With the popularity of the viral video app skyrocketing, now is the time to get more followers on TikTok!
From leveling up your post calendar to taking part in challenges and optimizing your hashtags, the creative ways to gain followers and build a TikTok community are endless.
We're sharing 8 top strategies for gaining more followers on TikTok, with no suspicious tactics!
How to Get More Followers on TikTok
There are over 800 million monthly active TikTok users worldwide, so it's safe to say that there are enough people out there to increase their followers on the platform.
But getting more followers on TikTok is not just a matter of setting up a profile.
TikTok focuses on the For You page, the TikTok equivalent of the Explore page on Instagram.
Instead of users scrolling through a news feed, TikTok selects a For You page, an endless stream of personalized content for each user.
The For You page is full of recommendations based on how users interact with other videos on TikTok.
Think of the For You page as a mix of already viral content and what TikTok thinks you'll like based on your previous activity on the app. Therefore, without two equal For You pages, there is an opportunity for each brand to put itself in front of the right audience.
Starting next year, 74 million people in the US USA They will be classified as Gen Z, so it is important to create brand awareness and affinity where they are most active, especially since they are the next generation of consumers and advocates.
1. Identify Your Target Audience
As we mentioned, the more TikTok users watch your videos, the more likely it is to end up on the For You page, which will eventually give you more followers.
There is a wide range of content (and users) on TikTok, which means there really is room for everyone. Whether you are a gamer and love Animal Crossing or a fan of satisfying soap cut videos, there are videos for you.
2. Hit TikTok Trends at The Right Time
TikTok created its own genre of video content: By allowing users to combine sound clips and music with their own original video content, viral trends appear overnight.
That's why you'll often see multiple variations of the same video, only with different shots of the song or concept.
For example, Kate McKinnon and Elizabeth Warren did the "Flip the Switch" challenge on Saturday Night Live, a trend that has been alive for a while but had not picked up the full viral status.
3. Create your own Trend or Challenge
If current trends don't seem to fit your brand's messages (we get it, many of them feel like an inside joke), another way to grow your followers is to create your own trend or dance.
Famous artists like Jennifer Lopez are using TikTok to create "challenges" where fans recreate a dance and upload it to the platform.
4. Use the correct Hashtags
Hashtags act the same way on TikTok as on other platforms, such as Instagram, to make them detectable.
There is no clear guide as to which hashtags are the most effective on this platform, but you can use a combination of content-specific hashtags and general platform-related hashtags, making your content recognizable to help you get more TikTok followers.
Post original content often, and don't be afraid to get creative!
Being creative with TikTok's editing features and creating your own content on a regular basis will definitely increase your chances of gaining more TikTok followers.
Like most social platforms, the TikTok algorithm rewards posts that are highly engaged and engaging, so the more you post, the more likely you are to be seen by the platform's large audience.
5. Use the Best TikTok Equipment
TikTok has millions of audiences who watch and create new videos. If you want to stand out from crowd on TikTok, you need to use the best TikTok equipment.
There are different TikTok equipment available in the market to create quality content.
Everyone has a mobile phone with a high-quality camera. All you need is to buy the best lighting for TikTok to create the stunning content that everybody would love to watch.
6. Post at peak times
Gaining more followers on TikTok is easier once you know when your audience is most active.
And thanks to TikTok Analytics with a Pro account, you can find out the specific days and times when your audience is most active.
7. Connect to your other social media channels for cross promotions
TikTok makes it very easy to download videos from any profile (including yours) and republish it on other social media channels.
8. Get followers on TikTok with these creative ideas
If your brand already has a strong following on another platform, chances are you can get more TikTok followers to migrate, but only if you tell them.
Steak-umm is a perfect example of this. The brand republishes its TikTok videos on its Twitter profile, which has more than 157,000 followers. Now, his TikTok account has almost 82,000 followers:
9. Collaborate with content creators
It's no surprise that personalities and individual profiles are the most popular on TikTok, and that's why they have the most followers.
And many influencers from other platforms (particularly YouTube and Instagram) have been successful in migrating their huge followers to TikTok since their followers are already active and tuned in to their content.
Just like on Instagram, brands can really reap a lot of benefits by partnering with an influencer or content creator.
Take for example Aerie. As a relatively new brand on the TikTok scene, they wanted to give their followers a boost. Therefore, the retail brand partnered with TikTok's biggest star, Charli D’Amelio, to create sponsored content that generated new eyes on its brand page.
So far, they have created 3 videos and already have more than 17,000 followers.
Partnering with content creators can take a setup effort - you want to find the right influencer to represent your brand, and chances are you'll need to set aside a campaign budget.
That said, influencer marketing on TikTok is still relatively new, making it a great opportunity to move forward in the space.
Check out How to Get More View on TikTok Videos in 2020