TikTok is a highly popular social media platform perfect for short, engaging videos. People of all ages are using the platform and every creator/brand wants to go viral on TikTok. What many people don’t know about posting on TikTok is that viral videos are quite easy to make and don’t require a special budget. There are plenty of people who will see your TikTok videos – you just have to learn how to mix the right content idea with several social media practices powerful enough to boost your reach and engagement levels.
1. Understand TikTok’s algorithm
Like the other social media platforms you use, TikTok uses an algorithm to show the best content to its users. They call it the recommendation system and it’s how content is chosen to be displayed on the For You page. The TikTok algorithm ensures every user sees a unique, curated feed that’s tailored to its content preferences. TikTok helps users discover other videos that are similar to what they’ve liked before. So, some users might see predominantly trending cooking videos while others might see lots of funny cat videos. There are 3 main elements that TikTok looks at when deciding what videos to show users:
- User engagement: This refers to the actions users perform on the app, such as liking, commenting, and sharing content, following creator accounts.
- User interest: How long a viewer watches your content is super important. If they make it all the way to the end, it shows the algorithm that your content can retain user attention. So TikTok will boost your content and show it to a larger number of users.
- Content creation: Using trending TikTok sounds, adding relevant hashtags to your posts, and editing your video clips by adding captions, all work to increase the reach of your video content.
How can you use this information to boost your short engaging videos into viewers’ feeds? To generate more engagement, you need to create videos that focus on interaction, keep your posts short (to improve average watch time), and use trending challenges, sound, and hashtags to your advantage. Keep in mind that your follower count doesn’t always guarantee that your video will go viral on TikTok, either. It can help more people see your content initially, but you still need to get comments and likes for it to be shown to a wider audience and go viral.
2. Keep an eye on trending content
Almost every trending TikTok sound is associated with a new trend. It can be a glow-up transition, a dance, using a filter, sharing unpopular opinions, basically anything that gains popularity on the platform. Keeping track of these trends can help you reach more people, gain the appreciation of many potential customers, and ultimately go viral. Showing the fun side of your business humanizes your brand and allows you to establish a better relationship with your audience.
So, this is your chance to show off your personality and maybe add a little humor to your content. Timing is very important on TikTok. So, participate in trends while they are still popular and relevant. Otherwise, you will look out of touch, and the algorithm will not boost your TikTok videos since the trend doesn’t get much traction anymore. Tapping into relevant TikTok trends will help you create videos that get noticed and attract new TikTok followers.
3. Participate in TikTok challenges
TikTok challenges are created in two ways:
- By brands looking to generate hype around their business.
- By popular creators and TikTok influencers who want to get noticed.
You can check out challenges on the “Discover” page on the app – simply search “challenge” and you’ll get content that’s under that hashtag. Stick with challenges that work for your brand and don’t be afraid to participate in challenges. Users and/or your customers may see your videos as they scroll through their feeds, and hopefully, interact and help them get more traction.
4. Add hashtags
Using hashtags is one of the ways you can let TikTok know what your content is about. It’s easy to find trending hashtags on the app; just head to the “Discover” tab and you’ll be presented with a list of trending content types. Scroll through and choose hashtags that resonate with your content style and message and join the conversation. As a result, your content will be shown to people who are interested in videos with those hashtags. By using the popularity of trending hashtags you will be able to appear more and more on users’ For You page.
5. Use viral songs and sounds
Almost every musician on the planet has a TikTok account now. And almost all of them try to have their songs go viral on TikTok, which they usually do. If you don’t know what music to use in your videos, you can simply go to add a sound on your video and go through the trending songs you find there. Also, you can just scroll through some videos on your feed to spot trending audio files that you hear the most. Furthermore, creating your own audio can be a great way to become a viral success and get your TikTok in front of a lot more users.
Apart from songs, you will also find sounds made by different creators on the app, such as song mashups, dialogs taken from a cartoon or a movie and uploaded on the app, or just a funny remark made by a creator that people started using in their own videos. Furthermore, if the sound is associated with a specific trend, you can also make it part of the video and put your own spin on it. Just make sure to add the song from the app so TikTok knows you’re part of the trend.
6. Keep it short and engaging
TikTok started out as a short-form video app with a maximum of 15-second video length upload. It later upped the limit but most videos are still significantly shorter. If you get your audience to watch your videos till the end, TikTok will recognize that people enjoyed them. This means that the social media platform will show it to multiple other users, contributing to the success of your content. Share the most simple version of your video idea and you’ll increase your chances of people rewatching your content.
7. Interact with your audience
The more you interact with your TikTok audience, the more you will have to gain. TikTok sees user engagement as a sign of quality content. So, consider going live on TikTok and engaging with your audience. Here are some ideas that will get your audience to watch your live:
- Response video to frequently asked questions
- Ask me anything (AMAs)
- Product tutorials
- Interviews
You can answer questions from your viewers through the live chat you have at your disposal. As long as you are live, your video will be shown on the For You page and users will be able to join with a simple swipe. The people who watch and comment on your live will most probably be the ones that will be exposed to your TikTok content in the near future.
8. Use tasteful humor
At its core, TikTok is a video platform for short-form entertaining content – people use it to laugh, learn, and relax. It started out as a platform dominated by lip-syncing videos, but now this social media giant is the main provider of all types of video content, from news, and funny stories to tutorials and even educational posts. Your content shouldn’t be about pushing your marketing agenda front and center.
Instead, you should make content that people enjoy. That is the secret to a better reach and engagement on social media. Don’t be afraid to use humor and have some fun with your content, this is a sure way to get people liking, commenting, and sharing your videos – all the signals TikTok needs to promote your content. Also, you can use memes to drive engagement and help your videos go viral into everyone’s feeds.
9. Create content for your specific audience
TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms, meaning that people of all ages and from different parts of the world use the app on a daily basis. So, you need to find your target audience within the app by creating content customized for their preferences. It’s the only way you can go viral and actually have something to gain as a result. For instance, making dance videos when your audience is looking for cooking content won’t bring you any value because users will skip those videos rather than interact with them. To understand what works for your target audience, you need to:
- Test different content formats.
- Respect the best posting times.
- Add niche, and relevant hashtags users are interested in.
10. Monitor your competition
Whenever you run out of content ideas, you can look at what your competitors are doing to go viral on TikTok. The goal is not to copy their content, but to use their best-performing videos as an example (maybe they have a viral video you can use as inspiration). Discover what content works best for your industry through their experience and try to elevate it further. You should also pay attention to the sounds and the hashtag they use in their videos.
Conclusion
Going viral on TikTok can be a huge boost for brand awareness and can help you convert your audience into loyal fans or customers and even monetize your video content as an extra revenue stream. Unlike algorithms on other social media platforms, TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes content based on user preferences and engagement rather than followers or popularity. Even if you’re new or have few followers, you can still go viral. This can be achieved by understanding and using the algorithm effectively on the platform.
