Social Media Marketing in the Self-Media Era

"I don't get the hype either" was Charli D'Amelio's bio on TikTok. She couldn't understand her own success on TikTok, as she saw herself as a normal US American teenage girl. Now Charli is the biggest influencer on TikTok with over 100 million followers. This research focuses on social media marketing on TikTok. The topic is crucial for future marketing approaches, because TikTok offers new and efficient marketing tools and a growing audience.

We live in a self-media era. People present themselves on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. TikTok has taken the self-media logic to a new level: anyone can go viral on the platform, even without a large follower base. People are becoming self-publishing consumers.

I started a self-experiment and created my own TikTok channel. It was a huge success - I managed to go viral with nearly every video. This self-experiment can serve as a guide for both individuals interested in social branding on TikTok and moreover marketers motivated to run a TikTok channel, in order to successfully market products and services.

My name is Giovanni Aytan and I am a Digital Media Management student at CBS International Business School.