1) Event Updates!

2) Who’s That Creator: This one isn’t an interview, but a breakdown of a musician on TikTok that has had two back-to-back viral songs. So I want to explain how musicians can succeed on TikTok and how creators should build relationships with artists.

3) Brand Hot Take: A breakdown of a brand’s social media or TikTok presence and how I think they can improve. Taking a step inside Jacob’s mind. This one is a bit of a hairy take!

So if you missed out on signing up - literally 2 seconds ago, do yourself a favor and sign up for our next event.

We’re doing something different this time and are hosting a short conversation about collaborations within the social media space.

• How do creators collaborate with each other?

• How do brands collaborate with creators? In the most effective ways without it just being a one-off transactional relationship.

• How do brands collaborate with other brands?

I go to so many panels and I don’t get as much transparency as I’d like, so that’s what this is all about.

But I want to take it a step further.

Also at our next event, I’ll be placing you in a small group of around 5-7 people to do a 15-20-minute strategy/brainstorming session with. This will be a great way to meet more people, help you think more strategically, and maybe even find some collaborations yourself.

I’m also already thinking of an event in August - who here likes sports?

So first off - this isn’t an interview. These are my thoughts on Tommy Richman and his success on TikTok (which can probably be applied to most artists) in addition to what I think he and other musicians should be doing on social media to find success!

Let’s get one thing straight, Tommy Richman isn’t some random TikTok musician who popped off and was ranked #2 on the Billboard 100 list, #1 on Spotify, & #1 on Apple Music. He was picked up by Brent Faiyaz’s joint venture between ISO Supremacy and Pulse Records. If you don’t know Brent Faiyaz at this point, start listening to some R&B.

Also side note - if we do walk out songs for the event get ready to hear the below.

So what’s not surprising to see - is that “real” musicians don’t want to be TikTok artists. Tommy Richman doesn’t even have a profile picture, that’s how much he doesn’t want to be a TikTok rapper. They want to be recognized for their music and not some TikTok video.

But let’s be honest: If you aren’t a musician on TikTok today you are fighting an uphill battle. How do you even get discovered?

Million Dollar Baby had 5.8 Million posts with this sound.

Devil Is A Lie doesn’t even come close just yet, but it does have 68,000 posts with the sound, which is also substantial.

Between you and me, how often do you listen to the radio? Most of us here are New Yorkers, so I’d be shocked if you ever listened to the radio (although apparently 91% of 18+ people listen to the radio every month in America).

I also spoke with someone from Warner Music Experience, the WMG consulting group about how their musicians are looking at social media, and guess what… the agents get tons of ideas, but a lot of the musicians don’t want to be making content.

So here are 5 things that musicians should be doing on TikTok to drive traction.

1) Partner with creators: You heard me correctly my creator friends. How would you feel about spending the day with your favorite musician? Pick any of your favorite musicians - how many of them aren’t effectively using TikTok regularly? If you could hang out with them for the day, but you had to make like 3-5 pieces of content about your day with them would you do it? Obviously they’re paying for the cars, food, etc. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee… more like Musicians in Studios Chilling With Creators.

2) Behind the scenes: Many musicians also have an entourage, posse, or even a close friend with them. Give a friend the camera in the studio, throughout your life, whenever. I have no friends to do this for me, otherwise, I’d be showing my day every day, although most days I just sit on my butt at a computer. Create content while creating. And if it’s a somewhat successful artist that can outsource video editing, it’s not much additional work.

3) The Hook: Or in this case the chorus. Most people only remember the chorus to songs anyway. Look at Jack Harlow on TikTok - that’s the only thing he ever drops. A catchy chorus in the studio. Tommy Richman has now done this twice, in a matter of months. The first time with Million Dollar Baby and again with Devil Is A Lie. Look at the comments on any Tommy Richman TikTok and you’ll see the same things. “Drop the full song.” “Drop the album.”

