1. Identify Your Target Audience

As we previously indicated, the more people who use TikTok watch your videos, the more probable it is that you’ll appear on the For You tab, which will ultimately lead to additional followers.

On TikTok, there is a vast variety of content (and users), proving that there is space for everyone. There are videos for everyone, whether you enjoy pleasurable soap-cutting vids or are a gamer who enjoys Animal Crossing.

But it’s crucial to realize that you cannot cater to (or reach) everyone, which is why it’s a good idea to focus on a single, distinct target market. Even if TikTok is different from other platforms, it’s still important to know who your videos are intended for.

Don’t be deterred by the fact that a sizable portion of the TikTok viewership is made up of Gen Zers.

Consider the preferences of your audience in terms of content. Asking your Instagram Stories followers doesn’t harm if you’re just getting started. Ask them what kind of TikTok content they enjoy and what they’d like to see from you by sharing a question or poll sticker. They might say something that surprises you!

2. Hit TikTok Trends at The Right Time

By enabling users to mix sound samples and music with their original video content, TikTok invented its category of video content. As a result, viral trends appear out of nowhere!

Because of this, the same video will frequently appear in several forms, each with a unique interpretation of the music or idea.

On Saturday Night Live, Kate McKinnon and Elizabeth Warren performed the “Flip the Switch” challenge, which has been around for a while but hasn’t quite gone viral.

The fact that this video is SNL’s most popular TikTok upload to date is another piece of evidence of how crucial it is for your company to stay on top of TikTok trends.

Want to track down the original song that started the craze? Simply click the song when it begins to play in the clip. It displays the content that contains that sound byte together with the profile that utilized it first.

You’ll undoubtedly see more TikTok followers on your profile if you want to join the trend and have something original and entertaining to provide that will make you stand out from the crowd.

3. Create Your Trend or Challenge

Create your trend or dance if the current ones don’t appear to fit the messaging of your brand (we understand, many of them feel like an inside joke). This is another technique to gain more followers.

TikTok is being used by well-known musicians like Jennifer Lopez to create “challenges” where followers are asked to reproduce dances and post them to the app.

But brands are also joining in on the fun! Chipotle is an excellent example of how to increase your following by developing challenges that are open to everyone.

A fun challenge could be one of the best strategies to increase your following, as evidenced by the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge’s over 300 million and over 1 billion views, respectively.

4. Use the Right Hashtags

On TikTok, hashtags function similarly to how they do on other social media sites like Instagram in terms of discoverability.

There isn’t a set formula for the hashtags that work best on this platform, but you can use a mix of platform-specific and content-specific hashtags to make your video discoverable and increase the number of TikTok followers you receive.

To try to land a desired location on the For You page, for instance, if your TikTok is a humorous video of your café staff at work, you may include both general hashtags like #barista and #coffee and niche hashtags like #ForYou or #fyp.

Keep in mind that these bigger, more generic hashtags may be overused, making it tougher for others to find your material. So it’s worthwhile to think about including more particular and specialized hashtags, like #CoffeeCornerVancouver.

A little hashtag research can help you gain more views on your posts, just like on Instagram.

5. Post Original Content Often — and Don’t be Afraid to Get Creative!

Gaining more TikTok followers is more likely if you use the editing tools on the app creatively and consistently produce your content.

The TikTok algorithm, like most social media platforms, favors posts with plenty of interaction and engagement, so the more you post, the more likely it is that the platform’s large audience will see it.

TikTok’s editing tools make it simple to produce interesting material, but what you share and how frequently will depend on your experimentation.

Don’t be discouraged if some videos suddenly receive hundreds of likes while others fail to gain much attention. That is typical behavior for TikTok.

Once you identify a format that is effective for your brand, try to duplicate it or come up with a fresh approach that will continue to be effective.

For instance, fashion influencer Alexandria Pereira frequently showcases ensembles on her TikTok and IGTV channels using her “7 days, 7 ways” structure; this is a fantastic way to recycle content and engage your audience on multiple platforms!

The secret to success on TikTok hasn’t been fully cracked yet, but being unique and persistent pays off!

6. Post at Peak Times

Knowing when your audience is most engaged on TikTok will make gaining more followers easier.

And with a Pro Account and TikTok Analytics, you can learn precisely what days and times your audience is most engaged.

All analytics on TikTok are shown in UTC. To determine when your audience is most active where they are, you will thus need to perform a timezone conversion.

