May 3, 2022 • 28 mins
Popular content creator Drea Okeke talks to Gam about why everyone seems obsessed with TikTok and also gives advice to help everyone level up their own videos.
Guest Information:
@drea_knowsbest Drea’s Instagram
@drea_knowsbest Drea’s Twitter
@Dreaknowsbest Drea’s Facebook
@dreaknowsbest Drea’s TikTok
Host Information:
@gammynorris Gammy's Instagram
@gammynorris_ Gammy's Twitter
@gammynorris Gammy's Facebook
@gammynorris Gammy’s TikTok
#PositivelyGam
Listening and loving the show? Please be sure to rate and review.
Have a question or topic you want us to discuss on Positively Gam? Email us at:
positivelygam@redtabletalk.com
POSITIVELY GAM is produced by Red Table Talk Podcasts. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Fallon Jethroe, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and Jada Pinkett Smith. CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Sim Hoti. ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Irene Bischofberger. EDITOR AND AUDIO MIXER Calvin Bailiff. THEME SONG by dbeatz. POSITIVELY GAM is in partnership with iHeartRadio.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's up, everybody. I'm Gammy and this is positively gam
I'm not sure if you've heard, but I finally enjoyed
TikTok and my handle on TikTok is at Gammy nrs.
I don't know much about it and still trying to
figure it out, so I wanted to learn from one
of the experts. So let's get right into the episode.
(00:29):
Drea okayk a k A Drea knows Best. It's a
popular Nigerian American content creator with over five point four
million followers on TikTok alone. She posts funny comedy videos
and has worked with major brands such as Netflix, Google,
and Chipotle. Today, I'm hoping she can share more about
(00:52):
why everyone seems obsessed with TikTok, including me, also give
advice to help us, especially me, level up our own TikTok's.
You know I need help? Yeah, Hey, Dreane, how are you?
I'm doing good? Gammy, how are you doing today? I
am so good? So on absolutely listen. I'm desperate. I'm
(01:14):
desperate for your health. I hear, I got you so.
I saw your first um TikTok was back in I
didn't even know about TikTok until last year, really like,
how did you hear about it so early on and
what did you think of it? Of course, my friend
Alie Fits she was on the app before before TikTok
(01:35):
was called musically so just the lip singing app, and
she was telling me, Okay, this app just came out.
You need to get on it to post a lot
of videos. The engagement is crazy, a lot of people
on it, and I'm like, I love posting short form
videos like my mind just works, been like six seconds,
fifteen seconds or less. So I was like, okay, let
me post and I started posting on there and immediately,
like video started going viral, and I'm like, I started
(01:58):
doing a community. I'm like people to I'm funny, Okay, cool,
let me keep up. I'll stay. And I just started
going to growing an audience, and all of a sudden,
millions of followers started growing in and down. You know,
there we are. Do you remember how many videos or
challenges you had to do before one went viral. I
think when I was posting, I wasn't really thinking about
(02:19):
going viral. I was just thinking about having fun with it,
because if I saw one video did well, I would
go back and make a part two of it. So
I did a lot of like comedy skits. Have this
character called Mama D where she basically like if my
Nigerian mom my first nation with Nigerian mom, where she
just like the salts because African parents are very very
rude and it's it's salts you like you look stupid,
(02:41):
but I love you. So I'm just doing like one
video like that with viral and I'll make another one
part two, Part three, part four. I can't remember the
exact amount of time, Like I remember one time when
I was doing accent challenges, I'll read words with my
Nigerian accents because I can switch back to my Nageran
accents and then I'll find someone from like put a
recom and tell them to read the same words and
(03:02):
we'll show how different but also similar are accents are.
And those were super global globally viral. So yeah, well
I have to tell you that, you know, the first
TikTok that I did was the Chosen Challenge. Listen, I
cannot tell you how long, the hours, the hours, and
(03:23):
it took me to get that thing done. I was
doing it by myself. I had to like set up
the computer, look at the computer while I had the
camera set up trying to cap it was I was
like I didn't know what I was doing, and it
just took forever. I mean people people liked it, but
(03:43):
it just it just took so long to do it.
So sometimes it's just hard memorizing the dances, like setting
up the tripod, and then it takes me just hours.
Do you have to edit the video like all of that.
It's just a lot, it really is. So I'm hoping
that you can help us out with that day. Well,
first of all, let's let's go back a little bit,
because you got your bachelor's degree in engineering, So what
(04:06):
made you start creating content for social media in the
first place. My mind is like has ideas and I
love bringing that vision to life. So I got my
bachelor's degree, that I moved to California and I was
working as the engineer full time. I started creating videos
just as a stress reliever because you know, engineering it's
not easy. So I just needed a way to just escape,
get out of the normal. And that's how I just
(04:28):
got started and to really know that I could stick
to it full time. First of all, I always believe
that people can do things whatever so on else to do,
and you can do it if you put your mind
to right. So I've seen people in my space back then,
this was in twenty seventeen sixteen. I saw people with
the social media space taken off, you know, being able
(04:49):
to host TV shows, getting roles and movies, making so
much money, buying these houses. And I'm like, they don't
have two heads. They're not betting on me. If I
put my mind to it, I got on my side,
I can do it, you know. So I realized that
there's definitely potential for me to do this full time.
And when I went in I went to grad school
at USC and I studied entrepreneurship because my I forgot
parents told me, almost get my starts degree, but I
(05:11):
wanted to get a master's degree in something that like
I can use to elevate my social media career. And
that's what I an entrepreneurship classes. That started realizing that
when you're pitching yourself, it's kind of the same as
social media. My platform is my business, right, and I
gotta treat it like it is my business. And when
I want to work with these brands like you mentioned,
I work with Netflix, seven eleven, Google, The list goes on.
(05:31):
I reach out to these brands and I'm like, this
is dread knows best as a brand. This is what
you can benefit from. Here's my pitch. Work with me.
So that's when I started like okay full time and
then took the ricks and now that we're here, So
what's your take on senior influencers coming into the space
(05:52):
see your influence? You know, first of all gave me
I love that word. I love a senior influencers. Okay,
that's that's that's do you all your hashtags? See your influence?
