Mad Marketing Mums

Ep 48. Marketing Snack Box: A Case Study on Reesa Teesa and TikTok Storytelling

• Kryshla Salaris and Clementine Holman • Season 6 • Episode 48

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"Hello. Welcome. We all know why you're here."
 
Now if you've heard these words and immediately know who we are talking about, then we know which side of TikTok you're on.  

On this snack box episode of the Mad Marketing Mum's podcast we're going to check out the TikTok phenomenon that is ReesaTeesa. 

ReesaTeesa started a series on TikTok that she's called "Who the F*** Did I Marry?" It's catapulted her from a few thousand followers to over a million in a matter of days. 

You read that right. In a matter of days she's surpassed 1 million followers.

Three weeks after her first post of the series she has over 3 million followers, and endorsements from Delta AIrlines, Hilton Hotels and has also received a new car from BMW. 

Her content is ticking all of the boxes on the TikTok trends report that we highlighted in episode 46. 

We don't believe ReesaTeesa has read the report (probably doesn't know it even exists), but her series just perfectly aligns with the trends that TikTok is predicting are going to really take off in 2024. 

So we thought that today for our Snackbox recording that we would  walk through how she's understood the assignment when it comes to TikTok and what TikTok is looking for in 2024.

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Hello! Hello, and to anyone that is watching, welcome back to the Mad Marketing Mums. We've started doing something a little bit differently where we're going live on our channels to record, and then you can hear the podcast episode release a little bit later. Following week or the week after. So just in case you're just dropping in, you will be able to hear this recording later on, on the podcast. Today we've got another short and sweet episode that we are calling our little snack box series. Because, us moms, we always have that snack box in the back of the car. So these are short little snackable episodes full of tips and tricks that you can apply to your business that don't necessarily warrant a full podcast episode. So why don't we hop right into it, Krishna? We're going to be talking about something that has been hot on the TikTok market and hot on the TikTok trends for the last. I'd say a couple of weeks at this point. Yeah. At least two weeks for sure. Yeah. And I've talked about it a little bit on on LinkedIn and then I've done a TikTok video as well. But if the next two sentences that I say and you're going to know immediately who we're going to be talking about. Hello. Welcome. We all know why you're here. Now if you have heard, yes Now if you've heard these words in the last two weeks and you have been hooked and you know exactly who we're talking about today on this snack box episode of the mad marketing mom's podcast and that is ReesaTeesa. ReesaTeesa has got a series on TikTok that she's called Who the F Did I Marry? It's, she certainly uses a different word on there, but we're not going to use that on this episode. That it's catapulted her from a few thousand followers to over a million in a matter of days. I think since it's been about two and a half to three weeks since she started the series, she's now up to over three million followers at this point. The last I looked, I think, this morning. And why we're talking about her is because her content is ticking all of the boxes on the TikTok trends report that we highlighted in episode 46. So if you don't know what we're talking about, episode 46, we dive into the TikTok trends report. It's a really good media report that they put together that we strongly suggest that you have a read and also listen to our episode. It's unclear whether ReesaTeesa has read the report. I don't think she has. But her series just perfectly aligns with the trends that TikTok is predicting are going to really take off in 2024. So we thought that today for our Snackbox recording that we would actually walk through how she's understood the assignment when it comes to TikTok and what TikTok is looking for in 2024. Yeah, she has absolutely understood the assignment. So just to recap what she has done, and I agree with you Clem, I don't think she has intentionally gone and looked at the trans report and gone, okay, I'm going to do this, and this. But inadvertently, she has ticked every box. So she has created a 50. 50, 50 part series. And Clem said, that got her a million followers within a few days. By the time the 50 part series was completed over the space of about a week, she was up to 2 million. And as of today, as of recording this, she is now at 3. 2 million followers. So she's created this incredible series that is telling one story. So it's one story about a relationship that she got into with a man who didn't turn out to be who she thought he was. And there's lots of twists and turns to the story. It's, I don't know, it just keeps getting more and more shocking, more and more crazy as the series goes on, which of course is why we're really hooked and why we've been drawn into listening to this along with the other 3. 