MaryTheAnalyst: How My Passion for Data Grew My TikTok Account to 100K Subscribers

Hey Mary! Who are you and what is your creator brand?

My name is Mary, and I am a data analytics content creator located in Seattle. I primarily create content for my TikTok profile under my MaryTheAnalyst account, but I also post to Instagram and LinkedIn, and I plan to start creating long-form content for YouTube within the next month.

I began posting content in June 2023 after being inspired by other data analytics content creators on TikTok. Content creation was completely new to me, but it was something I always wanted to do because I love sharing my ideas and opinions.

At the heart of my content is a commitment to assisting aspiring data analysts in navigating the field, irrespective of their background. My channel provides bite-sized tutorials on data analytics skills, tips on breaking into the field, and recommendations of data analytics and AI products and tools.

I believe data analytics is a versatile skill that everyone should have in some capacity, and I aim to help people realize the value of data.

How did you come up with your creator & content idea?

At first, I wanted to create content related to lifestyle and remote work. I had recently started working fully remote for my company and I wanted to share that experience with people looking to do the same. I posted about 3-4 videos with this theme, but people in my comments section were more interested in learning about what exactly I did for work and how I got there, so I decided to change my theme from remote work to data analytics.

I posted my first tutorial “How to Use VLOOKUP.” It was such a simple video, but it resonated with a lot of people from a variety of different backgrounds. My post went viral and I went from 100 followers to nearly 3,000 followers overnight. It was clear that my audience was very receptive to tutorials, so I made that my priority, and quickly accumulated almost 100K followers since that first tutorial.

Throughout the last seven months as a content creator, I’ve experimented with different tones and approaches in my videos. I’ve noticed that viewers value authenticity and relatability, so I’ve tried to adopt those values as a part of my personal brand. Before I started creating content, I thought I had to have everything figured out–the theme, the logo, the brand name, etc. I’m now seven months into this process and I still don’t have it completely figured out, which is fine!

The most important thing to do is to just keep posting great content. Be honest and down to earth, and interact with your audience to build community. If someone is interested in being a content creator, they can start today by committing to posting at least 15 videos within a specific niche within the next 30 days.

What is your content creation process?

My content creation process is messy and unorganized. I don’t have a content schedule or plan – I just post what I want to post, and try to commit to at least 3 videos per week on TikTok. Some videos go viral and some don’t. I have noticed a pattern when it comes to which videos generate attention and which seem to hardly get noticed.

Viewers get hooked on videos that offer something useful, which is why I believe my tutorials do so well. In addition to tutorials and advice, I also talk a little bit about my journey in data analytics and what my day-to-day looks like. It seems like a lot of young adults are interested in learning about other career options, and I enjoy taking the opportunity to tell my story.

Every now and then I hit a creative block where I don’t know what to post next. Fortunately, there is so much to talk about within my niche that this rarely happens. I keep a list of content ideas and refer to my list whenever I’m feeling uncreative. The main challenge I face is managing my time effectively.

“Set aside dedicated time to work on your social media, and set aside time to put away your devices and enjoy your personal life.”

Content creation is a side-hustle for me, not my full time job. My priority is my 9-5 that gives me consistent income and keeps me relevant as a data analytics content creator. I’m still experimenting with ideas to manage my time more effectively–I’ve tried creating several videos in one day and posting them throughout the week, but my videos can take a long time to make, and I don’t want to burn myself out.

My content creation process is very different for each video. Some videos take me 10 minutes to make, and some take me hours. If I just want to make a quick point or share my thoughts on something, I’ll just film myself talking for a few minutes and quickly edit it before posting.

My tutorials, on the other hand, can take several hours of planning. I handwrite 1-4 pages of notes on a topic and then film myself going through the notes. These videos are the most rewarding because they take a lot of time to make, but they usually yield the best results.

I am mostly a one-woman operation, but I do occasionally bounce ideas off of family and friends. Additionally, I get a lot of inspiration from other data analytics content creators. Sometimes I will see another creator speaking to something, and I create my own video to build on it.

What is your marketing & promotion strategy? How are you growing your brand?

When it comes to promoting my own content, I’ve found there is little I can do to control how many viewers I get on TikTok, aside from just making great content, but there are a few strategies I use to market my brand. Most importantly, I make sure all of my content stays within my niche.

TikTok’s algorithm drives viewers towards creators who make content similar to what the viewer likes, and consistently creating data analytics content ensures that the algorithm knows exactly what kind of content I produce. Secondly, I try to commit to posting at least 3 videos per week on TikTok. I want my content to be shown as much as possible, and the best way to do that is to create a lot of content.

