Kyle Kaplanis: 0:00

Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining me on the BizTok podcast, brought to you by biztok.co I'm. Your host, Kyle Kaplanis. This podcast is for marketers entrepreneurs, business owners, who are wanting to get a better sense of how to market themselves on TikTok. What are the strategies to grow in that space and how to best humanize your brand. I'm going to be joined by Cory Connors, who we're going to explore how he is taking sustainable packaging education, bringing it TikTok. Also the strategies behind his growth over in that space. This is something you're going to want to listen to every minute of this episode. Make sure to connect with me over on Instagram. It is Kyle_Kaplanis. You can also find me over on clubhouse under my name, Kyle Kaplanis. Did you know that these podcasts are available on YouTube to watch? Yes, that is correct. If you want to watch the video footage of this episode with Cory and I head over to YouTube and search BizTok. If you're new to this podcast, be sure to hit that subscribe button. I have some really good stuff coming up and some really great guests that you do not want to miss. This week's tip is all about the TikTok duet feature. TikTok has so many features on the platform, but did you know that the duet feature is something that you could be using today? It also allows you to put out a piece of content when you're feeling lost, and don't know how to be creative. If there's ever been a video, that's popped up on your, for you page that you just love so much, and you want to share it with your friends, your family, and your colleagues. You can duet that video. That way you can share it with your audience. Now, some people might think, Hey, you're not bringing value to this video. So what I suggest is this. You can create the duet and make it more fun by adding some extra value to it by either putting your input with text on screen or making it really fun and interactive. The duet feature does get pushed a lot more and it can give you an extra boost in followers for the week. So don't be afraid to add duets into your TikTok strategy. Now let's transition over to this week's interview with Corey Conners. I just wanted to say before starting this podcast episode, I just launched a brand new community over on Discord. Come join the BizTok community over there. Just go to discord. Search up BizTok, and you will find us, we're going to talk about TikTok strategies and support one another along the way. Today on the show. I have a interesting guests. I think you'll find them fun and has a different style of content that you probably have not ever seen before. His name is Corey Conners. He's a dad, husband and packaging consultant with 23 years experience. He's also a board member for the children's cancer charity called Candlelighters for children with cancer. Corey, welcome to the show.

 

Cory Connors: 3:18

Thank you so much, Kyle.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 3:19

Corey, you're killing it over there on TikTok. Your name under as corrugated, is that correct? You have 43,000 followers right now, which is a substantial number. That's exciting.

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Cory Connors: 3:29

Thank you. Yeah, honestly, my goal was 10,000, so I'm thrilled by 43,000. I've raised the bar. I'm shooting for a hundred K now.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 3:38

That's awesome. When was that goal for the 10,000? What were you looking to shoot for a year?

 

Cory Connors: 3:43

Yeah, yeah, the end of last year. So

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Kyle Kaplanis: 3:47

And you just crushed it.

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Cory Connors: 3:49

Like you said, it's a unique content. I'm here to help people with packaging. There's thousands of businesses, on TikTok that are struggling with, how do I ship up my product? It's always the last thing they think about when they've developed a new item. That's where I come in.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 4:05

We'll talk a little bit more about that, cause it's so interesting. people don't think of firsthand. Right? But it is really important to their business. But I'd love to know, how did you even get started on TikTok? What's the story there?

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Cory Connors: 4:16

That's an interesting story. I hadn't done social media hardly at all, other than LinkedIn. And just started listening to Gary Vee, Gary Vaynerchuk. I'm sure you know who that is. When the pandemic hit, I just thought, man, I really got to give this a try. I got to go for it and give it a hundred percent effort. It was very nerve wracking for me. I wasn't used to being in front of the camera. I'm used to talking to people on the phone being with people in person that's my comfort zone, but to be in front of a camera, it took me honestly, six months to get over that kind of like

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Kyle Kaplanis: 4:52

Fear, and anxiety.

