“We want to go viral,” says a small business owner.

“Can you make this go viral?” asks a client.

“Our plan is to wait until it goes viral,” said no social media professional ever.

Sadly, in social media marketing world, MAKING something go viral is an oxymoron. You can’t make something take off organically, it’s against the nature of how it all works. As content creation experts, we can read the tea leaves and patterns of what common factors are present in content that went viral and try to emulate that. But plan for it? Not possible.

In social media marketing, while we can’t control the OUTCOME of something, we CAN control the activity.

So today, we are outlining a few factors that led to WILD personal success for a Hay There Social Media INsider going viral on TikTok.

Factor #1: Experimenting with the right platform.

We are taught to avoid “shiny object syndrome” or thinking about social networks like “flavors of the week.” Instead, it’s wise to pick quality over quantity and grow a presence on the networks that make the most sense for your brand or business.

You do NOT need to hop on a social network just because it’s new or because it’s what “everyone is doing.” (Sidenote: Beware of sweeping statements like “NOBODY is on X Network anymore”…because it’s a case-by-case basis.)

We all know during the pandemic year TikTok, took off like wildfire and we outlined a number of reasons why. Creators and users alike loved it! Kimberly Hermann, a graduate of the Hay There Social Media Training Program, was one of them.

Kimberly tells us she decided to start experimenting with her TikTok personal account this year, to explore and learn how it differs from the other social media networks and get her feet wet.

“I felt it was a place where I could just be myself without feeling that I needed to be perfect,” Kimberly said. “Everyone does their own thing there and no one’s perfect. It’s different than Instagram where you feel you have this perfect video all the time.”

By continuing to delve into the different aspects of TikTok, she discovered how she could amplify that and take what she learned to be able to translate that to client accounts – to add to their overall social media marketing strategy.

“It’s built my confidence up to put more professional videos on Instagram,” Kimberly said.

Factor #2: Consistency.

Just like a good old fashion workout program, consistency is key. However, we know all too well from our clients that it can be hard for a small business to be consistent in creating regular social media content (good thing Hay There Social Media exists!), and that makes being consistent a very daunting task – let alone being intentional by learning what WORKED from your consistent effort and repeating more of that.

Kimberly tackled consistency by posting every day – by purposefully thinking when something was interesting, she would post. She gravitated towards topics that spoke to her as a mom and as a social media business owner.

But what about the TikTok videos with only a a handful of views? Did she consider them a failure? Heck no! Because those videos gave her DATA. Data and proof of what topics, features and factors worked and what didn’t. Even if you can’t extract the exact numbers from the data that you’d want to, it’s a learning process. Consistently following through leads to more information, and that’s how things grow – when she could apply that data.

Factor #3: Being YOU.

And now here is Kimberly’s video that is in our opinion totally hilarious, spot on with #MomLife and one that she so concisely and authentically nailed:

@themrshermannThen my kid immediately asked if I was allowed to have wine for dinner🤦🏻‍♀️ #kids #winefordinner #momsoftiktokover30 #momsoftiktok♬ original sound – Kimberly Hermann

“I was trying to make dinner and you know how sometimes things don’t work out,” Kimberly said. “I was so frustrated because nobody in our house could decide what to eat. So I thought, you know this would make a good video!”

And it sure did!

Kimberly’s “wine for dinner” TikTok video landed on “viral” status as it quickly amassed views – it grew overnight to well over 100,000 views, and is still growing with more than 200,000 view. As a solo person, without a “famous” account, that was beyond tremendous results!

With nearly 15,000 “likes” and nearly 1,000 comments, her video gained traction with high numbers of interaction…and continues to grow! Her number of followers has now jumped up as well, meaning that her successive videos are being viewed more consistently by more people.

“I get new followers every day from it,” Kimberly said.

All that because Kimberly was just herself. It was honest, just a mom in her real life, so it connected with other moms across the board.

And learning the nuances of TikTok and putting videos on the platform consistently built her confidence.

“It’s very hard to put yourself out there and hear your own voice on a video, so once you break through that barrier and comfort zone, it’s easier,” Kimberly said.

What does this mean for small businesses?

It doesn’t take PERSONAL viral success to know HOW to strategically use social networks/content platforms like TikTok. But it does take experience, interest, education and dedication.

And that’s exactly what someone like Kimberly brings to her clients.

“After I made my first few videos and got confident, I mentioned to a client that they should do a video on TikTok, that it would really help them,” Kimberly said. “I told them just be yourself, just say a tip or give a quick house tour. They did – and they’re sending me videos every day now. That will help them boost their followers and get more clients!”

Is TikTok a platform you want to grow a presence on for your business? Kimberly and our community of experts are here to help you with that when you hire them as your social media manager.

Count on us for on-trend social content creation (like TikTok videos and Instagram Reels to name a few) as well as top-notch community management that pulls your current and potential customers in and converts them.

P.S. We haven’t even begun to talk about the win Kimberly had getting a wholesale order for her client all by reaching out on Instagram and having a very productive DM chain…

Remember, social media is a way to connect with others personally – but your business can also use those very same points to engage and connect with potential customers! We can help you develop a social media marketing strategy that works.

Will it go viral? We’ll just have to see! Contact Hay There Social Media today and we’ll help you create lasting connections.