 Hello, I think I know what you're thinking, how can I start a TikTok career? Don't get swept up in the things, this is from personal experience, but don't get swept up in this, you know, looking at everyone else's accounts for their views, comparing yourself to other people, to thinking you've got to be like someone else. I've done all those things and honestly what it does is just range your whole entire vibe. It's not something you want to kind of get involved in. You've got to be able to be yourself, so don't compare yourself to anyone else ever. Just don't do it, believe me, it's the best thing, just don't do it. This is the Great British YouTubers podcast with me Neil Mosse. Hello, it's awesome to have you here. This is a place where we share advice, experience and tips with high-achieving creators and performers, just like you. And in this episode, Stephen McKell. Stephen has over 2.3 million followers on TikTok, clocking up over 500 million views. He also has a YouTube channel, so he's absolutely the best person to talk about YouTube versus TikTok. This is part three of our chat and all the other episodes are in the description. Stephen McKell, what advice would you have for anyone starting out on TikTok? There's a lot. Some really cool advice would be stay authentic, do the trending hashtags and do the content that's trending. And don't be discouraged by not getting loads of views, whatever, very quickly. And don't be discouraged if you do get the views and it kind of plateaus but that happens to everyone. But really stay authentic to what you do. If there's a niche content that you love doing, whether it be point of view content, meme content, makeup, dancing. Honing on that craft and do that. TikTok loves people that can have some sort of niche that they're really good at. And if you consistently be consistent, post I post every day. Whereas I think TikTok, you know, they advise to post like maybe between three and five times a week. But most creators post every day on every few days. So it's like really just depends on what your schedule would be. But yeah, stay authentic, be consistent, do the trending hashtags and have fun. Have it the best time you can. That's what I do. So I just let my cat in. And how do you cope with that, Stephen? Do you have, so if you post every day, some days, presumably you post more than once a day. Do you have times where you feel I'm absolutely killing it? And other times we think, oh, I'm falling behind that I'm not outputting as much as I would like to. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Right now, actually, I'm in that kind of zone where I'm not outputting as much as I want to because my views aren't great and it should never be about the views. And I think that's something people have to understand that it should never be about your views and likes and stuff. However, if it's part of your job, you then worry about it. So I do worry about that because sometimes you have big times, you have low times, everyone has it. It's just any social media. So at the moment I'm kind of like that. I'm like, oh, I've put out like videos every day. Sometimes I'll put out three videos to five. Sometimes I'll put out one video. Back in the day, years ago, I'd put out like 15, 20. Because it was mostly like dancing or lip-syncing or acting videos, which were very easy to do. But I think kind of what I've done is I kind of set a bar really high for myself in terms of my content so that I can't revert back to that now to kind of do that for an easy whim. It doesn't work on my pages and algorithms. It doesn't pick up. So it kind of, you have to, you know, some days are going to be bad. So sometimes I have bad days where I'm like, oh my gosh, I've worked for four years. It's slipping through my hands. I've got my counts dying. But I say that a lot and sometimes I just have to kind of just have a rant to myself or to my friend. Then just get on with it. Because at the end of the day, I make content for myself and other people. And if someone watches it and goes, oh, he inspired me. Or someone watches it and goes, that made me laugh. Then my job's done. That's my day job. Like, you know, in the grand scheme of things, to make someone's day or to make someone feel comfortable on themselves is a gift that's, you know, priceless really. So yeah, I just get through my bad days by just having a day off. Posting one video and being like, if it does bad, it does bad. Or if I'm, I really post a video that I don't enjoy. I think I'm not going to post it if I don't enjoy the video. You know what I mean? I have to have fun doing it. That's probably a long answer to the question, very broad. But yeah. Steven McKell, what shouldn't I do on TikTok? Don't get swept up in the things, this is from personal experience. But don't get swept up in this, you know, looking at everyone else's accounts for the views, comparing yourself to other people, to thinking you've got to be like someone else. I've done all those things and honestly, what it does is just range your whole entire vibe. It's not something you want to kind of get involved in. You've got to be able to be yourself. So don't compare yourself to anyone else ever. Just don't do it. Believe me, it's the best thing. Just don't do it. And it's almost as if you found your medium because you were posting on YouTube. But this one, it just kind of unleashed something different. I think TikTok's just more easier for me to make content. I think it was more easier for me to like have fun and like connect with fans. So it was very much easier for me to make the short form media and have and work around like the 15 seconds to a minute videos where this YouTube is like longer videos. And it was fun. I can't say that YouTube wasn't fun. It was great. And it's not that YouTube is bad. I plan to go back to it soon and do videos. But it's the idea of having to post like every single week or every few days. Because TikTok's just so much easier to post. It is hard. Like someone like me, I can't just post a lip syncing thing or a dancing thing. It does well. I have to really put effort into it. And that's because I think with someone like me on TikTok or any platform, I don't look like the natural beauty standard as people would have it. I'm still beautiful. You know, I think I don't have like what the society nowadays deems as beautiful and like what you should watch. So I kind of look out of place a little bit. I act a bit out of place, which I love that. I've been like the alternative kind of influencer creator, maybe what I call it. But I'm on the outside looking in and a lot of stuff when it comes to like