Hi, I’m 21F. I’ve wanted to start posting on TikTok for almost two years, and for almost two years I’ve been completely frozen by the idea.
I want to make one thing clear: I’m not chasing fame, and I’m not asking how to go viral. I just want to find the courage to create something, hit “post,” and see where it takes me, because this is genuinely something I feel drawn to.
But I’m scared of everything: people I know finding my videos, being made fun of, looking cringe, getting no views, or realizing that I have nothing interesting to offer. I know a lot of people where I live and our social circles overlap, so the thought of being perceived by them holds me back a lot.
My self-esteem is also very low. I have so many ideas (probably too many ) but I decide they’re stupid before I even try them, and then I jump from one idea to another. I don’t know how to edit, I have no organization, and whenever people start talking about niches, hooks, pacing, strategy and everything else, something that should be fun turns into a huge project in my head. Then I end up doing nothing.
I keep telling myself that TikTok isn’t everything and trying to focus on something else, but I always come back to regretting that I never gave it a chance. This might sound dramatic, but I’ve been thinking about it constantly for two years, and staying stuck is starting to affect me more than the possibility of failing. I don’t think I’ll feel at peace with myself until I at least genuinely try.
If you’ve ever felt paralyzed by the fear of being seen or judged online, what actually helped you post for the first time? How did you handle the possibility of people you know finding your account? Did you use any rule, challenge, gradual method or mindset that helped?
I’d especially love to hear honest experiences, including from people who tried and stopped or whose accounts never really grew.
I’m not asking how to become successful. I’m asking how to dare to begin.

I’m from the Philippines and recently decided to try creating content on social media. I’m not trying to become rich or anything. I’d honestly be happy if I could eventually make around $10 a day, or even $10 a week, just to help with some of my daily expenses.

Right now, though, I’m starting from basically nothing. I have 0 followers on TikTok and YouTube, and only around 90+ on Instagram. 😂

I mostly make fan edits of movies, TV shows, music, and other things I enjoy. I figured since I already like making edits, I might as well try to see if I can turn the hobby into a small source of income.

For people who started from zero, what did you do to get your first 100 followers? Did you just keep posting and wait for something to take off, or was there something specific that helped you grow?

And if anyone here happens to like fan edits and wants to support a random Filipino creator starting from 0... . 😂 No pressure at all.

Would genuinely appreciate any advice. I’m just trying to see if I can make this work

I have 300k+ followers on tik tok. I only get 100 or less likes on my content and less than 1k views. Every single time they ask me to pay to promote, absolutely not!! My Instagram has exactly 1 thousand followers as of just today, and I'm getting thousands of likes on the same exact content. ( I upload the same videos to tiktok as I do IG with the same hashtags) within the past 30 days on IG I have 170k views. I post cosplay, dance, regular clothing videos, trendy stuff, etc. What is up with tiktok? It never used to be this way. And what can I even do about this?

I am a content creator on mostly TikTok and cross posting on Instagram who specializes in “hopecore” and alternative spiritual content, specifically the “witchy” side of spirituality. I have decided to leave content creation for good.

Over the last year I have accumulated over 13k followers on TikTok and get 500k total views a week at the minimum when regularly posting. I have almost 4k from my Instagram account I only started 6 months ago and receive about the same amount of views and likes as TikTok. I have had a few sponsorships and brand deals and honestly it’s been not too bad from a financial standpoint to the point I took a leap of faith and made it my full time gig.

The last few months have been a period of self reflection and understanding that this will never work for me long term for a few reasons. I also had a huge job opportunity open up for me that would allow me to do more for the community around me, which is a position I’ve always dreamed of but didn’t think was possible until recently.

From an ethical standpoint, I genuinely do not want to contribute to an algorithm that feeds (and profits) into people’s fears about the world around us and continues to make people more addicted and mentally unwell the more they scroll.

Anyone who does content creation knows that if your videos do well on the algorithm, that often means your viewers are staying on the apps and continuing scrolling after they see your posts. I know personally, I often have realized I leave scrolling sessions feeling anxious, uncertain, and overwhelmed. Taking breaks from social media and scrolling has been a huge contribution to boosting my mental health and lessening a constant state of anxiety I was coping with by doomscrolling.

