One StartThis fan requested an idea or two that had a lower time and investment commitment - more of a side hustle. So, I will sprinkle a few of those in now and then! Up first…
An email or SMS-based series of mini-courses assembled from TikTok videos
Categories: Educational content, email and text marketing
Skills required: Basic knowledge of email newsletter platforms and some time on your hands!
The Pitch & Background
My partner got into TikTok a few months ago, so naturally, I now see a lot of TikTok videos.
What’s surprising is how much good quality educational content people put out on the platform. Creators have content on topics ranging from financial planning, to dog training, to philosophy lessons. It’s also quickly becoming a source of crowd-sourced productions. As a recent example, dozens of independent creators have organically come together to produce a musical rendition of the movie Ratatouille. It gained so much popularity that it’s now being turned into a one-night-only Broadway production.
TikTok is now spinning out completely new types of content - and business opportunities with it.
If you haven’t used it, one thing that is different about TikTok is that it is notably difficult to search for content, and extremely easy to simply scroll through what it’s algorithms serve up for you. And this makes perfect sense. TikTok isn’t hiding anything about its strategy - more scrolling means more time on app, and that means more ad revenue.
By capitalizing on one of the shortfalls of the app, you can create value by making it easier for users to access amazing TikTok content without endless scrolling. Gather the best stuff, and assemble it into a content series that can be consumed by email, chat/SMS, or a basic hosted site. By serving up videos in a defined order, you create a much better environment for people to learn or get inspired.
As a user, you would be able to browse micro-courses on various topics, and subscribe to those that interest you.
This gives creators a simple way to (eventually) monetize more of their TikTok following in a way that isn’t selling out their fans.
With a simple revenue share model, you could quickly create a nice side income or real business from something you’re doing already!
Strategy & Execution Notes
First thing to note is concerns over copyright. While you could sneak around this by posting the links back to the TikToks and not hosting anything yourself, the best route is to simply ask creators for their permission to share their content. Serious content creators are always looking for more distribution, especially on channels where they aren’t at the mercy of an app’s discovery algorithms. TikTok has a DM function, and you’re likely to get an especially great response rate from niche TikTokers.
There are a number of channels that would likely be effective for this, so pick what you’re comfortable with - SMS, email, chat, or web can all work. On communication channels, you’d likely want to create sequences that send once per day or week, depending on the depth of the content. On web, you can simply create open collections for users to browse at their own pace. Tons of options here, and if you’re reading this newsletter, you probably have at least one you know fairly well!
Building an audience is the hard part here. You certainly can market this on your own - perhaps even with TikTok ads, though they can be on the expensive side. However, the obvious thing to try to tap into is the creators themselves. You’re offering them more controlled distribution (and eventually a revenue share). Longer term, you can do full campaigns with influencers, and even create custom courses that influencers themselves put together. The latter is where this could also become a big business.
To start, pick a few niches that have limited audiences and other channels for their content. Poetry, mini history lessons, strange facts, dermatology… the list goes on. Browse relevant hashtags. Reach out to a 20-30 semi-popular creators asking them if you can feature their content in your collection, and see what happens! You can either put together collections from specific creators, or you can curate the best material across multiple creators and assemble in a logical order where each video builds on that last.
In general, this concept coincides with the explosion of the creator economy. Sites like OnlyFans, Patreon, and Substack have made it much easier for people to control and distribute their own paid content without the need for publishers. The main differentiator for this concept is in the ability to curate content and present it in a logical order and format.
You can make this idea as big or small as you want!
Data & Research
41% of TikTok’s 800 million Monthly Active Users are between 16-24. This segment is primed to pick up educational content from a medium they are already familiar with.
OnlyFans has exploded in growth with over 85M users. They are expanding far beyond adult content, and becoming a hub for many artists and content producers.
Learning is big business, and “microlearning” is the next major shift in this space. B2B microlearning is expected to hit $2.7B by 2024, while C2C is just starting to poke through.
Name Ideas
LearnBytes, DailyToks, TokTalk (TokTalk.co available), OnlyLearns. Loads of options out there!
Got time this weekend? Start this, or share with someone who is looking for a side project!