TikTok strikes again

Happy Friday! 

The team’s in Austin this week, face-planting into some Tex-Mex.

If you’re on TikTok or Instagram, you may be noticing that a few teams are back on campus for Summer Sessions.

It’s content season, baby!

Iowa women’s basketball standout, Jada Gyanmfi has been documenting her day in the life’s on TikTok for the past few months now, and as off-season has approached, she’s been doing live streams which have rapidly increased her social presence, but honestly, have drastically increased the number of people that even know that Jada Gyanmfi exists.

Today, we’re talkin about Jada. 👇️ 

TODAY’S STORY
💥JADA GYAMFI

JADA GYAMFI

Jada Gyamfi, an upcoming Red-Shirt Junior at Iowa, has carved out a pretty notable presence beyond the basketball court through her TikTok.

Her "Day In The Life" videos before games this past season as well as going live nearly every day either by herself or with teammates, have garnered attention, highlighting TikTok's evolution from a mere escape platform to a viable avenue for athletes to supplement their income and bring their fans along the ride.

What started as a couple hundred, to a couple thousand views per video, has now turned into hundreds of thousands of views, and a dedicated audience interested in seeing what she’s been up to since the last time they saw her on live.

It’s funny because Tom Brady in his Hall of Fame speech this week just talked about how consistency sets you a part from others that may be better than you, but consistency builds habits, pushing you past the competition.

As silly as it sounds, that’s pretty similar to Jada’s growth.

Jada’s not a Los Angeles level TikToker, nor does she need to be, but her consistency in posting daily videos and talking with fans initially attracting modest views, has now cultivated a substantial following with thousands of people invested into her life and Iowa women’s basketball.

Yes, all of this sounds absurd, right?

I can hear the complaints now, “Players shouldn’t rely on TikTok to bring in new fans”.

Well, while this may seem unconventional, they play a crucial role in expanding the game's reach by showcasing players' personalities beyond their athletic prowess.

What once might have been a bench player is now someone fans recognize and eagerly anticipate.

Every effort contributes to growing the game, bridging gaps between players and fans alike.

Q&A with Jada Gyamfi (from The Daily Iowan)

• Do you have a funny moment off the court that sticks out to you?

  • When we were overseas [last offseason] — I think we were in Croatia — and we went kayaking. I had never been kayaking before. Gabbie was my partner, and we were terrible at it. I thought we were going to have to call a helicopter to come and get us out. We were drifting off over into islands, getting lapped by the group that went behind us. Even coach [Lisa] Bluder zoomed past us. And that’s how you know it’s really bad. Coach Bluder should not be beating us … We were just spinning in circles. By the time we got back to land, we had cried five times but laughed the whole time.

• Have you always been the type of person who brings energy and positive vibes to a group?

  • I’m the youngest of four siblings, so I grew up being the mediator, just the chill person, whereas my other siblings had more distinct words. When I got [to Iowa], I was the same person I was on my high school team and my AAU team. Genuinely, what you see is what you get. What I’m like on TikTok is exactly what I’m like in person. I don’t understand people who change up their personality. I don’t have enough energy for that.

• What was your “welcome to college basketball moment” where you realized this wouldn’t be the same as high school?

  • When I got here, I played offense with the guards and defense with the posts, just because of my size, and that quickly changed. I remember the first person I guarded in the paint was [former Iowa center] Monika [Czinano]. She gave me a nice one to the chest that really took the wind out of me.

• What are those pregame meetings like with Coach Bluder where you guys all sit in a circle at center court?

  • [Bluder] does a nice job of grounding us, and a lot of the time, it’s focused on mindfulness. Like, why we’re there, what we did to get there, and who we’re playing for. Toward the end of the season, we would highlight a senior and talk about things that we love about them, things that had nothing to do with basketball. And then she always did a great job of incorporating some literature into it. We read a book by Billie Jean King, who is one of our favorites. We talked about Dr. Christine Grant a lot.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The virality of platforms like TikTok not only introduces people to players and teams but also fosters deeper interactions among athletes themselves. Despite perceptions of rivalry, many players are actually fans of each other, and weirdly enough, you’re seeing some of that via TikTok Live.

Take Jada, for instance.

She’s a huge UConn fan, and an even Paige Bueckers fan.

She was able to go on TikTok live with Paige Bueckers recently and had a borderline freak out. Couldn’t believe she got to talk to Paige.

In the moment, she was pretty calm.

Afterwards, she freaked out and texted just about all of her friends that she got to meet Paige.

Similarly, Jada’s teammate, AJ Edigar, has also started going live on TikTok, and recently went on live with KK Arnold from UConn

In the moment, AJ was chill.

After the TikTok live, she was freaking out on camera that she was able to talk with someone from the UConn team.

You can’t beat the live reactions.

Anyways, it’ll be interesting to see the types of brand deals Jada gets once the season kicks off now that her audience has ten-folded sense the previous season.

She has no plans to play professional basketball after college, so she has a unique opportunity to optimize her audience before graduating.

That’s all we’ve got!

If you enjoyed this, share it with a friend.

If you didn’t enjoy this, go eat a cactus.

We’ll see you next week 👋