2 million people who are now following her. Now, while we might not have such compelling stories ourselves nor do we want to spend many days creating 50 videos. I think there are some really valuable lessons that we can take from Reece's experience and that we can apply to our own marketing. But Clem, do you want to take us again through, how she's hit the nail on the head with those TikTok trends? Yeah. So just super, super quick. That way we're not diving into the report all over again. The, just so that people know the TikTok trends report was released in January. So well before ReesaTeesa Teases skyrocketed into TikTok fame. What the report is about is it predicts what will make creators successful in 2024 highlighting trend forces. So trends like almost cultural shifts within the TikTok universe and trends signals. So what they're seeing is going, Yeah, you definitely need to keep an eye on this and maybe try and apply it within your content creation. The report's free. You can download it from TikTok. We'll have a link to it in the show notes. wall. If you message us, we'll be more than happy to send you a link. too. But let's just go ahead and get right into it that way. We don't harp on too much about the to support. So there's three forces, and then each one of those forces in the before have signals. So the first forces curiosity peaked Now, as we're scrolling through TikTok, what really is happening is that we are getting curious about the things that we never thought we would be curious. Our tastes change, but then also, I guess it's the way that people grab our attention is changing as well, and ReesaTeesa just grabs your attention immediately, just fitting within this force with really engaging and hyper relevant content, just with her opening words of hello, welcome. We all know why you're here. But then also just she just keeps the title at the top of her video of who the F did I marry and it makes you wonder like even if like you're looking at it for a nanosecond, you're like, what is this going to be about? I have, it's what's going on. I need to hear this. The signal 1 of the signals with this force is serendipitous scrolling. I really hope I pronounced that I think I did. Yeah, I did. Oh, great. Okay, you did. So traditional search usually is that question and answer like somebody's going to type in a question and you're going to find the answer to that query. But this is really about more discovery and exploration. And that's really what tick talks about. You don't necessarily go on to tick tock really to search for something in particular, unless you're already thinking about it. While we do say that they do have a search engine and TikTok is becoming very much a search engine, that's not its main focus and purpose. She does this so well just because of having that title. It stops that scroll. It stops that serendipitous scrolling. And you're like, Oh, okay. I'm curious. What's something that you could do is did you know this or something? I had no idea. That kind of stuff will stop someone. You ever singled it? Sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, I also love how during each of these videos, she'll often say something like, that'll come into play later. And so you know there's more to come. There's, this piece of information is really relevant. So I think that works really well as well for the promise of the value to come. Yeah. And she also does a good job of going and saying this is all true. I have the receipts or certain people can vouch for it. She really puts you on this journey of this actually really did happen. And I'm not going to lie to you. So she's really building that trust, which that'll come into play later. But another one of the signals with this curiosity peak is entertainment without borders. TikTok and digital doesn't really have a geographic border anymore, and her storytelling is just appealing so broadly because, who does not have a story about a bad partner, whether that's a bad husband, bad wife, Bad friend, bad business partner, you name it. No one does not have a story that is relatable to it. And a lot of us also have stories about dealing with people that have a serious mental illness, such as a pathological liar, ReesaTeesa has had to endure. So it's like her story is already highly relatable to anybody that is not just within her circle, but then worldwide as well. So that's the first force. In a nutshell of how she really just understands this is what people want. The second force is storytelling unhinged, which to me is, I think, my favorite one that they talk about in this report. I learned a new little bit of lingo as well. I was like, oh, I feel so old that I have to look up what this word means, but that'll come into play in a minute. So storytelling unhinged is self explanatory. ReesaTeesa has got this 50 part series. It's just that prime example of something that's just unhinged. It doesn't have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's really not in that traditional story structure that we are really accustomed to. And it's unpredictable. You really don't know what's going to be coming up next, that you were just glued to your seat either watching or listening to it as you're doing something else. You, and she's actually made a point of saying this is designed to be almost like an audiobook, so you don't have to be watching her doing what she's doing. But that structure. For her has worked incredibly well that she's now got a spinoff as we can, I guess you could call it where Delta and Hilton. So the hotel chain and Delta Airlines are now sponsoring her and flying her to Europe where she's always wanted to go. And she's never been able to. She's, they're flying her to Europe, so she's gonna be doing a series called ReesaTeesa in Europe. Yeah, and that was one of the