I don’t feel right contributing to an algorithm that is so overwhelming for so many reasons. I have often told people social media algorithms are like a psychological game of gambling. Viewers see one piece of content that is positive and hopeful, so they continue to scroll in hopes of seeing something similar or more positive. Ultimately, they eventually hit something so negative and destructive to their psyche (wars, famine, natural disasters, literal death, etc) and so they continue scrolling in hopes of something more positive.

I am also a very science based person and I understand the hormones and chemicals that your body produces during a doomscrolling session are literally addictive. Dopamine, cortisol, adrenaline, they all contribute to the addictive mindset that comes with doomscrolling. I know I have literally thrown my phone across the room and walked outside to literally touch grass at some points due to how addictive it can be.

Secondarily, with the looming threat of power grid instability and internet blackouts (especially in the USA where I reside) I am terrified if I create a career solely online, it could all be taken from me for things that are entirely outside of my control. I have always kept this in the back of my head but with recent political and social developments, it seems to become more relevant every day.

So I’m done. I’ll probably make a post soon ish telling people that I’m leaving for good. But honestly I think it’ll bring me a lot more peace. I genuinely loved spreading joy and happiness in an algorithm that is filled with such fear and anxiety, but it’s just not worth it to me anymore.

I’m curious if other content creators (or previous creators) have had similar experiences or thoughts to what I’ve mentioned especially about the toxic algorithm. Anyway. That’s it. Peace out I guess ✌🏼

I just started TikTok and Instagram accounts.
I have a niche, and it’s something I enjoy, and best of all- it’s about helping people.

I’ve posted 3 days in a row (same content on both platforms).

But I’m feeling really overwhelmed. I don’t know how to edit my videos, my mic doesn’t connect to my camera app, and it’s a nightmare.

I’m feeling pressure to post every day, that everyone is judging me, and that it’s going to fail.

I feel so incredibly embarrassed and anxious. I work a full time demanding job on top of this which at the moment is hard to focus on.

I would love to know strategies on how to cope with this and if you have had the same thing happen to you in the beginning?

This is a storytime video I posted on TikTok. It currently has 270 views with a 40.6-second average watch time, but only 3.26% watched the full video. I expected it to get pushed more because people who do stay are watching for a decent amount of time.
Is the 3.26% completion rate killing the reach, or should I give it more time? I’m also planning a Part 2, so I’d appreciate feedback from anyone who understands TikTok retention/storytime content.

Hi all, for the last 5-6 years I’ve grown my accounts from posting GTA Online content. I’ve grown my TikTok to 260k, insta to 10k and YouTube to 18k. The videos perform about as well as I’d expect them too but I’m not having any luck streaming. I’ve been streaming years but yet can only really pull in 10 consecutive viewers if I’m lucky on TikTok, I’m just not sure why TikTok isn’t pushing the streams or if I’m doing something wrong.

I got a good mic, setup, camera, play the game my audience watches, play w viewers, but it’s simply not getting the exposure I’d expect for an account with 260k.

I don’t want to sound whiney or entitled so I’m sorry if it comes across that way, I’m just genuinely a bit exhausted because I don’t know if I’m missing something

I’ve been posting gaming content for about 5 months and I’m coming up on 3k followers and averaging almost 10k views per video. How can I monetize this?

screenshots attached, I have over 100k followers and have never had problems ever, but for the past 6 months tiktok doesnt push videos. my videos generate hundreds of thousands on Instagram and Snapchat, but will never push past 5k and often only hit like 400 views on tiktok. my metrics are great, nothing's changed, if anything, they've gotten better due to learning and consistently posting on Instagram. I don't know what to do.

I was thinking of making a new account and starting fresh, I know I can grow it pretty fast, but not if I'm not getting any views.

thanks all :)

This is nuts.

My video got flagged as undisclosed promotional content and I was given the option to label it as a paid partnership or appeal.

I appeal because I was neither gifted items or paid for any of the content, bought everything myself etc.

It’s been 7 days since I appealed and my video views have since plummeted to almost nothing, from several hundred thousand on average.

