Ryan Shakes began creating content for the app Musical.ly in 2016. Every day before school, Shakes would make one 15-second video, often filmed with his sister Zayla, and post it to his account. So, when Musical.ly was acquired by ByteDance Ltd. in November of 2019 and became TikTok, Shakes was already ahead of the curve on what would be the next big social media platform.
Now with over 5 million followers and 160 million views on his account, the 18-year-old Florida native has taken advantage of the position he put himself in when he started his Musical.ly account. Shakes content is based around dance, comedy, and lip-sync style videos. As his TikTok account following began to rise, Shakes decided to drop out of school and pursue social media as a full-time career. “In the beginning, of course, it was a little like iffy, but as time passed and as the numbers got good, it became clear that this was becoming a bigger thing,” Shakes stated.
Shakes began searching for more ways to monetize his fame, partnering with companies, and accepting brand deals, but ultimately found great success in building a brand of his won and selling merchandise. Shakeyfam.com was created to sell Ryan Shakes’ merchandise and in the first month of it being opened, brought in over $125,000 in sales. With the website’s initial success, Shakes is looking to capitalize on his newest merchandise line. Along a line of clothing, the product lineup includes ShakeyFam branded slippers and LED lights. The most exciting part of the release is the ShakeyPods, the branded wireless earbuds. They will act as an affordable alternative to name brand wireless headphones.
Check out Ryan Shakes on TikTok, and take a look at the ShakeyFam merchandise at Shakeyfam.com.
Photo courtesy of Cleanne Viana / Model: Immanuel Olmos