Technology

How JT Barnett Built a Content Engine to Grow His TikTok to 290k+ Followers

JT Barnett is an active content creator and TikTok advisor to rapidly growing brands. In this session, he shares his tactical advice for creators looking to grow their following.

by
Dwight Churchill
by
October 6, 2022
-
5
Min Read
Share

https://www.getcaptions.app/blog-post/how-jt-barnett-built-a-content-engine-to-grow-his-tiktok-to-290k-followers

JT Barnett is a creator and TikTok advisor to rapidly growing brands. He's the Founder & CEO of BarnettX, a holding co for modern media brands, including CreatorX, a headhunting firm, and StrategyX, which serves as a content advisor for companies like Super Coffee and Poppi.

Zooming out, JT is one of the most wired-in operators in the digital creator space. We sat down with him to unpack his creation workflow from end to end, distilling tactical advice for creators looking to grow their audiences and generate revenue from organic content. We dive deep on:

  1. Tools for new content creators to streamline their editing
  2. Alternative channels to make money through content
  3. Foolproof tactics to sustainably grow your TikTok

How to Ramp Up Your Content Engine: Get Organized

JT Barnett's a busy man. He divides his time between three major enterprises: 

  1. TikTok – he creates educational content at the intersection of business and culture.
  2. StrategyX – JT's firm teaches companies how to make organic TikTok content. They advise on the company's content, filming strategies, and the changes they need to make to take off.
  3. CreatorX – Another firm that finds TikTok creators to run brand accounts, sort of like the next Jake from State Farm. The firm also handles the strategy details with the creator once they match with a company. 

BarnettX has three full-time employees and three or four that are remote part-time. They're fully in the Zoom age, as all of their meetings are virtual.

JT has a couple of tips for new creators who want to get organized:

  • Be Prepared – know what you're going to film beforehand. Write down ideas or have a running list of them that you can reference at any time so that when it's time to film, you aren't brainstorming. 
  • Use a Scheduling Platform – JT's grown quickly on LinkedIn because he doesn't have to make posts in the moment every single day (he uses the platform Later). The scheduled posts and auto posts are super efficient and great for consistency. 

Unpacking JT’s Tooling Stack

JT's software stack is pretty clean. He uses the iPhone camera native app. He edits with Videoleap, sometimes CapCut, and the TikTok native platform. 

Sometimes he dabbles with Instagram editing. He's gotten into filming with a greenscreen because it makes editing Instagram Reels easier. 

In terms of captioning, if he's embedding third-party captions, he usually outsources the job to an editor who's probably working in something like Premier or works with a tool like Captions.

"I never want to show up to film without pre-planned ideas. That rule is all about being efficient and holding myself accountable regarding consistent creation.”

How Creators Can Kickstart Their Career in Organic Content 

JT highlights a way for creators to preserve their joy in producing personal content while making a living off of the TikTok organic content industry.

His firm searches for creators with small to midsize audiences that have yet to monetize or aren't interested in becoming the face of their brand. JT isn't looking for people who want to be macro, in-your-face creators.

Instead, CreatorX is searching for people that want to make money through content and have those skills from their personal page but want to keep that page independent of their salary.

Through his firm, JT realized that heaps of creators don't want to be the next big influencer.

How to Make Money While Enjoying the Process

There's a lot of pressure on creators around their personal content. 

Many think that to do content full-time, they have to monetize their personal page, so they need to start making content that urges people to buy products.

To do so, they start appealing to views and the algorithm rather than making joyful and natural content. They end up unhappy in their careers because they aren't enjoying the process anymore and haven't produced something that represents who they are. Contracting through CreatorX gives people the option to make content money without amending their personal brand.

They make one video daily for a company and do whatever they want on their own page. 

The contracting companies are mostly emerging brands but could be anything from Best Western, to Microsoft, to Poppi. CreatorX will work with any good brand selling to people scrolling on TikTok. 

JT's also noticed a terrific side benefit for creators – many of his creator clients' pages grew once they started working with CreatorX because they continued creating genuine, organic content without a business goal while securing steady income elsewhere. 

He also notes that most of his creators end up really enjoying collaborating with the companies they're paired with. 

"Creators get the best of both worlds. They're part of a team, building with a company while having fun on their own page without the pressure to monetize."
Download our app now

Exclusively from the App Store.

Why Digital Brands Are Hiring Creators Full-Time

Contracting a creator through JT is far cheaper for brands than hiring one in-house. Creators typically make $3000 to $5000 a month for 30 videos or a hundred bucks per video.

If an agency were making the same amount of videos for your brand per month, with the necessity for context and original content, it would cost $15k to $20k, easy. 

The value of the contracted creator has potential for exponential impact – the longer they're with the brand, the more they get to know the product. Each month, their value compounds. 

The audience also gets to know and love the creator, whereas at an agency, each video is made independently from the others and as quickly as possible. 

Successful organic content requires time and relationships, which contracting provides. 

"The longer the creator is with the team, the more the content improves – they really become a brand personality. It's also cost-effective. It's efficient."

The JT Barnett Playbook: How to Grow Your Audience

To successfully grow your platform, you as a creator need a super clear content game plan. To get serious, ask yourself questions like:

  • Who is my audience?
  • What is the function of my content?
  • What is my audience dealing with that I can help out with?

The answer to that final question could be anything from making the audience laugh, to contributing information about a specific topic, to providing insight into a particular market. 

