Goodbye, Instagram. There are now classes to learn how to go viral on TikTok.

Taylor Loren sat in front of the camera, with bright blue and pink lights behind her. From her classroom to the screens of more than 8,300 students, she began explaining what a “meme mindset” was. This lesson, on how to cultivate a recognizable online persona, was part of Loren’s class on how to master—or simply understand—TikTok, the most downloaded app in the world today.
Loren, a social media strategist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, teaches people how to use TikTok. If things go well, her students might even go viral. It's part of the curriculum. Loren tells her class that being a star requires several key skills: spotting trends, carving out a niche, and, at times, being part of the cultural battle between Gen Z and millennials.
“People are realizing this is the future of social media, and now they need to learn how to create video content,” said Loren, 32. “I just saw a huge opportunity.”
The success of her TikTok class has led Loren to offer a new class on Reels, Meta's short-form video competition. Her 2019 Instagram classes, she said, no longer apply to the platform.
Thanks to a social media platform that values authenticity so much that speaking with little filter on camera is enough to go viral, the "how to make TikToks naturally" industry is booming. Forget how to record YouTube videos or design your Instagram feed. TikTok is so big right now that people are paying to become good at the app, and influential instructors claim they can teach you how to do it for a fee.
These classes generally fall into three groups: how to navigate TikTok, how to make videos for the app, and how to make money from them. TikTok's highly personalized algorithm—which recommends videos based on how people engage with content, rather than a creator's following—has led to more people going viral. As a result, influencers, new and old, are capitalizing on their moments of fame and generating another source of income by selling classes to people hoping to achieve similar success.
For some instructors, these classes are a way to make money from their expertise on a platform without actually using the platform itself. In addition to TikTok, apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat pay people based on the engagement their content receives. But teaching content creation classes translates into income that's sometimes more reliable than sharing more posts or ads.
“You can get paid for your videos, but it’s a very small amount,” said Karen Jordan, a toy design student from Menifee, California. She has more than 1.4 million followers on TikTok, where she shares videos of a cartoon version of herself, which don’t always translate into money. On the other hand, Jordan said, “I can always promote my class anytime.”
Jordan, 24, offers his one-hour class on the online learning platform Skillshare, where an annual membership costs $165. Jordan earns money by referring people to the platform and when the company pays him royalties for his class, which has been taken by about 2,500 people.
TikTok declined to comment for this article. But the appetite for learning about the app is so great that the company offers free classes for creative agencies, brands, and marketers. One of them is called TikTok Academy.
“Get a PhD in PT,” reads an advertisement for her classes, referring to the “For You” page, a source of algorithm-recommended videos.
At Skillshare, which recruits teachers and pays them a commission for the classes they upload to the platform, TikTok courses increased 66 percent year-over-year, while YouTube courses increased 43 percent and Instagram courses decreased 27 percent, a spokesperson said.
Udemy, which also offers online classes, has seen a 47 percent increase in TikTok classes year-over-year, more than triple the growth of YouTube and Instagram classes, a spokesperson said.
Potential students are responding: On Skillshare, the amount of time people spend taking TikTok classes has increased 120 percent year over year; on Udemy, it's increased 83 percent.
Skyler Chase, 25, grew up watching vlogs and comedy sketches on YouTube. She wasn't just entertained. She was learning professional skills to run her Los Angeles-based marketing agency and teach classes on social media. Last September, she started a course on TikTok, complementing what had been her only offering up until then, a class on Instagram. The class has been a hit because TikTok and its lower barrier to entry have attracted people intimidated by YouTube, Chase said.
“On YouTube, content creation is totally different,” he said. “There, it’s really about the quality of your video. You have to have a good camera. On TikTok, you just have to use your phone.”
Chase's two-hour class, which according to the platforms has more than 22,000 students on Skillshare and Udemy, draws on his "YouTube experience" but is designed to be "a little more accessible to the older generation," he said.
Erin McGoff, a New York City-based documentary filmmaker, began sharing career advice videos on TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. She now has an audience of 2.3 million people on the app, and her followers are the primary way she promotes her two TikTok classes, which now have more than 5,000 students in total.
In one class, McGoff, 27, teaches her students how to make a video. In the other, she explains how to develop a personal brand on TikTok and guides students through exercises like “Find a video that went viral in your niche and list three reasons why you think it was successful.”
“Anyone can be a creator on TikTok,” McGoff says in a lesson. “TikTok is a bit like playing the lottery. It's like you're constantly paying into the system, and every once in a while you hit the jackpot.”
To learn how to play the TikTok lottery, students simply need to continue taking their class.
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