Digital & Content Marketing Success Story

Stephen Humphrey:

I’m sure there’s good and bad content. And interestingly, of course, Angelica, you suggested that quality is important here, and you try to balance quality with quantity. But if we ignore quantity for a second, what stuff works and what stuff doesn’t work quite so well? Now, you mentioned earlier about the importance of having viral music in the background as something that facilitates content in terms of content working or content being successful. So what else can you tell us about this?

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So definitely there’s the quality of the picture and the light. And as I said, like the little tricks, add music, add the text as well. The algorithm loves that. But in terms of content itself, this is a really great question, actually, because I see a lot of people wanting to make it, and then they can’t because their content is quite poor. But it’s not … I mean, there are some easy little things that can be adjusted. For example, the length of the video doesn’t have to be always 60. You can go up to 60 seconds, right, but the average is 15 seconds. So a perfect TikTok video would be 15 seconds.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Mine are never 15 seconds, just because I’m doing educational content so it takes a little longer. But I try never to go above like 40 seconds, because that’s already too much. Like, you need kind of a level of … You need time that people just don’t have. They don’t come to the platform to look at 40-second videos. They just come to skim really quickly through the videos and have a laugh, you know, or just see something amazing. So the list of things you have here are kind of crazy stuff. Obviously like this cat has moves or, you know, wholesome hummingbird. Like, this is crazy things and that’s what really works on TikTok, things that people really just can’t not look at, you know.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Like someone doing a surgery on a banana, this is the perfect TikTok video, right? But at the same time, what really works as well is educational videos. This is not only because I’m doing it. I follow a lot of people who do that in different fields. And it really works. If you feel that the person who’s talking is credible and being authentic and not just giving ads and promoting stuff, but actually talking from the heart and it’s teaching you something, then you might stay and look. Even people who are cooking, or people who are doing fitness or giving dietary advice. All these kinds of contents work. This kind of educational content works a lot. And then as well, aesthetically beautiful things. So there’s a lot of, well, cute girls dancing. You know, things that people just are naturally attracted to.

Stephen Humphrey:

Yeah, okay.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So yeah, I would say easy. Easy content. Even when you’re giving a lecture, let’s say, being very natural and spontaneous. And quick. And just get to the point very fast. People just don’t want to be there for an hour. They just want to look at 15-second videos quickly and then just get entertained by it. It’s all about time, right. So already when we were on Instagram, videos were kind of taking the lead, and then this app came at the perfect time, I think. But also people don’t don’t have time, so they just want to have fun for a few seconds.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay. All right. Having fun for a few seconds, time is important. 15 seconds is the preference for a length of video. But importantly-

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Also, sorry. I forgot to say something that’s actually quite important. I actually made a video on that. Because I can see so many people that have great content, but then they place the text in a way where when it’s uploaded it’s not visible. So for example, they put it too squeezed at the corner of the video, and TikTok tends to cut the corners. So the text will be cut. Or for example, they put it underneath the caption because the caption obviously is not visible when you’re doing the editing of the video, because you’re going to put it later, the caption. So obviously you can’t see where you’re putting the text. So basically I did a video showing the safe zone, where to put your text, because there’s so many cooking videos and recipes of people who just spend an hour writing like one cup of oil and one … you know, and then it’s hidden and you can’t see it. And that’s just frustrating for the viewer. So careful with that as well.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Also people who, so for example, as I do, they do voiceovers and then they put the music on the background. But then they don’t adjust the volume, so you can’t hear what they’re saying. So these are little things that you have to adjust, and you have to be careful with.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

And also the use of hashtags. I can see this video you put here of the banana went viral. They’re using for you page and for you. So #foryoupage and #foryou. I always advise against it. Just, it’s not bad, it’s just completely useless. It’s like Instagram. At first you had the follow for follow, like for like hashtags that could work because it was the beginning of it. But then when everyone started putting #foryou, #foryoupage, then your video is just going to be lost in the sea of for you page videos that are out there. And it’s not going to pop up to the audience you’re trying to connect with. So it’s just going to get lost. While if you put a more specific hashtag to what you’re doing, like, I don’t know, banana bread recipe 2020, you know, something like that, then it’s going to get to the audience you want to communicate with. So that’s most important, I think.

