Going Viral on TikTok as a Poet
TikTok famous poet, Anthony Hyland, is setting the standard for poets looking to grow their platform on social media. And he’s not keeping the tricks for working the system to himself. Anthony sat down with us at the Poet Life Podcast to explain how he did it and how you can make a name for yourself on social media.
A fundamental truth about social media is that you cannot post the exact same content with the exact same caption across all platforms. Each platform has its own personality, so you have to tailor your content. The same goes for poetry between social media and the stage.
Anthony adds to this concept by saying, “They’re never going to be the same. … The way you approach performances is going to be way different, and the content you post will be slightly different. Because now you’re working the system to get engagement.”
When performing on stage, he will most likely end up freestyling a poem he’s had practiced a hundred times because the energy from the crowd is so dynamic. Whereas, “social media is about translating passion into a digestible piece so people will get the point. You’ve gotta say a whole lot in a lot less time.”
For this conversation, we focused on the poetically underutilized TikTok app.
To kick things off, Anthony shared his two biggest tips for any poet no matter your platform:
Be authentic to you and find your voice
Anthony says, “Find your voice. Hopping into the slam scene, I stood out because I didn’t sound like everyone else. A lot of time, we focus on doing what’s popular that we forget to be authentic.”
He goes on to explain that what goes viral is not what’s popular. It’s being your authentic self.
Stop listening to everybody
There’s a difference between being a listener and being a performer. When you’re writing, don’t listen to other poets. This way your style doesn’t get muddied by theirs and so you don’t start to mimic them completely. He goes on to explain that as a listener, he’s listening to other poets to diversify his style. He listens as a listener.
“When you become so consumed by other people’s content, you start to sound like them.”
Why should a poet be on TikTok?
Most of us hear “TikTok” and think it’s teenagers doing dances and random challenges, right? So did Anthony. Until his wife introduced it to him a couple years ago. Then he found this account with 300,000 followers that had been posting about social consciousness. That intrigued Anthony because he realized he could use his existing poems infused with social justice messaging.
Jumping onto the TikTok app with his poetry, Anthony was bringing something different to the platform. Standing out. He became the TikTok poet, and he has created an avenue for poets on that platform.
This allowed him to make the most of his visibility. He has been able to use his following size as a platform to promote other people. Sharing other people’s content on TikTok keeps you top of mind as an influencer. And it helps grow the audience of the person you’re tagging and promoting.
Anthony has also monetized his brand in a couple ways. He has his book and merch for sale that people can access through his bio, which is standard for any platform.
But he takes this monetization a step further by offering his own tiered paid promotion options. He posted on other platforms, like his Facebook, asking if anyone wants “to put their brand in front of 60,000 people.” There were three levels to choose from:
● $25 for a 12 hour post
● $50 for a 24 hour post
● $100 for a permanent post
He has also learned that TikTok creators won’t be contacted for sponsorships until they’ve hit the 100,000 followers mark. Or monetized sponsorships until the 500,000 follower mark. That’s why it’s important for us poets to learn as much as we can about TikTok and grow our poetry brand on that platform.
What do you need to know? Queue the transition.
Learn your metrics
With social media, metrics play a huge role in how to tailor your content. According to Anthony, the average person will stop watching a video within the first 5 to 7 seconds. If you don’t draw them in, you lose an audience member.
Anthony says this is why he loves TikTok so much.
When you switch your TikTok account from regular to Pro, you get even more free analytics. Learn what these mean and dig in. Because as you grow your following on TikTok, more and more features become available to you.
TikTok thrives on metrics
For example, you can’t go live on your TikTok page until you’ve hit at least 1,000 followers. As you continue growing that following, you can create a stitch or a reaction. This is where you can talk and react to someone else’s video which is being shown in a smaller box on your video.
There’s much more you can do with this reaction, so listen to the full podcast episode to hear Anthony describe it!
By paying attention to his metrics, Anthony discovered that anywhere between 15 and 45 seconds is his sweet spot for going viral. That’s the timeframe he has to capture the audience’s attention and inspire them to comment on and share his video.
It’s also important to remember that on TikTok, “likes mean close to nothing. Your bread and butter is in your comments first and then your shares on and off the platform,” according to Anthony. So it’s not how many likes that is considered viral on TikTok. It’s comments and shares.
Metrics introduce you to your audience
He has also learned who his TikTok audience is. He has followers that are
● 12 to 25 years old
● Some people upwards of 50, 60, 70 years old
● 86.5% women
So he knows that his sound bites are able to “invoke raw emotion” from the demographics that follow him.
TikTok is a place where you can build your community by posting authentic and relatable content. For example, one of Anthony’s poems took off, and he gained 40,000 followers in a month. It was a poem that disrupted the mindset of unconditional love as a parent. That kind of message resonated with his audience.
“That poem went so viral because it’s such a relatable piece,” Anthony says.
Metrics tell you if you got shadow banned
Paying attention to your metrics will also help you know if you’ve been shadow banned. “Shadow banned” is when your account stops getting views, likes, and traffic from the “For You Page.” Anthony says to read the community guidelines to avoid being shadow banned.
“Figure out: what are the types of things they’re limiting you from saying. And then how can you navigate around that to still get your message out and still garner a response that you want?”
6 pro tips for growing your poetry brand on TikTok
There’s more than metrics to doing well on TikTok. You have to think about your video quality as well as your content. Here are six pro tips from Anthony to make sure you’re doing your best work on TikTok:
Learn: “You have to be a student of the game. Read. Understand how social media works to navigate the platform and build a moderate to a massive platform.”
Diction: Make sure your vocal projection is out there, clear.
Content: Post content people can relate to. That they can latch on to.
Competitions: “I tell people, ‘Go to my poetry video, use that sound, and recreate it the best way you know possible.’ Then that opens you up to different market places. I now have a worldwide audience.”
Reach out: “Don’t be afraid to reach out to people on bigger pages and ask ‘Hey, could you duet my video or comment on my video?’ There are pages who reach out to collaborate on a project. Don’t be afraid to throw some money their way for it.”
Be you: “Don’t worry about [the number of] followers. Don’t worry about likes. Worry about putting authentic content out, and I promise you, people will relate to your content.”
That’s a whole lot we covered just now, and we cover even more on the full podcast episode. Give it a listen! You never know what you’ll learn about TikTok and the poetry industry.
Anthony holds the distinct privilege of having served the District of South Carolina and Southern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha as the Assistant Chair to the Belford V. Lawson Oratorical Competition. He is the Southern District and Regional 1st place Oratorical Contest winner and 1st Runner-up on the National level. This young man firmly believes that service is a duty NOT an obligation. Find Anthony on TikTok at @iSpeak1906