I think there's space for everyone, I really, especially even
directly on TikTok. That's even the space where senior influencers
should start out because you just need to find something
you're interested in and post about it. Like if you
(06:13):
think about on TikTok, there's so many different demographics. I
think sometimes you put a lot of pressure on ourselves
thinking we need to make sure we do the trending
dances or do the trending challenges. And if you depending
on what you like, your explore page, which is called
the for you paid on TikTok, will show you what
you like. So for me, I love hearing stories about
relationships like how people met, how someone met their husband's,
(06:36):
how some one met their wife. And my for you
page is just videos of people telling stories. So I
think senior influencers has come on and share your story
about you know, what you've experienced in life, what your
hobbies are, and post about it. Because when we start
overthinking how to post, that's when it becomes a challenge
for this space for everyone. So how would you say
that for someone like me? I do have people now
(06:59):
that can help me with that, but if I didn't
have that, one of the suggestions that you would make
on how to learn how to do a TikTok you've
already given us ideas about what we should try posting about,
but just the process. What what is that like? How
do you how do you do it? What? What what
(07:20):
is the must do when creating content for TikTok Okay?
First of all, I need to buy five thousand dollar phone.
I'm just gonna joke. No, I think it's really simple.
So the first thing you should do is just clear
around with the app, right learn as you play, So
open your app and nearly just record yourself. Hey, y'all,
(07:44):
this is what I'm doing for breakfast. This is a
question that I have because I've never done it that way,
because I'm afraid that I'll it'll get posted. It'll get posted.
Something that i've I've done will get posted and I
didn't really want to post it, you know what I mean.
So it's no side by It's like a side by
(08:04):
side picture or something. If I record that, how do
you can you record it and save it and go
back and look at it. Or I'm just so afraid
that I'm gonna do something and it's gonna go get
posted live and I'll be like, oh no. You know
what's funny, Those videos that you don't plan too much
(08:25):
are the videos that does better than most. I'm telling
you from my experience because when I shoot my comedy sketches,
I live in Los Angeles, so I have access to
like studio sets from talking to my friends. We rent
out like an airplane set. We shoot an airplane, We
shoot at like hospitals. Becauld we love, you know, we
love to go above beyond. I'm a creative color. You know,
we gotta stand out. Um. But I'm talking those videos
(08:45):
flopped it's the one where I'm saying, y'all, I just
got a new wig. What's you think about these banks?
Is the commons roll in because people The biggest thing
on TikTok is it's just it's a community, right, And
that's why I think age is not really a factor
because there's so many different niches. There's people posting about
like having chickens as pets, and people posting about cooking
recipes poople. I see you, Gammy. You're doing a lot
(09:06):
of fashion on TikTok to there. So when you have
that community, it's ageless, right, because it doesn't matter if
you're giving me fashion tips and you're sixty something or
if you give me fashion tips and you're twenty regardless,
it's about the message you're trying to give people. So
I think once you play around with the app a
little bit, you slowly start learning how to edit, how
(09:26):
to use the timer, how to trim your video down
to be shorter. The trimming of a video is like,
I just like, I'm always like trimming the wrong part.
It's just really challenging. It really is. I feel you
and you know something. There's there's also TikTok accounts who
are strictly about teaching you how to use TikTok. There's
(09:50):
a lot of tutorial accounts right who teach you how
to like here's this trend, Here's how to do it,
trim this like they teach you step by step. So
that's what I'm saying. Like TikTok so social media in general,
there's so many different categories. So if you wanted exactly
like you can just follow an account that gives you
tips for beginners, and then you'll be thriving out here. Well,
(10:10):
I have to say though, it can be very time consuming, Drea,
very time consuming to do all that. So you have
to really be in a space where I ain't got
nothing to do today, so I was on TikTok and
figure it all out. And I don't know, I don't
know how many people have that kind of time or
(10:31):
because it really can turn into almost like an obsession.
Like sometimes my husband is like, get off the phone,
put the phone down, I said, but I'm trying to
fake it TikTok out, I'm trying to figure it out.
You get into a rabbit hole watching a bunch of content.
I get hooked because the thing about TikTok. Before you page,
(10:52):
it feeds you videos that you want to see, like
it knows like I told you, Like, I get a
lot of relationship gold videos. So whenever I get on there,
I'm just like growing, like, oh my gosh, I can't
stop watching. But yeah, So at the end of the day,
(11:13):
can you give me like three things that you think
people should know when they're getting started on TikTok. The
first step one is when you get the account, just okay,
first of all, overall, don't overcomplicated, because I feel like
we all as humans, we tend to overcomplicate things when
things are actually simpler than it actually is. Going with
(11:35):
attention of having fun. So when you get the app,
watch a bunch of videos. Watch a bunch of videos
of people within your niche. For example, if you want
to do a lot of fitness videos, look at all
these fitness creators to see, Okay, how are they posting,
what is their strategy, what is their type of content
you posting? And you know, start saving a couple of
the videos to get yourself inspiration. The thing about TikTok
(11:55):
is a lot of people are doing the same thing.
You know, when a trend have like you study the
chosen I saw recently you did the you posted the
videos today when you like you dropped the clothes on
the floor. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So like,
but you did yours with a twist, and I love
that yours was different. You know, So you're gonna see
a lot of trends. Well, it did. It's not something
that I created, though somebody else did it before me,
(12:18):
but you've added your own gammy flavor to it. I
just want to make sure that you know I'm giving
credit where credit is due because that's not something that
that I created. I feel you, I feel you. I
respect you for that too, because that's the problem that's
going on into creative space, like people come up with
trends but don't get credit for that trend. I want
to go back to your first statement to about people
(12:40):
make it more complicated than it really needs to be.
And I think I'm kind of falling in that space too,
because I see people are doing something really really cool
things and I want to be able to do that,
but I can't. I don't know how to do all
of that. So I think that you're right, I probably
need to step back and just go simple. I think
(13:02):
so too, and gave me I think for you like
and this is the consultant in me. One of the
consult you on your page. Just your lifestyle in general.