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Cory Connors: 4:52

I'm 43 years old. Social media is not something I grew up with. I didn't have a cell phone in high school, you know? Nobody really did it. A couple of my friends had beepers. So I'm excited to grab this and really run with it. It's been amazing making real friends like you Kyle on this app.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 5:11

What's so cool about TikTok in general. I love that it's bringing the older demographic here to be more confident as well, because other platforms like I've talked about this so much on my other episodes, but it's so true, Instagram and YouTube, you feel like you couldn't get in that space because you don't feel confident, but TikTok makes you feel confident. You could just be authentic. You could just show up how you are and it's more fun. I love that it's done that for you is build your confidence, getting in front of the camera and be able to speak. And people are obviously loving you and loving your content. There's so many great aspects to take talk. The connecting part is huge. I used to think LinkedIn was my favorite place for connecting. And then I realized, LinkedIn is great, but I love meeting people in their authentic moments. Right? And TikTok is that. People are showing up to be who they are and that's where you meet the best people because you get to see them in their own environment and talking to things that they love. And that's, what's so key about TikTok.

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Cory Connors: 6:07

I agree. A hundred percent. You don't have to dress up fancy. I can put a baseball hat on and t-shirt and talking about packaging and people are just as interested as if I had a tie on.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 6:17

Before we were trying to get noticed professionally, you had to play the part, but now people are just wanting to learn somebody's personality. You're a human, I'm a human cool. You're wearing a hat. It doesn't make you less valuable. It's more relatable because there's a lot of business guys out there that when they go home, they throw on their hat. And if you'd like suits , wear your suit.

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Cory Connors: 6:36

Yeah, that's the other thing. Is it okay to wear a suit? And nobody's going to give you a bad time.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 6:41

You just be who you are. Did you think, okay, I'm going to come to TikTok and I'm going to make some packaging content. What was the story there about your strategy? Did you have any, or did you just jump in.

 

Cory Connors: 6:52

I thought it was time for me to share my knowledge with people. I've got a significant customer base. I've been doing this for many years. Anytime I meet somebody new, they're always, "wow, that's really interesting. I never thought about packaging as a job." Go to the grocery store and walk the Isles don't just look at eye level, look on the top shelf. That's where all the full cases are. That's what we do. We're doing mostly the secondary packaging, the shipping container. It's something that people just don't think about. I wanted to share this information with people, make it accessible . So when they're starting their business, they're not floundering around. People are looking on Google or they go overseas. There's thousands of packaging companies in the US that are local companies with people like me that make a living, helping people like them. It's been really fun answering questions, helping people out. Got a few new customers from it, real customers like Simplify and, Art of Sucrose. there a new cotton candy company. I'm excited about that one. We haven't made those boxes yet, but we're working on them.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 8:04

That's really cool, Corey. There's a lot of professions who might think, what I'm doing is a little bit interesting people are not going to be excited about it. People really are interested in these unique aspects and learning more of the whole spectrum of a business. Packaging is huge for so many businesses and I love watching Your videos because I learned so much as well. We all consume packaged goods. You made me think more like, wow, thing I just received is not the appropriate size and what a waste. So that's really important. I think a lot of businesses should learn that. I just watched recently, somebody was packaging up it looked like a sign of some sorts and they cut the edges of the boxes and it fits so perfectly and they didn't have to use any of the filler stuff. Like you said, no paper, just really simplistic. I think that's where we should be going as a world. You probably hear so many people talk about Amazon packaging. Do you hear that a lot?

 

Cory Connors: 8:54

Yeah. That's a constant theme, in all of tick-tock. I'm hoping to train people to be more , I think the guy you're talking about is Nick Milweb , he's a friend of mine on here. He came up with that system. I've never seen anybody do it like that in my career. To package something flat and no void fill. Yeah, everybody thinks you have to have bubble wrap. You have to have lots of room around. No, you dont. Corrugated is really strong and tough. It's all you really need for most items. Unless they're potentially could be scratched.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 9:26

I think we get a lot of our education from things we received. So maybe some of these businesses are like, this is how I've received items in the past. This is how I need to package it. I think it's really cool that you're bringing this element to TikTok to educate because like you said, especially right now, there's so many small businesses emerging and developing their own products. And packaging is the last thing on their mind. They could be going through and being like, Oh my gosh, Corey , I'm going to learn some of his methods to save on costs and on the environment . gen Z is very focused on that too. Environment health , and the future are really important to them. I think that's important for businesses as they develop, if that culture changes, they need to change with it, or people are going to be like, I'm going to shop with this company who really cares about the environment and their packaging.

