Since turning to TikTok as a creative outlet during her college years, campus influencer and junior early childhood education major Samatha Phillips has gained a following by posting content about being a commuter and transfer student.
Phillips decided to transfer to Rowan University from The Pennsylvania State University in the fall of 2024 to be closer to home and in a smaller campus community. Phillips began recording her daily routine and uploading these videos on TikTok while at her former university. Since transferring, Phillips continues to upload day-in-the-life content and shares her experience as a Rowan student.
“When I was at Penn State, I just started recording a day in the life, and I had no experience in editing or anything like that. I was just posting for fun,” said Phillips. “Then I noticed that my videos started getting traction, so I wanted to keep posting.”
Brands including Poppi, Unwell, and Saxby’s work with Phillips in brand deals, content creator programs, and ambassadorships. Phillips is a part of the Unwell content creator program, which allows her to create content for the brand and receive content tips and free merchandise. Phillips is also a Poppi College Ambassador and posts the brand frequently, and is gifted products from the company.
“I have always loved Poppi. I think that’s the one that makes the most sense for me. I will post however many times because I love that brand,” said Phillips.
Phillips gears her content towards college students and aims to create a relatable and welcoming space for her followers. Some of Phillips’ most popular uploads have been posts about travel, shopping, and wellness.
“I hope they feel like they can relate to me and understand me as a person because I never want to go on social media, and my followers don’t hear my voice or not really know who I am,” said Phillips.
While making content for her own platforms, Phillips is also seen on Rowan’s social media accounts as a Student Social Media Influencer for the university. In this position, she comes up with trending ideas and films TikToks and Instagram Reels that are uploaded to the university’s social media accounts.
“Sometimes I also do Instagram story takeovers. I was there like last night doing a takeover, which was fun,” said Phillips.
For Phillips, she has found balancing her studies and social media activity to be challenging. Phillips creates content centered around campus life and her studies to ensure she completes her schoolwork while also posting to her platforms.
“Honestly, how I kinda deal with it is if I’m going to study, I take it like me going to study and make that into content so that I don’t have to come up with other content ideas,” said Phillips.
After graduation, Phillips sees herself pursuing both teaching and posting social media content on the side.
“So, since I’m an early education major, I didn’t know I was going to love social media so much, and that’s why I went into teaching, which I also love, but I kinda found a second passion. I can see myself posting videos for as long as I love it,” said Phillips.
To any students interested in content creation, Phillips advises simply hitting the post button.
“Just rip the band-aid off and post something, something you like, it’s not supposed to be a chore or job. Post what you like and see what gets traction and stuff like that,” said Phillips. “I was nervous at first and worried about what people were going to say, but I just love posting, and I got to the point where I am now that I don’t really worry what people say because I’m happy.”
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