how i went viral on tiktok (as an ex-tiktok employee)

Summary of the video’s main points

• Creator background + credibility: Momo (Muhammad, also known as “Jamshed Bhai”) shares his tech career background across companies like Salesforce, Amazon, Dropbox, and Sprout Social. His roles focused on technical customer work—especially APIs, integrations, and pre/post-sales support. He later joins TikTok Shop as a Customer Solutions Manager, where he helps major brands onboard to TikTok Shop and ensures product listings and order syncing between TikTok Shop Seller Center and clients’ systems.

• First viral period (“Jamshed Bhai” era at Salesforce): He says his earlier viral moment happened while working at Salesforce. He posted a comedic series that grew to 10,000 followers in ~3 weeks and reached millions of views. He estimates he stayed active for about 3 months, then paused for a social media cleanse lasting around 2 years.

• Algorithm shift + inconsistency (post-2020s): After returning in 2023, he claims TikTok’s virality became harder than earlier periods. He explains that previously, using trending sounds and adding on-screen text felt like a near-guarantee. By 2023, he says he had to put in more effort, and his content growth stagnated around ~2,500 until he became more consistent again.

• New job at TikTok/ByteDance and “Halo Effect” framing: In August 2024, he joins ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) on the TikTok Shop team. He describes the time as hectic due to the TikTok ban climate and says competition to work on TikTok Shop was intense. He also explains the “halo effect”: brands using TikTok Shop content and creator affiliates can drive traffic from TikTok into Amazon/D2C/retail sales.

• What actually made him go viral in Ramadan 2025: He argues he didn’t “hack” TikTok as an employee; instead, virality came from relatability + timing + niche resonance. His Ramadan content plan included:

  • A first Ramadan video about announcements, reaching tens of thousands of views.
  • The “Yemeni coffee” video, where he performs as if he’s a mosque/madrasah board member making an announcement—targeting the trope of youth skipping Tarawih (Ramadan prayers) to go to Yemeni coffee shops “boys and girls together.”
  • He says the video gained momentum when others started using his audio, turning it into a “sound of the month.” He also claims the sound spread beyond TikTok, including a boost from Muslim Foodies reposting/tagging him on Instagram.

He concludes that the hook worked because viewers already understood the mosque announcement character format, Ramadan/Tarawih context, and the lived reality that many people go to Yemeni coffee shops after iftar/tarawih.

• Employee disclosure + non-viral “insider advantage” claim: He pushes back against the idea that simply working at TikTok ensures virality. He describes organizational secrecy around algorithm teams at ByteDance, saying most employees can’t directly access or influence “the algorithm.” He also mentions compliance steps like signing non-compete / conflict-of-interest disclosure. He claims restrictions included:

  • limited monetization participation without disclosure (e.g., TikTok Shop affiliate, Live Rewards),
  • and rules against filming inside the office or making “day in the life of a TikTok employee” style content.

• Current status + next video teased: He ends by saying he is now a former TikTok employee. He’s moved into work within the TikTok Shop ecosystem with a partner company called Refundal, and he plans to share another video about that.

Presenters / contributors

• Momo (Muhammad / “Jamshed Bhai”) — primary presenter and narrator
• Muslim Foodies — mentioned as an Instagram account that reposted/tagged his “Yemeni coffee” audio (contributor in the story)