'Guys I lied on my resume': Social media managers are pleading with TikTok viewers to help save their jobs and it's working

• Two businesses went viral with their first videos posted to TikTok, and their content is pretty similar.
• Both videos were posted by social media managers claiming to need views to stay out of trouble with their boss.

If you're a social media manager wondering how you can grow your brand's online audience, recent posts suggest all you need is a desperation plea for your TikTok video to go viral.

Clancy's Auto Body Shop in the Fort Lauderdale area has amassed a 224,000 following since posting its first TikTok video in February. The clip was made by the business' social media manager Joel Velazquez, and has over 24 million views as of Friday.

The premise of the viral sensation was a simple video of the exterior of Clancy's Auto Body Shop with a funny cat filter, but the caption prompted millions to form #ClancysCult in support of the business and Velazquez.

Velazquez's on-screen caption read: "Guys I lied on my resume, and got a job doing the social media of this body shop, please blow this up so I don't get fired." And, the internet obliged.

TikTok users sprung into action with comments, likes, follows, and even Google reviews despite never having done business with the body shop.

"Guess I'm driving 12 hours to get my car fixed wish me luck," one commenter wrote on the video.

"Give this person a raise STAT," another said.

Velazquez's request seemingly has paid off with internet fame as Clancy's Auto Body Shop capitalizes on the buzz with more online content and the sale of merchandise.

The Florida body shop isn't the only small business leaning on the support of its TikTok viewers. On Wednesday, Kansas-based Dobbins & Letourneau Eye Care made a similar video that also went viral on the video-sharing app.

This time, Claire — the person running the medical office's TikTok account — used a popular meme of actors Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal to explain her predicament at work. According to the clip, her boss asked to see the metrics of the business TikTok account at an upcoming meeting, but Claire had just created the account only 12 hours before.

Although Claire didn't explicitly ask followers to help her save face in the first post, the video got over four million views and nearly one million likes as of Friday afternoon. In subsequent videos, she thanked the now 27,000 followers for their help earning her a "'wow'" from her boss.

"We did it!!!!!! Now its time for optical content… or is it," one TikTok caption read.

Although neither business immediately responded to Insider's request for comment, 24-year-old Jasmen Perry, an account manager associate with a background in marketing, weighed in on the clips.

Perry told Insider that she believed the videos were most likely tactics rather than genuine pleas because they came directly from each business' official account rather than the employees' personal accounts. The strategy is a way for businesses to escape "being too straightforward or boring like a TV ad," she said.

"Though they're funny and have great engagement, it's a just way to catch the consumer's eye," Perry said. "Being on an app like TikTok, people are looking for more lighthearted content, and businesses have to be in line with that."

She continued: "It's a good marketing tactic because they're understanding their consumer and how to engage with them."