 

Cory Connors: 10:10

Very true. Absolutely. I've actually. Focused on sustainability, my whole career. I'm from Oregon. The Northwest is a very sustainable environment. Lots of trees around and people have always cared about sustainability. it's even better now because sustainability is cost-effective. If you're not shipping a huge box, you're going to save a bunch of money. So if I can teach people how to do that, not only are they saving money, or making more money, they are helping the environment.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 10:45

I think that's really important. Sustainability of everyone's brand. If you have a bad packaging and you're known as the guy that just wastes stuff, people are going to stop buying from you from ,just the way you package, which is crazy. But it's true.

 

Cory Connors: 10:58

I did a poll on TikTok last week, 83% of people responded that sustainable packaging did matter to them. I thought that number was even higher than I thought it would be because I've had people comment. Oh, who cares? It doesn't matter. yeah, it does. If we want to stay here on this planet for a long time, we better figure out how to be sustainable.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 11:21

A hundred percent Corey. That number is bigger than what I assumed too, but I would be that guy that is on the 83% side . Packaging, especially since consuming your content, it's really top of mind. Which is really cool because even though I'm not in that space of developing my own brand, that needs packaging. It's still in the top of my mind as a consumer now, which is really important and vital to reach the masses. You're doing such a great job there.

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Cory Connors: 11:44

Thank you.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 11:45

I love to know strategy-wise obviously your content has probably shifted a bit or you've learned some new things along the way, but what has been working really well for you on TikTok?

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Cory Connors: 11:57

People want to learn about sustainable options. One of my biggest videos was about, Geami paper, which is a sustainable alternative to bubble wrap. 575,000 views and, thousands of comments and most of the comments were, "where do I get it?" , "how do you spell that?" Or "I didn't even know there was such a thing." So people are thrilled that packaging companies have made alternatives that are sustainable.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 12:29

Was that the video? I don't know if it was the same one. Was it an egg drop as well? Was that same paper?

 

Cory Connors: 12:35

Same material, yeah. That is where I learned about Geami. That was three years ago and they literally threw that box out of a five story window. It was an egg and it survived and we all stood around and looked at each other, like, this is something.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 12:52

I can find that video and put a link in the description below so you guys can check it out. I was really shocked. They literally just toss it out the window, it fell and it hit the ground hard. They opened it up and I was expecting to see massive kind of thing wrapped around. It was so basic. I was like, how did that happen?

 

Cory Connors: 13:09

It's small and tight, right? We call it blocking, embracing, and that's what packaging needs to be effective. You don't need it to be a huge box. That box is only this big and it had an egg inside and it survived. Incredible.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 13:25

Too bad we didn't have that material back in the day. Doing the egg drop challenge, we would have, won,

 

Cory Connors: 13:32

That video made me think back to grade school and I did the egg drop challenge with a Tupperware container. Interesting. And it worked. it survived, with some paper towels inside, so nice. Even back then.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 13:50

It was always top of mind for you. You said you had any social media experience. To me I find that really cool because there's a lot of people, especially like in our demographics. Gen X, Millennials, Boomers who don't have social media experience. I know a lot of people consume Gary Vee, he's like, yo, you're 60 and let's go. I love that TikTok is that option for people that just show up. this is a great platform to just start on because you can just be you. Were you ever a user of LinkedIn?

 

Cory Connors: 14:23

Yeah. LinkedIn, I went pretty heavy on a few years ago. I made a lot of great connections. I've turned that into TikTok and I'll post the videos, both places oftentimes.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 14:35

Nice.

 

Cory Connors: 14:36

Assuming they're appropriate for LinkedIn. That's a little more buttoned up. Honestly, I didn't know you could post on LinkedIn. Until about a year and a half ago.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 14:46

I think there's so many people that still don't know that. They're like, isn't it just an online resume? And I'm like, no, it's a social media platform now. You can share content, you can comment, like things and share things. it's really fun and it is more buttoned up. I've noticed as well is there's a lot of people sharing their videos from TikTok to LinkedIn, because there's so many professionals that are speaking about these things. I've been with TikTok for such a long time and on LinkedIn, and I remember the shift of TikTokers, sharing stuff on LinkedIn, and it did not go that well at first. People were like, get this thing off, LinkedIn. And now it's shifted , you don't really see a lot of those negative comments because people are sharing the things that do fit well.