You're over sixty and you're you're the way you live
your life is so inspiring because you're fit, you're having fun,
you love to dance, You're very free with yourself, and
people want to see that. And I think the biggest
(13:23):
thing is when you know who your target audience is,
who's watching your content, you can more easily create content
for them at the same time loving your content. For me,
I feel like I want to see what are some
lessons you've learned, you know in your sixties over sixty years?
What are some you know? What is in your wardrobe? Like?
What do you? What do you? How do you get
inspiration for your clothes? I love you say you notes
(13:45):
you know I am Videos like who said people over
sixty can't do it? A trend that for me will
make me stop to watching video, especially if you put
that text on the screen like who said ladies over
sixty can't wear these outfits? You don't have to say that,
you can just put that text on the steam as
I'm scrolling, I'll stop me. Hold up, she's over sixty.
(14:05):
She looks this good? You know what? And I would
like start watching more of your video. So it's all
about hooking them in those first three seconds. That's a
big part about TikTok, Instagram reals, any short form video,
hooking them in those first three seconds, Like, um, it's
so important because before you don't want you want them
to stop scrolling and watch your videos. So I see
you just being a lifestyle top of creator. Just showing
(14:28):
life over sixty can be fun and that that literally
is just like showing them showing us your life. And
it doesn't have to be You don't have to I
mean every now and then get creative. You have a team,
You're lucky, your blessed, you have a team that can
help you out videos. But don't we complicated? I think
I would more. I'll be more inclined to see you
posted video. Y'all. Here's me about to do this crunches.
I bet you under sixty or under the pointies can
(14:49):
do this. And then you're doing five punches like and
then you're having fun with it too. You're challenging your audience.
You're bringing us into your life and overall is to win. Yeah,
that is good if advice, that is good advice. So
(15:09):
the first point was to be looking at the videos
that are already on the app. So you you're finding
things that you like, right, yes, correct, Yeah, look at
the videos on the app, find things that you like
and you would like to recreate, right, Because I think
on TikTok, a lot of the videos are either trans
or challenges and there's nothing really new. People have seen
(15:31):
it before. But what makes it new is when you
add your own flavor to it. You get inspiration from
other videos that are posted. And then I think the
second tip will be joining on the trends, joining on
the challenges, but add your own twist to it, making
something different and make it apply to your niche. For example,
if there's a challenge that has to do with I
don't know whatever, maybe I try to give a challenge
(15:51):
right now, maybe like the drop challenger recently just came
out right, the drop challenge where people with the Beyonce
song you dropped down lower every time to be dropped,
and I can't go that low. I thought about doing that.
I can't go that loud. I can't do it. I
can't do it, and that would be a challenge for you.
That would be how you can do the drop challenge differently?
Right because you're over you want to appeal to the
over sixties squality, be like, um, let's see over sixty
(16:14):
year old can do the challenge, you know, and that
would want people tune in because so let's see if
she's gonna actually do it and gave me I know
you for straate you to do it. You can do
you might. I don't know how many times you can
go down and go back up because my knees are
I'm twenty something, but my knees are already cracking, locking
my knees, but I can go. I can get damn there,
I ain't get back up? Yeah, okay, what's the third one?
(16:37):
All right? Um? But sorry, I just want to make
one more point about the trends, because that's that's something
like when you're doing the trends, make it apply to
what your community or niche is. So that's also as
like you can add so I've seen people do the
trend but also add words on the screen like three
tips for this, so as they're doing the video, they
have words on the screen that giving them tips on
(17:00):
certain things. Like if I was a dentist, I'd be
like few ways to keep your teeth wipe. But as
I'm still dropping, those tips are popping over. So people
are reading, you know, they're reading and watching, They're gonna
save it, share it because they need those tips. Um,
And that's my third. My third tip will be look,
try to have content. I think it's for ease education.
Either your content should be educational, right because people love
(17:22):
things with that adds value to them. Right. Educational content
is huge right now on Instagram, is huge on TikTok
educational or maybe is it? Is your video going to
be entertaining? Right? So like for me, my video is
a lot of comedy or maybe me telling you know,
experiences and it's entertaining. Is your video gonna be engaging
slash relatable? Can I relate to your video and not
(17:44):
I like everyone? You're not trying to pil to everyone.
You're trying to pel to your community, right, who you're commune,
who you're trying to target. Is your video gonna be
relatable to them? And what type of emotion you're gonna
give them? Like for me, I see you giving people,
you know, emotion of like, oh, I want to be aspiration,
like I want to be like this and when I
get older kind of thing, you know. So when you
think about those things, and I do have one more
tip too, because there's a lot of tips. As you
(18:06):
say three, I'm gonna get four. Make sure you have
some type of call to action on your video. Calls
to action means, you know, either in the middle of
your video and at the end of your video telling
them like and follow for more tips, either you're verbally
saying it or putting that on the screen. Because people
we forget, like we forget we just watch this grows,
watch this grow culture. We forget to double tap, we
(18:29):
forget to follow. So telling them to follow for more tips,
or follow for more inspiration on food recipes, follow for
this call to add on. A call to action would
be in the beginning of your video. Like I mentioned earlier,
those hooks is like, um, you've been TikTok does not
want you to know this. That's like an example, or
like the bank does not want you to know this,
(18:50):
And then you give your tips about finance. You know, um,
anything that's gonna make them stop. You've been doing crunch
is the wrong way. I'm gonna stop people like what
should have no crunches the wrong way. Let me watch
this video what you're talking about? You know? Um story
three ways to save to save your relationship, I'll stopping
watch that, you know. Like, so a call to action
that's gonna make a hook and call to action gonna
(19:11):
make people stop to watch your video is so important.
And another bonus tip is the reply to video feature. Um,
that's a big one for engaging your community. So let's
just say someone comments something under your video. You instead
of replying back to that comment with a text, you
can imply back with a whole video. This is a
really big tip for TikTok because I'll give you an
(19:33):
example for me. A year ago, when I went to Nigeria,
I was lazy, I was out of content ideas and
I'm like, I'm on vacation. What do y'all want to
see what I'm in Nigeria? I posted that video. I
was like, what do you guys want to see why
I'm in Nigeria? And lots of comments rolled in. I
want to see the houses y'all got in Nigeria, So
I said, I want to see a mansion tour. I
(19:54):
reply back with a video and I showed them a
video of me touring different showing them how Africa looks
like different mansions. Another comments said, I want to see
the food y'all got in Nigeria. I reply back with
video with food. So my audience. This is doing two things.
