How Justin Becker Grew To 3.8M TikTok Followers In Less Than A Year — And You Can, Too

Hate and love aren’t far apart.

That’s what 36-year-old Bloomfield Hills, Michigan creator Justin Becker told Benzinga on his secret to engaging bigger audiences on platforms such as TikTok.

“The more interaction, the more content is pushed out.”

Becker shared with Benzinga his background, start, motivations and tips for success as an online creator.

Background: Entrepreneurial at heart, Becker builds properties with his family.

“We own a couple of apartment complexes and mobile home communities in Michigan,” he said.

Becker has two kids — twin 6-year-olds — and a wife who is a criminal defense attorney.

Early Start: A couple of years ago, the creator got into social media as a hobby. His motivations, at the outset, were tied to connecting with others regarding his personal life.

“I was later introduced to TikTok, a year or so ago, during the lockdown,” he said. “I could see it was more focused on how many views you could get, and it seemed like a different demographic,” compared to platforms such as Instagram, owned by Facebook, Inc. FB.

Having fun using the app, Becker started experimenting with content, trying to figure out how the algorithm worked.

“I would trial and error different things and just have fun with it. Once I found something that started hitting, I kind of stuck with that more and started diving into how do I make it more appealing, and come up with different variations of it.”

Growth: When people are engaged, either commenting and saving, TikTok pushes content out to more users; typically, controversial content spreads quicker.

“Whether the video is watched longer or they’re commenting — they could be hating on it — but it is actually pushing the video out to more people,” he said.

Moreover, Becker’s growth accelerated after he created skits around mind-reading.

“I would put out videos like: ‘I want you to think of any vegetable or number between one and ten, and I’ll tell you what I believe you’re thinking.’”

Just a month ago, Becker posted a similar video, garnering nearly 60 million views. Two weeks ago he did another that surpassed 40 million views, which led to a conversation with a representative of a very popular daytime TV show.

“Also, those videos get picked up by bigger accounts on platforms like Instagram,” he said in a video of his being posted on a page with 18 million followers. “That translated to getting me 10,000 followers in a day, just on Instagram.”

Scalability: Given that it acts as an outlet, Becker doesn’t use TikTok for business. He did say that such uses could work for increasing brand visibility and monetization initiatives.

“TikTok pays me per views and that money is going up,” he said. “I’ll get offers, also, but I don’t take the time to negotiate as it’s really just something I like doing.”

Outlook: Despite the public recognizability and opportunities TikTok has opened, Becker said his focus is on developing properties and supporting his wife in her criminal defense business.

“I’m going to continue this exact thing and see what comes of it,” he added in reference to his social media brand.

Takeaway: Anybody can do it, says Becker. All one must be is adaptive.

Check out Becker’s TikTok and Instagram.

Photo: Benzinga