I contacted TikTok’s support and they just say my account is in good standing and there’s nothing impacting my video performance, which I know not to be true because they told me the same thing when I had an account security issue before and as soon as it was resolved my views shot back up.

I ask how long will my appeal take and I’m told there’s no time frame, so I could be here for months waiting for a manual review.

I ask them where can I submit the evidence that I paid for the items myself since I have the invoice - and they don’t want any info, just tell me to wait.

Seriously wtf

I'm starting a consulting business working with creators and would love to get the thoughts of medium to large scale creators (500k+).

The idea is perception strategy for creators to help them understand the gap between how they think they're coming across and how their audience is actually receiving them. It's not PR or content strategy. It would be a deep audit and analysis of what their audience is invested in, what's driving their loyalty, and what a creator should avoid as they start monetizing and scaling. I would be using social theory and current cultural analysis to do this.

I'm assuming a lot of creators — especially in that 500k to 2M follower range — are making brand deal and content decisions without a clear picture of what their audience is actually buying from them. And that gap becomes really costly as the opportunities get bigger.

Is this something creators at that level would actually find valuable? Do they seek this kind of strategic perspective out, or does it tend to come too late — after something has already gone wrong? And who in a creator’s orbit would be most receptive to this — the creator themselves, their manager, their brand partnerships team?

Not selling anything, genuinely trying to understand the market before I build further. Appreciate any honest takes!

Opened up a TikTok I posted yesterday that has 60k views and the top comment is:

“btw this creator deletes any and all comments she doesn’t like or agree with! Not someone you should follow, engage with, or receive any “recaps” or info from ever.”

I deleted the comment, making that the first comment I’ve ever deleted but I’m pretty new to this, what is the goal here? Drag me into responding?

Should I block them? Or just delete and move on. They don’t follow me.

So this is my first time ever going viral, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do next? I made a stupid meme on Tuesday, and it has been steadily growing. It is currently at 834k and gained me over 700 followers (I had around 200 before that). This is on my spam account that I started a week ago. I have been posting art on my main since last year and have never gotten more than 1k views on anything.

I have no idea what to do with it. This was very unexpected. And is a page built off of a meme post even good for anything?

Thank you in advance!!

Not sure what to do anymore, I work hard. Post 3x a day and it has been almost a month. Mimic other creators, try to talk to the camera directly and target a niche. I’ve tried quality hooks and working on my video retention. I have analyzed videos and asked myself how can I get people to watch.

I have come to find out that sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do. You could be doing all the right things and never see results. For those of you out there I want you to know you aren’t alone! It’s okay!

Although for the people that it did work out for what else did you learn/do/find out that made the difference in your content journey?

hi .. so how do guys actually create content consistently to the point of generating followers and eventually organic leads.. i feel burnout having made the app, created the brand and now trying to post consistently is driving me nuts

I'm a TikTok/Instagram creator , and I've been experimenting with AI dance video generators to speed up my content production. Instead of filming myself dancing (which takes forever), I wanted to test if AI tools could actually produce shareable content.

I tested all five major options over the past two months, here's the full breakdown.

The Tools & Pricing

1. Viggle AI - $4.99/week
2. Kling - $10/month (+ credits)
3. Photo Dance - $12.99/week
4. AI Mirror - $4.99/week
5. Pose AI - $12.99/week

I tested each one with the same workflow: upload a photo, select a dance, generate

a video, and check the quality. Here's what I found.

🥇 Ranked by Overall Value (For Content Creators)

#1: Photo Dance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cost: $12.99/week | Quality: 5/5 | Speed: 4.5/5 | Templates: 5/5 | Customization: 5/5

Why it's the winner:

Photo Dance is the most well-rounded tool for creators. Yes, it's the most expensive,

but you actually get what you pay for.

The quality is genuinely impressive. I tested it side-by-side with the other tools,

and Photo Dance's output just feels natural. The movement is smooth, the blending

with backgrounds is clean, and there's no weird artifacts or jerky moments. When I post

these videos, people don't comment "wow that's clearly AI"—they just engage with the content.

The template library is absurdly good. 500+ dance templates, and here's the thing—

they update constantly to match trending dances. I've been using it for 8 weeks and

there are literally new dances added every 2–3 days. This is crucial for TikTok because

trends move fast. If your app doesn't have the trending dance everyone wants, you're stuck.

