How Muddy Bites Generated 25+ Million Views Organically, Using TikTok
And what your brand can learn from it...
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Muddy Bites is a snack inspired by the bottom of a sundae cone (aka, the best part).
And recently, they’ve absolutely blown up on TikTok. Let’s talk about it, and give you some strategies to steal.
Today at a glance:
Breaking down MuddyBites’ most viral video, so you can learn from it...
How MuddyBites uses TikTok to market their product...
A stupidly simple content format that’s performing well for MuddyBites, and might be worth testing out on your own account...
How this video hit 19.9 MILLION organic views on TikTok (without crazy editing), and what you can learn.
How would you like your product to get 19.9 million views, organically?
Well, let’s see how this video did it.
And look, there’s always an element of luck here. You’re not going to copy this and achieve virality overnight...
BUT - there are some best practices we can take away from this video that you can apply to increase your chances of getting more views by potential customers.
THE HOOK
The most important part of any TikTok video?
The hook. Without a scroll-stopping, compelling hook that makes the viewer curious for more, your video is dead in the water.
In this particular video, MuddyBites uses a combination of a text and visual hook to stop the scroll.
Questions are often great headlines, since they open a loop in the viewer’s head. They subconsciously ask themselves the question and are more inclined to watch the video to find out.
Just look at the first sentence of this section... you wanted to find out what the most important part of any TikTok video was, right?
Oop — did it again right there.
In this video, the MuddyBites asks the viewer: “Want the best bite over and over again?”
Of course, the question also has to be compelling. In this case it is, and the viewer keeps watching to find out how to secure this elusive “best bite.”
On top of the text headline, the video also uses a visual hook to create even more curiosity.
The actor in the video starts by cutting off the bottom of an ice cream cone, discarding the rest of the cone (and the ice cream along with it).
Why would someone do that? The viewer keeps watching to answer that question.
Whether intentional or not, this also generated engagement in the comments section since the action of throwing away the entire rest of the ice cream cone can be seen as “controversial.”
The comments are split between sentiments like this:
...and this:
In marketing, if you’re trying to reach “everybody” your end up reach nobody.
This video did a great job of creating a healthy amount of disagreement in the comments, feeding the TikTok algorithm.
THE BODY
Now that the viewer is hooked in, how does MuddyBites keep them engaged through the entire video?
A super easy way to do this is to keep the viewer visually engaged by including quick cuts in the video. Each cut in this example is no longer than 1-2 seconds, so there’s constantly some kind of visual stimulus for the viewer.
(Again, you can watch the video here — Substack won’t let me embed it)
You don’t need pro videography skill to do this, either. This video was likely shot on an iPhone, and edited together in app. There aren’t any fancy transitions, effects, etc — just basic cuts with some handheld movement to make the shots more engaging.
On TikTok, native-looking content usually performs better (unless you’re a videographer or other creative who’s main value proposition is highly produced content).
Interestingly, there’s little to no text in the body of the video, besides some that reads “we turned the best part of the sundae cone into a bite sized snack.”
If anything, this second piece of text functions as a sub-headline.
It also immediately delivers on the question in the hook.
The rest of the video is also directly fulfilling on the promise made in the hook, and it follows one of the golden rules of creative:
Show, don’t tell.
If the video was a creator explaining the idea of MuddyBites without any visual examples, would the video have popped off the way it did?
Maybe, but likely not.
Now, going viral isn’t enough. How does MuddyBites use their TikTok account to market to potential customers once they’ve gotten the initial view?
Let’s take a look...
3 simple ways MuddyBites uses TikTok to market their product
Sales & New Product Announcements
At the end of the day, going viral is half the battle. You also need to drive purchases, and MuddyBites does this by using TikTok to announce sales and promotions.
Sure, these videos probably won’t go viral. They might even underperform relative to your other content.
But remember, with these types of promo videos you’re trying to speak to your current audience, not expand it.
Same sort of idea here.
You can leverage social to create hype around upcoming products or releases, like Muddy Bites did with this video announcing a limited edition White Chocolate flavor:
Showing Different Use Cases for the Product
MuddyBites does a great job of showing potential viewers all the different ways they can enjoy the product.
This particular example showing Muddy Bites being dipped in caramel took off to 974.1K views.
Again, following the rule of show, don’t tell.
Answering Customer FAQs and Overcoming Objections
Where are MuddyBites shipped?
What flavors to they have?
Do you just chop off the bottoms of Sundae cones? (Yes this was an actual question LOL)
All common questions that they answered in this video:
I also think there’s more potential for content here, perhaps using the native TikTok “reply to comments” feature to address even more common questions, concerns, or even play off of some of the jokes made in the comments section.
For your own brand, think about common objections you get from potential buyers.
Price? Make some content around the quality or specific value prop of your product.
Time and effort? Make some content showing how easy your product is to use.
Shipping times or locations? Make some content addressing this.
If they end up performing well, it’s worth considering repurposing them in paid media, too.
A stupidly simple content format that’s performing well for MuddyBites, and might be worth testing out on your own account
When I was studying this account, there was one content format that caught my attention.
Videos in this format didn’t “pop off” the way that the first video we looked at did, but they did pull decent viewership...
And, they required almost zero editing or filming.
So, what was it?
Well, MuddyBites posts these “videos” that are pretty much screenshots of tweets and memes, with some simple footage playing in the background.
They sometimes pair these with trending audio on TikTok, and they perform pretty damn well relative to the amount of effort that needs to go into them.
Take a look at this one, for example:
A simple meme, and some background footage that was likely shot in 15 seconds using a phone.
It got 11.3K views. Not crazy, but also not bad at all relative to the effort.
Then there’s this one, where they respond in this format to a common comment that they get, making a joke out of it:
23K views.
I wouldn’t run my whole social strategy off of this content format alone (MuddBites don’t either), but I do think it’s a format worth testing to see if it allows you to publish more content with little strain on your creative team.
What do you think?
Area for opportunity?
One opportunity I thought of while reviewing this account was perhaps hiring one dedicated creator to be the face of the brand on TikTok.
Right now, there’s plenty of UGC style content on the page, which is great. But there isn’t really one, recognizable face of the brand.
Could be worth considering to drive even more growth via organic TikTok.
Also, I think it would be worth recreating their most viral TikTok and iterating on that success. It might not pop off the same way, but usually success leaves clues.
TLDR
MuddyBites’ most viral videos have strong text and visual hooks that create curiosity in the viewer, stop the scroll, and get them to watch. These videos also have a body that directly delivers on the hook, while also using quick cuts to keep viewers engaged.
MuddyBites uses TikTok to effectively market their product by promoting sales and new products, showing different use cases for the product, and answering customer FAQs.
MuddyBites has used a simple strategy which involves repurposing a static image over some simple background footage and TikTok trending audio with some success. This could be a format worth considering, especially if you’re trying to limit strain on your creative strain.
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Talk to you on Thursday,
Tommy
PS - I put hours every week into these articles, so if you find these helpful... sharing this with another founder or marketer you know would mean the world. Appreciate you!