The right way to Develop Your TikTok Following [Expert Insights + Data]

Rising a following on TikTok can really feel daunting. Belief me, I do know. I first created a TikTok to advertise my YouTube channel, weblog, and podcast again in 2022. Although I managed to achieve over a thousand followers in just some days, that was just a few years in the past.

Now, I am beginning a brand new TikTok to advertise my content material for HubSpot, and I can see already the panorama has modified. Thankfully, I nonetheless know a factor or two about how one can develop on TikTok, and I’ve executed sufficient analysis to understand how to take action in 2024. 

With out additional ado, let’s dive into the most effective ideas and methods to develop your TikTok.

Why Rising Your Followers on TikTok is Essential

Rising your following on TikTok will improve your model’s visibility. Like I mentioned, I joined TikTok to advertise my YouTube channel, weblog, and podcast. And I can not let you know what number of instances I’d see feedback saying, “I noticed you on TikTok and knew I needed to comply with your channel.” 

I’ve additionally discovered by way of HubSpot’s most up-to-date Client Developments survey that TikTok is particularly necessary when you’re promoting services or products. In our survey, nearly all of our respondents (37%) say they like discovering new merchandise through short-form movies reminiscent of TikToks or Instagram Reels. 

Rising your TikTok can be a wonderful option to get the eye of Gen Z. Gen Z is projected to have the quickest progress in spending energy, reaching about $12 trillion by 2030.

So, if you wish to faucet into the Gen Z market, you will be blissful to know TikTok is a well-liked app amongst them. In response to our survey, 30% of Gen Z customers say TikTok is their favourite app, and 72% of Gen Z customers reported utilizing TikTok previously three months. 

Now you recognize why TikTok is necessary. Let me provide you with what you got here right here for and current 6 methods to develop your TikTok following.

1. Area of interest down.

Once you attempt to attraction to everybody, you wind up attracting nobody as a result of nobody is aware of what to anticipate from you. You may find yourself posting content material that appeals to at least one crowd however turns off one other. 

So, area of interest down by researching your audience and creating content material that’s interesting to them. You are able to do this through focus teams, surveys, creating purchaser personas, or observing what rivals in your trade are doing to interact their viewers. 

For instance, vogue is a well-liked class on TikTok. A lot in order that the hashtag #vogue has over 66.6 million views on the platform.

If you wish to publish fashion-related content material, you may get misplaced on this aggressive vertical. As an alternative, I recommend specializing in a sub-niche like fashion ideas and mid-sized vogue, which has a fraction of the views however a extra engaged viewers.

One in every of my favourite fashion-related creators on TikTok is Andrea’s Style Galaxy. Quite than sort out a variety of vogue matters, Andrea focuses on instructing her viewers how one can fashion particular items or how one can costume for sure events. 

Within the TikTok under, Andrea exhibits viewers how one can fashion a metallic mini skirt as a prime. She even provides her personal aptitude to her movies by incorporating her many pets. 

2. Publish on the proper time.

Typically, it is not simply what you publish however when you publish. That is very true on TikTok.

A latest HubSpot Blogs survey of 1,400+ world entrepreneurs discovered the most effective time to publish to TikTok is between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Since TikTok is well-liked with the Gen Z crowd  — and so they’re in class for a great a part of the day — the morning and early afternoon “useless zone” is smart.

When posting content material on TikTok, keep clear of those gradual hours and check out posting in the direction of the tip of the week or throughout the weekend.

3. Duet or Sew top-performing movies.

One of the vital well-liked movies on my TikTok is one I sewed with a widely known creator. It has about 12,000 views, whereas most of my movies would garner a mean of 300-5,000 views.

TikTok’s Sew allows customers to play as much as 5 seconds of another person’s video as an intro to their very own. That is normally executed to answer the unique creator, reply questions, or contribute to a viral subject.

One other useful software is TikTok’s Duet characteristic, which helps you to play your video subsequent to a different person’s video. That is supreme if you wish to add commentary or a humorous response to the unique video. Here is a duet I did some time in the past with Steve from Blue’s Clues.

The easiest way to leverage these options is by participating with top-performing movies in your area of interest. You are able to do this by utilizing the search bar and typing key phrases referring to your model.

