How Katie Fang Mastered The TikTok Algorithm And Built A Following Of 7 Million

Forbes

Anybody can go viral on the TikTok algorithm. Before Katie Fang was a content creator with over 7 million followers, she was an overworked and miserable restaurant server. In 2023, she filmed herself crying while getting ready for yet another long shift—a video that unexpectedly went viral. People came for the relatability but stayed for Fang’s makeup tips and unfiltered personality. Now Fang, who is still an undergrad at NYU, raked in an estimated $4 million in earnings last year as a beauty influencer. Her fellow sophomores probably marvel at her doing brand deals with the likes of Dior, becoming the face of skin care company Cetaphil’s campaigns or appearing on billboards for cosmetics brand Kosas. What’s her growth strategy? “My brand is all about being unapologetically yourself and not being afraid to show the raw emotions,” she says. “I don’t plan my content; that feels too curated. I film when I’m in the moment and have something to say.   Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00I feel like a lot of people say fake it till you make it, and I feel like that's kind of true in

00:03some way, you know, like you don't have to have it all to start something. Work your way up towards it.

00:17Katie, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. So you're a top

00:22beauty lifestyle creator. Tell me what is happening right now in the Katie Fang business.

00:27So I like to think that the Katie Fang brand is all about being unapologetically yourself and not

00:33being afraid to show the raw emotions, and it's bits and pieces everywhere. It's my lifestyle,

00:38it's beauty, and it's a little bit of fashion too. Love it. Let's go back to the beginning.

00:43How did you first become an influencer? How did you build your, you know, almost 10 million fan

00:49following? It was actually a total accident. I didn't plan it at all. It was my senior year of

00:54high school. I was working as a hostess at this restaurant, and we would have on-call shifts,

00:59and I got called into work suddenly this one day that I really didn't want to work, and I was super

01:04upset. So as I was getting ready, I recorded myself getting ready, like bawling my eyes out,

01:09and I posted that video. After my shift, I checked my phone. That video had about

01:13one and a half million views, I want to say, and ever since then, I started posting consistently,

01:18get ready to me videos every single day, and that's basically it.

01:21What made you want to record that emotional moment?

01:25I don't know. I felt like whenever I'd watch other people make get ready with me, it was always so

01:30perfect, and they would always be getting ready for something big, like a fancy event or something,

01:34and I never really saw anyone get ready for just like a basic everyday thing, like going to work,

01:39and I didn't really see anyone show like that much emotion either, so I thought I'd just record it.

01:44I thought it'd be funny. I didn't think it would take off like that.

01:47It's interesting. When you, so you were, where were you hostessing when you first started?

01:50So it was in Vancouver. It was a really big restaurant chain called Cactus Club Cafe.

01:56Okay, and you were going, you were in college or in high school then?

01:59Senior year in high school.

02:00Senior year in high school.

02:00Yeah.

02:01Hostessing. You do this video, and it goes crazy. Like, did you go back to work the next day?

02:05Oh yeah, for sure. And it was, it was a little weird. Everyone was asking me questions about it,

02:09but I went back to work, and I stayed there for, I think, two or three more months before I quit and

02:14like took social media seriously and made a full-time job.

02:17Was like your manager upset? He's like, oh, you're crying. What am I doing? Is it so bad here?

02:21Not really. I mean, it was funny. They, a lot of people made jokes about it, but it wasn't anything too serious.

02:27Okay. What was the next, so suddenly you get this viral moment.

02:30Right.

02:31What is the next part of the game plan? What do you do next after that?

02:34I guess the next thing was signing with my team and starting to take it seriously. I feel like

02:40that's one mistake I made when I first started. I didn't take it seriously. It was just kind of

02:45like a little fun thing. And because it was happening so fast, I had so many people reaching

02:49out, wanting to join my team or just manage stuff for me. And I felt like I wanted to be in full

02:54control of everything. So I rejected a lot of that help. But now I've learned that it's okay to have

02:59someone that's experienced in this field because when I was first starting off, I didn't know anything

03:03about social media. And when brands would ask for my rate, I didn't even know what to say. So it was

03:08good to let someone else take, take control with that and help me grow my business further.

03:12So you had this one viral video and then as soon as that hit, were people reaching out to you? And

03:18then how did you decide what to post next? Yeah, I had a few brands reach out to me, but I didn't

03:23really pay attention to that because like I said in the beginning, it was just for fun. And I think I

03:28decided to just post Get Ready With Me's every single day because I don't know, it was just

03:33something that I liked to do. And it got me up early in the morning and motivated me to go to

03:38school. Wow. And fast forward today, what is the business like right now? Today, I've expanded into,

03:45so I still make Get Ready With Me's every single day, but I've expanded into more a lifestyle content.

