Post-Hot-Girl-Halloween: An Analysis

As TikTok continues to peak in popularity, the platform provides a growing opportunity to establish a digital presence in the social media sphere. With algorithm theories and growth strategies flying all over the place, it can be difficult to channel in on what it really takes to build a following on the app, and even more complicated is strategically creating audience-targeted content, with the hopes of going viral.

To put these theories and strategies to the test, I conducted my own TikTok experiment to evaluate the claims, hacks, as well as tips and tricks that some growth experts on the platform preach. I first began 30 Days of Hot Girl Halloween to test a theory that by posting every day for 30 days in a row, the algorithm is more likely to circulate your content to new audiences. As the experiment continued, I began playing around with other variables by measuring a number of social media metrics and tracking them daily.

As the 30-day challenge and the rest of the content I post on the platform are categorized under the fashion niche, it can be assumed my findings may not be applicable to the average TikTok user. However, the analysis of the data recorded throughout the challenge does not inherently mirror the TikTok recommended growth strategies or tips that are circulated. I found that most of my data contradict these strategies which led me to believe one of three things are occurring in terms of information dissemination relating to growth on TikTok: (1) the algorithm evolves too quickly for anyone method or strategy to be deemed applicable, (2) these TikTok growth influencers are gatekeeping accurate information, (3) that the platform is too dynamic in the sense that going viral requires a combination of research strategies and content methods.

To combat these three obstacles, I felt that the only way to truly discover what content will resonate with my target audience is to analyze my own personal TikTok profile, studying social media metrics, and analyzing the results of impact.

Eddie Shleyner published in a Hootsuite Article, 19 social media metrics worthy of consideration and analysis to effectively demonstrate the impact and value of content posted. Before deciding what metrics to analyze, it was crucial that I channel in on my original goal: to make one of my 30 Days of Hot Girl Halloween TikToks go viral. The problem with my mission - the loose definition of TikTok virality. To hone in on this gap and illustrate the missing information, the social media metrics specifically analyzed with this goal in mind included both awareness (post reach and potential reach) and engagement (applause rate, average engagement rate, amplification rate, virality rate) metrics.

As indicated by LinkedIn, performance on TikTok is based on analysis of 4 crucial statistics: Views, Shares, Likes, and Video Completion, specifically highlighting that the most important metric being Video Completion, reflecting the proportion of viewers that watched the complete video from beginning to end.

With that being said, Shleyner defines average engagement rate by considering a combination of the factors above, saying it is “the number of engagement actions (likes, shares, comments) a post receives relative to your total number of followers.” Since view count is indicated of value to the platform, I incorporated this metric into my calculations. The author emphasizes the importance of the average engagement rate by noting that higher engagement means your content is resonating with your audience. I found this metric to be illustrative of one of my main goals entering the challenge…what does it take to create a valuable piece of “viral” content? Below is a depiction of data reflected from the highest performing pieces of content created during the 30-day period. Through analysis, I have evaluated the top four TikToks for metric analysis, specifically through the study of the analytics provided by TikTok and by reflecting on the results of the average engagement rate of each piece of content.

Top 4 Performing TikToks:

1. Costume: Lava Girl

2. Costume: Female Joker (Sound: Mad House)

3. Costume: Female Joker (Sound: Griztronics)

4. 10 Last Minute Halloween Costume Inspiration Ideas

As depicted, view count and average engagement rate reflected the same performance rankings between the pieces of top-performing content. Tune in to the next chapter to uncover the discoveries made behind the scenes of this social media experiment in pursuit of an answer to the impending question: what makes a TikTok go viral...