SOCIAL MEDIA
In today's world, understanding social media is crucial for any business. I discuss the business tactics of social media marketing more in depth over on my photography page, but what does it mean to truly be 'chronically online'? Chronically Online is frequently defined as someone who knows every pop culture reference and is on top of virtually every trend.
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Allow me to introduce myself -- Ali Knowles: Chronically Online.
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Like many of its users, I downloaded Tik Tok in April 2020 at the gate of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to Covid, I was one of those people who swore up and down that they'd never download it: that it was a useless app, and a complete waste of time. And it fully is a waste of time, but it's the best waste of time I've ever engaged with.
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As of April, 2025, five years post covid outbreak, I have accumulated 1.4 million Tik Tok likes on my personal platform. So, how'd I do it? It's simple really. I've come to understand the Tik Tok algorithm quite well. Let's talk about it!
WELCOME TO MY TIK TOK!
In an effort to remain somewhat professional, I will not be disclosing my username. Sorry to disappoint.
This video, my most recent viral video, garnered a whopping 271,000+ views. There are a few things that I believe made this video viral. Let's break it down.
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Keywords: Timothy Ratliff, Duke, Final Four.
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When I Posted: less than an hour after the season finale of White Lotus 3.
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The Sound: find here.
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One of the easiest ways to go viral on Tik Tok is by tapping into pop culture references. In cases such as live streaming shows, it's extremely common to see memes, jokes, and theories about the show the day after it airs. In this specific scenario, I chose to use the season finale of White Lotus to tap into the conversation. The joke, which will only make sense to people who have seen the show, resonated with viewers and pulled in around 50,000 likes. Paired with the recent events of the Duke Final Four Game, the video was a perfect storm and a recipe to go viral.
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Though there is no exact secret to going viral, many people have mentioned that they believe going viral is dependent on the number of people that watch your video all the way through. In this scenario, the video was only 7.4 seconds. The analytics show that the average watch time of the viewer was 7.9 seconds: this means, not only did people watch the video, but some people even watched it twice.
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Keywords: Cats, Humane Society
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When I Posted: 2020
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The Sound: find here.
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Giving your take on current trends is also a great, and the most common, way to go viral. I participated in this trend back in 2020, where creators used the sound to showcase all the different names of adoptable animals at their local shelters. The catch? The names were almost always something hilarious.
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In the scenario of my video, the cats were named Cardi B, The Great Pumpkin, Creepers, Jeepers, Quesarito, Gordita, Chalupa, Crunchwrap, Goose, and Duck. Viewers took to the comments to discuss their favorite cat name.
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The engagement, trending sound, and trending video is largely what I believe spiraled this video into being my most viral to date!
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ANALYTICS
LIKES
50.9k
SHARES
5,879
SAVES
785
WATCHED FULL VIDEO​
44.3%
VIEWS
271,800+
TOTAL PLAY TIME
598h:29m:38s
ANALYTICS
LIKES
319,000+
SHARES
unknown
SAVES
9,426
COMMENTS​
4,987
VIEWS
1.5 + million
TOTAL PLAY TIME
unknown
*detailed analytics only available back to a certain date
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Keywords: sorority
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When I Posted: Middle of the weekday, January
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The Sound: find here.
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Speaking of another trend I participated in, this sound prompted a trend to start where ex-sorority girls shared their experiences from within their sorority. In college, I was the Director of Marketing for my sorority and to put it lightly, took my job very seriously. I was extremely strict with what went on our Instagram and was very particular about how we presented ourselves as a brand.
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I used the sound to poke fun at myself and how seriously I took the job. The comments were flooded with ex-sorority marketing directors chiming in for the exact same reasons. Within the comments, a community was formed amongst viewers where they discussed their experience as marketing directors.
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As stated previously, engaging in trends and using trending sounds is absolutely the easiest way to go viral. But what aids videos in gaining traction is entertaining comment threads: without realizing it, viewers start to read comments, while the video continues to play on loop, allowing it to gain traction.
ANALYTICS
LIKES
36,000+
SHARES
4,334
SAVES
607
WATCHED FULL VIDEO
36.7%
VIEWS
254,000
TOTAL PLAY TIME
824h:55m:57s
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Keywords: democrat, politicians​
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When I Posted: Late afternoon on a weekday, January
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The Sound: find here.
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Another almost guaranteed way to go viral in the year of 2025 is by posting anything political. Why is that you may ask? People love to argue in the comments. As mentioned regarding prior videos, the more time people spend in the comments section, with the video playing in the background, the more a video gains traction.
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This was a very low production video in which I plainly stated that despite being a registered 'democrat', I'm truly not fond of any politician. People quickly began to argue in the comments, and the rest is history. Controversial or political Tik Toks do so well for this exact reason: they spark discussion, and boost the video in the process. You'll probably get some hate comments, but it's great for engagement.
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There's definitely more videos where those came from,
but for the sake of keeping things professional, I'll leave it here.
ANALYTICS
*% of those who watched full video not available in photo format
LIKES
196,000+
SHARES
2,058
SAVES
4,130
FOLLOWERS GAINED
288
VIEWS
772,000+
TOTAL PLAY TIME
2263h:48m:13s