Want to show my audience that I see y'all. Y'all
my friends, you're my family. I'm gonna I'm gonna reply
(20:14):
back with you all. I'm gonna gavee it to you
and to make you do less work. It's content ideas.
So wow that you know what, this has been really
really helpful, Drea. Now, right now, compared to your five
point one or what is it five point four? How
many viewers do you have? Five point four million viewers?
(20:35):
I think I have thirty three thousand. But I'm not
gonna beat myself up because I'm just starting out. So
I'm going to take your information and see if i
can get my numbers up a little bit with my
tick tock. Yeah, I think I think you definitely can.
And the biggest thing to me, I don't look at numbers.
(20:57):
I look at your community. So if you can make
that relationship with your TikTok community like this, like you
actually the people feel like they can they're feeling seen
by you. You can post and every time thirty thousand
people are gonna like that post because you're engaged in
with your community. Feel make them feel seen. That's what
it's all about. I think with the content creating space
and social media world gone on the days when people
(21:19):
are looking at you have so many followers, like you
can easily say five million followers. I can say that,
but it's like, are those five million people actually know
you are, that they care about you, or they engage
in your daily life? Like what are you doing with
those probably followers? If you if you drop a business,
will five whnion people buy that products? Maybe yes, because
I'm actually engaged with my followers. So when you post
and it doesn't do well, don't delete it. Just keep
(21:41):
it up there because again sometimes on TikTok, five months later,
one of your videos can end up on the explot page,
which is called for you page on TikTok, and then
it starts racking up likes and followers and then boomed.
So yeah, I just have fun with their gammy. Yeah,
I think I think that's my biggest takeaway. I think
that's my biggest say or one of my biggest takeaways raight,
is that I need to be worrying about I just
(22:03):
need to be having fun with it. Yeah. Yeah, thank
you so much. This was a fun conversation. I appreciate it.
Before you go, though, it's time for our segment. Wouldn't
you like to know where I have some rapid fire questions?
(22:24):
I'd like to ask you, all right, what book are
you currently reading? I'm currently reading two books, Get Right
with Money, by the Budget is Stuff yep. So it's
about financial literacy. Yea, I have that. I have that. Yeah,
it's it's so good, so good, because I think that's
the biggest thing for me, Like now I'm starting to
(22:46):
make more money, I need to know how to make
my money work for me. Absolutely. I just got that
one myself. So I totally get it. I totally get it.
And I'm so glad to hear that you are taking
your finances serious, Lee, so that your money will work
for you. Financial literacy is so important. What is one
positive thing that you want to get off your chest.
(23:10):
I feel like, man, don't think came to my mind
is like God is good in my life. I feel
like I'm a walking testimonial of like, if you really
put your mind or hard work into things, it's really possible,
like to achieve it. So like, I did not know
that I would get so much success off this app
because I've been I started off on Vine and that
was another app that was like a thing, and I
(23:30):
lost over seven hundred followers. Had to start from scratch,
you know, taking a leap of faith, quitting my engineering
job to do social media full time, and all this
could have flopped. You know, all this could have flopped.
I'm not where I am supposed to be, but my
I'm on my way there, and I'm really just like
every day I wake up a gratitude, like God, You're good.
So I feel you. I feel you. So do you
(23:52):
feel like that's that you're the model that you live
by as well, that God is good? Yeah? It is.
But there I have another one I go by. If
not this, then something better, And I love that a lot,
especially when certain opportunities come my way and maybe I
(24:13):
get pitched for a brand deal and I don't get picked.
You know, it's like okay, Drea, if not this, then
something better, and I apply that to my my whole life,
my relationship and rest I talk it's a guy and
it doesn't work out, It's like, if not, this definitely
something better. I love that. I actually love that. I
actually love that. This was such a fun conversation. Well,
(24:37):
tell people where we can find you on social media. Um,
you can find your social media. Drea underscore and knows
best on Instagram and Drea knows best elsewhere, and then
if you want, you can just go straight to my website.
I have my TikTok course on there's level up with
TikTok if you're trying to, you know, level up literally
on TikTok as so many people are making a lot
of money growing their businesses, their brands on TikTok and
(25:00):
have a whole course from A to Z on how
to succeed. So that's level up that Drea knows best
dot com. That's awesome. I'm gonna take a look at that.
I've definitely learned a lot. So thank you so much
Drea for stopping by positively gam and giving us all
the TikTok info. At one point we'll have to try
to create a TikTok together. Oh yeah, I would love
(25:22):
that and it will be phenomenal. It'll break the out
and it will be so good. All right, we'll stay
in contact. Thank you so much, Dreya, for sure you
have a great one too. Now onto Gams Corner, where
(25:42):
I answer fan questions that were submitted. Okay, what is
your favorite thing about Baltimore? The seafood? Quite frankly, I
was born and raised in Baltimore, but that is one
thing that you know I missed tremendously living out here
in Los Angeles. Now be Hardshaw Crabs. I cannot get
Hardshaw Crabs here. And every time I go back to Baltimore,
(26:06):
whether it's the best season for them or not, I'm
always trying to get somebody to take me. Let's go
get some crabs. What movie can you watch over and
over again? Oh? God, so many. The list goes on
and on, because that's what I tend to do. I mean,
I I watch any movie starring guests who Jada Pinkett Smith.
My favorite one is Low Down, Dirty Shame, Above and
beyond that. As my husband, if you ask my husband,
(26:28):
he'll say Love Jones because it's just the truth. I
probably can mouth the words to every single character in
the movie. I just know the movie backwards and forwards.
It's like one of my favorite love Jones also like
The Godfather particularly, well, actually all three of them, but
(26:50):
Godfather Part one is my favorite. I get kind of
obsessive with movies. I'm a movie fan and a movie lover,
so an he take your pick. Okay, So that's it
for today. You can submit your questions to positively gam
at red table talk dot com for a chance to
hear me answer them on a future episode, and that
(27:11):
wraps it up for us on positivity gam. You can
follow me online at Gammy nards. Also help us by
leaving a five star review on Apple Podcasts and by
hitting the follow button on I Heart Radio. Stay grateful, y'all.