Then, as soon as you have zeroed in on a video you want, faucet the Sew or Duet button and let your creativity fly.

However there’s extra — you can even encourage others to Duet or Sew your movies.

For instance, Tesco, a British grocery chain, asks customers to Duet the next video for an opportunity to turn out to be the brand new voice of their checkout machine:

The outcome? Tesco’s authentic video scored 22 million views and hundreds of Duet submissions.

4. Take part in a problem (or create your individual).

It appears there is a new viral problem making waves each time I log into TikTok, and I’ve seen how they’ll explode a follower rely. The trick is discovering the precise one on your model.

For instance, the horror movie A Quiet Place: Day One just lately spawned a problem on TikTok known as The Quiet Place Problem. The problem was impressed by a cat within the movie that manages to stay quiet sufficient to maintain alien monsters from detecting him and his caretakers. 

To partake within the problem, TikTok customers need to run round whereas holding their cat to see in the event that they’d survive the movie in actual life. 

This problem was excellent for cat-themed TikTok accounts like @realsirpounce, managed by a person named Carson, who has 4 feline companions. Try Carson’s try on the problem under.

The video went viral, gaining greater than 1 million likes.

You can too create your individual problem — simply be certain that it is comparatively easy to do. For instance, Chipotle began the #LidFlip problem, which inspired customers to flip the lid of their burrito bowl with fashion:

Within the first six days, the problem generated over 100,000 video responses. Much more spectacular, it created a record-breaking gross sales day for Chipotle.

5. Leap on trending sounds and songs.

88% of TikTok customers say sound is important to the TikTok expertise. Due to the algorithm, it is also crucial for driving extra engagement.

TikTok has an in depth library of sounds — however it is best to prioritize those that get a number of love from the neighborhood. It is because the TikTok algorithm tends to favor movies that leverage trending sounds.  

For instance, the preferred video on my TikTok has virtually 100,000 views, far more than my standard common, and it encompasses a sound that was trending on the time and was often used within the anime and manga neighborhood (the area of interest my account occupies). 

To discover a fashionable sound that works on your model, try TikTok’s Inventive Middle, which ranks the preferred sounds every day. You can too filter by area, which is useful in case your viewers lives in a unique location from you.

6. Cross-promote your TikTok.

Odds are your viewers is lively on different social media apart from TikTok. For that reason, it is necessary to cross-promote your movies to different channels, reminiscent of Instagram or YouTube.

Simply keep away from together with the TikTok watermark in your movies when importing to different platforms, as this could have an effect on whether or not your content material is prioritized within the algorithm. 

To keep away from this concern, I normally create a single video that’s stored to about 60 seconds lengthy, and I add the unique to every platform individually. 

For instance, I interviewed actress, host, and filmmaker Cheyenne Ewulu of Amazon Prime’s Anime Membership for my podcast Nerds At Work w/ TsundEri.

To cross-promote the episode on each Instagram and TikTok, I took a 60-second clip from the interview and uploaded it to TikTok and Instagram Reels individually slightly than downloading it from TikTok and reposting it to the latter platform. 

7. Embody Related Hashtags.

Hashtags are key to discovering and connecting with the precise neighborhood on TikTok. An incredible instance of that is #BookTok on the app. The hashtag is utilized by each readers and authors to seek out, advocate, and promote books. 

The tag was instrumental within the recognition of the New York Occasions Greatest Vendor “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover. The e book initially got here out in 2016 however entered the most effective sellers’ checklist in 2021 after it gained recognition with the #Booktok neighborhood. 

Just some years later, the e book was tailored to the large display in a movie starring Blake Energetic and Justin Baldoni. 

So, scroll by way of TikTok to see what hashtags your audience is utilizing to seek out content material like yours.

For instance, when you’re a shoe retailer, begin by together with #footwear or #sneakers in your movies and look to see what different hashtags pop up in movies inside your area of interest. 

8. Use trending songs.

There may be by no means a scarcity of trending songs on TikTok, so that you’re certain to seek out one which matches the vibe of your content material and your model. 

For instance, actress Nicola Coughlan of the Netflix sequence Bridgerton cleverly used the tune “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter to advertise the present’s purple carpet premiere in Italy. 