03:50So I do a little bit of everything. I also just moved to New York last September. So my content has

03:54changed a lot. It's a lot of lifestyle, a lot of fashion, a lot of like cooking videos. And I feel

03:59like my audience have really grown with me as well. I interview a lot of creators and I always ask

04:03like, what is the toughest part about being a creator? And I always think it may be like be living in the

04:09public life or maybe haters, but everyone always says it is that pressure to create kind of that

04:14treadmill of like every day, every other day. How do you deal with that? Because you said you post

04:18every day, tell me how that works. And do you kind of prepare a topic or you just hit the lights, hit

04:24the camera lights, and you just kind of open up with what's on your mind? I actually don't like to plan

04:29my content. I feel like if I think too much about it and plan too early ahead, it just doesn't feel as

04:36authentic to me and it just feels too curated. So I actually like to film when I'm in the moment, when I feel

04:41like it's something that I want to share. All my Get Ready With Me's, I only film if I feel like it, if I feel

04:46like I have something that I want to share or just like talk about for the day. But if not, I try not

04:50to force myself or it just doesn't come across authentic. Oh, and you said before you're at NYU

04:55right now, you're a sophomore at NYU at Galton. Go NYU, NYU grad. Tell me, how do you balance this

05:02creator career with a rigorous undergrad career? I think just reminding myself to stay grounded and

05:08surrounding myself with people that support me through the good and bad times, like my family and my

05:13friends, and also just realizing what I want to prioritize. So I chose to go back in school

05:18and just learning how to say no, because I feel like when I first started social media, I was trying

05:23to, I felt like I had to say yes to everything because everything was so new and so exciting.

05:28But now I've learned that it's okay to say no and doesn't make me look like a bad person.

05:32And yeah. What was your first brand deal that kind of like made you realize, wait a minute,

05:37this is not for fun. This could actually be a career. So one of my biggest collaborations,

05:42um, when I first started was with Glow Recipe. We came out with a limited kit that was sold in

05:47Sephora. And in that kit, there was a, um, toner that I would use in every single one of my videos

05:53and all my get ready with me's. So my audience had already known that I was a long time fan of the

05:57brand. And so when that kit, um, launched, it was a huge success because it just came across so

06:02authentic. Wow. And tell me, how do you, tell me your current brand partnerships right now?

06:06Yeah. So, um, last fall I was named as the face of Cedarful's gentle exfoliating line,

06:11which is so crazy. And recently I just came out with a little bundle with summer Fridays.

06:16I'm coming out with a phone case with wildflower and have a few really exciting, um, campaigns for

06:22next year as well. What is the best way for a brand and a creator to work together? How does it like

06:27a healthy and also like high return partnership look like? I think, um, the brand has to align with

06:34the creator's content and their audience and their product has to just make sense. If it's just random

06:40and out of the blue, it's not going to make sense at all. And the audience can also definitely detect

06:43that it's inauthentic and it just doesn't feel real. Do they, when you make it, do a brand deal,

06:48they kind of say, Katie, just like, we love what you do, do it with our stuff or our kind of

06:53requirements. So they give you scripts. How does that work? Yeah. There's some brands that are super

06:57strict that I actually don't really love to work with when they give me a full curated script and

07:01say, you have to say exactly this, do exactly that. That's when I turn those down because I just feel

07:05like it's just too curated, but brands that give you like really, um, a lot of creative freedom.

07:11They let you make the creative concept and they let you, they allow you to say kind of,

07:17I guess, just word how you would want to promote the product. And I guess that just comes across

07:21more authentic. I read that you have a very, you have a wide audience, but you also have a very

07:25powerful younger audience, Gen, younger Gen Z, even Gen Alpha, which I can't even think about.

07:31What is Gen, tell me about like what the Gen Alpha audience is and like, what do they resonate with

07:36and how might that be different than a Gen Z audience? I mean, I feel like Gen A, Gen Z and

07:42Gen A, we all grew up with social media and I feel like we're very aware with everything and we care a

07:48lot about a brand's background, their ethics, their values. And we're also super, um, we notice a lot

07:56if they're diverse or not. And I feel like that is really important. If you can go back in time and give

08:02yourself one piece of advice, the minute before you're going to post your crying video that made you

08:07internet famous, what would that advice be about being a creator and about the business?

