“As COVID went on I started to make prank videos, trick shot videos and day in the life videos, and those took off,” Creevy said. “I always just did it for fun, and my following has been increasing since then.”

Today, Creevy’s content has evolved to depict her college life. She runs the widely followed campus Instagram account barstoolmsu, which she inherited from a friend. Creevy said it was a perfect match as it combines her two favorite things: sports and MSU.

Outside of barstoolmsu, Creevy loves to document the moments in her life that define her time at MSU so she can relive those memories in the future.

“I really like to have videos that I can look back on someday to show my family what I used to do in college,” Creevy said. “I feel like my TikToks and my vlogs are like home videos.”

Finance senior Cait Knight also began her content creating journey on TikTok. Knight said that her engagement initially rose from videos showing her life at a U.K. boarding school. Her time back home in Thailand, though, is where she saw a bigger growth in her following.

“When I started speaking in Thai, because it’s not my first language, a lot of Thai people thought it was cute,” Knight said. “That started getting a lot of attention, so a good number of my audience is from Thailand.”

When she was preparing to attend MSU, Knight said that she looked to TikTok to see the daily lives of other students. However, she had a hard time finding videos that she could relate to, something that has inspired her in her own content.

“I remember applying to Michigan State and trying to find other international students’ 'day in the life' TikToks, but there wasn’t really anything,” Knight said. “There were content creators on campus, but they weren’t really showing the things that I wanted more insight into.”

Communications freshman Elizabeth Gurski said she is at the beginning of her social media journey, but her engagement online has increased since being at MSU. Through showing her transition from high school to college, including her experiences while rushing sororities, she has been gaining views from people who are undergoing similar events in their lives.

“I found that when you tag your location, it pushes your content to that audience,” Gurski said. “Since I’m making videos about East Lansing and MSU, it’s really relatable to the people who see it.”

Consistent posts are key in maintaining a following, but Gurski explained that passion is the backbone of her content. Without passion, Gurski said, consumers will be left feeling unfulfilled.

“People can sense when somebody is taking something too seriously or trying too hard and they don’t want to consume something that is too manufactured,” Gurski said. “People love real people.”

Knight offered similar advice. She said that content creation should be fun and authentic, not something that feels like a chore.

“Make sure that what you’re doing is what you love, don’t go out of your way to film stuff for content,” Knight said. “I go to the gym almost every day, so I might as well record that.”

Knight also said that knowing her audience is what helps her decide what content she wants to post. She said that having her posts revolve around three pillars -- lifestyle, fashion and fitness -- has helped to define her brand online. 

“You don’t want to be all over the place," Knight said. "When people come onto your page, they want to see what they’re expecting. I’m not going to start showing how to knit because my followers aren’t interested in that.”

Though the amount of people posting online might seem intimidating to an aspiring creator, a heavily populated internet also means that there are plenty of people who will view your content. Creevy said that with a steady flow of exciting posts, anyone can build their own following online.

“Don’t get down on yourself if your videos are not taking off right away because it truly does take time,” Creevy said. “There is an audience out there for you, it just might take some time to find it.”