Positively Gam is produced by red Table Talk Podcast and
I Heart Radio. Executive producers are Adrian Band, Bill Nars,
(27:35):
Balan Jethrow, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Our audio engineer is
Calvin Baylif, and our associate producer is Irene Bishoff Burger.
Our theme song is produced by d Beats one
What's up, everybody. I'm Gammy and this is positively gam
I'm not sure if you've heard, but I finally enjoyed
TikTok and my handle on TikTok is at Gammy nrs.
I don't know much about it and still trying to
figure it out, so I wanted to learn from one
of the experts. So let's get right into the episode.
(00:29):
Drea okayk a k A Drea knows Best. It's a
popular Nigerian American content creator with over five point four
million followers on TikTok alone. She posts funny comedy videos
and has worked with major brands such as Netflix, Google,
and Chipotle. Today, I'm hoping she can share more about
(00:52):
why everyone seems obsessed with TikTok, including me, also give
advice to help us, especially me, level up our own TikTok's.
You know I need help? Yeah, Hey, Dreane, how are you?
I'm doing good? Gammy, how are you doing today? I
am so good? So on absolutely listen. I'm desperate. I'm
(01:14):
desperate for your health. I hear, I got you so.
I saw your first um TikTok was back in I
didn't even know about TikTok until last year, really like,
how did you hear about it so early on and
what did you think of it? Of course, my friend
Alie Fits she was on the app before before TikTok
(01:35):
was called musically so just the lip singing app, and
she was telling me, Okay, this app just came out.
You need to get on it to post a lot
of videos. The engagement is crazy, a lot of people
on it, and I'm like, I love posting short form
videos like my mind just works, been like six seconds,
fifteen seconds or less. So I was like, okay, let
me post and I started posting on there and immediately,
like video started going viral, and I'm like, I started
(01:58):
doing a community. I'm like people to I'm funny, Okay, cool,
let me keep up. I'll stay. And I just started
going to growing an audience, and all of a sudden,
millions of followers started growing in and down. You know,
there we are. Do you remember how many videos or
challenges you had to do before one went viral. I
think when I was posting, I wasn't really thinking about
(02:19):
going viral. I was just thinking about having fun with it,
because if I saw one video did well, I would
go back and make a part two of it. So
I did a lot of like comedy skits. Have this
character called Mama D where she basically like if my
Nigerian mom my first nation with Nigerian mom, where she
just like the salts because African parents are very very
rude and it's it's salts you like you look stupid,
(02:41):
but I love you. So I'm just doing like one
video like that with viral and I'll make another one
part two, Part three, part four. I can't remember the
exact amount of time, Like I remember one time when
I was doing accent challenges, I'll read words with my
Nigerian accents because I can switch back to my Nageran
accents and then I'll find someone from like put a
recom and tell them to read the same words and
(03:02):
we'll show how different but also similar are accents are.
And those were super global globally viral. So yeah, well
I have to tell you that, you know, the first
TikTok that I did was the Chosen Challenge. Listen, I
cannot tell you how long, the hours, the hours, and
(03:23):
it took me to get that thing done. I was
doing it by myself. I had to like set up
the computer, look at the computer while I had the
camera set up trying to cap it was I was
like I didn't know what I was doing, and it
just took forever. I mean people people liked it, but
(03:43):
it just it just took so long to do it.
So sometimes it's just hard memorizing the dances, like setting
up the tripod, and then it takes me just hours.
Do you have to edit the video like all of that.
It's just a lot, it really is. So I'm hoping
that you can help us out with that day. Well,
first of all, let's let's go back a little bit,
because you got your bachelor's degree in engineering, So what
(04:06):
made you start creating content for social media in the
first place. My mind is like has ideas and I
love bringing that vision to life. So I got my
bachelor's degree, that I moved to California and I was
working as the engineer full time. I started creating videos
just as a stress reliever because you know, engineering it's
not easy. So I just needed a way to just escape,
get out of the normal. And that's how I just
(04:28):
got started and to really know that I could stick
to it full time. First of all, I always believe
that people can do things whatever so on else to do,
and you can do it if you put your mind
to right. So I've seen people in my space back then,
this was in twenty seventeen sixteen. I saw people with
the social media space taken off, you know, being able
(04:49):
to host TV shows, getting roles and movies, making so
much money, buying these houses. And I'm like, they don't
have two heads. They're not betting on me. If I
put my mind to it, I got on my side,
I can do it, you know. So I realized that
there's definitely potential for me to do this full time.
And when I went in I went to grad school
at USC and I studied entrepreneurship because my I forgot
parents told me, almost get my starts degree, but I
(05:11):
wanted to get a master's degree in something that like
I can use to elevate my social media career. And
that's what I an entrepreneurship classes. That started realizing that
when you're pitching yourself, it's kind of the same as
social media. My platform is my business, right, and I
gotta treat it like it is my business. And when
I want to work with these brands like you mentioned,
I work with Netflix, seven eleven, Google, The list goes on.
(05:31):
I reach out to these brands and I'm like, this
is dread knows best as a brand. This is what
you can benefit from. Here's my pitch. Work with me.
So that's when I started like okay full time and
then took the ricks and now that we're here, So
what's your take on senior influencers coming into the space
(05:52):
see your influence? You know, first of all gave me
I love that word. I love a senior influencers. Okay,
that's that's that's do you all your hashtags? See your influence?