You need to be a little adventurous with experimentation and tracking the outcomes, in addition to being aware of the times that your audience is most engaged.

Although you can utilize your other social media platforms to set comparable criteria for each TikTok account, the ideal time to post will ultimately result from several weeks of studying the successful (and unsuccessful!) videos.

7. Connect to Your Other Social Media Channels to Cross-promote

It’s really simple to download videos from any profile, including your own, on TikTok and share them on other social networking platforms.

You’ll probably be able to attract more TikTok followers if your company already has a sizable following on another platform, but only if you inform them.

Steak-umm is a perfect illustration of this. The company updates its Twitter account, which has over 157,000 followers, with TikTok videos. Their TikTok account currently has close to 82,000 followers:

 8. Collaborate with Content Creators

Individual personalities and profiles are the most well-liked on TikTok, so it’s no surprise that they have the most followers.

Since their fans are already engaged and interested in their material, several influencers from other platforms, particularly YouTube and Instagram, have been successful in transferring their sizable followings to TikTok.

Similar to Instagram, working with an influencer or content creator may significantly help brands in a variety of ways.

Take Aerie, for instance. They sought to increase their audience as they were a relatively young brand on the TikTok platform. The retail company thus collaborated with Charli D’Amelio, the most popular user on TikTok, to produce sponsored videos that attracted new users to their brand page.

They have produced 3 videos to now and already have a following of over 17,000 people.

Finding the perfect influencer to represent your company and setting aside money for the campaign are two of the challenges of working with content creators.

Nevertheless, TikTok’s influencer marketing is still in its infancy, offering a fantastic chance to advance in the industry.

10. Repost TikTok as UGC

Utilizing user-generated content (UGC) helps increase your TikTok followers because people enjoy seeing their material replicated on their favorite social media platforms.

The TikTok logo and the handle of the content producer are immediately added to each video download, so there are never any concerns with giving credit. It’s simple to download and repost content directly from TikTok.

Reposting UGC can make your TikTok profile feel “full” and increase your posting frequency if you don’t have time to develop your content.

Users are frequently eager to produce content and tag brands to increase the likelihood that thousands of TikTok users will see their posts if they know there is a chance they could be featured on an account other than their own.

NARS Cosmetics has started reposting user-generated content (UGC) from TikTok that highlights their goods, and it dramatically improves their feed.

Reposting user-generated content can be a terrific approach for brands with tangible products to gain additional followers.

10. Create a Clever CTA

The fact that users like your material is one thing, but it might not be sufficient to increase your TikTok following.

Because sometimes a little prodding in the right way helps, profiles who use a call-to-action at the end of their videos increase their chances of growing their following!

The problem? Your call to action (CTA) ought to be just as intriguing, creative, and alluring as the material you’re producing. Simple text changes to your video, such as “Follow us for more videos like these!” are one approach to do this. You could also hold a giveaway as EOS did. They even urged fans to tag a buddy, which greatly increases exposure.

11. Engage with TikTok Content You Like

It’s simple to forget that TikTok is a social networking platform; nonetheless, those who have spent a few hours scrolling through their feed will attest to its high level of addiction and lack of conversational functionality compared to Facebook or Instagram.

Thus, liking and commenting on other videos is the only effective strategy to engage viewers. Getting on TikTok and engaging with material that supports your business is one way to increase your following.

locate influencers who might make excellent brand partners, engage with them in their videos, and locate other companies in your sector that you’d like to assist.

By just participating more, you might discover that you gain more followers since other users will see your comments on other users’ videos and may then watch your videos and interact with your profile.

12. Explore Tiktok’s Paid Options

Because TikTok Ads are still in their early stages and there is still little competition, there is a chance to reach the ideal audiences!

You may make sure that your material is seen by the right audiences using TikTok Ads, which may result in a large number of conversions into new followers.

These are your TikTok Ads options:

• In-Feed ads: TikTok content that shows up in a user’s feed, between organic posts

• TopView: Presents the profile when the app opens, reaching a wider audience as it’s one of the first things they see

• Brand Takeover: Similar to TopView, these are full-screen ads that are displayed when the user first opens Tik Tok

• Brand Hashtag Challenges: A custom hashtag challenge is placed on the Discovery page, providing the opportunity for maximum reach and engagement

We anticipate seeing a lot more choices in the future for how brands can use compensated chances to promote their brand and following. TikTok Ad alternatives are continually expanding. But for now, all we can do is keep an eye on things!