This week’s top performer is makeup talent Brook Tiffany.
The San Francisco-based video creator runs two successful accounts, with 312k followers on Instagram and 178k on TikTok. At the moment, her YouTube channel has only one video, but nonetheless tallies 5k subscribers.
Here is our best advice and key takeaways based on Brook’s 2021 performances.
Post Frequency and Engagement Rate
Brook averages 27 posts per month: 14 are Instagram posts (including stories), while 13 are TikTok posts. This is lower than our previous top performers, but these prior influencers were very active with brand partnerships, which is not the case with Brook (more on that later).
Brook’s engagement rates reach 11.6% on Instagram and 125.2% on TikTok. Her performances are outstanding, given that the average rates on these platforms are respectively around 1-2% and 15-17%.
That leads to one conclusion: Brook scores high with fewer posts and a smaller community.
Let’s see what explains such impressive numbers.
Community
One element that stood out while researching Brook’s profile is how close she is to her community. She replies to her followers’ comments, answers their questions, and reacts warmly when receiving compliments—just like a friend would.
The volume of comments Brook answers on Instagram shows that she spends time reading about her community’s opinion of her content. She also makes a point of tagging the other creators and users who inspired her looks. Maintaining one-on-one relationships with followers, even from time to time, is a pleasant and crucial quality for influencers. Rare are the successful creators who still take time to reply to comments.
This is far less the case on TikTok, where Brook rarely replies. But that might be because conversation on TikTok tends to be more superficial compared to Instagram.
Content Type
Brook has her signature type of content. She usually posts short makeup videos and an occasional selfie. These videos have the same angle, format, and length. Yet they slightly vary in content, gravitating around four main types.
First, her most common type of content is reproducing a celebrity makeup look, wherein she shows a picture of a famous model or singer before replicating the exact same look. Second, Brook’s lip combo videos share her favorite lipstick combinations for unique styles. Third, step-by-step tutorials detail how she achieves a specific look. Finally, Brook gives short, honest reviews about chosen products.
Brook posts the same type of content on both her Instagram and TikTok, although the videos generally vary from one platform to the other. Every post receives high engagement, with many going viral.
Zero Brand Collab...
What’s most intriguing about Brook is that she doesn’t do brand collaborations. We even hesitated writing about her for that reason—but seeing how much there is to learn from her way of working, we decided to go for it.
Except for an occasional, barely perceptible code-sharing with Lily Lashes, there is no post mentioning or resembling a collab. At least not that we know of. Brook does not strategize or do business. Instead, she’s doing what she enjoys most, every day, with the consistency and dedication of a full-time content creator.
... But Lots of Branded Content
The absence of brand partnerships does not prevent Brook from producing organic, unpaid branded content.
Brook is flexible when mentioning brands she uses. She isn’t as thorough as our two previous top performers, instead preferring to mention only a few products in her videos. Sometimes she won’t even tag any brands, and will answer her followers’ requests for product reference in the comments.
In her celebrity looks videos, however, Brook lists each brand she’s wearing and gives the name of the product in question, always doing the maximum to keep short, clean, relatively hashtag-free descriptions.
Top Five High-Performing Instagram Posts in 2021
Let’s have a look at Brook’s most successful Instagram posts from 2021. This will give you an idea of what she typically creates:
1) This Kylie Jenner makeup recreation went viral with a 213.4% engagement rate (ER).
2) Her step-by-step eye look tutorial got a 166.7% ER
3) This Lip Combo comes in third with an 82.5% ER
4) A full-face makeup tutorial is in fourth place with a 66.3% ER
5) Finally, this beautiful makeup recreation comes in fifth with a 64.0% ER
Top Five High-Performing TikTok Posts in 2021
Brook’s TikTok posts often go viral. Her top five are all branded posts. Behold her skyrocketing engagement rates:
1) This Kylie Jenner eyebrow routine went beyond viral with a 1001.3% ER
2) The Kylie Jenner makeup comes in second with 422.9% ER
3) Her nude Lip Combo comes third with a 421.3% ER
4) A lip oil unboxing got a 317.2% ER
5) This Fenty skincare video comes in fifth place with a 261.4% ER
Recap of Brook’s Key Practices to Success
1) She found her niche and stuck with it.
2) She posts on a regular basis.
3) She focuses on two channels.
4) She noticed what made her content successful, and doubled down on that learning.
5) She is close to her community, and has an ongoing dialogue with them.
6) One can tell she genuinely has a passion for what she does, and that shows.
7) Her content is highly branded and of good quality, which wouldn’t make it hard for her to drive successful brand partnerships if she wanted to.
Final Thoughts - Why is Brook One of the Top 10% Fastest-Growing Creators?
Brook is the perfect example of finding just the right type of content that works, and fully focusing on it. She definitely found her niche and sticks to a style and format that works for her and her audience. Her comment section is filled with praise and requests for referenced products, which proves that this format works.
Brook is highly focused and dedicated to one format, executes this format extremely well, and garners enthusiasm and passion from her community.
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In Createur’s What Are The Best Doing Series, we let you learn from the best. We’ve selected profiles from our database and come up with fresh, exclusive insights on the top 10% fastest growing creators.
Top performers/fastest-growing creators: Creators that underwent the largest growth in 2021 in terms of follower count increase, earned media value (EMV), engagement, and other success metrics. Not to be confused with the largest creators in terms of overall follower count.
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