Life in TikTokland, year 1 + advice for game devs for getting into vertical video

my most popular videos: lunch shitpost, BL joke, Australia complaints

I've been posting vertical videos on TikTok / Instagram Reels for about a year now. I already did my first week and my first month retrospectives, and now this is my reflection on my first year.

Numbers-wise, I'm doing OK. Not that follower counts mean much, but I have 2000+ followers on TikTok (from 0 a year ago) and 4000+ on IG (from ~1500? a year ago) and a couple viral videos with 1 million+ views across both.

More importantly, I do feel like I understand much better how to make videos, craft-wise and culturally.

The common cynical marketing advice for game devs here is to automate a third-party app to schedule gameplay clips every day. I don't think it's great advice. Personally I don't really watch these videos much myself. It's also a short-sighted media strategy, because what about your next game, what about when you quit / escape the game industry?

If cold robot posting is working for you, that's great. But if you're looking for an alternative TikTok strategy, here's what's been working for me -- posting like a human being...