How to Master Crypto TikTok in 2022 Featuring Crypto Wendy O | Ep 65

Ty Smith0:03

What is up, guys? Welcome to the Crypto Marketing Show. I'm your host, Ty Smith. Today, we are discussing marketing crypto brands on TikTok with my favorite crypto TikToker, Crypto Wendy O. Welcome, Wendy.

Crypto Wendy O0:11

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to see you, even though we missed each other at the last event, but happy to be here.

Ty Smith0:14

Yeah, there'll be more. We're going to these things forever, so there'll be more. It won't be our last.

Ty Smith0:17

All right, so to people in the world of crypto, you probably know who Wendy is. Definitely needs no introduction. She's been making content for as long as I've been in the game. For those outside the world of crypto, Wendy is one of the most popular crypto content creators on social media. Over a quarter million subscribers on TikTok, quarter million on Twitter, over 150,000 on YouTube, featured in amazing places like Wall Street, sorry, Washington Post, and...

Crypto Wendy O0:35

Wall Street Journal.

Ty Smith0:36

Wall Street Journal. Is Washington Post correct, though?

Crypto Wendy O1:05

Yeah.

Ty Smith1:06

Okay, awesome. Yeah, I can't even keep up with all the places you've been featured lately.

Crypto Wendy O1:11

I just, last week we were featured in like a bunch of stuff, so I have to, like we're doing press releases on everything for the website, but yeah, the list is getting pretty long.

Ty Smith1:17

That's awesome. Yeah, so I want to focus on this podcast specifically on TikTok as much as possible, just because it's something that so many people come to us with questions about, and it's something, honestly, I don't even understand that well, at least as it pertains to the world of crypto. I hear about it working really well for a lot of brands, but I'd love to hear kind of from an expert, how their experience with it being them being you. So, first of all, let's kind of go back to when you first joined TikTok. When did you join TikTok, and what first got you into it?

Crypto Wendy O1:29

So, I got on TikTok, I think, like sometime in 2020, and it was because BitBoy was on it, and he was like, 'You have to get on TikTok.' And I was like, 'No, this is stupid. I don't want to get on TikTok.' So, I created an account, but I didn't really post on there because I felt weird, because it's like very, TikTok is super personal. You have the camera literally in your face. Like, it just doesn't necessarily feel like super great. I don't know.

Crypto Wendy O2:06

So, BitBoy did really, really well on TikTok, and I finally, right when I graduated college in summer of 2020, I was like, 'You know what? I'm just going to do it. I have the extra time. I need to do it.' My YouTube channel was doing okay, but TikTok really helped boost my YouTube channel. TikTok is a great place to merge traffic over. But joining TikTok was great, and took me a while to kind of get used to the algorithm, how things work, like whatever, but it's been the best decision I've made, and all of my mainstream media appearances I've gotten has been because of TikTok.

Ty Smith2:25

That's awesome. So, regarding, obviously, I know about you, I know about BitBoy, I know about a lot of other ones that are crypto Web3 focused that are on TikTok. Who would you say are some of the best accounts to follow or some of your favorites?

Crypto Wendy O2:32

So, my favorites, I got to shout out my Crypto Knight family. So, it's comprised of myself, Joshua Jake, Crypto Weather Man, and Blockchain Boy. And it's a bunch of us that get together, and we kind of just make really, really cool content. We've got a Discord. We've got to do a lot of really cool stuff. But those guys all give very interesting ideas regarding the market and different NFT plays or cryptocurrencies, or just their personal opinions. And it's just a great way to track your, track your crypto journey.

Ty Smith3:14

Cool. What are the, the handles of those guys?

Crypto Wendy O3:16

Exactly how I said it.

Ty Smith3:17

Okay, perfect. Easy enough. So, every content creator seems to nail one thing, and that's the algorithm of their respective channels. With you crushing it on TikTok, I'd love to hear from you, like, what does the TikTok algorithm like? Do they dislike crypto content more than other content? Do they like it more? What's working?

Crypto Wendy O3:30

Right now, they're pushing 15-second videos. So, a lot of my video, my content has changed from the 60-second informative stuff to like very, very short, concise. So, I'll just basically present a news story to my audience. And the reason why is because that's what's getting pushed. And for me as a content creator, I want to make sure when I'm, when I'm spending time doing something, I want to make sure I'm getting rewarded for it.

Crypto Wendy O3:43

And a lot of times, it's not via compensation, because most of my TikToks, well, all of my TikToks are just me talking about crypto stuff. But it's a great way to push people to my YouTube or push them to other platforms, or if there's a charity I want to raise money for, or if there's an initiative, like if I want them to reach out to the SEC for something that's happening crypto-related, I can push a video out, and it'll drive traffic to whatever it is. So, it's a really, really great tool. But 15-second videos are really doing well.

