Who is “Tube GirL”? What creators & brands need to know
Why is “Tube Girl” Sabrina Bahsoon blowing up on TikTok—adding a quarter-million followers in one week and partnering with Spotify, MAC cosmetic and a product for urinary tract health. Google her and major press is covering her rise. I'm going to split this article into two parts: If you are unfamiliar with her rise or don't understand it (or TikTok), I’ll start there. And in Part II, I’ll get into how she’s monetizing the rise and what it means for creators and brands.
The Mega—and Mega Fast—Rise of “Tube Girl”
Why has Sabrina Bahsoon been going so viral on Tiktok? And what about her content specifically positions her that way?
Her content is TikTok specific: Visually-appealing short form video with hip, trending audio.
TikTok is a platform where replicable content does very well. TikTokers like to to replicate sounds, dances, and trends to be in community.
Now, all this repeating can also lead to fatigue—so when a creator pioneers something new and fresh—and Sabrina has her own style of filming—it will get noticed.
She’s beautiful, and beautiful influencers gain traction. But she’s not beautiful in an off-putting way: She’s encouraging other users to be confident.
There’s no barrier to entry: All you need to participate in the trend is your phone and TikTok, maybe public transit, but people are filming them everywhere. Furthermore, she’s doing tutorials where she teaches you exactly how to film it—again, removing the barrier to entry.
Famous and highly-followed influencers, as well as non-famous and not-highly followed TikTokers, are all doing the trend and these videos increase her popularity as well. For example:
Influencer Nic Suarez’s dad got 1.9M likes
A car dealership with 3.4M views and 500K likes on their tube girl style video
Now, why does Sabrina’s sudden rise in popularity—more than 250,000 followers added to her following in a week-matter for anyone who isn’t interested in making a “tube girl” video?
What Creators and Brands Can Learn
This is why I always say brands have to be on the platforms they want to advertise to to be successful. Because this is her moment. Now, her followers won’t evaporate after a week or two; we have no idea what her staying power will be and she may evolve and have reach for some time.
But right now she has viral reach. People are looking up “tube girl” on and off platform at a higher rate than they will be once they know who she is. Or once the next viral sensation comes along.
So if you’re a brand and she is pushing out your product right now while she's growing by hundreds of thousands of followers, the odds of eyeballs landing on your product are extraordinary.
So, she already partnered with MAC Cosmetics, and in the early breakdowns of her success on TikTok, commentators were talking about MAC (giving it double airtime). Same for Spotify, which she linked in her bio.
I think about when I followed Alix Earle or the ladyinthgbathroom right when they were going viral and I saw their videos multiple times a day whereas now TikTok serves them to me every week or so, even though I follow them.
The lesson for brands and creators on TikTok is the massive ROI while a creator is on the rise. Brands should make the deal for the video to be created as the viral rise is happening and not wait for the creator to hit a certain number. Creators can and should identify and charge more for their growth rate—again not waiting for a certain number.
This October, I’ll be launching a TikTok course for thought leaders covering how I got 1.1M views in 28 days, with less than 10,000 followers, no paid ads, no dancing, no cooking, no fashion, no makeup tutorials—by talking about my area of expertise. Get on the waitlist.
