In this blog post I will be unpacking even further the key epiphanies (which I mentioned in my previous blog post) I have experienced while undergoing my research for my media niche. I will be further analysing how these epiphanies can benefit my project moving forward and how they have affected my original viewpoint coming into this research. 

Building a reputation is key

Expanding on my first epiphany ‘building a reputation is key’ I have noticed another key idea that comes along with being associated with building credibility in the industry. The task for niche content creators on social media isn’t just attaining credibility in their chosen niche but maintaining it. Reputation is built and maintained on four different dimensions: Communication skills, influence, authenticity, and expertise (Ryu, E.A.; Han, E. 2021).

Specifically on TikTok the affordances that have been brought to their platform have made it extremely easy for micro celebrities to have their reputation crushed. Users can use the duet or stitch features on the app to easily highlight misinformation or audience exploitation. Particularly in the cryptocurrency niche, content creators have become popular simply by using these affordances to educate their audience on scams, hopium filled or false information videos.

“Influencers give consumers familiarity and consumers grant them credibility because they are sharing their own experiences and lifestyles” (Tobin, 2018)

Visual appeal influences engagement

Since the previous week’s blog post I have found another interpretation of what contradicts engagement surrounding the media niche cryptocurrency TikTok, visual appeal.  In order to evaluate this epiphany I have used a textual analysis to identify the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions of the niche.

A textual analysis is a qualitative analysis method that focuses on the semiotics and interpretive approaches to a piece of content (Fürsich, 2018). When evaluating visual appeal it is important to understand how audiences react to the content they are shown as ultimately it is the audience that influences how successful content is. It has been proven that presentations with visual aides are 43% more persuasive which tell us that using imagery and semiotics that catch the eye are extremely important (Patel, 2019). On YouTube I have noticed that most cryptocurrency based YouTubers use bold titles with colourful thumbnails and arrows pointing to different aspects of the image to emphasise what’s happening in the video.

Similar patterns on TikTok are beginning to emerge as creators are finding out how the TikTok algorithm pushes videos. Most cryptocurrency based TikTok creators show appealing images of a trending topic or idea and have themselves speaking about the topic. They also add titles to the videos that generally are in all caps and have plenty of emojis. It is also worth mentioning that the TikTok algorithm is extremely unpredictable and is hard to study how engagement works on TikTok as some of it is luck. 

References

Ryu, E.A.; Han, E. Social Media Influencer’s Reputation: Developing and Validating a Multidimensional Scale. Sustainability 2021,

Fürsich, E., 2018. Textual Analysis and Communication. [online] obo. Available at: <https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0216.xml>&nbsp;

Tobin, J., 2018. Council Post: Influencer Marketing Is Under Attack: Six Reasons It Still Works. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/06/01/influencer-marketing-is-under-attack-six-reasons-it-still-works/?sh=2152c6626058>   &nbsp;

Patel, N., 2019. 6 Types of Visual Content You Need to Use in Your Marketing Campaigns. [online] Neil Patel. Available at: <https://neilpatel.com/blog/visual-content-you-need-to-use-in-your-marketing-campaign/&gt;