 

Cory Connors: 15:28

I agree. I took a lot of flack at first on LinkedIn. People saying, yeah, I'll have to check my daughter's TikTok, maybe she'll let me look at it. I'm like, you should be on TikTok. It's really fun, and it's great. Don't act like you're too good for it, come on, man.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 15:42

Like Gary Vee , those people that listen to him are early in this space because those same people that are like, Oh, I'm going to get on my daughter's phone to check you out because I'm not going to get my own. They will come to TikTok eventually. That's how it happens. The early adopters go, the ones that are smarter thinkers. Those listening right now, you guys are the smart ones and ahead of the game there. Eventually the rest of the flock will show up and they will be the ones looking back and be like, dang, why didn't I listen to Gary Vee when I heard this. Why didn't I listen to Corey , when he was sharing his TikTok experiences and his growth at that time, because now the market is as saturated as Instagram and YouTube, and I don't have those opportunities for growth where it's really organic. Now I have to pay, like I have to on Facebook. It's really smart that you thought outside the box and were like, screw it I'm going on there.

 

Cory Connors: 16:32

I was really nervous and I'm glad I got over that. I know you and I have both connected on clubhouse. That seems to be the next big thing. I was in a room yesterday with a guy that's from my same city and he's the CEO of a new company and he needs packaging. He had 30 followers on clubhouse, we're all starting at zero on clubhouse. Exactly. And tick talks the same. It just takes time to get to know everybody and use the platforms the way they're attended to.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 17:01

Absolutely. I agree with you that clubhouse is the next thing. Because there's no video aspect, it's not going to take place of somewhere like TikTok. TikTok is now going to be your marketing ground where you reach masses and you do your marketing. And then Clubhouse is really finalizing those connections because you're able to speak to them in real time and have active conversations by voice, which is really powerful. Since I joined , I've made some connections way faster than TikTok. The texting aspect you can't really get somebody's personality through that, but with voice you really can. I've met so many people as well. And like you said, it's like the ground floor. I think psychologically we've thought, if somebody is a CEO and I'm down here, I can't speak to them. Whereas now things are shifting. People are just human. Every time I go in these rooms, I hear what their title is. And I'm like, Ooh, you almost feel a little intimidated, but then you talk to them and they're just like a normal person. They're like, yeah, let's collaborate. And you're like, Oh, wow this is so cool.

 

Cory Connors: 17:54

Oftentimes, those are the people that are most excited to collaborate because they want to make the largest changes in their companies. Yeah. That they are so passionate about.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 18:03

I love that. I'm really loving the shift in the way we're humanizing things and just being more authentic. I really am a huge advocate obviously of TikTok and I'm honestly a huge advocate of Clubhouse as well. I'm glad we're on there. I'm talking to a few other creators like Brendan Gahan R b Cancilla, who I just had on my podcasts. We're thinking about doing a group clubhouse day where we pick an hour and we talk about, TikTok and strategies that we've been learning, but I would love to have you part of that group as well Cory, that'd be so cool.

 

Cory Connors: 18:33

Thank you so much. Yeah, I'd appreciate that. we've started a weekly room, 10 o'clock Wednesday mornings, Pacific standard time for sustainable packaging.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 18:44

That's awesome.

 

Cory Connors: 18:44

Come join that if you're a new business, if you're an old business and want to revamp your packaging. It's essentially free advice. It's incredible because people are just excited to talk about it. They love what they do and they want to help. It doesn't feel like people are on there selling. I'm not an aggressive salesperson. I want to help people make their companies better, make their jobs easier, make their lives better. I truly enjoy that.

