Welcome to our Creator Coffee Chat: Presented By the TrendTok App where you get to learn about the very best tips, tricks and advice for growing your TikTok account from viral creators! We know that growing your TikTok account can feel overwhelming at times, so we’re breaking down the strategy that these creators used to help you through the process! Whether you’re a new creator on the platform that hasn’t chosen their username yet or a creator with a huge following behind you, we believe that this series will provide you with some new insights that you can apply to your TikTok strategy!
Today’s coffee chat is with Bobby Akinboro! Bobby (@_OGBlast ). Bobby is a Nigerian Born, Texas Raised DJ that works at Microsoft as a Program Manager in Seattle. Bobby, first got into TikTok for entertainment and like many of us, got lost in the scrolling! After scrolling for some time, he realized that he had quite a bit of content that he could be sharing with the tiktok community, and that’s when he took his first step from viewer to creator on the platform! Now, his page is full of incredible mixes, performance videos and even tutorials/educational videos for DJs!
We asked Bobby to share advice, tips and thoughts with us that could help creators with their TikTok journey!
What is your TikTok handle and did you have a strategy behind choosing your handle username?
@_OGBlast // I’m so sad about the underscore. I’ve reached out to @OGBlast on tiktok so many times, on different platforms. It’s been a lost cause. I’m OGBlast on most social media platforms, except Twitter and TikTok. I enjoy the consistency of it. Luckily, because of my following, if you just type in OGBlast I still pop up.
What was the process behind creating your first video on the platform? How did it feel?
My very first video was part of a 5 video series where I tried to teach about the influence of Afrobeats on current hiphop music. I think I was more nervous than anything. When I posted that video, I had zero followers, and I was following maybe 4 people. So I didn’t know where it would go, or how people would even see it. It was a leap of faith more than anything.
How did your first video perform? What was your reaction to it’s performance?
My first video did amazingly well! It currently has 44k views, and I was shocked, seeing that I had zero followers. So how did it reach so many people? It also set an untrue precedence, that made me believe that every video would take off like that.
How did you decide what kind of content you wanted to post on your platform or what audience you wanted to reach?
As a tiktok user, I knew I was most drawn to videos that were teaching me something, and those were the videos that I was more likely to share. So when I had the opportunity to start creating content, I immediately decided that educating was really the route that I wanted to go. With the occasional behind the scenes of a day in the life.
What advice do you have for creators that are still trying to find their niche on TikTok?
Always question yourself from your audience's point of view. What do you think they want from you, and what do you think you can teach, or show them, that only you can do?
How many videos did you post before you had your first “viral video”?
My first video was viral to me, at 44k views, and I thought that was amazing, but 5 short videos later, I had a video hit almost 800k views!
What did it feel like when you realized your video was going viral?
It was a wild experience honestly. I’ll never forget, the very first comment came in like 2 minutes after I posted, and it said “commenting before viral” and then the likes just started rolling in. At the time, I maybe had 300 followers, and by the end of that evening I was at 10k. The next day I got to 15k. and my Instagram was benefiting off of it also. I grew about 1,000 followers there as well.
What happens when one of your videos does not perform how you expected? Do you ever recreate or repost the video?
I just try to do better on the next video. Hopefully one video brings people to my page, and they’ll see all the hard work I’ve been putting in on other videos.
What advice do you have for creators on creating the TikTok videos? Are there any tools or softwares that you use?
My background before DJing was video and photo. So the majority of my videos are edited in Premiere pro. I focus a lot on audio just to make sure that the mixes I create can be appreciated.
Do you ever get nervous posting on TikTok? If so, how do you deal with it?
Yeah. I had a video go viral, and although I thought it was one of my most creative videos, the most liked comment talked about my flat feet. Putting myself out there consistently, also puts every visible part of me up for criticism up as well, it’s not for the weak hearted. But truly, don’t let a random face behind a screen make you feel bad about yourself, keep going.
Are there any tricks/tips that you have used to boost your posts that you’d like to share with creators?
When I first started, I would switch my audio with popular songs and although you would be hearing me talk, I’d pop up in audio searches of popular songs, and I’d just mute them. I think that helped with my discoverability at the beginning.
I also noticed when I joined the creator fund, my posts stopped getting traction. So I’m learning how to navigate that now.
How do you keep your community/followers engaged with you and your content on TikTok?
I think prior to joining the creator fund, it was consistency. Just posting about 3 times a week, kept people interested. The comments were constant. But, I realized once entering the fund, things changed. I’ve actually decided to leave. Growth on the app is more important to me than the payments.
How do you handle the negative comments on the platform?
Just brush them off. Focus on the positive. If the negative ones are criticism though, see if there’s something you can learn from them. Tiktok does have a lot of people that don’t want to see you win, but way more people that do.
Who are some of your favorite TikTokers or accounts to follow?
Trarags cracks me up more than anyone. Sickicmusic, DJhabibeats, mndiaye_97 are all awesome too.
What is next for you on the platform, anything we should be on the lookout for?
Just stay tuned. I’m excited to release a few things in the near future.
Where can our readers connect with you?
Instagram and TikTok! OGblast on IG. If you DM, I try my best to respond to all the ones I get.
We loved chatting with Bobby and if you enjoyed his coffee chat, make sure that you check him out on TikTok! And drop a comment on his video that you saw him here on the TrendTok Coffee Chat series!!
This series is presented by the TrendTok App, the platform for TikTok Analytics that helps creators go viral! Check it out here!
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