How Did Mikayla Gain Such a Huge Following?

If you’re a makeup lover with a TikTok account, you’ve probably heard of Mikayla Nogueira. With her unique accent and love for swear words, she took TikTok by storm. She’s so popular that if she mentions your product on her platform, it’ll likely sell out.

So how did she amass such a large following? I’ve looked at the way she’s branded herself, using what I’ve learned from marketing class to figure out how she’s gotten so popular.

She started small and used her work resources to gain a following

When she started building her audience, she still worked at Ulta. Ulta offers a 25% discount, which probably helped her to try some things that she was interested in reviewing. Ulta also offers gratis (freebies) in exchange for watching training videos on the products. The gratis is usually a mixture of new releases and items Ulta wants you to focus on selling. This gave her access to products that were newly released, or that were trending.

Some of the first brands to collaborate with her were indie or small brands. These brands were likely grateful for that they got a chance to work creator since their relationship was mutually beneficial. She gained views from reviewing their items and they gained sales.

She was relatable

As I mentioned above, she worked for retail giant Ulta Beauty when she started posting on TikTok. Many of her followers had similar jobs and similar lifestyles to the one she led when she first started sharing her life. She shared her need to move out of her parents’ house and her struggles with acne and other skin conditions. She showed off her pets and her outfits and talked about her dating journey. Many felt as though they were listening to a friend when they watched her videos, and as a result, they bought the products she recommended.

She even shared a video of herself excitedly quitting her job. Many of her viewers, myself included, have dreamed of quitting their jobs to focus on their dreams instead.

She also shared her weight loss journey, which was mostly positive. Her followers loved seeing her gain the confidence to wear clothes she wouldn’t normally wear. She even gained the confidence to start online dating and soon became engaged.

She was unique

Mikayla is as different as she is relatable. Her accent and potty mouth continue to set her apart from other creators. During my time at Ulta, many of the guests referred to her as the ‘TikTok girl with the accent’. She even had her catchphrase (“What’s Poppin’?”). These characteristics made her well-known and hard to ignore. They also made it easy for brands to work with her because these things were part of her branding.

She shared her relationship to gain views

As I mentioned above, Mikayla took her followers on a journey as she started dating. She shared stories about the dates she had been on and excitedly told viewers about her new boyfriend. She eventually did a ‘boyfriend reveal’ on her TikTok account, but before that there were lots of teases about showing his face. These videos kept viewers coming back to see who Mikayla was dating.

She shares her successes

Recently, videos have been surfacing where they call Mikayla out for venting about how hard it is to be an influencer. However, many people argued her job wasn’t hard and that they would love to have a job like hers. Many users made videos showing the clips Mikayla had shared of her showing off bags, clothing, and sunglasses she’d purchased for herself.

While it may seem like she’s bragging about the things she has now, her followers enjoy seeing how well she was doing. Some of them may even believe they can reach the same level of success as her.

What about her haters? Well, I worked with a woman who hated Mikayla. She always complained about her success and openly stated that she was a better makeup artist than Mikayla. She would constantly ask me how many faces I thought Mikayla had painted, and tell me about the clothes, shoes, or jewelry Mikayla wore in her videos. She watched Mikayla’s videos simply because she hated her. She never released that she was helping her grow her followers and giving her a view that led to her getting more money and sponsorships.

She worked for her following

When I worked for Ulta, there was a woman who hated Mikayla. She’d often make comments about her and the women that followed her. She couldn’t believe that women from all walks of life were following her and taking makeup advice from her.

The same woman who hated Mikayla made a TikTok where she wanted to do the same thing Mikayla was doing. She told me she’d heard things like you have to post at least three videos a day and that you had to come up with ideas that others would be interested in. She would ask me for advice and encourage me to build a TikTok following as well. I ended up looking into it, but I had no intention of trying it myself.

Mikayla posted enough videos to grow her following. She also kept up with the trends and latched onto products that other big creators were sharing. Many people discovered her by looking for more reviews of items they were interested in buying.

She joined TikTok early

It seems like there are billions of makeup influencers on TikTok. I’ve even known a few who have tried and failed to gain the same type of following as Mikayla has. Part of what made Mikayla special was that she joined TikTok where there weren’t as many influencers as there are now.

She hosts giveaways

Giveaways are a great way to boost your following, and Makayla has hosted quite a few of them. With most giveaways, the influencer hosting the giveaway will give a couple of rules needed to enter their contest. One rule is usually that you must follow them on multiple platforms. Most of the time, there’s only one person who can win the giveaway, so most of the new followers will win nothing.

The point of a giveaway isn’t to give a prize away, but to grow the influencer’s following. Many people who don’t know who the influencer is will share the giveaway or subscribe for a chance to win.

Going their following even temporarily will open them up to new opportunities and sponsorships. Some of these giveaways don’t even cost the influencers anything, as they’ll often give away things that were gifted to them by makeup companies, such as PR and other prizes.

She knows who her target audience is

One of the most important things you learn in marketing is to identify your target audience. Who are you trying to promote your product/business to? In Makayla’s case, she was trying to promote herself to an army of makeup lovers. As a result, most of her videos feature makeup with bits of her personality sprinkled in.

She used hashtags and popular songs to end up on her target audience’s for you page. She also followed popular trends and made the type of videos that were popular.

Ending up on the for you pages of millions of beauty lovers wasn’t enough. Mikayla had to give viewers something to attach themselves to. Many clung users want something different, which makes influencers like Bailey Sarian so popular. Makayla needed to find something to draw people in, which is where sharing her unique personality helped her. She had a potty mouth, which is something most beauty influencers avoid, and a unique accent.

It helps that Makayla was going through things that most of her viewers could relate to. She went on a weight loss journey, tackled dating and acne, and now she’s about to walk down the aisle.

Regardless of how you feel about Makayla, it’s clear to see she knew how to market herself and grow her audience.