Rochester — The scene feels familiar: two college students laughing, dancing and recording videos on a phone propped up on a tripod.
Kendall Benson and Samantha Peterson are, in many ways, typical. The University of Detroit Mercy physician assistant students spend their days studying for exams and preparing for their future careers. They also happen to be TikTok stars. Better known online as @sam.kendall.pa, the duo has amassed more than 10,300 followers and nearly 1 million likes sharing their experiences in PA school.
Before the followers, likes and brand deals, there was an unanswered Instagram message.
“I saw she had posted on the class Instagram, and I was like ‘oh she looks sweet, I want to be her friend’, so I DM’d her and the conversation went nowhere. She liked my message and then left me on read,” Peterson said. “A couple of months later I reached out again, and the rest is history. Now we own a bank account together, a business together, share a credit card and everything, really.”
They are among a growing number of Michigan students who are turning social media into a business, building audiences on platforms such as TikTok through “day in the life” videos, campus content, viral dances, faith and lifestyle posts. As brands increasingly seek more authentic ways to reach younger consumers, some student creators are cashing in, earning anything from a free meal to a couple of bucks to thousands of dollars while balancing production with school life.
Building a following, finding a niche
These students can attract the attention of thousands of TikTok users, something Peterson and Benson find incredibly meaningful as they share their journey navigating coursework and early career moments.
“It feels really surreal because it’s like we started this for fun. We wanted to document our journey, and then we’ve had so many people reach out and ask questions. It’s very rewarding,” Benson said. “It’s also great that we do give advice on how to study for, you know, x exam, but we also make videos, like, I have to take this exam, what do I need to know. So we are learning, too.”
The content from student influencers varies widely. Some creators focus on academics and campus life; others build audiences around sports, faith or personal interests.
Donovan Cruse, a college athlete at Grand Valley State University and a content creator specializing in track and religion videos, has reached more than 10,000 followers on two TikTok accounts, with viral videos that have racked up as many as 19 million views. Sharing his voice and experiences with so many people has left him feeling grateful and proud.
“I reach a lot of people. Even with track, I was reaching runners all over the country asking me about the workouts that I did and how I got to where I am,” Cruse said. “With my Christian content, I’ve been told that my content has been helping a lot of people grow in their relationship with God, and it is a beautiful thing to see. God is using me, using my content to save others.”
Others have found audiences by showcasing everyday student life and local businesses around their campuses. Shawn Khan, a public relations student at Central Michigan University, posts a lot of lifestyle and review videos, content he finds fun and interesting.
“I had a small feeling to want to post on social media, so I started doing that, and it’s gotten me a couple of pretty cool opportunities,” Khan said. “I just decided to follow my passion, start creating stuff. I post a lot of the content I like to watch, but put my own twist on it.”
Like Khan, Ferris State student Lexi Kovtun has built her following around the everyday moments of college life, posting “get ready with me” and “day in the life” videos. Ferris State University is a smaller school, with 8,989 undergraduates, so Kovtun feels that she really represents her university online.
“I go to a smaller college, so people at my college are probably shocked seeing a person from their college on their TikTok,” Kovtun said. “I love the college that I go to, and I enjoy representing life there. Random people come up to me on my walk to class telling me that they watch my videos, and it’s just fun.”
What followers don’t see
Recognition on campus can be rewarding, but it also comes with challenges. “I had someone spit on me once,” recalled Josie Stoffan, a rising senior at the University of Michigan with over 41.2 thousand TikTok followers. “I just didn’t know how to react. I was like, is this a joke? I kind of just laugh off the bad encounters, though, because I’m like, ‘why are you hating on me? I literally just make like get ready with me videos.'”
In addition to tough skin, a few other qualities are needed to be an influencer. One of them: time management. Brooke Behaylo, a rising senior at Michigan State University, juggles a busy schedule with content creation. To maintain and grow her 40,500 followers, Behaylo tries to post at least three times a day, filming many videos at once and editing them later, to ensure it gets done.
“With school, I work a job, and I have a full course load, so my goal is to have at least one day where I don’t have classes,” Behaylo said. “I’ll batch content, so I’ll just spend that one day getting a ton of videos, so at least for the next few days I can relieve some stress and have some things to post.”
In addition to time management, the ability to constantly evolve is crucial. Cruse felt he has grown a lot in producing more quality videos over the years: “I started from ground zero. When I first started posting gaming content back in 2020, I was in seventh grade. I was playing Fortnite and would post montage clips. It would be the worst editing of all time. Now I am able to produce better videos and really sit down and edit those videos.”
When content becomes a paycheck
His learning has not stopped. Now that Cruse is reaching more viewers, he has started learning to generate revenue from his work.
“Before I was just doing it for fun. I do now get a little bit of pay. It’s nothing crazy, but I got paid like $10 for live streams so far,” Cruse said. “I did just reach 10 thousand followers to be able to monetize. I’ve now been trying to sell products and have a little link on my videos and all that. So, yes, it’s definitely a work in progress, but I’m learning the gist of it.”
Staffon has had a bit more time to learn to monetize herself, and now has a manager to help. Stoffan largely earns money from brand deals, negotiated by her manager and lawyers, with her manager taking 20%.
“I always have a brand deal kind of in the works. The type and number of posts depend on their budget,” Stoffan said. “The most expensive thing is the usage rights, so for example, for one TikTok video the starting rate is $5,000, and then for every 60 days of additional usage it’s another $3,000.”
Benson and Peterson also have a manager, though perhaps a less conventional one: ChatGPT.
“ChatGPT has been our best friend when it comes to negotiating,” Benson said. “We’ll put the email into ChatGPT, and be like ‘so what is a good price to propose?’ It’s kind of creepy, but it knows our TikTok, it knows what other brand deals we’ve done, so it will give us an outline of what we should propose, why, and things like that.”
With the growing business side of content creation, student influencers face relatively few restrictions, according to Michael Greiner, an Oakland University professor with expertise in business and law. The primary requirement is disclosing sponsored content to viewers, though that is more of a platform requirement than a legal one.
For Stoffan, these brand deals provide a needed source of income, especially with expensive rent prices in Ann Arbor: “This is how I’m putting myself through college. This is how I am paying my rent. It takes a lot of time, effort, self-esteem, and it’s also just a way of survival. I would not be in college if this wasn’t a thing.”
The relationship is mutually beneficial. While creators can earn money to help cover tuition, rent and living expenses, businesses gain direct access to college-age consumers.
“We have a very specific audience,” said Lily Higgins, an influencer at the University of Michigan. “So if a restaurant in Ann Arbor wants more people to come to their restaurant, they’re going to reach out to those college content creators in Ann Arbor, because they know that our audience is pretty much just University of Michigan students, and it’s a great way to make sure that you’re hitting that target audience.”
It also allows brands to have more of a personality and authenticity associated with their products, Khan said: “Social media is growing day by day. A lot of brands like having their products being shown with a personality and fun energy and something that an audience can connect with.”
That direct connection may help explain why student influencers continue attracting large audiences.
“I think a lot of students just like seeing what other people do. I know I’m nosy,” Paris France, an MSU content creator said. “There’s a lot of people who are nosy right now in our generation, and so I think getting to see a sneak peek of another person’s life can just be very motivational, inspirational.”
And again, it is something that is fun for both viewers and the creators themselves.
“PA school is notorious for being miserable. Everyone hates it,” Peterson said. “But we have been able to have so much fun outside of PA school. This is what keeps us motivated to keep going.”
atisch@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan students find there’s business in ‘day in the life’ clips
Reporting by Alyssa Tisch, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alyssa Tisch, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
