What I learned from making a viral TikTok
Last week, a post on my cats’ TikTok account went unexpectedly viral. It wasn’t even about cats.
As of publication, here are the stats on the viral July 4 parade video:
2.5M views
478.6K likes
3568 comments
favorited 27.5K times
This view count exceeded my second-most viewed video, a video of my cat Uncle Rico falling out of a laundry basket, by 478x.
Here’s what I learned from the viral TikTok:
Vanity metrics are truly just vanity metrics. Unsurprisingly, this video did not convert any leads.
All those eyeballs are scary. The sheer volume of comments and messages made me feel pretty vulnerable, even though I’m not in the video at all.
I was shocked to find that only one comment was hateful (I’ve since deleted it).
Numbers are only exciting for a day or two.
Something interesting: I first posted this video on Saturday July 1, when I was at the parade. The video had about 700 views for 3 days. Then it skyrocketed on day 4 (July 4) to 2.4M. This suggests the algorithm pushes topical content.
Tips for making a viral TikTok, which I feel wholly unqualified to provide after doing it only once:
Music choice is important. Well-known music is ideal, and a clash between music and footage creates a fun tension.
Caption needs to be funny.
Post current, topical content.
Be in the right place at the right time—ideally near someone doing an insane stunt like pirouetting a bobcat on its rear wheels.
And now, for your viewing pleasure…the video.