Don’t ask me – apparently people really like to see a wiggling turtle toy sitting on a toilet getting fed expired food.
Toy Toilet is my most-watched content to date. Viral is an understatement. The top video sits at 64.4 million views at the time of this writing, with a dozen more multi-million viewed videos. The account boasts over 500,000 followers. I’ve earned thousands of dollars from monetizing the views.
What’s the secret to going viral? There are a few key ingredients, at least as it relates to TikTok:
- Consistency – Posting a minimum of once a day is required to maintain algorithmic momentum. Many TikTok personalities post numerous videos per day.
- Be First – I invented and dominated the “toy mukbang” content category. If you’re not first, you’re not anything. Anyone who tried after me only had minimal success.
- Attention-Grabbing – Attention spans on TikTok are vanishingly short. The first few seconds of your video must be engineered to stop them in their tracks, followed by waves of buildup and payoff to maintain attention – particularly with 60-second monetized clips. The constant iteration that consistency creates a feedback cycle between creator and audience that drives constant improvement.
- Audience Participation – Another key to TikTok growth is replying to every comment and interacting with your audience every chance you get.
- Authenticity – Most content that is trying too hard to serve a purpose will fail to go viral. Pure content that has no agenda other than entertainment and capturing attention will be the most popular.
I ended the Toy Toilet “series” after eight seasons of daily content, and now the channel is a test bed for new content ideas.
