Insider’s goal on TikTok is to build an audience and high engagement rate through the use of educational content. We want to be the account you go to when you want to learn something new. We aimed to reach 3 million followers in 2021, a goal we accomplished in October.
The goal of Insider on TikTok is to build a young audience that is informed and engaged. TikTok is used by younger generations that are discovering news and a variety of outlets, in some cases for the first time. We strove to carve out our own space on the platform by posting videos with the goal of teaching our audience something new and informative. All of our videos are made with an educational angle in mind. We aimed to grow the number of followers, expand our brand recognition, and cultivate a voice on the platform by tracking video views and engagement rate. Another goal of ours was to reach 3 million followers in 2021. In the long term, we want our audience from TikTok to become loyal readers of Insider, seeking our site as a trustworthy and credible source.
A few challenges we faced on TikTok were resources and constant trial and error in what we were posting. It’s difficult to find which topics resonate with your audience on such a new platform. After testing many different topics and video formats, we noticed several framings, like how things are made and why things are so expensive, became top performers. We were then able to lean into those topics heavily, resulting in higher views and more followers.
Additionally, it can be difficult to advocate for resources for a platform that doesn’t have a clear monetary pay-off immediately. At the same time, in order to grow on TikTok you must post consistently. With effective advocacy for a platform that was the key to a newer and emerging audience along with the creative use of existing resources, we were eventually able to overcome this obstacle.
Insider has been a leading participant in TikTok’s Instruction Acceleration Program (formerly known as the Creative Learning Fund), consistently proving we can bring engaging and informative storytelling to the platform. We also partnered with TikTok to build out their Pride Month programming, which included hosting a live interview with Alyson Stoner on LGBTQ+ representation in the entertainment industry. The interview reached over 305K viewers.
Additionally, Insider reached 3 million followers in October 2021 thanks to our strategy. In total, we’ve earned 309 million views. We’ve also driven 200 subscribers to our site through TikTok, proving that we can successfully extend the audience off the platform and to our site.
Our biggest hits include:
18.5M views - Egyptian tile making
11.7M views - Turning cigarettes into Teddy bears
12.9M views - 300-year-old candle-making tradition
12M views - Why Japanese chef knives are so expensive
19.7M views - Eco-friendly reefs made from human remains
13.9M views - How Ocean Spray harvests 100 billion cranberries in 6 weeks