Stephen Humphrey:

Great. Okay. That’s great. Thank you. I think I’ve lost control of my screen here a second. There we go. So you mentioned earlier, so we talked a little bit about scheduling and the importance of that. And as I recall on a Saturday you tend to research, on a Sunday you tend to record your videos and your content. But also within your schedule, you have this kind of reactive approach to things that might be going on that might fall outside of your normal schedule. So during the week, what are you doing during the week?

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So I wake up and then I have my granola and yoghourt breakfast. And so I work, I have a job on the side. I have a few jobs right now. But then, I mean, TikTok wise I don’t do anything until it’s the afternoon. And I start getting that kind of anxiety, you have to post. So I go on my videos and I see what I have ready. And I just feel what to post, you know. Like I just say, this could be great today. I just have a scroll through videos. I see what’s happening on TikTok. I’m like, okay, this could be good. I also have my Instagram tutorials page, as I said. So I ask the audience a lot. I think that it’s so powerful to just start a conversation and listen to what they’re saying.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

TikTok has this amazing feature, whether you can respond to a comment with a video. So a lot of times I also basically check my comments and I see there’s this girl who asked me to do this type of story or a video about this kind of advice. And if I think it’s valuable, I’ll respond with a video. So that when you see my video, there’s also the little window with the question of this girl. So that’s good as well because it shows that you have relationship with your audience.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So yeah, it depends also on what they’re telling me. Sometimes I just post, I don’t know, two tips on Instagram, on my stories. And I just put up a poll saying, which one do you want today? You know, which tutorial would you like to see today? And there’s clearly a preference, so that helps me as well. I’m like, okay, great. This is it, so I’ll just post that. So yeah, I have to say at some point I got to a point where I kind of work with them as well. So it depends on what they want. So if it’s been a while that I haven’t posted anything about gifs and they ask me like, do you have any gifs for me? And I see four or five people asking me, then I think I’ll just think about doing another video with that. And sometimes it works great. Yeah.

Stephen Humphrey:

Yeah. Great. That’s interesting. So you leave, you leave TikTok till the afternoon. So then you tend to schedule the mornings for your other jobs and your other activities, as a summary, right?

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Yeah, definitely.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay. All right. Cool. And then-

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

I do that, yeah. Because I mean, throughout the day I get ideas, I get inspiration from other things. So that’s why in the afternoon I feel like I get it together and I’m ready to-

Stephen Humphrey:

Oh, great.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Yeah. Also there’s some people advising for doing one TikTok in the morning, one TikTok at lunch, one TikTok in … To be fair, this is personal. It’s not very scientific. But there’s no right time to post. There’s not … I mean, there’s a right time to post for each and every one of us, and you have to check your analytics and you have to see, like on Thursdays my audience, my personal audience, is there at this time. So I might post around that time. But people who just advise for, like, yeah you have to post at 3:00 PM and that’s the time where you’re going to be viral. It’s impossible that … You know, it’s not true. So just work with what you have. Work with your audience, your content, and your analytics, because they can guide you too.

Stephen Humphrey:

That’s fabulous advice. To personalise it and work within your own constraints and work with what is required for you and your audience. That’s super to hear. Right. So obviously, Angelica, you are loved very much on TikTok. Why? What would you say?

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So, do you want to know the most common, nice comment that I get is, we love your voice. Your voice is so relaxing.