I think there's space for everyone, I really, especially even
directly on TikTok. That's even the space where senior influencers
should start out because you just need to find something
you're interested in and post about it. Like if you
(06:13):
think about on TikTok, there's so many different demographics. I
think sometimes you put a lot of pressure on ourselves
thinking we need to make sure we do the trending
dances or do the trending challenges. And if you depending
on what you like, your explore page, which is called
the for you paid on TikTok, will show you what
you like. So for me, I love hearing stories about
relationships like how people met, how someone met their husband's,
(06:36):
how some one met their wife. And my for you
page is just videos of people telling stories. So I
think senior influencers has come on and share your story
about you know, what you've experienced in life, what your
hobbies are, and post about it. Because when we start
overthinking how to post, that's when it becomes a challenge
for this space for everyone. So how would you say
that for someone like me? I do have people now
(06:59):
that can help me with that, but if I didn't
have that, one of the suggestions that you would make
on how to learn how to do a TikTok you've
already given us ideas about what we should try posting about,
but just the process. What what is that like? How
do you how do you do it? What? What what
(07:20):
is the must do when creating content for TikTok Okay?
First of all, I need to buy five thousand dollar phone.
I'm just gonna joke. No, I think it's really simple.
So the first thing you should do is just clear
around with the app, right learn as you play, So
open your app and nearly just record yourself. Hey, y'all,
(07:44):
this is what I'm doing for breakfast. This is a
question that I have because I've never done it that way,
because I'm afraid that I'll it'll get posted. It'll get posted.
Something that i've I've done will get posted and I
didn't really want to post it, you know what I mean.
So it's no side by It's like a side by
(08:04):
side picture or something. If I record that, how do
you can you record it and save it and go
back and look at it. Or I'm just so afraid
that I'm gonna do something and it's gonna go get
posted live and I'll be like, oh no. You know
what's funny, Those videos that you don't plan too much
(08:25):
are the videos that does better than most. I'm telling
you from my experience because when I shoot my comedy sketches,
I live in Los Angeles, so I have access to
like studio sets from talking to my friends. We rent
out like an airplane set. We shoot an airplane, We
shoot at like hospitals. Becauld we love, you know, we
love to go above beyond. I'm a creative color. You know,
we gotta stand out. Um. But I'm talking those videos
(08:45):
flopped it's the one where I'm saying, y'all, I just
got a new wig. What's you think about these banks?
Is the commons roll in because people The biggest thing
on TikTok is it's just it's a community, right, And
that's why I think age is not really a factor
because there's so many different niches. There's people posting about
like having chickens as pets, and people posting about cooking
recipes poople. I see you, Gammy. You're doing a lot
(09:06):
of fashion on TikTok to there. So when you have
that community, it's ageless, right, because it doesn't matter if
you're giving me fashion tips and you're sixty something or
if you give me fashion tips and you're twenty regardless,
it's about the message you're trying to give people. So
I think once you play around with the app a
little bit, you slowly start learning how to edit, how
(09:26):
to use the timer, how to trim your video down
to be shorter. The trimming of a video is like,
I just like, I'm always like trimming the wrong part.
It's just really challenging. It really is. I feel you
and you know something. There's there's also TikTok accounts who
are strictly about teaching you how to use TikTok. There's
(09:50):
a lot of tutorial accounts right who teach you how
to like here's this trend, Here's how to do it,
trim this like they teach you step by step. So
that's what I'm saying. Like TikTok so social media in general,
there's so many different categories. So if you wanted exactly
like you can just follow an account that gives you
tips for beginners, and then you'll be thriving out here. Well,
(10:10):
I have to say though, it can be very time consuming, Drea,
very time consuming to do all that. So you have
to really be in a space where I ain't got
nothing to do today, so I was on TikTok and
figure it all out. And I don't know, I don't
know how many people have that kind of time or
(10:31):
because it really can turn into almost like an obsession.
Like sometimes my husband is like, get off the phone,
put the phone down, I said, but I'm trying to
fake it TikTok out, I'm trying to figure it out.
You get into a rabbit hole watching a bunch of content.
I get hooked because the thing about TikTok. Before you page,
(10:52):
it feeds you videos that you want to see, like
it knows like I told you, Like, I get a
lot of relationship gold videos. So whenever I get on there,
I'm just like growing, like, oh my gosh, I can't
stop watching. But yeah, So at the end of the day,
(11:13):
can you give me like three things that you think
people should know when they're getting started on TikTok. The
first step one is when you get the account, just okay,
first of all, overall, don't overcomplicated, because I feel like
we all as humans, we tend to overcomplicate things when
things are actually simpler than it actually is. Going with
(11:35):
attention of having fun. So when you get the app,
watch a bunch of videos. Watch a bunch of videos
of people within your niche. For example, if you want
to do a lot of fitness videos, look at all
these fitness creators to see, Okay, how are they posting,
what is their strategy, what is their type of content
you posting? And you know, start saving a couple of
the videos to get yourself inspiration. The thing about TikTok
(11:55):
is a lot of people are doing the same thing.
You know, when a trend have like you study the
chosen I saw recently you did the you posted the
videos today when you like you dropped the clothes on
the floor. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So like,
but you did yours with a twist, and I love
that yours was different. You know, So you're gonna see
a lot of trends. Well, it did. It's not something
that I created, though somebody else did it before me,
(12:18):
but you've added your own gammy flavor to it. I
just want to make sure that you know I'm giving
credit where credit is due because that's not something that
that I created. I feel you, I feel you. I
respect you for that too, because that's the problem that's
going on into creative space, like people come up with
trends but don't get credit for that trend. I want
to go back to your first statement to about people
(12:40):
make it more complicated than it really needs to be.
And I think I'm kind of falling in that space too,
because I see people are doing something really really cool
things and I want to be able to do that,
but I can't. I don't know how to do all
of that. So I think that you're right, I probably
need to step back and just go simple. I think
(13:02):
so too, and gave me I think for you like
and this is the consultant in me. One of the
consult you on your page. Just your lifestyle in general.
You're over sixty and you're you're the way you live
your life is so inspiring because you're fit, you're having fun,
you love to dance, You're very free with yourself, and
people want to see that. And I think the biggest
(13:23):
thing is when you know who your target audience is,
who's watching your content, you can more easily create content
for them at the same time loving your content. For me,
I feel like I want to see what are some
lessons you've learned, you know in your sixties over sixty years?
What are some you know? What is in your wardrobe? Like?
What do you? What do you? How do you get
inspiration for your clothes? I love you say you notes
(13:45):
you know I am Videos like who said people over
sixty can't do it? A trend that for me will
make me stop to watching video, especially if you put
that text on the screen like who said ladies over
sixty can't wear these outfits? You don't have to say that,
you can just put that text on the steam as
I'm scrolling, I'll stop me. Hold up, she's over sixty.