08:11I would probably say to not wait for the perfect time and to just do it because with social media,

08:18it's really often that you can post the most random video that you feel like will definitely not do well,

08:22but that will always end up being the video that blows up the most and gets millions and millions of

08:26views. Kind of on that, on the back of that, millions of folks want to be, if you ask Gen Z,

08:32Gen Alpha, what do you want to be? They say, want to be a creator. What advice would you have for

08:35somebody who wants to dive into this world? I would say to not be afraid because I feel like a lot of

08:41people, um, shy away from this industry because they're afraid of the negativity or the feedback that

08:46they might get, but that is just kind of the cons that come with this job, but yeah.

08:52In a world where anyone can post and anyone can publish, what are your secrets about standing out

08:58and getting a community? Staying consistent for sure and making sure that your videos are engaging

09:05throughout the whole entire time and just not being afraid to show your personality.

09:09Well, you know, you're in school now, but you're also a big creator, brand deals, big business.

09:15Where do you see this going? Like if we're talking in four years after you've graduated,

09:19like what do you, what would you hope to be doing? As of right now, I do want to just continue

09:23building my brand and, you know, graduate, but in the, in the future, um, I have thought about

09:30making my own, um, product or coming out of my own line of some sorts. What kind of, what would the

09:36first product be? There's so many possibilities, but I probably, I guess what would make most sense for

09:41me is a beauty line, but I've also been really into like fashion and jewelry, especially.

09:46Everyone talks about, you know, analytics because you get so much information about your users.

09:51How do you use data and numbers when to kind of build your brand, reach your audience? Some people

09:56study it like it's, you know, an exam. Other people just ignore it and just kind of do their natural

10:01thing. What, how do you, where do you fall? I don't really pay too much attention to my analytics,

10:07but I would say if I'm posting a video and it doesn't do very well, I like to look back at the

10:12video and see what I did differently from my, compared to my other videos that do super well.

10:16You know, maybe the hook wasn't strong enough. Maybe I was talking too slow or maybe it just

10:19wasn't engaging enough. And then I'll just pivot from that. What, what is your social media diet?

10:23Like are you, are you constantly online, like looking for trends, following people? Are you in your

10:28comment section all the time? Like tell me how, what does that work? For sure. I definitely,

10:32I consume a lot of content because that's where I get my inspiration from, from other creators.

10:36And I also really love engaging with my community. When I post a video, I'm, I feel like I'm on my

10:41phone for the next like three hours, just checking the comments and seeing the feedback that I'm

10:46getting and just engaging with them. What's like a day in life for you?

10:50Because you're balancing all these things. Yes. Um, day in my life, typically I would wake up

10:55and as I'm getting ready, I'll usually film a get ready with me. So then that would be one video for,

11:00for the day. That's good to get content out of the way first. Right. Exactly. First thing in the

11:03morning and it's, it feels so organic and natural to me because I feel like every time I get ready

11:08now, I'm always recording and it's just fun. It's like a FaceTime video almost. Okay.

11:11Um, I get ready and then I'll go to my first class, come back, grab something and eat. And I like to get

11:17all my work done in the morning. So I'll do either schoolwork or just emails, any of that. And then I'll

11:23go to the, my last classes of the day. And then at the end of the night, I like to meet up with my

11:27friends. It just keeps, keeps my social life going. You said, you know, you're like, you're

11:32online all the time. Obviously it's part of your job, but also your generation as well. Like how do

11:36you turn off from it? Like, do you feel like you need to like escape from that, you know, from the

11:40community? For sure. I feel like sometimes it can get to be a little much. So I've been trying to set

11:46more boundaries, like, you know, putting my, not putting my phone away, but just turning off social

11:51media at a certain time and just, I guess, spending it with my family and my friends instead.

11:56Yeah. You put so much of your, yourself online. Like you said, your first viral moment was you

12:01upset and like really crying about that. How do you kind of balance sharing so much of your emotions

12:07with the fan base, but then also like keeping your own personal stuff, you know, being your own person?

12:13Right. I like to show a lot of raw emotions online. Um, and it could be a good thing. It could be a bad

12:18thing too. Um, I like to also protect my mental health because I think the more you share online,

12:23the more people can take that information and twist it up in some way. Um, but yeah,

12:28I've started to learn that there are some things that just need to be kept private and doesn't need

12:33to be shared to the whole internet because I feel like in the beginning, I felt pressure to kind of

12:36share everything because I felt like that was what people wanted. Okay. How do you deal with kind of

12:40like mean comments and haters? I mean, I feel like in the beginning I was super sensitive to it. So

12:45whenever, when I first started seeing videos speculate about me or I saw mean comments,

12:49I felt like such a strong urge to defend myself and like reply back to everything.