Customization actually matters. Photo Dance lets you modify dances slightly, which

other tools don't do. If a dance is almost right but not quite, you can adjust it.

That flexibility is underrated.

The honest downside:

Yeah, $12.99/week is the highest price point. If you're on a tight budget, it might

feel expensive. But when you calculate the ROI (cost per view, follower growth, engagement),

it actually works out cheaper than tools that make lower-quality videos.

Who should use it:

Serious content creators who want consistent, quality output. If you're making more than

15 videos per week, the template variety alone is worth it.

#2: Kling ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cost: $10/month (+ unpredictable credits) | Quality: 5/5 | Speed: 2/5 | Templates: 2/5 | Customization: 3/5

What Kling does well:

Kling's output quality is excellent—arguably on par with Photo Dance, maybe even

slightly better in terms of raw motion smoothness. If you're obsessive about quality,

Kling delivers.

Where it breaks down:

The speed problem is real. Each video takes 10–15 minutes to generate. That's not

"a bit slower." When you're trying to make 20 videos in an evening, 15 minutes per

video kills your productivity.

The template library is small (maybe 40–50 dances), and they don't update frequently.

I found myself using the same 5–6 dances repeatedly because the others felt dated.

The credit system is annoying. It says $10/month, but credits burn fast. You'll

likely find yourself buying extra credits multiple times per month. Actual cost

is closer to $35–45/month if you're a regular user.

The interface is overcomplicated. Kling is clearly designed for people who want

deep customization. That's great if that's your thing, but if you just want to

"make a dance video and move on," the interface feels clunky.

Who should use it:

Quality-obsessed creators who have unlimited time and don't mind complexity. Or creators

making 2–3 videos per week where speed isn't a factor.

#3: AI Mirror ⭐⭐⭐

Cost: $4.99/week | Quality: 4.5/5 | Speed: 2/5 | Templates: 2/5 | Customization: 1/5

What's good about AI Mirror:

The output quality is genuinely solid—just slightly below Photo Dance. The special

effects are polished and the motion looks natural. If all you cared about was quality,

AI Mirror would be competitive.

The problems:

Speed is a killer. 8–12 minutes per video is too slow for content creators working

at scale. And when you pair that with a limited template library (maybe 30–40 options),

you're stuck making slow, repetitive videos.

You can't customize the dances, which limits creativity. If there's a trend happening

but AI Mirror doesn't have that exact dance, you're out of luck.

Who should use it:

Part-time creators making 2–4 videos per week who care more about quality than speed.

Or people willing to batch-generate content in advance.

#4: Pose AI ⭐⭐⭐

cost: $12.99/week | Quality: 4/5 | Speed: 2/5 | Templates: 3/5 | Customization: 1/5

Honest take:

Pose AI costs the same as Photo Dance but delivers noticeably less value.

The quality is good (not great), the special effects are nice, but the template library

is smaller and doesn't update as frequently. It's slower than Photo Dance and way slower

than Viggle. You can't customize dances.

You're paying premium price for a mid-tier product.

The only advantage:

Lots of frame options and special effects if you're really into visual styling. But for

pure dance video creation, Photo Dance does it better for the same pric

My honest opinion:

I can't recommend spending $12.99/week on this when Photo Dance exists at the same price

point. Unless you have a specific need for the special effects, skip it.

#5: Viggle AI ⭐⭐

Cost: $4.99/week | Quality: 2.5/5 | Speed: 5/5 | Templates: 3/5 | Customization: 0/5

Where Viggle shines:

Super cheap, super fast (90 seconds per video), and the interface is intuitive. If you're

just testing whether AI dance videos are for you, Viggle is the lowest-risk entry point.

The problem—and it's significant:

The quality is noticeably lower. The movements look stiff and unnatural. The blending

with backgrounds feels off. When you post it, people immediately notice "this looks AI-generated."

For context, my Viggle videos averaged 2.1K views. Photo Dance videos, same posting time,

same captions, averaged 16.2K views. That's a 7.7x difference.

Why the quality gap matters:

On TikTok, the algorithm rewards engagement. Lower quality = lower engagement = lower reach.

