When I began a TikTok account with the intention of actually growing a following and maybe even making money, I found myself embarrassingly unaware of how to start, given that I had worked in social media-related marketing for the seven years prior. So I took to Google, and ChatGPT, and then TikTok itself, for advice on how to make videos that people—and the platform—might like.

The key axioms, a ubiquitous handful of “best practices,” seemed logical at the time, and I adhered to them. Now, a year later, I’ve come to understand that they are often devoid of a nuanced understanding of the algorithm and viewer psychology, and while not entirely invalid, may actually inhibit the creative experimentation necessary for a new creator to find their voice.

Here is a list of some of the “must-do’s” I came across at the beginning of my journey, and why, in many cases, they are best ignored.

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The video that made me start TikTok was this simple, forty-second travel "vlog” by drewfromladue. When I first saw it, I knew nothing about TikTok optimization, and therefore had no understanding of why it was successful, how it could be better, and what I could take away from it. Understanding TikTok strategy and, on a basic level, the TikTok algorithm, is an undulating mix of art and science. Yet having grown my own channel over the past year and spent time analyzing both my own and others’ videos in the interest of driving performance, I now have a number of retroactive takeaways about this video — some positive, some negative.

To understand this video holistically, we first need to build a comprehensive body of information about the creator.

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