Although many social media influencers are often lumped together, there is actually a stark contrast between the stars of different platforms. Each app has its own unique style of content that distinguishes them from each other. So when influencers decide to move to a different platform, it can sometimes be difficult to adapt to the various designs of each app. So how are some influencers able to make it on other platforms?
Short to Long Form Content
One of the biggest adjustments often comes with moving to a new platform is the time span of the content. In particular, apps such as TikTok and Vine focus on very short clips ranging from 30 seconds to three minutes or six seconds respectively. When moving to a platform whose videos often require longer periods of time such as Youtube. It can be hard, learning to expand brief compositions into more lengthy works can often be the key to finding success on a new app.
Social media star Daisy Keech, who gained fame on Instagram and later TikTok for her fitness videos. Happens to be one of the influencers to smoothly jump to Youtube. She has gained over 1 million subscribers, by continuing to post fitness related content and tutorials.
Others who weren’t able to directly translate their videos to lengthier content expanded their work to other related topics or media. Social media giant Charli D’Amelio, who is currently the most followed TikToker at 127.2 million followers. He posts dancing and transition videos but has moved to more vlogging style content on her Youtube channel. She has gained almost 10 million subscribers.
Finding a New Niche
Sometimes simply recreating extended versions of what your original content is, just doesn’t work at all. In that case, it may just be necessary to just switch genres altogether. Former Viners Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, and Kurtis Conner, understood this and popularized a whole new one. The three gained popularity on the app for their short, comedic skits. But they transitioned to commentary videos after transitioning to Youtube. They have all amassed over three million subscribers each. This style of sit-down, lighthearted analysis of internet trends and just general laughably bad media, from movies to products, is a far cry from the quick, usually random sketches. That they initially gained recognition for. However, in spite of the major contrast between the content posted on both platforms. They managed to maintain the essence of their comedic styles, merely enhancing the jokes and humor to suit their current video formats.
The Beauty Migration
In 2014, the makeup and beauty industry was beginning to expand at an unprecedented rate. A lot of mainstream consumers were exposed to it through Instagram. Here it is common for makeup artists and beauty gurus to post looks to accumulate millions of likes and followers. But while many fans were content to simply admire the creative and glamorous makeup captured in still portraits. People soon demanded to learn how to recreate them or for tips to improve their own skills.
Naturally, several of these Instagram influencers migrated to Youtube, where they would be able to explain their process in depth. They revealed their personalities more to further connect with their audience and grow further. Some influencers were able to find even more success as Youtubers, such as makeup artist Julia Adams who had already reached 10k followers on Instagram before she started posting regularly on her channel, where she has now reached over 300,000 subscribers.
Makeup wasn’t the only part of the beauty community to benefit from the transition. Although Cristine Rotenberg, known on the internet as “Simply Nailogical”, began posting videos shortly after creating her instagram and blog. While her instagram already had a small following, her channel grew significantly after introducing voiceovers to the previously music accompanied nail tutorials. Her videos lengthened from their original one to two minute timing, and her humorous, casual approach to explaining her nail art garnered many fans. Rotenberg, whose channel has since reached over 7 million subscribers, began appearing in videos and gradually shifted her content to more from strictly nail art tutorials to comedic topics often about pop culture.
Why do they move platforms?
This all begs the question of why do social media stars move platforms in the first place? In many cases, it might be a matter of following the trends. In the case of TikTok, influencers aren’t the only ones who are eager to establish themselves on the prominent app. Celebrities and other media personalities are also jumping on the bandwagon. Expanding your work across different platforms also allows more opportunity to reach different audiences and introduce new aspects of yourself through a variety of content.
Additionally, it can be a refreshing change for creators who may get stuck on producing the same thing. In other cases, it can also be a way to help ensure sustainability. With the sudden downfall of Vine and depleting popularity of Tumblr, the terrain of social media can often be unpredictable. Therefore, it can be safer to establish yourself across various domains. Regardless, moving platforms can sometimes be a daunting task, but can also provide opportunities for growth in ways where staying stagnant simply can’t.
Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