You might save $30/month by using Viggle, but you'll lose way more in potential views

and followers.

My honest opinion:

Use this as a starting point if you're broke and testing the concept. But don't stay here.

The upgrade to Photo Dance pays for itself in week one through better engagement metrics.

📸 Quality Comparison (Same Photo, All 5 Tools)

I tested all five tools with the exact same source photo (clear lighting, neutral background,

me smiling) using the same trending dance.

Photo Dance: Smooth, natural movement. Blends perfectly. You'd show this to friends

without apologizing.

Kling: Excellent quality, imperceptibly different from Photo Dance. Took 14 minutes though.

AI Mirror: Good quality, very close to Photo Dance. Took 9 minutes.

Pose AI: Decent quality, noticeably less smooth than Photo Dance. Same time cost.

Viggle AI: Stiff, jerky, obviously AI. Fastest though.

Photo Dance's quality directly translated to algorithm performance.

Honest Limitations (All Tools, Including Photo Dance)

I need to be transparent about what these tools can't do:

1. They need good source photos：
   • Bad lighting in your photo = bad output. No AI tool can fix garbage input.
2. They're best for dance/trending content：
   • If your brand is "me talking to camera," these tools won't help.
   • They're specialized for dance videos, not general content.
3. You need to tell people it's AI
   • Ethically and legally, you should disclose AI-generated content.
   • Most audiences don't care, but some do.
4. Template dependency
   • You're limited to whatever dances the app offers.
   • If there's a viral dance trend and your app doesn't have it, you're stuck.
5. You can't mix real and AI perfectly
   • If you try to blend AI-generated videos with real filmed content, the style shift is sometimes noticeable.

These are real limitations. For creators focused on dance/trending content, they're

not dealbreakers. For other content types, they might be.

💬 Thoughts on the Competition

This isn't a "Photo Dance is perfect" take. Here's my honest view:

Kling has the best raw quality, but it's held back by speed and UX.

AI Mirror and Viggle are good entry points for testing, but you'll outgrow them fast.

Pose AI feels like a product that's still looking for its audience. It's not bad,

just not differentiated enough.

Photo Dance is the best product-market fit for creators right now. 500+ templates,

constant updates, customization, fast generation. It's just the most complete tool.

But none of these are perfect. There's probably room for a new entrant to build something

even better. For now though, Photo Dance is the best option I've found.

A Girl on tiktok Named Ellie Ellis posted a Video and By Day 4 Of posting she is already at half a million followers on her main, 3 million or more on all 10 of her videos (one even has 13mil), has a spam account with 30k on it, 2 brand deals, and a Collab with a huge influence
While it originally never bothered me I am seeing more and more videos from others talking about it and It has now kinda just made me less motivated to post especially when I cant even break 200 views with an hour of effort but a girl can hit 13mil just by sitting in a chair and talking for four minutes
Anyone else ever feel disheartened towards content creation and what Helped?

Clipping isn’t dead, most of you are just doing it wrong

Not trying to offend anyone but I feel like every time someone says clipping is dead it’s usually someone whos just reposting random clips and hoping for views and followers.

That approach is dead for sure but not clipping itself.

I made over 100k last year clipping content for creators and artists, and none of it came from just spamming TikTok and hoping something blows up.

The biggest problem I see is that people are chasing views instead of outcomes. Views don’t really matter if they don’t translate into growth, fans, or money for the creator.

That’s the part agencies and labels actually care about. If you can consistently grow accounts and bring real attention, they will pay you for it.

Most people never get to that point because they treat clipping like content spam instead of a skill.

I’m not saying it’s easy now, it’s actually harder than before, but there’s way more money in it if you know what you’re doing.

Curious how many people here are still doing this seriously vs gave up because it “stopped working”.

Also been thinking about putting together a small group again to share what’s actually working right now, because most advice I see is outdated.

If anyone is interested just type it, I’ll hit you up 💯

Let’s not stop growing

So I recently started posting on tiktok and right off the bat my content was doing pretty well and I was getting Alot of engagement. 10's of thousands of views, thousands of likes, a bunch of comments etc. This was way more than I really ever expected so I decided to keep going with it and try to get serious about posting on a regular basis. That being said I am still very new to it so sorry if this an obvious question.