@tommyrichman

Million dollar baby

@tommyrichman

the devil is a lie.

4) Memification: What is the vibe of the song? If you can’t make a video that showcases exactly how you want someone to feel or vibe with the song use a meme. Someone out there has already made a video that can represent that.

@tommyrichman

we ready.

5) Sell: Get over the idea of not selling. Everyone today is a salesperson. I hate cold sales, but no one is selling Jacob Wallach or Social4TheWin quite like I can. Look at Tommy’s channel, almost every video is of his songs.

What Tommy Richman has posted on social media isn’t rocket science. The content is mostly low quality with a 90s look/feel. It’s not a case study, because it’s been done before, but when I drop my rap album, I know what I’m doing.

TikTok Or Bust

After searching through Jack Links social channels the above is really what this brand stands for and Tiktok is by far the most active and successful channel for this brand. There are three components I plan to review.

1) @jacklinksjerky, which is their main TikTok channel.

2) #FeedYourWildSide, a branded mission advertisement that Jack Links just launched last week.

3) @jacklinkswild, the brand’s new TikTok channel. I believe launched specifically for the #FeedYourWildSide activation.

1) @JackLinksJerky

This is the OG Jack Links TikTok account, and the brand’s content strategy over the past six months can be broken into four categories.

1) Presented by Jack Links: These are the classic ads featuring the Sasquatch front and center, complete with the “presented by Jack Links” intro. This works well if the content reaches fans of the brand, but given the unpredictable nature of organic reach, this approach might be overdone.

2) UGC Influencer / Creator Partnerships: Engagement rates for creator-partnered TikToks far outperform other content. Jack Links wisely invests in these, but it's crucial to focus on what's working and cut the rest. They primarily collaborate with outdoor-loving, country-music-listening creators like:

• Josh Lowry (@overlanded) - Rock climber from Sierra Nevada, CA.

• Little Riddle (@little13riddle) - River rat from Mississippi (his words, not mine).

• Chad Lubinski (@chadahooche_) - Outdoor, backpacking, and snowboarding enthusiast.

• Maggie Williams (@themaggiewilliams) - Outdoor country girl who hunts and boats in the swamps.

• Thomas Lancaster (@turbotomlancaster) - Pro timber sports athlete.

• James Klusaritz (@jamesleonidas2) - Comedy creator and my personal favorite, breaking the country mold.

3) Event Content: They’ve created content at events like the CMA Fest, the Minnesota Timberwolves games, and the Super Bowl featuring Sasquatch.

4) Football Season: Spoof content around football, often involving a random creator or possibly a Jack Links employee, discussing fantasy football and season results.

Despite focusing on "Presented by Jack Links" and creator content, there’s room for improvement.

HOW I’D REVAMP THEIR STRATEGY!

If I worked at Jack Links I would scrap everything outside of the UGC Creator Partnerships.

1) Audience Strategy: Who’s munching on beef jerky these days? Who does Jack Links want to attract? Finance bros, athletes, bodybuilders? These questions need addressing. Right now, the account suggests only country and outdoor enthusiasts are jerky fans.

2) Creator Partnership Adjustments: Diversify beyond just the country niche. There are multiple sub-genres within country alone. Apparently, there are 10 types of country folk. They should experiment with other creators and find what type of creator and content style resonates. I want to see this differentiated and tested.

3) Sasquatch Gets Squashed: It’s time for an upgrade. Like the Geico Caveman, Sasquatch needs new life. Maybe give him a voice, put him in a suit, or even set him up on dates. Humanize or not? That’s the question.

One standout amidst it all is James Klusaritz. His comedic style and top-notch editing make him a key asset for Jack Links.

I’m 100% biased because James is probably one of my favorite TikTok creators at the moment. I started following him when he had 20,000 followers about a year ago. With a ridiculous comedic style and I think some of the best editing on the platform he’s a creator that Jack Links should continue to bring on. I saw he partnered with Vita Coco the other day and it did incredibly well, so clearly, his content is working.