(14:05):
She looks this good? You know what? And I would
like start watching more of your video. So it's all
about hooking them in those first three seconds. That's a
big part about TikTok, Instagram reals, any short form video,
hooking them in those first three seconds, Like, um, it's
so important because before you don't want you want them
to stop scrolling and watch your videos. So I see
you just being a lifestyle top of creator. Just showing
(14:28):
life over sixty can be fun and that that literally
is just like showing them showing us your life. And
it doesn't have to be You don't have to I
mean every now and then get creative. You have a team,
You're lucky, your blessed, you have a team that can
help you out videos. But don't we complicated? I think
I would more. I'll be more inclined to see you
posted video. Y'all. Here's me about to do this crunches.
I bet you under sixty or under the pointies can
(14:49):
do this. And then you're doing five punches like and
then you're having fun with it too. You're challenging your audience.
You're bringing us into your life and overall is to win. Yeah,
that is good if advice, that is good advice. So
(15:09):
the first point was to be looking at the videos
that are already on the app. So you you're finding
things that you like, right, yes, correct, Yeah, look at
the videos on the app, find things that you like
and you would like to recreate, right, Because I think
on TikTok, a lot of the videos are either trans
or challenges and there's nothing really new. People have seen
(15:31):
it before. But what makes it new is when you
add your own flavor to it. You get inspiration from
other videos that are posted. And then I think the
second tip will be joining on the trends, joining on
the challenges, but add your own twist to it, making
something different and make it apply to your niche. For example,
if there's a challenge that has to do with I
don't know whatever, maybe I try to give a challenge
(15:51):
right now, maybe like the drop challenger recently just came
out right, the drop challenge where people with the Beyonce
song you dropped down lower every time to be dropped,
and I can't go that low. I thought about doing that.
I can't go that loud. I can't do it. I
can't do it, and that would be a challenge for you.
That would be how you can do the drop challenge differently?
Right because you're over you want to appeal to the
over sixties squality, be like, um, let's see over sixty
(16:14):
year old can do the challenge, you know, and that
would want people tune in because so let's see if
she's gonna actually do it and gave me I know
you for straate you to do it. You can do
you might. I don't know how many times you can
go down and go back up because my knees are
I'm twenty something, but my knees are already cracking, locking
my knees, but I can go. I can get damn there,
I ain't get back up? Yeah, okay, what's the third one?
(16:37):
All right? Um? But sorry, I just want to make
one more point about the trends, because that's that's something
like when you're doing the trends, make it apply to
what your community or niche is. So that's also as
like you can add so I've seen people do the
trend but also add words on the screen like three
tips for this, so as they're doing the video, they
have words on the screen that giving them tips on
(17:00):
certain things. Like if I was a dentist, I'd be
like few ways to keep your teeth wipe. But as
I'm still dropping, those tips are popping over. So people
are reading, you know, they're reading and watching, They're gonna
save it, share it because they need those tips. Um,
And that's my third. My third tip will be look,
try to have content. I think it's for ease education.
Either your content should be educational, right because people love
(17:22):
things with that adds value to them. Right. Educational content
is huge right now on Instagram, is huge on TikTok
educational or maybe is it? Is your video going to
be entertaining? Right? So like for me, my video is
a lot of comedy or maybe me telling you know,
experiences and it's entertaining. Is your video gonna be engaging
slash relatable? Can I relate to your video and not
(17:44):
I like everyone? You're not trying to pil to everyone.
You're trying to pel to your community, right, who you're commune,
who you're trying to target. Is your video gonna be
relatable to them? And what type of emotion you're gonna
give them? Like for me, I see you giving people,
you know, emotion of like, oh, I want to be aspiration,
like I want to be like this and when I
get older kind of thing, you know. So when you
think about those things, and I do have one more
tip too, because there's a lot of tips. As you
(18:06):
say three, I'm gonna get four. Make sure you have
some type of call to action on your video. Calls
to action means, you know, either in the middle of
your video and at the end of your video telling
them like and follow for more tips, either you're verbally
saying it or putting that on the screen. Because people
we forget, like we forget we just watch this grows,
watch this grow culture. We forget to double tap, we
(18:29):
forget to follow. So telling them to follow for more tips,
or follow for more inspiration on food recipes, follow for
this call to add on. A call to action would
be in the beginning of your video. Like I mentioned earlier,
those hooks is like, um, you've been TikTok does not
want you to know this. That's like an example, or
like the bank does not want you to know this,
(18:50):
And then you give your tips about finance. You know, um,
anything that's gonna make them stop. You've been doing crunch
is the wrong way. I'm gonna stop people like what
should have no crunches the wrong way. Let me watch
this video what you're talking about? You know? Um story
three ways to save to save your relationship, I'll stopping
watch that, you know. Like, so a call to action
that's gonna make a hook and call to action gonna
(19:11):
make people stop to watch your video is so important.
And another bonus tip is the reply to video feature. Um,
that's a big one for engaging your community. So let's
just say someone comments something under your video. You instead
of replying back to that comment with a text, you
can imply back with a whole video. This is a
really big tip for TikTok because I'll give you an
(19:33):
example for me. A year ago, when I went to Nigeria,
I was lazy, I was out of content ideas and
I'm like, I'm on vacation. What do y'all want to
see what I'm in Nigeria? I posted that video. I
was like, what do you guys want to see why
I'm in Nigeria? And lots of comments rolled in. I
want to see the houses y'all got in Nigeria, So
I said, I want to see a mansion tour. I
(19:54):
reply back with a video and I showed them a
video of me touring different showing them how Africa looks
like different mansions. Another comments said, I want to see
the food y'all got in Nigeria. I reply back with
video with food. So my audience. This is doing two things.
Want to show my audience that I see y'all. Y'all
my friends, you're my family. I'm gonna I'm gonna reply
(20:14):
back with you all. I'm gonna gavee it to you
and to make you do less work. It's content ideas.