Couphlan’s character on the present, Penelope, is in love with one other character named Colin, and followers have dubbed the couple “Polin” (pronounced like “pollen”).

“Espresso” turned followers’ anthem for the couple because of the verse “My honey bee, come get this pollen.” Naturally, Coughlan used it within the TikTok video under. 

9. Use closed-captions. 

The extra accessible your video is the extra folks can get pleasure from it, have interaction, and cross it on. One option to make your video extra accessible is to incorporate closed-captions. Thankfully, TikTok robotically provides closed captions to movies uploaded to its platform. 

Nevertheless, the auto-generated captions aren’t all the time correct, which is why I recommend going by way of the captions and modifying them for accuracy. To do that, click on the auto-captions editor on the right-hand aspect of your video earlier than importing your video. 

From there, you’ll be able to edit the captions manually and guarantee your movies are accessible. 

10. Share user-generated content material. 

TikTok permits customers to repost content material and share it with others. When you begin a problem on TikTok and also you see others collaborating, repost their movies to share user-generated content material.

You can too use the Sew and Duet options I discussed earlier to share user-generated content material whereas participating together with your viewers.

11. Collaborate with influencers and creators.

Most TikTok customers desire to maintain up with creators and influencers as a substitute of manufacturers on the app, so it may be troublesome to get customers to turn out to be invested in your content material when you’re making an attempt to advertise a enterprise.

However concern not! There’s a resolution. Strive collaborating with creators and influencers to get them to introduce your model to your viewers. Simply be certain that mentioned influencer or creator aligns properly together with your model and your audience’s overlap.

For instance, wallpaper model Dizzy With Pleasure collaborated with DIY dwelling decor creator Kaarin Pleasure by making a line of wallpaper patterns impressed by Kaarin’s DIY tasks.

Kaarin is understood for quirky, out-of-this-world DIY tasks, and DWE boasts an array of distinctive, funky patterns on its web site. So, Kaarin was an ideal option to introduce the model to a wider viewers. 

12. Create a content material sequence.

A content material sequence is a good way to interact your viewers as a result of it gives a constant stream of content material they’ll stay up for and affiliate together with your model.

For instance, considered one of my favourite TikTok content material sequence (that must be introduced again, please) is Sure That is on Etsy. This sequence is on Etsy’s official TikTok account and showcases the enjoyable and distinctive merchandise that may be discovered on Etsy’s official web site. 

Consider a sequence of movies which are easy to make, may be unfold out over a number of movies, and might showcase the services of your model. 

13. Keep watch over what works on your viewers.

As you publish your movies, preserve monitor of what generates probably the most buzz on your platform. Which of your movies are inclined to get probably the most likes, feedback, or stories? Ensure that your TikTok is a enterprise account so you will have entry to every kind of analytics and metrics that may inform your technique on the app.

14. Create TikTok Tales.

TikTok Tales work equally to Instagram Tales. They permit customers to publish quick movies that disappear after 24 hours. TikTok tales can drum up pleasure for upcoming movies or be used to indicate fast, unique behind-the-scenes content material of your corporation. 

15. Embody CTAs.

If potential, all the time embody a call-to-action that may encourage viewers to remain tuned to your content material. For instance, Kaarin Pleasure virtually all the time ends her movies by asking her followers to recommend extra DIY dwelling enchancment tasks within the feedback of her movies or to examine again later for updates on her tasks. 

In fact, if you do not know a great CTA so as to add to your video, you’ll be able to all the time keep on with the basic name for viewers to comply with your channel. 

16. Speak to your viewers. 

Group is necessary on TikTok and one option to construct neighborhood together with your followers on the app is to easily have interaction with them. Reply to their feedback, sew their movies, do a duet, or repost the content material that resonates together with your model. 

All of this can construct loyalty together with your viewers and improve visibility on your model.

Begin Creating 

In the end, the important thing to rising your TikTok is to constantly create and publish high-quality content material that showcases your model. So begin creating now and when you’re at it, strive implementing any of the above ideas I gave you.

I am additionally making an attempt to develop my new account, so it is time for me to cease typing and begin creating. Better of luck to each of us!