Lily Rafferty is one of TikTok's most famous content creators thanks to her viral-worthy videos on Ryanair's account. She joined Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss her time online and Gen-Z's "chaotic" sense of humor. Listen back above.
"Basically, I spent a year working on the Ryanair social media team and, sort of, my priority was growing their TikTok account, so I was creating a lot of videos and a lot of them seemed to go quite viral," Lily told Ryan.
In her time at the Irish airline, her videos garnered over 400 million views, gaining the account over a million followers.
"When I joined, the account already had somewhat of a following, so I was building off of that and using self-deprecating content and humour, and playing into TikTok and Gen-Z to make content that people loved. Basically, just using humour to make funny videos that were entertaining for people to watch."
Noting that Ryanair sometimes receive negative comments, Lily decided to play into the humour of these complaints and get her audience on side.
"Ok, you know, there might be a few crumbs on your seat but you got that seat for €9.99 so you just have to take it," she laughs.
While most big name brands keep their messaging impartial and professional, Lily says that Ryanair won people over with their down to earth humour.
"People loved it. I think seeing a big brand like Ryanair on TikTok and then using humour and joking around - people love to see a funny side to a brand."
Describing Gen-Z as "chaotic" with a "fast-paced" sense of humor, Lily says that TikTok is home to an array of niche communities, with something for everyone - no matter their interests.
Wrapping up the interview, she shared some nuggets of TikTok wisdom with Ryan:
"You could make a TikTok of out anything. t's important to know what your audience will like and build on that, so what your audience might enjoy seeing from you and that kind of content. But playing into trends too, trends are a huge part of going viral on TikTok, and the audio, and all that plays into views and going viral."