Ty Smith4:25

Nice. And being someone that has so many, presence on so many channels, how would you kind of prioritize, for you personally, TikTok versus like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter? Would you say TikTok is the biggest driver of traffic to you as a creator?

Crypto Wendy O4:35

I want to say like TikTok is a great source. It's a really, really great source. So, I want to say TikTok is probably the best. But Instagram is like weird because there's so much, there's just so many bots on all the platforms. Facebook, I hired an intern to work on the Facebook, but now I have him doing something else. So, it's really just me focusing on TikTok and YouTube. Like, Twitter is cool, but it's just super, super toxic there. So, for brands, I highly recommend that they create TikTok pages at the bare minimum.

Ty Smith5:16

Got it. Cool. And shortly after TikTok blew up, YouTube and Instagram both kind of like spun out their own versions of it with YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Have you experimented much with these, and do you find them as effective?

Crypto Wendy O5:26

No, not as effective as TikTok. Like, YouTube, when they first came out with the YouTube Shorts, they pushed them. Like, their algorithm pushed them, but now they don't. Now they treat them as regular videos, so it's kind of like, it's just kind of frustrating.

Ty Smith5:33

Got it. You seem to have such a good grasp on all these algorithms, and I think a lot of the people that listen to this podcast, and I know me personally, like, want to know what it is. Like, we spend so much time and money trying to like crack the code. I'm curious where you go to learn that. Is it like a resource that you look to? Is it just talking with people? Is it kind of a, a sense of feel just from creating content and seeing how the analytics come back? What's your process?

Crypto Wendy O5:46

It's me creating content. The best way to figure how this stuff works is to hire somebody that knows, like that is a content creator, that is doing this full-time. And that's why like I do offer consultings to crypto companies for like how to build a brand on TikTok or YouTube or Twitter, whatever it is. And I have really great strategies. I'm not going to share all of them because you guys have to pay me for that. That's part of my business model. But I know, I know how to do it. I know what works. Probably the best brand to look at that was doing really well on TikTok as a crypto creator, I don't know if they stopped doing it, but eToro was doing a really great job for a while.

Ty Smith6:35

Yeah, yeah, they have an awesome marketing budget. Any tips you have for people that are looking to leverage TikTok influencers for crypto marketing campaigns?

Crypto Wendy O6:39

What I would do, one of the things I would do, you can hire TikTok influencers. That's totally fine. I would go with a mixture of TikTok, or crypto TikTok and non-crypto TikTok. Obviously, disclosure is super, super important. But at the same time, too, if you're going to spend money marketing on TikTok, you better have a brand account there yourself. Because if somebody, if I get a client, they're like, 'Wendy, can you do a disclosed sponsored TikTok?' I'm like, 'Great, but I need you to have that brand there so I can tag it, and then also put like, let's just say, for example, it's Coinbound, like Coinbound partner, or make sure ad is there so people can see it.'

Crypto Wendy O7:26

But it's important to be able to match the specific tags and disclose and stuff. But honestly, too, instead of, like outside of hiring influencers, spend some time and hire somebody to manage your TikTok account as a brand. Like, most companies are not doing that, they miss the boat. I have screamed it from the top of my lungs on Twitter for so long. Nobody wants to listen. And I'm like, 'Okay, well, you're kind of behind the curve.' Like, companies that do that are going to do well.

Ty Smith7:41

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's something that I, you know, I was in the same boat as you. I, right when BitBoy started talking about TikTok, we created one. We never ended up using it at all much. But it's definitely something we want to explore. And I know so many people are finding success with it, especially NFT-specific projects. We hear all the time that TikTok influencer marketing is working well, especially for building up Discord communities.

Ty Smith8:21

Wendy, I don't have anything else for you. I appreciate all that stuff. Where can we find you?

Crypto Wendy O8:24

You guys can find me Crypto Wendy O on Instagram, Facebook, which I'm not really on Facebook anymore because the intern's doing other stuff for me, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. I also have a website, cryptowendyo.com. We have a free newsletter, Wendy's Whitepaper, that is 100% free. Make sure you guys sign up for that. We talk about events, technical analysis, fundamental basics. I let my writers kind of go wild and speak of about whatever they want to speak about. And it's really good for them because they get to get creative. There's no like restriction. So, make sure you guys subscribe to that.

Ty Smith8:44

All right. Thanks a lot, Wendy. Talk to you soon.