Parting Advice: Growth Requires Sustainability

Once you've chosen your path, create a series or an original piece of content that you can continue to produce iterations of regularly. Hopefully, that gets your audience to keep tuning back in rather than just watching you once and moving on. 

There isn't one right way for smaller influencers to grow their platforms. 

The real issue is, what can you take on and do sustainably for the next year?

If you can film TikTok videos and redistribute that content on YouTube and Instagram, do that. If it's too stressful for you to manage all three at once, just pick one platform. 

It's easier to transfer people once you've established an engaged audience on one platform than growing an initial following by doing a half-assed job on all three platforms. 

JT himself started on multiple platforms with multiple channels – running three TikTok accounts at once, managing his Instagram, and making vlogs on YouTube all at once.

That grind made him realize he'd rather pick one thing and dedicate everything to it. Ultimately, he chose his TikTok business account over everything else, and he's still at that to this day.

"Growing a successful content engine requires really thinking about, 'Who is the end consumer and how can I provide value to them?'"
by
Dwight Churchill
by
Technology

Stay in the loop

Subscribe to our newsletter and get all the news from Captions.
No spam, we promise.

Download our app now

Exclusively from the App Store.

More Blog Posts

Captions App Logo
Technology

OpenAI’s Whisper Model Crushes Google in AI Head-to-Head

Learn how Captions used Statsig to test the performance of OpenAI's new Whisper model against Google's Speech-to-Text.

November 9, 2022
-
6
Min Read
Education

The Most Common Pitfalls for Emerging Creators

Giselle Ugarte is a content creator, coach, and founder. In our session, we unpack the most common pitfalls for content creators - and how to avoid them.

October 6, 2022
-
5
Min Read
Giselle Case Study
Technology

How Giselle Ugarte Grew Her TikTok to 175K+ By Doubling Down on Engagement

Giselle Ugarte is a prolific creator, coach, and founder. In our deep dive, she shares why captions are essential if you want to make accessible - and engaging - content.

October 6, 2022
-
7
Min Read
Education

How Zach Mitchem Scaled His Audience to 33k+ Followers Using Captions

Zach Mitchem is a Tiktoker and YouTuber helping creators grow their followings. Below, Zach shares how Captions differentiates his videos from the masses.

August 31, 2022
-
5
Min Read
Education

YouTube 101: Tactics for Growing a Viral Video Channel From Zero to One

Zach Mitchem is a Tiktoker and YouTuber helping creators grow their followings. Below, Zach unpacks how to leverage the algorithm to grow a viral YouTube channel.

August 31, 2022
-
6
Min Read
Education

Captions Growth Playbook: How to Turn Your Followers Into Customers

Elise Micheals, a social media creator and men’s coach, unpacks her strategy behind revenue-generating video content on TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

August 22, 2022
-
5
Min Read
Education

How Elise Micheals Uses Captions to Capture Attention & Engagement

Elise Micheals, a social media creator and men’s coach, shares her experience using Captions — from reducing upload times to supercharging user engagement.

August 22, 2022
-
7
Min Read
Education

Sydney on Socials: Why Editing on Captions Turbocharges Engagement

Our team sat down with Sydney McDonald, a TikTok creator and coach, to unpack how Captions saves her endless time and money during the content editing process.

August 18, 2022
-
5
Min Read
Education

How to Easily Quantify Which Content Drives Follower Growth on TikTok

Sydney McDonald, a viral TikTok creator and social media coach, uncovers her tactics behind optimizing captioned content for the TikTok algorithm.

August 18, 2022
-
6
Min Read
Education

How to Drive Revenue and Real-Time Profits From Your TikTok Audience

We sat down with Cory Connors, a sustainable packaging consultant who’s built a vibrant TikTok community, on how creators can build profits from their following.

August 16, 2022
-
4
Min Read
Technology

The Coreygated Playbook: Why Captioning Boosts Engagement Metrics

Cory Connors, a rapidly growing TikTok creator in the packaging space, shares how he uses Captions to save time, accelerate editing, and boost engagement.

August 15, 2022
-
4
Min Read
Education

How to Add Captions to Instagram Reels

Learn how to automatically add captions to your Instagram Reels with Captions app.

August 6, 2022
-
2
Min Read
YouTube Shorts with Captions App
Education

How to Add Captions to YouTube Shorts

Learn how to add captions and subtitles to your YouTube shorts videos with the Captions App. Get accurate, closed captions in any language.

August 5, 2022
-
2
Min Read
Education

How Jules Montgomery scaled her following to 290k+ using Captions

Jules Montgomery, a TikTok creator and the two-time Founder and CEO, teaches how Captions helps creators significantly cut down on editing time and get back to doing what they actually love.

August 4, 2022
-
4
Min Read
Education

Audience Building 101: How to Find Your First 1,000 Followers on TikTok

We sat down with Jules Montgomery, a TikTok creator and the two-time Founder and CEO, to explore the creator economy and going from 100 to 100,000 followers.

August 3, 2022
-
8
Min Read
Captions Logo
Education

How to Add Captions to Your TikTok Videos & Increase Your Audience Reach

Learn how you can use captions on TikTok. With the right caption, a simple video turns into a rich and engaging content that not only entertains but also educates your audience. It's important to add context while keeping it playful.

July 18, 2022
-
2
Min Read