2) #FeedYourWildSide

The Branded Mission:

A branded mission is TikTok’s modern take on the classic hashtag challenge. If you’re not in the media buying or ad space, here’s the scoop: TikTok offers this product to brands, allowing them to enlist multiple creators to post content around a specific theme. The goal is to spark a trend where other creators also join in, amplifying the brand's presence.

Ideally, this results in hundreds or thousands of posts, generating significant brand awareness. However, this level of engagement is rare. To incentivize participation, there’s often a prize involved. In Jack Links’ case, some of the winning videos might be showcased on a billboard in Times Square.

So, when you come across hashtags like #PepsiPopChallenge or #CaptainCrunchRun (just examples), you’re likely seeing a branded mission in action.

Primarily, branded missions aim to boost awareness for a product launch, or specific campaign, or simply to announce a brand’s presence on TikTok. They’re often more about PR and visibility than organic viral success.

Enlisting Creators:

Jack Links nailed it with their creator collaborations. They enlisted about 25 creators to produce content for this campaign, and the results were nothing short of spectacular:

• 👀 Views: 17,357,000

• ❤️ Likes: 1,652,600

• 💬 Comments: 6,857

• 📥 Saves: 77,049

• 🔄 Shares: 82,173

• 📈 Engagement Rate: 10.48%

These numbers are astonishing, even for organic content. On average, each creator's post garnered around 700,000 views, making this one of the most consistently successful influencer campaigns I’ve seen on TikTok.

For context, paid advertising on TikTok typically sees an average engagement rate of 1% per post, with 3% being considered excellent. These results far exceed those benchmarks.

Something Seems Off:

I dug deeper into the content from these creators and noticed something peculiar. Normally, you’d expect these creators to pull in hundreds of thousands of views per post, but that wasn't the case here.

Typically, their content struggles to reach 10,000 views per post, aside from a few pinned or high-performing videos. Almost none of the 25+ creators involved in this campaign regularly achieve the level of success seen here.

Additionally, many creators used the #FeedYourWildSide hashtag, clearly marking the videos as ads, which usually results in lower performance and engagement. However, I observed what appeared to be inflated comments or comment hacking on some of these videos.

Given that other influencer content for brands rarely achieves such success, why did Jack Links’ campaign perform so exceptionally well?

Every indicator suggests that something unusual is at play. The performance doesn't align with typical organic content from these creators and surpasses even the most successful paid ad campaigns on TikTok. I'm not diving into conspiracy theories, but something about this doesn’t add up. Check out the creators' channels and see for yourself.

3) @JackLinksWild

I’ll keep this section short and sweet. I don’t see the purpose in having a separate channel for this specific campaign when the brand already has a successful channel to capitalize on.

If you're a creator who usually does financial content but wants to dive into cooking, then creating a new channel might make sense. You could strategically find a way to incorporate cooking and finance through some budgeting or money-related cooking editing/storytelling. But if you teach finance and then want to make content about climbing the corporate ladder it doesn’t make sense to create a new account and completely start over. The same logic applies here. Jack Links should stick with their established channel instead of starting anew.

Most of the content on this channel is paid advertising with a couple of videos posted organically.

• 👀 Views: 57,150,500

• ❤️ Likes: 97,314

• 💬 Comments: 2,752

• 📥 Saves: 8,419

• 🔄 Shares: 5,267

• 📈 Engagement Rate: 0.20%

Overall, the brand likely spent between $200,000 to $350,000 on advertising for this campaign. While they invested heavily in this specific activation, I believe these funds could have been better allocated toward enhancing their already successful organic content on the main Jack Links channel.

The top 5 videos based on views are the following:

These are the kind of results you'd expect from a channel running pay-to-play ads on TikTok, which makes the exceptional performance of the previous section even more puzzling.

So, if you ever come across a video with a million views but only a thousand likes, it's likely an ad.