Ever since the hype for this platform started, every single creator wants to know one thing – how to become successful on TikTok?
With over 1B downloads crossed, TikTok is the place to be. For everyone, literally. Short, easy to digest and with immense spectra of topics, TikTok videos became the most popular form of entertainment during recent months. And we all know how difficult these months have been due to the global pandemic.
This influenced more and more creators to move from social platforms like YouTube or Instagram (not to mention Twitch), and start their TikTok expansion. For plenty, it came out to be a brilliant move, as most of their current subscribers followed them along. But that’s about matured creators with an already established base of fans.
Let’s not forget, TikTok creators are most of the times newbies to social media. How some of them succeeded overnight while others, despite all the efforts put into creating fantastic content, still struggle to stand out?
Is there a path to follow to spike your chances of becoming successful on TikTok?
We’ve got you covered!
Eight steps you need to follow to grow your TikTok channel
1. Find your niche and stick to it!
As this seems obvious, many creators tend to record whatever comes to their mind, because they feel like it right now, or they think more video topics will attract a wider audience. Wrong!
If you’d look closer at the most popular TikTokers channels, you’ll notice they hardly ever go beyond their primary category. It is because they know what their followers want and why they subscribed to them in the first place. Your audience watches you for some reason: they liked what they saw and want more of it. Frequent niche changing will not only daunt your fans but will also affect your content to be dispersed among too many categories. That is bad for your channel growth because TikTok’s algorithms will have difficulties featuring your videos within one specific niche. Thus they won’t show up anywhere.
Sticking to your niche and uploading videos your targeted audience demands is a must if you want to succeed on TikTok. How to define which of your videos spark the most significant interest among your viewers?
This leads us to step two, which is…
2. Set up a Pro account and monitor your profile analytics!
If you haven’t done it yet: do it. Seriously! It costs you nothing, but it will be an invaluable source of what your viewers demand! Get to know who your audience is. Verify videos they like to watch – this is a clear indicator on what to produce more of and what less of (or none at all) – it’s all there, at your fingertips. The sooner you’ll switch to the Pro account, the more of growth analytics you will be able to access because you will only be able to see statistics of the videos you uploaded AFTER enabling Pro.
I wrote more about it here: Who needs TikTok analytics?
3. Get to know your competition!
Browsing TikTok for other creators relevant to your chosen niche is always a wise move. Why? You can learn what content has already been uploaded and how it performed for others. Maybe you could produce a similar video to the one that previously went viral, but with a few improvements? Or check out which topics have not yet been discussed, and so you could bring new value to your community by starting a fresh conversation?
Checking out your niche competitors is also a first step to identify patterns they use while recording their videos. Maybe there’s a particular video length that seems to attract more people? Or scenography? It’s not forbidden to use the knowledge of your competitors’ performance to boost your outreach. So there’s no reason you shouldn’t spy a little bit on their profile analytics! Learn the best progressing posts of your niche leaders and create what your targeted audience demands. We made it easy for everyone to access any TikTok profile and video growth statistics on Viralstat, so feel free to check it out: TikTok Analytics
4. Monitor viral topics!
Have you seen TikTokers spike out of nowhere only because they joined a challenge fast enough? This is what makes TikTok so phenomenal: everyone can become globally known overnight with the least effort. Most of the time it’s a mix of luck and reflex, quite frankly. Quick jumping into trending challenges can be a make or break if you aim to succeed on TikTok.
Where to look for those? Trending page is the first place you should explore, but not only. We made it even easier for creators to spot TikTok viral videos, hashtags and songs.
Our daily created Leaderboards can be an endless source of content inspiration and recognition of the hottest videos and creators emerging around the globe. Another place you’d like to check daily is our Trending Hashtags and Songs section where you’ll find, well exactly: trending hashtags and songs of the day! And from many countries, so if you feel like challenges in your country start to become over-saturated, you can pinch ideas from another part of the globe. But always remember to stick to your niche!
5. Be consistent!
Let’s put it that way: if you don’t plan to upload new videos consistently, you may just as well not start at all. It’s as simple as it gets. TikTok favours creators who are there to build their community, thus get people to spend more time on their app. If you upload consistently, they see you as the right partner to grow their platform with, and they will, therefore, feature your content more likely then those, who upload only every now and then. Also, if you’ll teach your audience to expect new videos from you at regular times, they will stick with you. It is no different then the rule that applies to YouTube creators: if their uploads are consistent, their subscribers know when to look out for their new content. Once you’ll disappoint them or your upload pattern won’t meet their expectations anymore, they’ll move on and forget about you. There are plenty of fishes in that crowded tank!
You don’t necessarily need to publish a new video every single day, or even multiple times a day, but 3-4 times a week at a regular time will teach TikTok algorithms and your audience that you’re serious about it. And they will grow their trust in you.
6. Create vertical videos!
OK, it is no secret that each social platform has its native video size: square for Facebook and Instagram (except Stories of course), horizontal16:9 for YouTube and vertical 9:16 for TikTok. And this is how they like it to be. You don’t necessarily break the rules uploading square videos to TikTok, but it just doesn’t seem to fit the idea. Well, long story short: other than vertical, videos don’t perform good on TikTok. Why?
Viewers get used to natural patterns on the platforms they visit. If TikTok wanted their videos to be square or horizontal, they would adjust the platform for that. Its founders, however, imagined TikTok to showcase videos that are recorded vertically, as a vast majority of its content is watched and recorded on mobile. Besides, square or even horizontal videos uploaded to TikTok are annoying to watch for viewers and will never have a chance to go viral because they are simply not native to the platform.
7. Make sure your videos are good quality!
TikTok algorithms don’t like dark videos, simply because the dimmer your video is, the more likely it can be marked as TikTok’s violence policy breaking content. Make sure to use proper lighting and sound: it not only is safer to the algorithms but also your viewers will appreciate a better quality of the recording, and thus the higher your chances to get more views.
If you’d look at FYP, what type of thumbnails you see? Bright or dull? Exactly!
8. Create videos that are longer than 8 seconds!
As well as on YouTube, video average watch time is one of the most critical factors for your profile to succeed on TikTok. While it is fantastic if you upload longer videos, that last say around 30 seconds, it might harm your overall performance if you cannot keep your audience’s attention for that long. On the other hand, videos that are less than 8 seconds are not the favourite ones for TikTok itself. Why? Because they don’t keep people on the platform for too long.
How long should be your videos? If you can keep your viewers attention for the whole of your video – ideal! The longer the video will be, the better. TikTok loves creators who entertain and make people stay on their app. If you struggle to record such long content, don’t worry – 12 to 15 seconds videos are proven to perform very well on TikTok. Whichever form works better for you, consistency is the key.
TikTok is the place to be, no doubt. TikTok Marketing growth is insane too and it is no wonder everyone wants to be successful there. Brand recognition, profitable partnerships, Influencer discovery – it’s all here at glance.
Ready to conquer it? Or are you looking to find best partners there? Read about it here: How to find TikTok Influencers?
All the luck!
