Billings, Montana – A Billings influencer claimed that despite the fact that Tik Tok collaborations account for the majority of her revenue, she is not very concerned about a ban on the app.
“Seventy percent of my business probably does come from Tik Tok collaborations,” Fashion and Lifestyle Influencer Kylie Nelson said. “Like, I just signed a couple contracts yesterday for Tik Tok. So, that’s significantly impacting my personal income.”
Nelson has been a full-time influencer for around a year.
“I use my social media platforms to show you different clothing items, or beauty products, when I travel, where to travel to,” she said.
“When you come to my social media page, I want it to be like you and I are literally in my closet, trying on clothes,” she said. “Or, at a store, trying on clothes together. My number one focus is to make sure I’m always transparent and authentic.”
She claimed that working with brands and producing content for them is how she generates money.
Connecting with viewers of her content is a fulfilling aspect of her job:
“Just recently, I had a gal reach out saying that she was recently fighting bulimia and body dysmorphia,” she said. “And that finding my page has been able to help her to see beauty outside of just being a certain number. And that you can be beautiful and confident no matter what body size/ body type or number you are.”
Nelson claims that Tik Tok is her primary outlet, however she also utilizes Instagram, a blog, and a podcast.
“The thing that sets Tik Tok apart from the other platforms is Tik Tok is a discovery app, so you grow your audience a lot faster,” she said. “I’ve been on Instagram for almost 10 years, and I probably have 70,000 followers over there. I’ve been on Tik Tok, showing up consistently, for a year and a half. And I have over 200,000 followers.”
Kylie said she’s not very concerned about the Tik Tok ban in Montana just yet.
“I’m not overly worried about it yet,” she said. “Just business as usual right now. I’m a law-abiding citizen. And if it does happen, I’m not going to do any crazy thing to try to get around it.”
“My team and I are just going to continue business per usual. And we’re going to kind of reconvene towards the end of the year, going into the fall and the winter, when it gets closer. But it just sounds like there are going to be so many challenges for the state. And there’s going to be a lot of hoops they’re going to have to jump through. So, I’m not really too worried about it yet, but if the time does come, then, so be it.”
This serves as a helpful reminder, she said, to diversify your material across platforms.
“We have to pivot,” she said. “That’s also just life. And, as I mentioned before too, platforms and social media, they have their time. Like, they come, and they go. Going all the way back to My Space. Facebook is kind of old news now. I feel like Instagram is kind of in that category too. So, if Tik Tok does get banned, there’s other apps that are going to come out and we just have to pivot.”
