If you’re on Instagram often, you likely follow niche pages. Behind many of them, Joey Hickson. He owns a plethora of pages that scale to a boggling 30,000,000 followers. You heard that right, 30 MILLION FOLLOWERS! Insane, right? A few of these pages include: @Lmao, @RandomVideos, and @Singers. Aside from that, his own personal account @Joey has over 4,000,000. Today, we’ll share Joey Hickson’s story and how he’s revolutionizing social media with his marketing tactics. 

Unlike many niche page owners, Hickson has done a phenomenal job of leveraging his pages to build a living for himself. Alongside his other personal stints, including modeling and traveling, Hickson founded Break media, helping aspiring brands build a following online.

Offering promotional campaigns, consultancy servicing, and other unique approaches to branding, Hickson uses out-of-the-box thinking to build names for other people. 

Boasting an impressive client list, Hickson has previously collaborated with Flo Rida, Empire Records, Capitol Records, and more. Besides that, he’s also worked with Gary Vee, Dwyane Wade, Adidas, Andre Drummond, Burger King, Fashion Nova, and Jason Vedadi.

When we asked Hickson how he could gain millions of followers at such a consistent rate, he responded with:

“As an early Instagram adopter (since 2010), I learned to network with people and consistently engage with other posts. We’d build groups that would work to get each other onto the explore page. It was a massive engagement train. We would gain thousands of followers every day; I would repeat this and average a few hundred thousand followers a month. Engaging with others is always key.”

If you’ve previously been interested in working online, Hickson’s model is one to follow. As of today, his marketable network expands to over 300 million, even larger than his personal network. If there ever was a number that could dwarf his 30 million followers, he’s already reached it. 

In conclusion, Hickson builds his following on multiple social media platforms while building his own personal brand. Joey Hickson’s work has even received recognition in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and many others. If you’d like to stay updated with his journey, @Joey on Instagram is the place to go.

Over the past year, apps like TikTok have revolutionized what it means to be an “influencer.” No longer confined to the type of stardom found in TV and movies, teens across the country instantly found themselves a new dream, to become “TikTok famous.” Khalil Yatim, better known as “Ozikoy,” is becoming a success story to all aspiring creators at just 16 years old. With a whopping 4,000,000 fans on his TikTok page, he’s risen to stardom over the past few months. Recently, we got the chance to dive into the mind of Yatim, and see what he thinks about his journey thus far. 

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into social media? 

A: My name is Khalil Yatim A.K.A OZIKOY… I have many hobbies that I practice and have a lot of fun doing, such as sleight of hand (magic tricks), Beatboxing, and Soccer. I started my youtube channel when I was around ten years old. I was determined to create some dope content but never really was consistent. I have always had a passion for being a creator, but I just didn’t know how to gain an audience 

Q: What’re some of the coolest things that you’ve done with your online presence?

A: Honestly, I love to make people laugh and smile… The ability to put a smile on someone’s face means so much to me. You never know what that person may be struggling with. 

Q: What’re you ultimately trying to achieve with all that you’re doing online?

A:  I’ve always been thinking to myself, how long will these pranks on TikTok last? There are so many factors to this, and planning beforehand is much easier than stressing about it last minute. I’ve been trying to achieve making people happy; I’ve always dreamt of having an audience and now that I have it, it really shows that nothing is impossible 

Q: What advice would you give to the younger people who want to do what you do? 

A: To everyone that wants to do what I do, I have a BIG TIP for you all, so listen up! Try different things… switch up your content and make sure to ALWAYS think of what your potential TikTok audience would like to see in their feed. 

Q: How were you able to grow such a large following on social media? 

A: I wouldn’t really say I have a large following, there is still so much in the works, and this is only the beginning. I was able to grow my following because I love what I do. When you love doing something, nothing is stopping you! 

Q: Any additional comments you’d like to share?

A: Please promise me that y’all are going never to stop grinding; I don’t care the number of followers you have, I don’t care about the views you average, I don’t care if you even take a few breaks here and there.. but what I do care about though is if you quit… because all this time/hard work working for your dreams to just fade away is not something anyone should take lightly. Start believing yourself and keep grinding – KOY  

Ozikoy embodies perseverance, grit, hard work, and heart. As his accounts continue to grow, he sets his goals towards the sky. If you’re interested in keeping up with him, you can check out his TikTok or Instagram, both titled @Ozikoy. 

In the world of TikTok, building a fanbase can be challenging. We recently sat down with John C. (better known by his online persona “H1T1”) to talk to him about growing, managing, and capitalizing off an online presence. Today, H1T1 totals a whopping 2.2 million fans on his TikTok page, coupled with well over 100,000 on his Instagram, and produces content that consistently reaches millions daily. 

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into social media? 

A: Well, crazy enough, I downloaded Instagram probably when I was around nine years old, and I think that having it at such a young age allowed me to learn how to use it to my advantage. By the time I was 13, I was running Instagram theme pages and growing them from scratch. I’ve always found social media super exciting, and I’ve always wanted to have a big platform online.

Q: What’re some of the coolest things that you’ve done with your online presence? 

A: There are so many crazy things that I’ve done since I started. From the billboard I bought with the musicians known as PARTY SHIRT, which just displayed “h,” to The inside joke where my fans confused just about all of TikTok by commenting “@H1T1 exposed you” on everyone’s posts, I think that something unique about my account is that most of my series are super interactive for my followers. Overall, I’m always trying to make content like that because I want my followers to have a big part in my journey on TikTok.

Q: What’re you ultimately trying to achieve with all that you’re doing online?

A: I just want to make people laugh. 2020 was a rough year for all of us, so I think that TikTok kept us sane during these crazy times. In the future, I think I’ll start a business and market it through social media.

Q: What advice would you give to the younger people who want to do what you do? 

A: When I was young, I used to look at big social media accounts and influencers with 100k-500k followers, and I would think it was never possible to do what they did. I never realized that it’s achievable as long as you just put your mind to it. I try to encourage all my younger fans who ask this question to start up a platform when they are older because it can really go somewhere.

Q: How were you able to grow such a large following on social media? 

A: The short answer is through TikTok and cross-promoting to other socials. But the key with all of this has been fun and consistency. I tell everyone who asks me this question: the most important thing is being consistent and logging in every day. Don’t worry about the numbers. As long as you are having fun, everything will come naturally.

For H1T1, videos don’t always have to be calculated masterpieces. While his knowledge of digital media is exceptionally sophisticated, his number one TikTok strategy has always been having fun, and doing so has built him a fanbase of millions.