12:55But now I've just learned that it's okay to chill out and take a step back.

13:00And no matter what you say at the end of the day, like people are going to hate no matter what.

13:04And as long as you and like the people around you know who the real you are,

13:07then that's all that matters. In terms of, it's interesting on that note,

13:10you said you have a lot of gen alpha followers and there's been a lot in the media and books written

13:14about kind of mental health and social media, especially with young women, young girls.

13:21What do you see happening in that space? And like, what advice do you have for people out there?

13:24Um, I mean, mental health is a big thing, especially with the younger generation,

13:28because we're on social media a lot, we're online so often. So I think it's really important

13:33to protect yourself from it and just, you know, stay close to your friends and your family.

13:37Wow. In social media, everyone knows the algorithm runs everything. Do you have any tips and secrets

13:43that you use to take advantage of the algorithm to get attention or just do your own thing and kind

13:48of just trust the machines? I think it's a little bit of both, but my biggest tip would be staying

13:53consistent. I feel like if you go a whole week posting every single day and then you randomly stop

13:59for five days, the algorithm kind of catches on and it's kind of like, oh, like where did this person

14:03go? And so then when you post again, after those five days, the content kind of, the engagement

14:08slows down too, a lot. Do you post on the weekends too, every day? Yeah. I try my best to post at least

14:14one video every single day. Wow. Okay. Consistency wins. Exactly. So like traditional media and

14:20Hollywood and TV are, we want to work more and more with creators. And people say like creators

14:26breaking into Hollywood. I think creators are the new Hollywood. What advice do you have for like

14:30traditional media and traditional companies to work with, with the creators in social media?

14:36I mean, I feel like creators are so important in marketing these days because they already have

14:41that trust with their community. And that's something that traditional marketing can't grasp.

14:47So I guess collaborating with these creators that already have these, this big trust in their

14:50communities, it helps more with engagement. Gotcha. You've recently gone from video creator

14:56to writer. Yes. You have a new column with the cut. Tell me about what the column's about and how that

15:00came to be. So the column, it's a monthly beauty column. People can ask me questions every month and

15:05I answer them. And it's actually such a full circle moment because I actually majored in journalism my

15:11first semester of university. So it kind of just paid off and it's super fun. It just launched this

15:16month in September and we had like a little cafe meet and greet with some people where I got to

15:20connect with people in real life. Wonderful. Your brand deals have gone beyond the phone. You do

15:26collaborations with brands, you're on billboards, you do photo shoots. How do all these multimedia

15:32marketing plays kind of play off each other? I mean, it's super fun because, you know, obviously I

15:36started all my brand deals just through my phone, posting ads on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. And it's

15:42really nice to expand outside of that and do all these big things like being on a billboard, which is

15:46insane doing my cut column, which I'm just writing articles every month and doing more of the

15:51traditional route. And I think they both merged really well together. Terrific. Is there a business

15:56philosophy or idea that you follow that's helped you succeed? I think a lot of people say fake it

16:03till you make it. And I feel like that's kind of true in some way, you know, like you don't have to

16:07have it all to start something. You can pretend like you do and like, you know, just work your way up

16:15towards it. Do you get recognized on the street? Yeah. How do you kind of deal with with that?

16:20It's fun. It's really fun. It's nice to connect with people in real life and have an actual

16:24conversation with them rather than just behind a screen. And you've done a lot of great collaborations

16:29with brands and beauty brands and lifestyle brands. What is your one dream collaboration right

16:35now? I would probably say first person that comes to mind is Scarlett Johansson. She's such an amazing,

16:41one of the best and most caring celebrity makeup, um, founders out there. And I don't know,

16:49I think her work ethic is amazing. And would you like interview her? Oh yeah.

16:53How, what would you ask Scarlett Johansson? What would be your first question?

16:56Ooh, probably how she came up with her beauty brand. Very cool. What about kind of like other brands,

17:04like luxury fashion? Is there one dream collab? Oh yeah. Um, so I'm really into jewelry. Okay.

17:09So I'd probably say Tiffany and co. All right. We'll put that out there in the universe.

17:14Katie, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.

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