being on the things. My cat's just jumping around in my room right now. So I do apologize. But yeah, YouTube was just a bit long, just long videos. And it was filming it, editing it. And I just think TikTok just took up over that. And I thought I just had to focus on TikTok now. And that's what I did. I thought I had to focus on both of them now. I don't think I'd be as successful or as big on TikTok as I am now because I just ditched YouTube and was like, I don't have time for it. I've got to just do something else. And then that's what I did. So it sounds like there's something driving you behind that then because it's one thing to post a lot. But to keep going, it seems like there's something behind it, Stephen. Something that... Yeah. There's something that you want to express. I want to be the person that I didn't have grown up watching on TV or social media. So I'm 26. So I didn't really... Social media was a thing in the mid-noughties. But it wasn't a big when I was the ages of like, you know, 10 to 16. You know, you were outside all the time. That's what I try to explain to people. It wasn't on social media all the time. It wasn't massive then. And especially in like Scotland or anything. So I wanted to be the person that I didn't see in like TV shows or I didn't see in like social media when I first started it. It was all very much the same people. Brands or companies were only focusing on the same people. Whereas I'm not, you know, I'm fat. I'm someone that's asexual. I'm someone that looks a bit out of place. And that's all positive for me. Fat is not a negative word that for me, I use it as a positive because I'm fat. But I'm flawless, you know what I mean? So I wanted to be the person that I didn't have whilst watching social media. I was watching TV. So I was like, I'm going to be that person then. And I think that I have. I like to think that if tomorrow TikTok shut down or my camera's deleted or whatever happened, I like to think that, you know what? Even with TikTok or social media in general, I think I like to think that I've done well and hopefully have inspired people and I've been inspired by people. So my legacy through it, if you could call it one, has been positive. It's been fun. I've stayed very authentic. And that was one thing. That was it. I just didn't really see anyone else like me. And now there's a lot of people that are like me. Not like me, I think I'm quite a unique taste. But there's a lot of people that are, that I've got my initiative really, I think that are like, okay, I'm just going to be different because difference, okay, and difference fun. If everyone was the same, the world would be such a boring place. So yeah, I just wanted to be that person that I never had online or on TVs and moving stuff that I didn't have grown up. Totally. And what we're seeing now is the death of mass, isn't it? Mass media, mass entertainment, mass, one size fits all. It's so positive that you're inspiring people to share their voice. Yeah, that's it. And for me, it's never been bigger than I think a size is not part of my comedy. You'll never see a video where I'm like, I'm so big and it's never been part of my comedy because it's just, it's not. I can, you know, if that's not part of someone's comedy, then it's good on them. And that's how you can relate to people. And great, it's never been part of mine. So my thing's always been about it. It's all about being like, be the three years. I've always had that, that and my sassy squad. But be the three years of slogan. I always use people because it really is the hardest thing in life. And this is the truth is to really be your three authentic self. Because, you know, when you are being free yourself, you know, you put yourself up, you open yourself up to ridicule and people opinionated about you and people being awful because they might not agree with what you do. And to that I say, you know, I won't swear, but, you know, you just let them jog on because, you know, life's way too short to really worry about what anyone else thinks of you. And people think that, oh, he's like that on social media a bit in real life. And you'll meet me and I'll be like, I don't give. I really don't care. Like if someone doesn't like me, that's a them problem, not a me problem. And they can deal with that to the side. It really is. I think, especially nowadays, generation coming up, you know. I think even my generation's a bit soft. We're the millennials. So we're a bit soft. But I was in my family, I was brought up really tough. You know, really like you've got to be tough. And I think a lot of people don't have that kind of toughness to, and so I try to teach people that, you know, if you're getting bullied, this is a big rant now. But if you're getting bullied, like, you know, or I think people are saying something to you, then like never let them see you swear. You never, you know, and call them out on stuff because people that are like that hate getting called out. No one loves, bullies never like getting called a bully. You know what I mean? So I try and teach people to love the skin that you're in. And if you don't love it, change it to a way that, to your standard, not someone else's. So it's just, you know, I want to be that voice that people can listen to. But it's about your size, your mental health, about your sexuality, whether it be about being inclusive and diverse. I just hope people kind of watch my content and be like, oh, like he's someone that gets it. And I learn every day. I don't know everything about everything. You know what I mean? That's the truth. I don't. I learn just as much as everyone else does. So people think that I, you know, he must not or he thinks he knows it all. And that's the end of my TED talk. This one, should we take a little drink break? Yeah, that'd be great actually. Let's take a little drink break. I've got some juice here. And you two at home, why don't you have a drink too? I love it. I love it. I love more. Refreshing. I love that. It's a good segment. I love it. What's going to grab someone's attention in the first four seconds? Because that's your window that you've got. Sometimes it's shorter depending on what kind of video it is, but you've only got your first few seconds to hit someone with what you need. Because if you hit them in the first few seconds, they'll stay for 15. And if you're still good there, they'll stay to 30. And please hit the subscribe button below. If you want to see more great British YouTubers, there's a playlist and a podcast. All the links are in the description below. I'm Neil Mossey and I'll see you on the very next Great British YouTubers.