betrayals, wasn't it, as part of the story? Yeah. There was a promise of a trip to Paris that, and evidence presented that this trip was going to happen, but it was all fake, and it never ended up happening, along with a BMW as well. Clem, I don't know if you've heard the latest, but BMW have actually given her a car now. Because again, he promised, or there were photos of this car that he was supposedly going to give her that never, ever eventuated. And now BMW have stepped up and given her or have said, we're going to give you a BMW as of the time of this recording. The story keeps going. There's more to this, which is fascinating to watch. Yeah. So one of these signals within storytelling unhinged is that community driven storytelling, which is exactly what's going on here. She's gotten so relatable that not just with the story that she's saying, but then even what she's doing within the comments as well, and interacting with it, with everyone and anyone that these big brands have picked up on it. And are coming in for the ride, not I wouldn't say it's like a, she's not doing this as a sob story. She's really doing it for us to learn from it as well, and they are picking up on it that it's just, it's working. And that for them to support her, it works for them indirectly as well. And I think that with that, it just, that content not being predictable and her making those comments, it's just worked so well. To the point that it leads to this next signal of staying true to d Lulu. Yeah. Which is the words that I had to look up . Yeah, for our Clem, what does that mean?? So hashtag d, Lulu is d Apparently in Gen Z speak it's pretty much like you're going into this little world to escape. And that's exactly what she's doing for us on TikTok. A lot of us are using TikTok now to, as that form of a moment, like just a moment of escape, that temporary escape that you can have when you're just scrolling. I think it's even Brene Brown has said don't consider scrolling on social media as a waste of time. If that's how you relax, do it. And yeah, and she does that by, she's fulfilling like a collective desire for that distraction. Yeah. That resonates with so many of us because there's so many crappy things that are going on in the world that I don't feel like reading the news. I don't feel like watching the news or anything. I would rather go on to tick tock and listen to her so that I can get my mind off of things. And then she's just doing that. So perfectly. So don't ever think that it has to be something super positive is an escape. This drama is in and we are all invested and we are, staying true to that Doolooloo. Yeah, there are a lot of people calling for a Netflix series like to turn this into a series, but we don't even need Netflix. We've got it here on TikTok and there has been a big shift away from people consuming entertainment style content on traditional platforms on with traditional media. to social media. And this is a perfect example of that move away. Yes, we could, this could have been a Netflix series and maybe it will be down the track. But we can enjoy the story just as much on TikTok as we could, in a fully produced television program. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So the last trend force is bridging the trust gap. Which I think in BReesaTeesa's case, it's really self explanatory. She's just building that trust because she's being herself, period. If you're watching her she's doing a lot of these videos while she's driving, while she's on a lunch break, while she's getting ready. She's got curlers in her hair a lot of the time. Yeah. She's doing her makeup and, but she doesn't go and say, Get ready with me as I'm talking about this. She's just doing it. So it's as if you're standing there getting your you're her roommate, or you're her carpool buddy and you're just there for the ride and just listening to her talk, and she's just doing it so well without baiting us to stay, which is, I think which is what has really won us over is that she's not going, oh my god, you won't believe this. Yeah. That really traditional hook that we become used to. Yeah. It's a bit of a softer sell and I hate to use the word, but authentic and it's delivery. It's like you say, it's like chatting to a friend. Yeah. Yeah. So the two signals that were with that force of bridging the trust gap is let's talk, tick talk and trust the FOI process. So let's talk TikTok. She speaks our language. She's not using the clickbaity language that, can drive people to stay. She's being herself and she's trusting that FYP or that for you process because she's just not polished. She's again, just being herself, which I don't know about you, but I feel like lately what is happening is there is, there's an even more of a bigger shift, especially since say AI has come out or anything that people just want humans to be humans. She's just doing that. And that's what we wanted for sure. Like I, I think that's how she's absolutely understood the assignment. I think for the TikTok trans report is that she's just being her, she's sharing her story in the most basic way possible. And it has it has, I can't describe like the amount of success that she's having with this. Yeah, and if you haven't, if you're listening to this or watching us live now, and you haven't seen her story, we highly recommend that you head on over and just watch a few of the videos. You don't have to watch all 50 parts. In fact, there are a few creators who have done recaps of the entire