TikTok Talks: The One Book That Propelled Topper Guild’s TikTok Career

ONE37pm’s Omari White caught up with 17-year-old Topper Guild, who became one of the most popular creators on TikTok thanks to his outlandish pranks and comedy skits. Together they talk about how he grew his account to over 15 million followers, his favorite TikTok hashtag, and why it’s important to keep posting even if you don’t find success on the app right away. Plus, the self-help book that encouraged Topper to not give up on trying to grow his social media influence.

Omari: What was the driving moment that made you create a TikTok account?

Topper: That's a good question. So, what happened was, my brother told me about TikTok and he was like, ‘Bro, you got to get on this, a bunch of people are blowing up.’ And I was like, damn, okay, like I'll give it a shot because he always knew I wanted to be a social media influencer. So, I tried it for a week and I was like, nah, this isn't for me. I already had like 60,000 followers on Instagram [so I was] just going to keep trying to grow my Instagram since I've already got somewhat of a following there. And then my brother came back to me two weeks later to check up on my progress and he was like, ‘What are you doing? You got to work if you want results to happen.’ Then he recommended this book called The Dip. And basically the book’s about pushing through the days that you don't want to do it. And understanding that even if you love things, sometimes you're not going to love it, but you just have to remember that you love it. And then I got back on, TikTok and told myself I was going to post three times every single day for two weeks and then I hit one viral video. That kind of just gave me the realization that nothing is impossible and that you can make anything happen if you work hard enough. And now it's been, I think a little bit over six months and I've posted three to five times every single day. And now we're juiced. 

Omari: What's your advice for someone just starting off or TikTok?

Topper: The only thing I'd say is to just stay consistent and make sure you're doing content that you enjoy doing. I really believe that nothing's worth doing unless you love doing it and you're having a good time while you're doing it.

Omari:  What have been some of your favorite hashtags as of late?

Topper: My favorite hashtag is just #prank because most of my stuff has pranks. So I just throw on the #pranks just to let people know that my video’s a prank. I mean, bro, honestly, I'm not really sure because I feel like hashtags, like, I don't know if hashtags help or not. Sometimes I post videos with no hashtags and they blow up and sometimes I've got three, four hashtags and they blow up.

Omari: What's your favorite filter on the TikTok app?

Topper: That's actually funny because I have no idea cause I don't use filters ever. I can't really answer that question because I never use filters—everything is just organic.

Omari: If you could pick anyone to do a TikTok collaboration with who would it be and why?

Topper:  Oh, it would be Charlie D' Amelio because I think we could make some pretty funny content just because our content is so different. I think it'd be cool to obviously work with the biggest person on the platform. I respect her a lot. She's a great creator, obviously works hard for what she has and deserves it all. I think it'd be cool to work with her because it would just bring two different, very big audiences together. My following who's looking for comedy and her following that's looking for more dance.

Omari: Definitely. Definitely that'd be a cool project going on. You know, I hope it happens.