TikTok is a very big social media platform with over 1.1 billion active users, a very sizable number of them being young users. Going viral means having a video spread widely and gathering massive attention and engagement. The TikTok app has delivered a lot of viral moments and has turned a lot of people into overnight sensations. Musicians have had their songs go viral on TikTok thereby increasing their fan bases and boosting the streaming numbers on other platforms. If you want to know how to gain genuine TikTok followers, you should lean towards collaborations with other creators. We have also had unknown people become very famous due to their content going viral on TikTok as a prime example. Lame amassed more than 160m followers in about 3 years.
In this article, we will discuss using viral content as an art of how to get followers on TikTok. There are a lot of users trying to get viral moments so it is quite challenging to go viral deliberately although some creators manage to hit the jackpot and go viral by luck and without even trying.
Crafting Viral Content
Having a viral video or moment gives a massive uplift to your TikTok profile as it means your content has now crossed borders into new cultures and communities. It means your content is no longer consumed by your community alone. It is now left to you to maximize this new leverage.
Going viral can happen overnight and it can also take weeks or months. There is no secret formula that guarantees 100% virality, but taking the following steps has proven to be effective to a considerable extent.
Follow Trends And Hashtags
TikTok algorithm aligns videos based on your previous taste or based on the current trends so it is important to follow trending hashtags if you are trying to make content viral. Using the right hashtags is also very important as you do not want to use hashtags that are not in sync with the video you posted. Adding the right hashtag or adding a trending song to your content will allow the TikTok algorithm to present your videos to audiences that are following the tags and trends thereby opening up your content to new audiences and you can get a viral moment if they really like your content. TikTok trends are generated daily and you have to stay updated.
Double Down On Successful Content
You can remake your content or remake popular videos with elements of your own creativity. If there is an existing viral video, you can remake and produce a new version to pique your audience’s curiosity. Their level of interest is now dependent on your own innovation and creativity.
Consistency
If you want to learn how to get TikTok followers, you need to post consistently and be regular with your content. It is easier to go viral by posting back-to-back videos as opposed to dropping once in a while. Your TikTok profile is more visible if you are very regular with putting out content and your audience will always look forward to your timely uploads.
Making Series
You can drop your content in the form of a series of short videos. You create a series such that your audience is always looking forward to the next drop. You should check your TikTok analytics and see which one of your contents gathers the most attention and engagement and if it is something you can turn into a series or episodic content. This is a tested and trusted method to keep your audience intrigued and always anticipating what’s next. One of the most watched episodes could lead to your viral moment. Ensure that your episodes are relatable and they flow into one another. You can produce everything at once and release it chronologically in pieces or you could take it one episode at a time.
How To Get Followers On TikTok
Going viral doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get a lot of followers. It could be that a lot of TikTok users just relate to that one particular post at that point in time. So, how do you gain more followers on TikTok after a viral moment?
Analytics
Checking your analytics is the number one step to take in building your TikTok account. You need to observe the categories of users consuming your content the most. It could be analyzed based on gender, age grade, profession, or a particular demographic. You sieve through the type of content that gives you the most likes, comments, and views and you use this to prepare your brand and the content you want to be putting out. You use your analytics to carve out your own niche.
Using Other Social Media Platforms
TikTok isn’t the only platform that allows users to post content and one can easily go viral on any of the social media platforms. Such platforms include Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, Snapchat, etc. You are allowed to promote your videos and profile on those accounts. Putting your TikTok videos and profile out there gives more attention to your profile and as such brings in new followers to your TikTok account.
Always Engage Your Audience
It is very important to carry your audience along. Don’t just dump content on them every day without interacting with them at least. Reply to comments and engage your audience regularly. Users enjoy content when it’s interactive and they feel carried along
Interact With Other Creators
No one does it solo in the world of TikTok marketing. It is very beneficial for you to engage your fellow content creators. Like and comment on their posts and their audience will find you out. It costs you nothing to engage posts from your fellow creators and who says no to free followers?
Collaboration
Strategic collaborations go a very long way in the growth of a TikTok account. You can make collaborations with top influencers for brands. TikTok has features such as ‘duet’ that enable that. This allows for a mixture of communities and cultures. You share some of the collaborator’s audience and you also share some of your audience with the person. A win for all parties concerned.
Music
Musicians have resorted to using TikTok as a tool to promote their music to a wider audience. They post snippets on TikTok and encourage content creators to use the songs for their video content. Adding music to your videos also in some cases adds to the visibility of your content. If your choice of music perfectly represents or interprets your video, you’re more likely to garner impressions. It is very beneficial to be able to pick the right songs to match the right TikTok video. Do not use sad music to accompany comedic content.
Be Brief And Concise
Do not post overly long videos so that you do not bore your audience out. Publish short but quality content. You should only post long videos if you have perfect narrating or subtitling skills.
Titles And Captions
It is very easy to lose the interest of your audience by just looking at the title of your content. Make sure you select your words carefully and use them wisely, and don’t forget to use searchable keywords relevant to your content.
Be Informative
Be informative and educative about what you put out. You could make tutorial videos on simple hacks of life. Videos like this expand your audience if they find your tutorial video helpful and it might also lead to recommendations.
Time Your Posts Right
A very important trait a TikTok creator must possess is the ability to time your videos correctly. You should be able to instinctively know the right video to drop at the right time. You don’t want to upload a video when everyone is offline or when the buzz around a particular trend has reduced. You can know when your followers spend the most time online by checking your analytics.
Challenges
Joining Challenges is the fastest way to go viral and gain more followers on TikTok. The virality of a challenge depends on the number of people hopping on it so you can as well start one within your community.
TikTok Live
Just like Instagram, TikTok also has a live feature that allows you to interact with your community. You can go on Live and engage your followers by just speaking to them to make them feel some sort of real connection with you or you could do Q&A sessions. You can gather new followers that just come across your life by accident.
Ads
TikTok has an ads feature where you can pay to have your content advertised to audiences outside your community. This is a very effective way of increasing your TikTok presence and it works faster than the other steps outlined earlier but only choose this option if you have the budget or means for it.
UGC
User-generated content is content created by a user on the platform. You can share content that relates to your niche or the brand you are pushing. Just make sure you give credits where appropriate to avoid legal and copyright issues.
Humor
Everyone loves good humor and it doesn’t hurt to add humorous content to what you put out. While it is important to stay on brand, you can also infuse elements of humor into your content and this in turn will expand your reach and bring in more followers.
Editing
A well-edited video speaks well about your craft so it is important to properly edit your content before putting them out. Putting out well-edited video content is a very useful TikTok strategy. There are a lot of editing features on TikTok that will transform your own video so it is beneficial to have a good grasp of editing. While editing is very necessary, it is very important not to lose the realness and originality of the content.
As noted earlier, there is no secret formula to improving your TikTok presence and TikTok growth. But one will attain a very good degree of success with patience and perseverance. There are other methods to grow your account if you are not patient enough to be organic with it. Also, there is an unorthodox method to growing your account. You can decide to be antagonistic to every popular view or opinion. Although this is a very risky move and you may become an irritant to your followers, regardless it gives your TikTok profile publicity and there’s no such thing as bad publicity when it comes to gathering buzz and clout.
Having put all these into consideration, remember that going viral isn’t a given and it’s not calculus. Always have fun when creating content. The world of influencer marketing is growing very fast and is very competitive. So, stay true to yourself and be original.