So wow that you know what, this has been really
really helpful, Drea. Now, right now, compared to your five
point one or what is it five point four? How
many viewers do you have? Five point four million viewers?
(20:35):
I think I have thirty three thousand. But I'm not
gonna beat myself up because I'm just starting out. So
I'm going to take your information and see if i
can get my numbers up a little bit with my
tick tock. Yeah, I think I think you definitely can.
And the biggest thing to me, I don't look at numbers.
(20:57):
I look at your community. So if you can make
that relationship with your TikTok community like this, like you
actually the people feel like they can they're feeling seen
by you. You can post and every time thirty thousand
people are gonna like that post because you're engaged in
with your community. Feel make them feel seen. That's what
it's all about. I think with the content creating space
and social media world gone on the days when people
(21:19):
are looking at you have so many followers, like you
can easily say five million followers. I can say that,
but it's like, are those five million people actually know
you are, that they care about you, or they engage
in your daily life? Like what are you doing with
those probably followers? If you if you drop a business,
will five whnion people buy that products? Maybe yes, because
I'm actually engaged with my followers. So when you post
and it doesn't do well, don't delete it. Just keep
(21:41):
it up there because again sometimes on TikTok, five months later,
one of your videos can end up on the explot page,
which is called for you page on TikTok, and then
it starts racking up likes and followers and then boomed.
So yeah, I just have fun with their gammy. Yeah,
I think I think that's my biggest takeaway. I think
that's my biggest say or one of my biggest takeaways raight,
is that I need to be worrying about I just
(22:03):
need to be having fun with it. Yeah. Yeah, thank
you so much. This was a fun conversation. I appreciate it.
Before you go, though, it's time for our segment. Wouldn't
you like to know where I have some rapid fire questions?
(22:24):
I'd like to ask you, all right, what book are
you currently reading? I'm currently reading two books, Get Right
with Money, by the Budget is Stuff yep. So it's
about financial literacy. Yea, I have that. I have that. Yeah,
it's it's so good, so good, because I think that's
the biggest thing for me, Like now I'm starting to
(22:46):
make more money, I need to know how to make
my money work for me. Absolutely. I just got that
one myself. So I totally get it. I totally get it.
And I'm so glad to hear that you are taking
your finances serious, Lee, so that your money will work
for you. Financial literacy is so important. What is one
positive thing that you want to get off your chest.
(23:10):
I feel like, man, don't think came to my mind
is like God is good in my life. I feel
like I'm a walking testimonial of like, if you really
put your mind or hard work into things, it's really possible,
like to achieve it. So like, I did not know
that I would get so much success off this app
because I've been I started off on Vine and that
was another app that was like a thing, and I
(23:30):
lost over seven hundred followers. Had to start from scratch,
you know, taking a leap of faith, quitting my engineering
job to do social media full time, and all this
could have flopped. You know, all this could have flopped.
I'm not where I am supposed to be, but my
I'm on my way there, and I'm really just like
every day I wake up a gratitude, like God, You're good.
So I feel you. I feel you. So do you
(23:52):
feel like that's that you're the model that you live
by as well, that God is good? Yeah? It is.
But there I have another one I go by. If
not this, then something better, And I love that a lot,
especially when certain opportunities come my way and maybe I
(24:13):
get pitched for a brand deal and I don't get picked.
You know, it's like okay, Drea, if not this, then
something better, and I apply that to my my whole life,
my relationship and rest I talk it's a guy and
it doesn't work out, It's like, if not, this definitely
something better. I love that. I actually love that. I
actually love that. This was such a fun conversation. Well,
(24:37):
tell people where we can find you on social media. Um,
you can find your social media. Drea underscore and knows
best on Instagram and Drea knows best elsewhere, and then
if you want, you can just go straight to my website.
I have my TikTok course on there's level up with
TikTok if you're trying to, you know, level up literally
on TikTok as so many people are making a lot
of money growing their businesses, their brands on TikTok and
(25:00):
have a whole course from A to Z on how
to succeed. So that's level up that Drea knows best
dot com. That's awesome. I'm gonna take a look at that.
I've definitely learned a lot. So thank you so much
Drea for stopping by positively gam and giving us all
the TikTok info. At one point we'll have to try
to create a TikTok together. Oh yeah, I would love
(25:22):
that and it will be phenomenal. It'll break the out
and it will be so good. All right, we'll stay
in contact. Thank you so much, Dreya, for sure you
have a great one too. Now onto Gams Corner, where
(25:42):
I answer fan questions that were submitted. Okay, what is
your favorite thing about Baltimore? The seafood? Quite frankly, I
was born and raised in Baltimore, but that is one
thing that you know I missed tremendously living out here
in Los Angeles. Now be Hardshaw Crabs. I cannot get
Hardshaw Crabs here. And every time I go back to Baltimore,
(26:06):
whether it's the best season for them or not, I'm
always trying to get somebody to take me. Let's go
get some crabs. What movie can you watch over and
over again? Oh? God, so many. The list goes on
and on, because that's what I tend to do. I mean,
I I watch any movie starring guests who Jada Pinkett Smith.
My favorite one is Low Down, Dirty Shame, Above and
beyond that. As my husband, if you ask my husband,
(26:28):
he'll say Love Jones because it's just the truth. I
probably can mouth the words to every single character in
the movie. I just know the movie backwards and forwards.
It's like one of my favorite love Jones also like
The Godfather particularly, well, actually all three of them, but
(26:50):
Godfather Part one is my favorite. I get kind of
obsessive with movies. I'm a movie fan and a movie lover,
so an he take your pick. Okay, So that's it
for today. You can submit your questions to positively gam
at red table talk dot com for a chance to
hear me answer them on a future episode, and that
(27:11):
wraps it up for us on positivity gam. You can
follow me online at Gammy nards. Also help us by
leaving a five star review on Apple Podcasts and by
hitting the follow button on I Heart Radio. Stay grateful, y'all.
Positively Gam is produced by red Table Talk Podcast and
I Heart Radio. Executive producers are Adrian Band, Bill Nars,
(27:35):
Balan Jethrow, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Our audio engineer is
Calvin Baylif, and our associate producer is Irene Bishoff Burger.
Our theme song is produced by d Beats one
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!