A student in the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at York University’s Schulich School of Business shares insights after creating a successful TikTok account.
Jonathan Gavriely (BBA candidate ’23) is the creator of BehindtheBrands, a TikTok account with explainer videos focused on business. Every week he shares at least one video focused on analyzing a certain business, explaining business related news and stories.
“The idea came from my passion for content creation, my interest in business, and a theory I had about educational content,” said Gavriely. “From personal experience, I knew that whenever someone learns something new, they tend to get excited and want to share it with everyone. However, what people do not enjoy is the process of learning and all the challenges that come with understanding something new. With that in mind, I felt like if I created educational content that was super easy to understand, it should do well.”
Graviely’s third video, where he explained why IKEA has a restaurant and sells food, went viral with one million views in under a week and helped jumpstart the account’s growth. Since then, he has posted more than 50 videos and has grown the account to 136,000 followers. He spends a lot of time rewriting scripts to ensure the videos do not have any complicated terminology and that all complex topics are explained as simply as possible – all while keeping each video under two minutes.
Graviely is specializing in marketing and says Schulich has helped him better understand how to analyze his account’s performance and taught him the importance of building his own brand. He says his channel also impresses potential employers.
“If I could share one piece of advice, it would be to encourage everyone to go out and start sharing something they are passionate about on social media,” he said. “It costs nothing and the benefits far outweigh the risks. It can help you connect with a bunch of cool people and help provide you opportunities you wouldn’t get otherwise.”