In June, Taxgirl wrote a story referencing a bad tax take on TikTok. It was a case of tax advice going viral for all the wrong reasons, and a lack of understanding of tax basics. Shortly after publishing the story, Taxgirl received a message from Duke Moore who wrote, “TikTok generally gets a bad rep for misinformation, but I, on the other hand, use the platform to educate others about taxes in a concise and entertaining manner.”

On today’s episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Duke Moore to talk about using social media to share tax information in a helpful, educational, and positive way. Duke is an Enrolled Agent in Dallas, Texas, who shares his passion for helping others navigate their taxes on TikTok. His account currently has a following of 2.7 million, and is growing every day.

• TikTok is one of the best ways to reach a huge audience; it’s a huge platform. While it can be great for entertainment, Duke says it’s also a great space for sharing educational tax information.
• How did Duke start his TikTok platform, and how did he grow his audience so successfully? He had never thought about posting TikTok videos for his business until he heard others share how the platform helped their businesses grow. 
• What are the challenges that come with TikTok’s massive reach and engagement metrics?
• When it comes to sensitive or technical tax information on the internet, how does Duke funnel his audience members to more secure, private space for further tax advice?
• What does Duke’s content planning strategy look like? Some of his videos are spontaneous, some are videos on a trending topic, and some are answering questions his audience commonly asks.
• How does Duke balance his information delivery to include a general audience, while leaving room for nuance, exceptions, and special cases? A TikTok video is only 60 seconds long!
• What’s the landscape of the existing community of tax professionals on TikTok? Duke shares his experience learning and gaining more information through the platform, thanks to other professionals sharing their expertise as well.
• Duke utilizes live video sessions on TikTok to help answer some more nuanced questions, and he says lives also boost community engagement overall. 
• What advice does Duke have for aspiring TikTok creators in the tax world? What would he have done differently knowing what he knows now? He says it’s important to be careful with your words, and to always be specific and never overgeneralize.
• In regards to spreading misinformation on TikTok, how does Duke approach criticisms of his videos? Duke emphasizes the importance of speaking slowly and with intention and detail, even though a TikTok video is only 60 seconds long. He even says, “You’re supposed to have haters.”
• Does Duke often experience negative pushback and racist comments as a Black man in the tax space? Does he feel pressure to be an “example” for Black men in the tax profession?
• Duke says his primary goal on TikTok is to “make taxes easy to understand,” and that’s the driving force behind all his content. His audience grows because he makes the topic approachable and understandable.
• What other platforms does Duke use? Twitter and YouTube can be challenging to gain an audience, but worth it in the long run.
• How does Duke balance managing his tax business and create content on his TikTok platform? TikTok helps send over 100 leads a day to his business, and he does all the admin by himself.
• Duke’s plans for creating free education resources for small business owners and entrepreneurs that want to learn all about taxes.
• Is it a challenge to separate personal and business social media, especially with Duke’s huge TikTok following? Duke says it’s all about authenticity; he wants people to know who they’re working with, so he doesn’t worry about separating the two too much. 

Kelly is the creator and host of the Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things that she does is help folks out of tax jams, and hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

Kelly’s Website – TaxgirlDuke Moore’s Social Media - TikTok | Instagram | Twitter