Lastly, I utilize hashtags to help the algorithm identify my niche. Hashtags are also a great tool to make your content searchable, which is especially important when creating tutorial-like content.

I think the type of content that is most effective at generating followers is content that offers unique tips or advice. In my experience, it can be very difficult to get followers based on content that is just entertaining. I also like to switch between creating content that is targeted towards my followers and content that is targeted towards non-followers.

“In 2024, I predict that content consumers will start to value fresh, new creators over large influencers.”

This helps me reach people outside of my following and retain them by posting videos for them specifically. For example, I might post a Day in my Life video, which is broad enough to reach people who are not already following me; later in the week, I might post a tutorial on linear regression, which is more specific to data analytics, and speaks to the followers I already have.

When I first started building my brand, the biggest challenge I faced was attaching my self-worth to the number of views my videos got. I still struggle with this occasionally, but I remind myself that every video I post contributes to my brand, even if it doesn’t perform well. I pay close attention to metrics like views and retention rate.

All of my videos have at least 3,000 views, and I consider a video “really good” if it gets at least 20,000 views. TikTok seems to promote my videos that have a high retention rate, meaning viewers spend a long time watching the video. Most of my videos retain about 40% of viewers after 5 seconds, but I’ve noticed that TikTok really promotes my videos that retain at least 50% of viewers after 5 seconds.

I also pay attention to the number of followers I get each day. When my profile was performing at its best a few months ago, I was gaining about 2,000-4,000 followers each day. Now, I gain about 100-500 followers each day.

Now that I’ve gained almost 100,000 followers on TikTok, I’m beginning to expand my personal brand across different platforms. I’ve been on Instagram for a few months, but I don’t put much time into it. I’ve started prioritizing my presence on LinkedIn and hope to launch on YouTube within the next month.

How do you engage with your audience?

Replying to comments and messages can be time consuming, but I believe it’s an important part of building a loyal community that trusts me. I try to reply to as many positive messages as I can, especially questions. MaryTheAnalyst’s brand slogan is “Facilitating Conversation and Curiosity”. I live up to my slogan by remaining open to opposing opinions and asking open-ended questions.

This also means that I don’t delete negative comments (unless they are harmful) because I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don’t respond to negativity because I don’t want to encourage it, but I also don’t want to limit conversation by deleting peoples’ thoughts.

I feel that authenticity is well-received on all platforms. I never want to sound egotistical or overconfident, especially as a relatively small creator. Fortunately, my niche makes it easy to avoid posting overly opinionated material, which is not always welcomed.

I can easily stick to objective, factual content that viewers find useful. I also pay close attention to content requests from my audience. Recently, many of my followers have been asking me to create longer-form content on YouTube, which I am working on implementing now.

How have you monetized your business model?

I made a firm commitment to my followers that I would never charge anything for my content–it will always remain completely free. This is highly important to me because, as someone who posts career advice, a great deal of my followers are looking to switch careers or find a quality job, and are not in a place to pay money for advice.

Additionally, I believe I can provide excellent quality material, but I don’t feel that I have enough experience in my field of work to justify charging money for my content. Instead, I monetize my account by partnering with brands who pay me to promote their products and services.

Brand partnerships have been really interesting to navigate–I’ve had the opportunity to partner with large, well-known brands like SAS, Microsoft, Salesforce, Pragmatic Works, and others. These sponsorships have been a fantastic source of side-income, and I could see how influencers could make content creation a full time job.

I choose to work a 9-5 job as my primary source of income because brand partnerships are a very inconsistent form of income for me–sometimes I feel like I’m swimming in brand emails and sometimes I go weeks without hearing from any brands. Additionally, I would lose all credibility if I were to give data analytics advice and not work as a data analyst myself.

I love what I’ve built on social media and I genuinely enjoy helping others realize the value of data. I would gladly create content even if I did not make money from the process. However, the monetization aspect allows me to prioritize content creation as a valid source of secondary income instead of working a second job to pay off my student debt.

What are your biggest lessons learned & challenges faced?

Creating content as MaryTheAnalyst has pushed me to grow as a data analyst and as a deep thinker. When I create tutorials, I am challenged to organize my thoughts and present them in a way that will make sense to a lot of people. I’ve found that presenting information is a great method of practicing a new skill, and learning new skills that I can teach others is a very rewarding process.

Additionally, TikTok viewers are not shy about pointing out mistakes and voicing opinions. Feedback from my audience is extremely helpful and can spark new ideas, but it can also be very discouraging. When I get discouraged, I try to remember that every single content creator receives negative and hateful comments, and the positive comments are far more overwhelming than the negative ones.