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Kyle Kaplanis: 19:14

Corey, I'm so grateful that you brought up selling and being hardcore, because I think there's some of those sales guys out there that are like, what are you talking about sales. That's what they think about. they're like, I'm ready to knock on that next door, and they have that old school mentality. But there is a ton of us who love to help people. I feel like everyone is a sales person at the end of the day. Some people are just not as aggressive, we still love to help people. You still have to talk about your product, your business, or your personal brand. We're all a personal brand. You still have to have some salesy type things there? To me personally, I have a sales background, but I am done being sold to I hate the fakeness of it. Just be real. And that's exactly how I feel on Clubhouses. People are just being genuine. They're just having a conversation. I've not been in a single room where they're like, Hey guys, come check out my product. If they'd bring it up, it's just in a natural conversation where you, people are asking questions about it. They're not forced people are coming to them. I think that's the key as well for anybody who's listening. If you want to grow your brand, you want people to come to you. You gotta bring value up front. You gotta be genuine and make people come to you. If they come to you, they're going to purchase, consume, buy ,or be a follower because they've chosen to come versus just being forced.

 

Cory Connors: 20:26

A hundred percent. I've always started all meetings with new customers, with this statement. If I can't add value to you, I will direct you to a place that will add value to you and that's it. You can watch their shoulders drop. I don't want to sell somebody something that they don't need , or that won't be helpful to them. If they can't look their boss in the eyes and say, this is a good decision, then I don't want them to do it.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 20:52

I've been that guy that's been forced to buy something in the past. You're like, dang, why did I do that? And then you have resentment of that company and that person. You'd never forget that person because you're like, Oh, they made me spend all this money that I didn't even want to, you know. So you don't want to be that guy. I'd rather somebody comes to me and they're like, man, Kyle, I love what you're doing whatever you got I want to buy. They're going to be more of an advocate on your behalf. They're going to tell all their friends. That's more critical when you have word of mouth just spreading like , wildfire from true people. That's so huge.

 

Cory Connors: 21:23

Almost all my leads come from word of mouth. People who've worked with me. they want to replicate what the other person did. And I love that.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 21:32

What features, do you love the most on TikTok? What are the best features you could use?

 

Cory Connors: 21:37

I've really enjoyed the duet feature. People are actually sending me their videos and saying will you please duet this and tell me how I could do my packaging differently, or if you really love my packaging, that's good news for me, right. I've enjoyed that aspect of sharing other people's positive attributes or helping them tweak their packaging so it's even better. Hey, this part's great, but you could do this. Have you thought of that? They almost always come back and say, thank you so much. That was great idea. I didn't think about that. That's gonna save me thousands of dollars. Oh, okay. Great.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 22:15

That's what I love as well is no other social media platform before you could collaborate in such a mass way. Somebody could share a video and then you create one and share it back. Seeing the side-by-side in quick form like that is so critical. So many people are getting value from that. They're like, my packaging is similar to this person's that Cory just gave this great advice too. I'm going to change that. You didn't benefit financially from them, but they're still going to remember that, Cory is the man. So that way, if one of their friends is like, Hey, I'm having some trouble with packaging they're like, you know what? I learned this tip from Cory, you should definitely contact this guy because he knows what's up. Being an expert in this space and TikTok allows you to become that. You might've been before, but people might've not known you. Right. You were behind the scenes. Now being a personal brand. People who think packaging think Cory. When you can think of a brand and think of a name. That's game changer.

 

Cory Connors: 23:07

I have a guy on LinkedIn, two weeks ago, say, man, I wish my name was Cory, so I could go by corygated. I said you can't have it. That's the only thing I own. I own the website. even my credit department at Landsberg knows Corygated now because people from tick-tock talk or LinkedIn will go on to landsberg.com and they'll apply for credit and they'll ask for corrugated as their sales rep. So that's been cool.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 23:39

That's so cool. Has there been anything that hasn't worked well for you on TikTok?

 

Cory Connors: 23:47

Yes. I made a series of videos. I called it A through Z in packaging and I held up a letter in front of me. I didn't know what I was doing at the beginning and they just got really bad views. People weren't interested. It wasn't exciting. You gotta get them with that hook right away. And that wasn't it. Definitely failed a lot and learned a lot.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 24:11

If you come to TikTok and you have that instant success, you're lucky because there's a lot of people who I sit here and talk with and , you ask them , Hey, did you have instant success? And they're like, no. They made a bunch of videos where it didn't work so well. I just had a podcast episode released with Angela Proffitt, and she said that TikTok has helped her become more powerful in 15 seconds than she ever thought would be imaginable. It takes skill. You start to learn it and you start to realize, , okay this is my voice that I can put out to get somebodies attention. You might watch a video and be like, that's really easy, I'm telling you get in front of the camera and try it. It's not as easy as it looks. I'm still learning myself.

