to be an unattainable person. What draws the attention of the users of you is the way in which you currently act naturally.

One Tiktoker doing an excellent job in this regard is Alix Earle. Despite being the girl of the moment on this platform, she continues to make self-awareness content for her audience. For example, one of her latest videos shows that she has acne problems and uses filters to hide them.

Final thoughts

Tiktokers’ fame never last because they make three main mistakes, begin to compete with brands that are currently giving them advertising revenue, stay on the same platform to create the same content because they already have an audience there, and start acting like famous people.

If you want to remain relevant on this platform, the best way to do it is to continue to be a genuine and natural person. You don’t need to hire paparazzi, hang out with Hollywood people, or believe you’re better than anyone.

In the monetization area, don’t compete with brands that are giving you money right now. Instead, create partnership products with them, start a consulting business, and diversify your options.

Finally, instead of creating the same old content that can become boring over time, find a way to educate or inform the population so that you can create a subscription to your content and move between platforms. In this way, You will not depend on a single place to make money.

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