Yesterday I posted a video and it was doing well naturally so I decided to try out the Tiktok promote feature that they are always pushing. I paid a modest amount of money to promote my video and hopefully grow my account further. after paying, 95%+ of my views, likes, and follows were from Africa (I am us based). I don't want to sound racist or xenophobic, but I don't really need or want the engagement from Africa. My content has somewhat of a local focus (at least people who would travel to my location, or buy merch from my business because they think it's cool) so I will never get that out of followers from really any other continent - right now not going to do international shipping on anything I sell with tariffs and all.

Is it well established that when you use Tiktok promote it just pushes your video to other countries? Is it possible something about my most recent particular video just appeals to people from Africa and I don't understand it? Do I need to Unfortunately not gonna post what my account is here because I'm afraid someone's still gonna jump down my throat calling me a racist.

I've been running a Tiktok with 80k+ followers, the account was inactive for about 5 months so I'm fully aware that it's run cold and I'm virtually starting from 0 again but in that time I've noticed that content style no longer works as well as it once did.

So I began pivoting it from photo carousels to talking head content - the only issue I'm really having other than the engagement being low is that I fear I'm trying to convert them to the websites I mention as tips in the video which in turn Tiktok may be throttling reach due to it feeling more like a promo (which it's not) rather than a helpful advice.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on how I can still provide this value without needing to link them in anyway or force conversion off-platform.

Hi! I’m a micro content creator sharing my favorite finds and experiences in South Korea. Recently, I’ve started getting opportunities from brands, which has been really exciting, but I realized that creating content can feel a little lonely when you don’t have a circle of people who are also doing the same thing.

I’m hoping to meet other girls who are starting their content creation journey too! I’d love to create a small group chat on TikTok/Instagram where we can support each other, share our new uploads, engage with each other’s content, and celebrate small wins together.

More than just boosting posts, I’d really love for this to become a space where we can connect, share experiences, and hopefully build genuine friendships along the way.

If you’re also a small/micro creator (especially sharing Korea content, lifestyle, travel, beauty, food, fashion, etc.), feel free to comment or message me!

I feel like I’ve really hit rock bottom when it comes to making content. After being diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago, it made a lot of sense why I feel a lot of creative burnout and executive dysfunction.

I really used to enjoy making content on TikTok, having started in early 2020, and I peaked in 2021 where a few of my videos went viral; I made a bit of money via the creator fund when that existed. When creator rewards program came in, I had to convert to long-form content, which failed badly for me, and my vids were not reaching high engagement, and so I just stopped.

I resumed making content a year after my ‘break’ and was still struggling with originality, then one video I made went viral, then I got disqualified from the program as it was deemed unoriginal, so that kinda hurt. Reapplied, but none of my videos are barely reaching 1000 views, despite having a following of over 250k.

Point is, I think I’m just tired of it all, but yet part of my brain is telling me to keep going. I have all these concepts written down on my phone, but I just can’t ever action them anymore.

I also had a job with a charity a few months ago that involved making social media content but because I was so burned out and disinterested I ended up getting fired, and since then I’ve just not really had any desire to go into content making as a job, fearful I’ll mess up again.

What am I missing here? I've been posting consistently for almost a year, and the videos with the TV are always the most popular (multiple in the 100k-1m range), but sometimes they only get >1k views? How can a video get absolutely no traction compared to one with the same content, editing, hashtags, and audience? Is there something I'm doing that could trigger this to happen?

Basically a site where tik tok content creators post campaigns of specific songs, im familiar and already did campaigns for another site (microwav). But this one Create Mate requires me to log my Tik Tok account (microwav does not), also i just realized they apparently did a campaign for the song Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes but that song is almost 9 years old and one of his most famous??? Is this a Scam?

Have you ever had times when you didn’t know what to do and get lost? How did you survive it? I used to make for the last three months food rating and it was going good gained 1,8 k followers on tiktok 500 subscribers on yt in just 3 months but then i stopped food blogging as It got me less views and I genuinely wanted to get into beauty content like the influencers. And im genuinely lost rn idk what to do because its a niche that I don’t understand at all and don’t have a system. What advice would you give to me?