story. So you can get the bare bones of the story in three minutes or so. But yeah, it is just really interesting. So I guess now let's look at some ways that we can take what Reese has done as a bit of a case study that we're doing here today and how you can apply this to your own business marketing. Because I think there's definitely some lessons to be learned here. The first that I will say, and we've spoken about this before, Claire, but that your videos don't have to look. Great. In fact, lots of her videos are quite dark, a bit grainy because she's filming them in her car. It's just her talking to camera. Like you said, she sometimes has hair curlers, like the heatless curls in her hair. It's just really relatable. It's giving FaceTime video with a friend which is a big trend that's happening at the moment. Again, for that point of connection with your audience. So take this as a sign that you don't need to have your hair and makeup done. You don't even need to have incredible lighting. Although I do think some natural light is really helpful for videos, but again, That none of that matters in this case because she's telling such a compelling story. It's something that people want to hear about. They're really invested in the outcome and the twists and turns and what's going to happen next. So I think lesson number one. Just share your story. Whatever that story is. It doesn't have to be this huge, big, crazy story. But any stories that you have, it's more important about the delivery of that story and how it's actually going to resonate with your audience than how it looks. Yeah? Yeah. Okay, so get out of your own way if you're using that to hold you back, yeah? Doesn't have to be perfect. The second lesson I think that we can take from this is that series based content. What's great about series based content, and again it doesn't have to be 50 parts, you could do three, five, seven parts. However many parts you wish, but the good thing about series based content is that it does keep people coming back to your account for more. They are invested. They want the next part of the story or of the educational content that you're sharing or the lesson learned, whatever that looks like for your piece of series based content. And again, like I said before, ReesaTeesa does this really well with the, that'll come into play later on. And so you're going, Oh. Okay, I better come back for the next part because I want to see what develops out of this. So she's teasing forward in terms of what we can expect, what value is going to be delivered. So where possible, look at some ways that you can do series based content, whether it's through the storytelling medium. And if you think about stories that you can tell for your business, you can share your own personal experience. You can share client stories and especially client trends. So when I first met them, they were here and this is what they're struggling with. And these are the things that they went through. And now by here, this is really interesting. Yeah. From a business point of view and so it keeps people coming back to your account for more, or if they've discovered your. Page or your profile after you've posted that series, they can just sit there and binge watch all of the parts a bit like you would do on Netflix. And I think that's a really common trend these days with content is to create almost like a Netflix style catalog where people can come to your account that interested in a particular topic and then they can consume all of your content about that. So they're spending more time with you. getting to know and trust you and hearing that full story. The next thing, and this kind of underpins all of it is this storytelling process. Now, the reason why storytelling is so powerful is that it goes back to neuroscience. Yeah. So back in the caveman days, storytelling was vital. For our survival, you had to know which berries were poisonous. Otherwise, it was literally a matter of life and death. So they use storytelling to communicate things such as, the dangerous berries, whether or not there was a saber toothed tiger around the corner, the expected behavioral norms as well. Because again, If you were cast out of your caveman clan and left alone, chances are you would die. Yeah, you really needed that community, you needed people to, to live with, to hunt with, to do whatever you had to do with. I don't know, back in the caveman days. The point is When we hear stories, multiple parts of our brain actually light up, and especially our old brain back at the back there, our lizard brain as some people like to call it, and this makes them really memorable because we are consuming That story with multiple parts of our brain, as opposed to just being told facts and figures and numbers and things like that, where we're really just using our prefrontal cortex and that kind of common sense decision making part of our brain. Storytelling invokes that old lizard brain and because of that, it makes you more memorable. And especially if you're telling a relatable story, you're going to have that emotional reaction. to the content. So you're going to immediately feel more connected to the person delivering those stories. And the final thing I would say in terms of how we can apply what Tisa's done here, either intentionally or inadvertently, who knows? This could be a brilliant marketing ploy for all we know, but I think this is really authentic and she's just sharing her incredible story with and that is to lean