“10%” — the Secret to TikTok Virality [Part 1]
I’m a social media marketer who runs an influencer marketing group, Thirteenth. Some of the TikTokers referenced are part of our team. Interested in a campaign? Let’s talk: ogo@thethirteenth.co
Are countdowns and masks the secret to TikTok virality?
For the two girls that make up the “GuessWho?” (@.guesswho) account it is. The mysterious account emerged in early December 2019, soon recognizable and became quickly identifiable across the platform by the white, Purge-esque masks they wore in all their videos. The first five videos dropped at once, with captions teasing that they would only reveal their faces if the videos “got famous” after ten days. On each one, a counter teased the fabricated unveiling timeline: 1/10, 2/10.
They followed with 3/10, 4/10, and near-daily uploads until “9/10 til masks off”. During all of this time, their results were off the charts. “GuessWho?” nabbed 700,000 followers in the first 4 days of uploads, and over 1.5 million in the first two weeks. They had all of TikTok’s attention, and the comments were riddled with guesses. Some thought they were TikTok’s darling sisters — Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. Others thought it may be Lisa and Lena, musical.ly-turned-TikTok stars who have since deleted their page. Another guess: “they’re literally random girls.”
Regardless, their videos scored an average of 3 million views each and ranged from 600k likes to 3 million. But they weren’t the only ones to capitalize on this style of TikTok rollout.
Introducing Micah Couwenhoven (@micahcow) and Corey Whelan (@threedotcorey) — two TikTokers from Minnesota and Illinois, respectively. Known for their collaborative videos with attention-grabbing transitions and edits, the duo paired to upload a video captioned “10%…” and indicated 20% would soon follow on Micah’s page.
The video series featured eye-catching transitions and special effects made in Adobe Premiere, according to the duo, and was accompanied by an edited version of “Look At Me!” — the hit debut single from the TikTok generation’s fallen rapper XXXTentacion. Each video, from 10% all the way to 90%, intensified in its transitions and lip-syncing — earning the pair over 100 million unique views in 7 days, over 300m unique views over the last month, and over 2 million followers for both Micah and Corey in that same time.
Finally, after teasing 100% for a few weeks, (with an unexpected 99% and a fake-out 100% uploaded by Corey) on January 16 the duo uploaded “100%” with surprise cameos from none other than Charli Damelio and Addison Rae — (in)arguably the two most famous TikTok teens. The video received over 1.5 million likes and 5 million views in just 24 hours — and hinted at a potential 110% to be uploaded soon.
This would be Charli’s only surprise cameo for the month, as the GuessWho girls revealed themselves in early January as Anna Lochh and Greta Wolfs — literally, two random girls from Missouri. Even without name recognition, they’ve earned their place in TikTok history, as their videos sparked a new way to attain treasured fame on the app. Since their reveal, accounts like GuessWhoDisneyStars, GuessWhoNick, GuessWhox2 and a number of other copycats have emerged and gained their fair share of followers, from 50k to upwards of 700k. The 1/10 (10%) rollout also received a nod from Dixie Damelio and the HypeHouse, who have both uploaded their own 10% videos in recent weeks as well.
On a platform where suspense is instantly rewarded and predictably escalatory uploads outperform the clickbait captions of YouTube, the opportunity exists for brands to join teenagers in this numerical innovation. The tricks used by GuessWho and Micah + Corey are easy to employ, especially for brands accustomed to the fast-paced hyper-saturated TikTok landscape.
Companies should take note of such a rollout. Cash App might do a “1/10 until we give away $?,???”. Perhaps Nike uploads “10%”, featuring a HoopMixtape style edit of Zion Williamson hyping the debut of his signature shoe.
Because of how quickly trends evolve and disappear, users reward brands who can latch onto the customs of the app. In the comments section, they often praise users or businesses for creativity and originality. Due to the nature of the sound-sharing functionality, though, there’s also a sort of rip-off culture that promotes artful copying.
In my next article, I’m going to continue detailing best practices for TikTok influencer marketing and highlight some of the biggest brand campaigns in 2019 and early 2020.
Until then, enjoy TikTok’s greatest trend ever: #ChickenLegPiece.