 

Cory Connors: 24:49

I agree. Every single day, I'm learning something about it. I'll see a video and I'll say, Oh, that's a great idea. Or I'm glad I didn't do that. And you're right. You have to be humble. You have to be open-minded available for coaching. And, not set in your ways, social media to the T is you have to be pliable.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 25:12

Absolutely. I agree. If you have some low view videos and they don't seem that great, just leave them , because you might still get some feedback from people. Just leave him up there. People like to see somebody being human. Oh, they weren't perfect in the beginning. If somebody scrolls down and sees, it gives somebody some hope. okay, I am struggling and that's okay. Everybody struggles in the beginning.

 

Cory Connors: 25:34

And they could take off later you never know .This news Q&A feature is pretty cool. It really fits with my audience because a lot of people have specific questions about their packaging. To be able to respond to it with a video, perfect. Not only am I helping them, I'm helping anybody else who had that issue.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 25:55

This is where I think TikTok they're so innovative in their thinking with things like the Q&A feature, which is brilliant, beyond brilliant. I know TikTok really is trying to focus more in that professional

space to ": 26:06

Learn on TikTok". They realize that's more, long-term . Look at YouTube, it's so educational. TikTok is , we got to figure out a way to break that norm and be really powerful in the education space. One of the best features that I think that they have unlike any other platform, is that reply to comment, which is similar to a Q and a, , just to be able to reply to a comment with a video brings out again, that humanizing aspect. It shows for one that you're listening to your audience, you're reading, you're engaging. You could comment, but a video is so much more personal. You're speaking to that comment. I think that was so brilliant on their part.

 

Cory Connors: 26:43

I agree. It opens up the opportunity. it was a function they already had on their videos. Right. So they just turned it into, a place to gather all the comments. And what I like too, is people can go into your Q and a section and they can like the question. This just started yesterday and there was one question in there that had nine likes already. Right? that's amazing. So I had to make a video about that. I think creators, if they care about their followers and their community, they will respond to those questions.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 27:15

Absolutely. Then that brings it out to further marketing. This is what I love about TikTok as well. The feedback you get is so quick versus putting out surveys to people that aren't even going to fill them out or really care. But on TikTok, they're going to go to that Q and A, and like you said, like the top comment. So you're like, Oh wow. People want to know about how to properly package this specific item, I'm just making something up. And you're like, Oh, I didn't know that many people were interested in this. Now let me create marketing around that to the masses. Because if my TikTok people like that, that means the masses as well, that are not on TikTok. Now you can market to places like Facebook, LinkedIn. You can make ads associated with that because you got what people are actually care about. You can create blog posts around that. You can create website materials. You can create all sorts around that specific question, which is just brilliant.

 

Cory Connors: 28:07

It's incredible. I couldn't agree with you more. My degree is actually in advertising and marketing. To have that background, it's all coming to fruition now in, in my career. I didn't realize I'd be marketing myself, you know. Like you said, that's what it comes down to at the end of the day, we're all marketing our knowledge, our abilities, we're here to help. If you actually show success in the past with other people , you'll get more business.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 28:37

I could not agree more with you. We all are great marketers and salespeople, regardless of what you think you do, we really are. These tools that TikTok has given us, if you use them correctly, you can really grow a personal brand, your brand, your business, whatever it is. TikTok, I think has the best tools to do so in such a fast way and reach real people. Lastly, this is a question I ask everybody because I'm so interested as you know, the, for you page is built for you as a person. if me and you sat down in a room and we went through it, we'd see completely different things. So I love to know. What kind of content is found on your, for you page?