into the platform. That you were using. Now, I can't take credit for this idea. I saw this presented by Cocomoco and I keep names here today. ReesaTeesa Cocomoco. Cocomoco is a trends forecaster and her job is to look at social media trends. And she spoke about the fact that Tisa, I guess one of the reasons she was so successful and got this. exponential growth in just a few days was that she presented these videos in 10 minute TikToks. What this meant is you, other creators couldn't stitch her entire video because you can only stitch I think up to three minutes on TikTok. Yeah, three minutes. Yeah, and then they couldn't take her video and share it onto another platform like Instagram Reels because there you could only have 90 seconds. So what it meant is people had to come to Tisa's account to actually watch the full videos and to hear the story. So yes, Somebody could have taken each of the parts and put them onto YouTube, but who wants to take 50 separate parts of a story? That's a lot of work, in terms of stitching. And there were a few people that did recaps, which was great, because then you were intrigued to go over and actually get the full story from Tisa. So I think that worked in her favor a lot, in terms of using those 10 minute videos. And really leaning into where TikTok is going as well in terms of longer form content. We know that they have been testing 30 minute videos and they're wanting to be the next YouTube. But it also had this, and again, this was probably not intentional, but it had this effect of, it couldn't really be. pushed out across other platforms as some of the other trending content that we see has been done. So people had to come to TikTok and they came and they found her account. And of course, after probably watching a few episodes, they hit that follow button. So I think that was a big part of her success. So where possible lean into the features. of the platform that you're using for success. I think, I think about that last point that you said as well. I think that goes to show that ReesaTeesa had no idea that she definitely did not A, read the TikTok Trends Report, but B, she really had no idea how, that this could just explode. If she's just using TikTok and she's doing these 10 minute TikToks, she's just there to talk like she just wanted to share her story out there. This was not like strategic in any sort of way going, I'm going to do this and then I'm going to repurpose it on Instagram. I'm sure now whatever PR person that she potentially hires may probably do that at this point in time. But I think that goes to show really like just how genuine BReesaTeesa was with. with her story. And you know it yourself. Real or the tick tock that you put all the time and energy and thought and strategy often doesn't perform as well as the one that you did the two minutes story in the moment and your car. Oh my gosh. I can't believe this just happened to me, blah, blah, blah. And you're telling that story like you're talking to a friend. And so I think, yes, it's great to have that strategic content. It's really important to have that because that is. Sharing your key messages, taking your audience through that customer journey by all means, but there's definitely a time and a place for some of this nice spontaneous content, the in the moment where you're actually sharing your reactions, your emotions in that story as well. I think that's what makes it highly relatable like you said before. We've all had dodgy exes, right? Everybody can resonate with that. I just love, she used in her very first episode of this, she used the term the United Nations of red flags. That's what it means. But she missed all these red flags at the start of the game. Highly relatable. It's only in hindsight that we often see these things. Yeah, I think just so much to be learned from this and just really fun content to consume. If, you need some entertaining, head on over and check out her account. Yeah, for sure. Definitely. So one, check out her account to read the TikTok trends report three. Listen to this episode and episode 46 to get like some full insights. But yeah, from like we've said and what you can learn from ReesaTeesa, it doesn't have to look perfect. It doesn't have to look polished. Consider making some series. Think of it as like a conversation between you and your best friend. Say like this is going to be important for later on. Save this for later sort of stuff. I just think, how can you tell a story? That, that anybody could really relate to, even if it's something that's super niche and specific in your industry and stuff, someone wants to hear that story for sure. Now, ReesaTeesa, if you are listening to this, if I'm fairly certain that you're not watching this live, if you are, wow. Amazing. We would love to have you on the podcast. If you're ever interested. So hit DMS. If you also want to come on the podcast or you've got a good question, you want to ask us. that you want us to answer on the podcast. Definitely send us a DM. Otherwise, give us a follow on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook at Mad Marketing Mums. And I guess, yeah, this is the end of our second Snapbox. Snack box. Not snack box. Snack box. Snack box. I need to go have a snack, obviously. Yes. Clearly. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Until then, stay mad. Stay mad.

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Clementine Holman

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Kryshla Salaris

Co-host