End of the lemon

Since we are reaching the end of this module, I thought I would do a final post to summarise my findings with the lemon project. To start with, I am very satisfied with the platform I used to create my content on. Had I used a social media platform like Instagram or Twitter to gain attention, I think I would have struggled since it is quite hard to get followers and likes without following loads of people or engaging with popular content creators. By using TikTok, I was able to effortlessly gain attention simply by posting at peak times regularly. 

Because of the algorithm on TikTok which enables you to get views and likes and followers simply by posting regular and consistent content, using hashtags becomes redundant as a way of getting attention. Whilst it wouldn't hurt to include them so my videos would appear with the other amazing lemon content on TikTok, I didn't feel it necessary to gain small success on the platform. TikTok encourages this "anybody can do it" approach since most videos are made very amateurly by people using their smartphones, and a lot of the videos are quite trashy to be honest. Therefore, by making my random and thoughtless videos I was still able to gain interest and engagement with viewers. 

I created this "lemon persona" to make my followers believe that I was actually obsessed with lemons. Although it is quite obvious to see that I am just doing it as a joke, I found it a good way to stay consistent with my content. Additionally, to stay relevant, sometimes users on TikTok do these trends to get viewers. For example, they will lip-sync to a particular sound or song that is popular among many creators, so I would also create my own lemon version of these trends. These types of videos are actually my favourite to make, and I had a lot of fun doing so.

In order to keep engagement with my followers, I would make sure to 'like' and reply to every comment I was able to. This helps create a healthy relationship with my followers. thus building an interpersonal relationship where they feel like we are actually friends. One particular viewer would comment on almost every one of my videos which was a delight. I'd like to believe that we are virtual TikTok friends now. I would often reply to their comment through video format, which I think helped this person stick around and enjoy my content more. I also tried my best to wear something yellow, or have something yellow in every video to keep the theme of my project alive.

My final statistics are as follows. By the 10th of January 2021, I had gained a total of 88 followers and 832 cumulative likes. My most viewed video was watched by 1329 people. Most of my videos gained on average a view count of around 100-200. Several of my videos have at least one comment on them. I created a total of 60 unique lemon videos.

This lemon project was a really fun experiment and I am very satisfied with all of the attention I managed to attract over the last few months.