Stephen Humphrey:

Fantastic. Great. This is fabulous insight. So it’s all about Angelica’s voice. Okay. Number one. All right. Tell us more. Tell us more.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But I think it’s a mix of things. That’s why I was saying people can copy some of the things I do, but they can’t have the whole package. They can have better things than me, but they can’t get the whole thing because it’s a puzzle. And you need the whole, well, the pieces. I think that, as I mentioned, one of the greatest things is the way I edit the video. I don’t want to make it boring. So that’s really important to me. It has to be straightforward, clear, and entertaining. So I can’t bore people for an hour with me doing something. I have to speed it up, obviously. And then I add cute things on the way.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

So if you see, now I don’t think there’s a photo of my grid, but what’s … I can show you with my phone because this is actually really important. On TikTok when you have your grid, so your page here, you can see there’s always my face here, right? And there’s always a title with what I’m doing. So I think this is key. Because there has to be a person behind TikTok. I think it’s important to have, when you want to create a relationship, that you have a person behind it, so a face. So that’s why I always begin my TikTok with three seconds of me saying, today I’ll teach you this. So that I hook the person as well, right? And I put the title, so that people see what it is. And when they go and search for my videos, they can easily scroll down and see, this could be interesting because there’s a title saying exactly what I’m going to do. So that as well. I think I just make it easier for people to like what I’m doing.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

And there’s also a bunch of creative stuff on the other side. So they love my story. They just love it ecstatically. So that’s also a thing that like. I think that it’s also related to the way I talk. So a lot of people actually tell me that I’m not like one of those influencers, that they don’t like anymore, but it’s more of a sweet kind of … I’m trying hard not to be like I know it all and I’ll just teach you, you know?

Stephen Humphrey:

Sure.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

I’m just going to be like, I’ll do it like this. You can do it like that if you want, you can do it differently. But I also listen to what they’re saying. It’s just like being natural. Like that’s all TikTok is about. Not being that unattainable kind of dream. It’s just being a friend, you know? But also, I respond to each and every comment.

Stephen Humphrey:

Do you? Okay.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

That’s important as well. Yeah. I respond even if it’s a hard … So the funniest thing is haters.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay, well tell us about haters, yeah. Okay, cool.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

I got a few haters, and it’s crazy what they do. Because like at first, some of them were quite, but then I realised it’s really all about hating. It’s true. They have no reason to comment these things. They just do it because they’re unhappy, you know? So at first I used to block each and every one of them, because it got me personally. You can never know how you would react until you get one of those. But then I realised some of those were so stupid. Once I just posted this a story that was very sparkly. And someone started commenting that I was insensitive because there’s people who suffer from epilepsy, and these things. And I’m like, this is not going to make someone have an epileptic attack. It’s crazy stuff. So I just started ignoring them.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

And then the funny thing is that I have the Hate Angelica Team and I have the Love Angelica Team. So these girls were actually defending me. And that was the best. I had people being like, she’s just trying to help, you know? And that was amazing. I didn’t even have to take care of it anymore, they did it for me. So that was cool. But yeah, I try to respond to every question that they have. When I get too many questions about something, I do a video about it so that it’s clear for everyone. Yeah, I think that’s important, to have a relationship with the people who are following you and to just act as their friend. That’s a big thing.

Stephen Humphrey:

Okay. That’s really interesting, that your … the lovers of you will defend you in face of the haters. That they’re connected with the Angelica brand and everything you do. That they will step up and stand up for you. And they’ve never met you. I love this.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Yeah. And they don’t know anything about me. They don’t even know my real name, because my name there is. So-

Stephen Humphrey:

Of course, yeah. Of course, it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Angelica Siciliani Fendi:

Yeah, no it’s great. I mean, sometimes I have … Well, sometimes. All the time. All my videos, as soon as I post it, people race to be the first to comment. So I have these like … Yeah. So they comment, I’m the first. I’m the second. And then, can you say hi to me? And I’m like, hi … I don’t know. Hi, whatever name. But yeah, I mean, I can really feel the connection. It’s nice.

Stephen Humphrey:

Angelica. I will be rushing to be the first to comment on after this. I promise. Okay, that’s great. Thank you.