 

Cory Connors: 29:18

Well, that's a great question, Kyle. It's mostly boxes. Some reason the algorithm has picked up that I love boxes. People packaging, their stuff, people stacking boxes. There was a guy who made a giant box and he jumped off of it into a pool. Anything that says corrugated, packaging, boxes. A lot of dad content. They tend to say, Oh, he's a dad he's gonna like dad content. Dad jokes. I like famous fishermen a lot, he's hilarious. he's a good friend of mine.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 29:55

I don't get any boxes on my for you page. Now that I follow you and we connect, I do see your content, but I don't see any of that. That's why I love to ask because somebody might be like boxes? What the? But that's really interesting to you. You love that content. TikTok encompasses so many things that are so powerful and that for you pages really critical for businesses. The for you page, you're seeing the content you like, but your content which is key, that's what I tell people create, is your content is going to be seen. If you make boxes ,and then there's people out there that love boxes, it's going to get in there to the right people that want to see your stuff. It's not just going randomly out there like some other social media is might go randomly unless you pay for specific targeted advertising. But on here, you can reach people who are interested for free. That's crazy to me that there's some people out there that are still not comprehending that. Like, come on.

 

Cory Connors: 30:49

It's such a huge opportunity. I think a lot of companies will come on and they'll make two videos and they don't go viral so they stop. Yeah. It's like, you got to grind. Sometimes people go viral their first video and that's awesome for them. Yep. Congratulations, but it's highly unlikely. So keep making videos.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 31:08

You have to, and it's true. I've seen people have that viral success with their first video, then they can't maintain it. It could have been an animal video. Then they made content and people were like, actually, I just liked your dog not, you. I've seen a ton of content like that. or maybe they did something really funny, but then they try too hard and they couldn't maintain it. There's so many people that want that instant success. It's like with anything, even with like weight loss, we're all waiting for that magic pill. But it's never going to happen. You have to grind. With TikTok , you just got to keep showing up and you'll slowly build your audience. Even if it's one person a day, that's awesome. You're gonna create a community that'll stick around for the long-term because you show up all the time.

 

Cory Connors: 31:48

It means more to me when I get a, Follow request or, somebody follows me back. Who is somebody that I actually know? You know what I'm saying? I'm excited about that. If it's , somebody who I don't think would actually engage with my content You're not as excited. Yeah. You appreciate all followers.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 32:07

You can have tons of success with under 10 K followers, I've talked to so many creators who have under 10 K who have gotten so much reach out from people wanting to collaborate in ways outside of this professionally for their business. Who've monetized. Angela Proffitt, who was on my show, she has 5,600 and believe it or not, she got reached out by a brand. It helped get her more of a reach for her e-courses. She's had people reach out to join her e-course. You don't need a million followers to reach the right people. There's opportunities like that. Also the flip side as well. If you do grow fast, you have to remember that. As you grow, it comes with more responsibility. I know that there's a lot of people who had that instant success and. They weren't prepared for that responsibility . When you have more eyes on you, you have a lot more opinions and you have a lot more people that are not gonna agree with you as well. They weren't ready for the hate that sometimes comes with it. If you grow slowly, I have all these supporters, your one little comment over here, whatever.

 

Cory Connors: 33:12

I agree. A hundred percent. Yeah. I went from 20, 20 to 40 really quickly. I went from zero to 20 really slowly. I've seen it both ways and you're right. The organic slow growth is, a little easier to manage, , mentally. I think people understand that you can only respond to so many comments and you can only like so many comments and it's time consuming. I've got a wife and kids. I want to see them, you know?

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 33:40

I think people do respect that and understand that, especially if they're. Creators as well. How can people find you? What's the best way to connect with you?

 

Cory Connors: 33:49

On TikTok, at corygated, C O R Y G A T E D or on LinkedIn, Cory Conners. Landsberg.com is our website. cory.connors@Landsberg.com.

 

Kyle Kaplanis: 34:01

Everybody who's listening. I made it really simple for you. It's all in the show notes. You'll be able to quickly find those links, click em, so you can connect with the right person really quickly. And if you do have any packaging questions or you are a business looking to figuring out sustainable packaging for your company. Definitely reach out to Cory. He's an expert in his field has tons of knowledge. If you don't believe me, go follow his TikTok. You can check out his content and you'll really love what he's doing over there. Cory, I really appreciate your time today and thank you so much for being a part of the show.

 

Cory Connors: 34:35

Thank you, Kyle. It's been a lot of fun. I really appreciate it.