Hi, I’m Codi! I’m the Content Marketing Manager for Planoly, where I create content for our social media, email newsletter, and blog. Last month, I gave myself a personal challenge: post consistently on TikTok for 30 days. I wanted to put myself in our creators' shoes and see what insights I could bring back to you. Spoiler alert—I learned a lot. From best practices to staying consistent, here’s everything I discovered.

A little about me:

‍I’m 29, living in Austin, Texas, and I love cooking, baking, shopping and pilates—so my content naturally fell into the lifestyle category. My main content pillars were:

• Vlogs: Aesthetic videos of my daily life.
• Cleaning: Sunday reset cleaning videos (my best-performing content!).
• Cooking & Baking: Dinner recipes and sourdough tutorials.
• Fashion: Hauls and try-ons from my favorite brands.

My top performing content: 

• Sunday Reset (65.5K views, 11.3K likes) My Sunday Reset videos were my signature series and consistently performed the best, with this video gaining 65.5K views and 383 new followers. The consistency of these videos helped my audience know what to expect each week. (Learn about the importance of having a signature series here.)
• Shopping Wishlist (41.7K views, 7.8K likes) This was my take on a trending format. While it racked up a ton of views, it only brought in 15 new followers. Why? Because it wasn’t personal to me. The takeaway? Trends boost views but they don’t always build community. 
• Old Navy Try-On (37.1K views, 695 likes) Another trend-driven post that performed well but only drove 8 new followers. High-ranking keywords (like "Old Navy haul") helped visibility, but the content didn’t do much for my personal brand.
• Daily Vlog (13.8K views, 1.1K likes) While this video had fewer views than the previous two, it drove 100 new followers—proof that personal, relatable content is more impactful for audience growth. This video was personal to me and my brand, and people followed because they wanted to see more.

My tips for staying consistent: 

I'll be honest—posting daily felt tough at first. I didn’t think I had enough interesting content to share, and finding time for filming alongside a full-time job was challenging. But by the end of the challenge, I was often posting two videos a day. Here’s what helped:

• Plan ahead: This is an obvious one, but the more I planned ahead, the easier it was to stay on top of my filming and editing schedule. On Sundays, I would sit down and think of all the things I could film in the week ahead. Was I doing something cool that week that would make for a good video? Was I making a new recipe I could film? Once I had a list of ideas, I would map out a loose schedule for the week so I knew which days I was planning to film which videos, and which days they’d need to be edited and posted. 
• Batch film: Again, obvious–but so, so helpful. Filming enough content for 2-3 videos in a single day took so much of the stress off staying consistent. I work from home 3x a week so I’d often film enough content for 2-3 videos on those days, so I didn’t have to stress about filming on busier (and less aesthetically pleasing) office days. 
• Repurpose Content: Now, batching content doesn’t have to mean filming multiple separate videos in the same day. It can also mean that you take the content you filmed for one video and split it into different parts. Let me explain: On Monday, I would film a daily vlog. In this vlog, I included short clips of me making a loaf of sourdough. Days later, I would also post a more in-depth sourdough tutorial, giving me two pieces of content from one day. The same applies to this Sunday vlog. In it, I showed clips of me shopping at Old Navy, and the next day posted a separate Old Navy try-on haul video.
• Post When You Can: Everything does not need to be filmed and posted in real-time. I often film my Sunday resets on Fridays or Saturdays, giving myself time to edit and post without scrambling.
• Experiment and Research: I constantly saved inspo from creators in my niche that I admired (hiiii, Jordan Sturgill—I’m your biggest fan!). Each day, I pushed myself to try something new with my filming or editing. I experimented with timestamped vlogs, different aesthetic intros, and voiceovers. I even posted the same exact videos with and without voiceovers–the results are inconclusive so far, but I think the voiceover vlogs made my audience connect with me more than just the aesthetic clips.
• Use Creator Search Insights: When you don’t know what to post, use Creator Search Insights to find video topics and keywords that are trending with your audience. 
• Confidence Comes with Consistency: Posting like an influencer when you’re not one? Yeah, it feels cringe at first. But there’s nothing embarrassing about putting yourself out there. The more you post, the less you care about what other people think—I promise.

Key takeaways: 

• While trends may drive more views, original content will drive audience growth.
• Personalized content builds connection. Let your audience get to know you!
• Plan ahead and batch film to stay consistent.
• Experiment often and see what resonates. Especially when you’re first starting out and finding your personal style! 
• Use keywords and take advantage of Creator Search Insights to get more reach. 

The results: 

Did I become an influencer overnight? Not exactly. But I’ll take more than doubling my follower count and hitting 242K views! I’m keeping this experiment going and I’ll share an update at 100 days—follow along at @codiiifoster if you want to see how it’s going! (Not-so-subtle plug 😉)