It can be difficult to choose not to compare myself to other creators. Fortunately, I stay connected with other data analytics content creators, and we have formed a very supportive community to cheer each other on. I’ve even had the opportunity to meet other creators at professional conferences.

We all help each other to succeed with followers, engagement, and brand deals, and I’m genuinely so grateful for the community we’ve built. Feeling close to other content creators has made me feel supported, not threatened or jealous.

Some of the best advice I’ve received was from another data analytics content creator who emphasized the importance of remaining authentic in my content. People respond well to relatability and authenticity, and branding ourselves as down to earth individuals helps us set ourselves apart.

What technology & tools do you use?

Anyone who follows me on TikTok knows that I’m a big fan of my digital notebook. I use an app called CollaNote on my iPad to handwrite notes, and then I screen and voice record myself presenting the notes. I also have a MacBook that I use for recording tutorials.

Most of the technology that data analysts use is easier to use on a Windows machine, so I’ve had to work around some obstacles, like Power BI, which is not available on Macs. I once borrowed my friend’s PC to make a Power BI tutorial, but the screen and audio recording quality was so poor that I never did it again. I’m still trying to figure out a way around this.

I use AI a little bit for content creation, but I’ve found that tools like ChatGPT do a poor job of writing authentic scripts, so I stick to doing most of the work myself. Sometimes I utilize a bit of help from AI to help me write the description for a video post, but that is about the extent of my AI usage.

In my opinion, the most underrated tech tools for content creation are the tools you already have. Smart phones these days capture excellent quality audio and video, so I don’t see a need to spend money on a camera.

I sometimes use an external microphone for my videos because I have a hard time holding my phone without covering its microphone–but other than that, I like to keep it simple. Use what you already have.

What future plans & goals do you have for your creator brand?

I’m looking forward to launching my MaryTheAnalyst brand on YouTube this month. I’ve heard from other content creators that YouTube is one of the best platforms for monetizing your business, and many of my viewers have requested long form content on YouTube.

Longer form content will definitely require more time and planning, but I’m willing to take on this challenge to expand my brand.

For the most part, I’m still navigating my content creation journey, so it’s difficult to set specific goals for growth. A long-standing goal I’ve had since the beginning of my journey is to post on TikTok at least three times per week. This has allowed me to maintain consistency and relevancy with my audience.

What advice do you have for aspiring content creators?

The best advice I have for aspiring content creators is to start now and be consistent. Being a content creator was something that I had wanted to do for years. I loved the idea of being my own boss and making money for sharing my ideas. My main obstacle in building MaryTheAnalyst was myself.

I was so nervous to post my first TikTok video–I remember sitting with my phone in my hand for about 30 minutes debating whether or not I should click “post”. Now, my only regret is that I didn’t start sooner. Don’t worry if your first 5, 10, or 50 posts don’t go viral. Viewers value consistency, so try to post at least once per day when you’re getting started.

Building a brand around authenticity is the best way to get followers (and brand deals!). I found it helpful to create a moodboard for my brand to help me create a concrete vision for my content. It’s important to create material that is consistently aligned with your brand’s vibe. You want to make sure that your viewers, other brands, and TikTok’s algorithm knows exactly what type of audience you resonate with.

“Don’t worry if your first 5, 10, or 50 posts don’t go viral. Viewers value consistency, so try to post at least once per day when you’re getting started.”

Lastly, I encourage aspiring content creators to jump in head first by fully owning your content creator journey. You are no longer an “aspiring content creator”, you are just a content creator, regardless of your follower count. In 2024, I predict that content consumers will start to value fresh, new creators over large influencers (it seems like audiences are gravitating towards more relatable content). This is great news for new creators–now is the time to start posting!

Once you start to build a following, remember to keep a humble persona–it is a privilege to have influence over people. Engage with the community you’ve built by responding to their emails and DM’s.

Set aside dedicated time to work on your social media, and set aside time to put away your devices and enjoy your personal life. Maintain relationships with friends and family, and don’t let your newfound interest take away from current hobbies.

I’m rooting for your success!

MaryTheAnalyst: How My Passion for Data Grew My TikTok Account to 100K Subscribers

Learn how Mary championed her data driven insights to build one of the fastest growing TikTok accounts around…

Creator Brand: MaryTheAnalyst

TikTok: 99.8K followers, 686K likes

Instagram: 1,067 followers, 34 posts

LinkedIn: 4,291 followers

YouTube: 102 subscribers, 186 views

Full time creator: No - data analyst & creator

Hey Mary! Who are you and what is your creator brand?