Clayton father to five million
COLUMBUS, Miss. — Summer Clayton ’17 uses his corporate fitness degree to support others in achieving their fitness goals.
Amidst his career as a personal trainer, a viral TikTok video has allowed him to support others in another form.
Since graduating from Minot State, Clayton has used his degree in a variety of settings, including on an aircraft carrier starting in 2020 for the United States Navy. It was in early 2021, near the end of his time in this position, that his first TikTok exploded with views.
Today, Clayton has over five million followers and almost 70 million likes on his TikTok profile called Your Proud Dad.
The video that multiplied his follower count was the first example of his father-focused content: a tutorial on how to shave. But it took Clayton some time for trial and error to figure out a style that worked for him.
When he first started, Clayton, like many users on TikTok, followed the trends. After that, one technique he discovered allowed him to start making connections like those he loved as a trainer.
“I realized I can interact with the person on the other side of the screen,” he said. “The small community I had at the time, I think it was under a thousand, they were loving it. I don’t think I had at that time ever experienced someone interact with me or my content that way before.”
Interestingly, another strategy he tried was reverse psychology, challenging himself and his viewers to decrease his follower count to zero.
“I made a little challenge. I said hey, how quickly can I go from, however many followers at the time, to zero? I started to add a funny joke at the end, like, ‘ok, now don’t forget to click that unfollow button,’” he said.
Even though his following, at that point, was still under a thousand, Clayton cared immensely for his followers and anyone who would watch his videos. He started making content in which he wished his followers a nice day or giving them encouragement for any struggles they may be facing in their lives.
With his new motivational content, some of his followers gave him the affectionate nickname “dad” and asked him for advice. At this time, his goal was to gain 1,000 followers by 2021. Then his account would earn the capability to go live, and he would be able to interact with his followers in real time. Especially though, he would be able to share with his followers his family tradition of crossing over into the new year with a prayer.
“Someone commented, ‘hey, dad, can you teach me how to shave?’” Clayton said. “Then another person asked me, ‘hey, dad, will you have dinner with me?’ and it tore me up on the inside. I said, ‘Of course I’ll have dinner with you! I don’t know if this will help you or anything,’ and that was my first Dinner with Dad.”
These videos skyrocketed his profiles numbers. His first viral video on how to shave earned him almost 400 thousand followers by the middle of February 2021. Then, after starting his most popular series, “Dinner with Dad,” he accumulated a million and a half by the end of April.
“It just showed how much of a testament that people needed content like this,” he said.
While Dinner with Dad is a fan favorite, Clayton also makes other kinds of videos. He teaches his followers about hygiene and health, shows them how to make and fix things, leads them in prayer, and offers them advice about a variety of topics like attending college, recovering from heartbreak, and making friends — to name a few.
With over five million “kids,” sometimes the comments and messages he receives can be overwhelming. Fortunately, Clayton has learned how to set boundaries with his time.
“I want to be available as I can, but I’m only one person, so I can only do so much,” he said. “I lean on other people, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, finding other creative outlets, working out, and really just enjoying the content for content’s sake. Like, ‘you know what, today I’m just going to scroll and not be constantly taking in what’s trending or what’s going on with my content.”
At the end of the day, though, Clayton cares deeply about his followers — like his training clients — because he can relate to them.
“I’m blessed with this platform. It could be anyone else,” he said. “In a way, I feel like a lot of my career choices in life have been more altruistic. I don’t want people to feel unwanted.”
About Minot State University
Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through
rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.
| Published: 12/21/22 |
