TikTok Tips Tuesday
How to Make Your TikTok Go Viral With These 13 Easy Tips
1. Begin your video with a strong hook
On a fast-paced social media platform like TikTok, you have to grab the attention of your audience in the first 3 seconds of your video! In order for your video to perform well and go viral, catching your audience’s attention quickly before they swipe past your video is an important factor. If there’s no action till the end, most people won’t watch and your video will die within a few hours.
You need to begin your video with a strong hook to make people watch till the end. When you set the tone and topic of your content, TikTok is more likely to feature your video to more and more viewers. TikTok will also list your video on the “For You” page when it reaches a large audience.
There are various ways to capture your audience’s attention immediately, and you’ll need to experiment here and there to find what works the best for you.
2. Keep your videos as short as possible
TikTok is a short video media platform where viewers like to watch clips that are short and to the point. If you utilize all the seconds provided and create a longer video that doesn’t provide much value, people will scroll past. On this platform, people are more likely to watch a 15 seconds video till the end, compared to, say, a one minute long one.
Thus, the shorter your video is, the less time people will have to spend watching it till the end. If you want to tell a longer story, you can break the content into parts while reminding your followers to like or follow for part 2 and so on.
You could even turn the entire topic into a video series, covering the topic in more depth. To improve your full watch time, you’ll need to make sure to follow Tip 1, which is to have a great hook right at the start.
3. Add strong CTAs
It is nice to put out great content. However, what do you want your audience to do after watching your videos? Going viral isn’t just your end goal. You’ll want to encourage them to check out more of your content, follow your TikTok profile or go to your website. Call to actions certainly play a huge role in making people act after going through your content.
It lets your audience know what they can expect from your other videos, and not miss out on future content. For starters, a simple call to action could be “follow me for more daily finance tips!” Also, don’t forget to add a clickable link in your bio to your website or other landing pages.
This can help drive your traffic to your site or a landing page, which could easily convert your TikTok audience into leads and eventually sales – the sky’s the limit.
4. Post at the right time
What does posting at the right time mean? Well, the best time to post on TikTok depends on when your audience is the most active on the platform. As you might already know, it is crucial to get engagement on your videos in the initial hours of posting to give TikTok a hint that your video is being liked by your audience.
And in order to gain that engagement, you need to post them when your audience is actively scrolling their feeds and consuming content. A TikTok Pro account gives you access to reports that tell you when your audience is the most engaged. You can find this under the ‘Follower Activity’ report in the Follower tab.
You can also take the help of a social media scheduling tool that provides the feature of auto-scheduling your content for the best time to post.
5. Use trending music
Think of music on TikTok like hashtags. They play a large role in your content’s discoverability. Hence, it’s recommended to use a trending song at the right time, in such a platform where people feed off the trends. It helps boost the chances of getting your video to go viral and helps the algorithm work in your favor.
To find trending audios, you have to spend some time exploring the “For You” Page and find what music and sounds are getting the most traction. You’ll need to start paying attention to the popular creators and artists and see what actually works.
Another option is to go to the TikTok video editor to the ‘Sounds’ section at the top, where you’ll be able to scroll through the various trending songs under ‘Discover’. Another tip that you need to note is that you still need to use trending music in your videos even if you’re doing a voiceover.
6. Master the art of storytelling
The vital ingredient to virality to TikTok — and any social media — is storytelling. It’s an important part of humanity. Viewers will be quick to share videos that capture their emotions. By adding raw human emotions such as humor, fear, excitement, and inspiration, you’ll have a good chance to capture people’s attention as they can relate and connect with your story.
A strategic way to tell a story on TikTok and capture your viewer’s attention is to use text overlays. Perhaps you could try addressing a fear right off the bat, and then step by step, provide a solution.
Or you could tell a story but leave some cliffhangers that’ll promote some engagement and comments on your TikTok video. The stories you can share could be about anything – from your daily routines to your perspective about life with raw human emotions, or something that people really want to know.
7. Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are one of the TikTok algorithm’s ranking signals. This means that including hashtags in your video description makes it easy for the algorithm to put it in front of the audience that will respond to it. Avoid only using generic hashtags like #FYP.
Doing so means you won’t have to compete with the millions of other videos catering to the same hashtag. Most TikTok creators already know the value of #hashtags, but popular hashtags and hashtag challenges can have a significant impact on your video’s visibility. Prioritize hashtag challenges that use trending effects for best results.
Moreover, if you’re looking for popular hashtags to use, you can hop to your Discover tab and see what’s trending. As far as quantity goes, anywhere from three to five hashtags per post is usually more than enough to get the recommendation system on the right track.
8. Cross-promote on other social platforms
Short video content is now famous on almost every social media platform including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, as well as YouTube. Thus, you can repurpose your TikTok content on other social media platforms as well. This way, you will be able to engage your audience on multiple sites without having to create separate content for each of them.
You can use a social media scheduler to streamline your content across all major platforms. RecurPost is a tool that lets you schedule videos on social media beforehand and create a consistent content calendar. By cross-promoting your TikTok content on other social sites, you will be able to divert your traffic from one site to another and grow your followers easily.
9. Encourage interaction
The difference between a video platform and a social network is interactivity. TikTok isn’t just a place to post videos. It’s also a place to engage with a community over the content it creates. There’s a comment section for a reason, you know? Plus, with the Duet and Stitch features, it’s possible to collaborate on videos with complete strangers who live on the other side of the planet.
TikTok’s algorithm works in a way that rewards all forms of community interaction — so make sure your content encourages it. Ask users to sound off in the comments section. Provide a prompt from which people can Stitch or Duet a response video of their own. Make the sort of videos people feel compelled to share via other social media platforms like Instagram. It all makes the algorithm look upon your videos a bit more favorably.
10. Create content that users will rewatch
If you learn one thing from this article, you’ll already understand that video completion rate is one of the most important elements in the algorithm. This tip may sound counterintuitive to you, but it works in the way that the algorithm favors. There are benefits to having a video where some parts are too fast for someone to read, watch, or understand on the first viewing.
When you put an important statement, an address, or a list of places for only 1 second, the interested viewer will likely have to rewatch the video to catch the text. They could probably even pause your video repeatedly to re-read the text.
When they do this, more time is spent watching your video, signaling to the algorithm that it’s a good video. When performance continues to be high, your video will be shown on the For You page and appear to more and more people. This is when your content can go viral marketing.
11. Hop on trends quickly
If you have thought of how to go viral on TikTok, a great tip is to spot the trends before everyone else does. By doing so, you’ll stay ahead of the trend wave. There’s a strategy to it: first, check out TikTok’s Discovery pages. After you spot the trending videos revolving around your niche, it’s time for you to put your own unique twist and try to emulate the trend.
Also, there are some trends that are spontaneous, while others are seasonal. It’s best to spot those trends that could be effective in your expertise or niche and quickly leverage them before they fade.
12. Engage with other creators
Don’t just sit back and pump out videos—this is “social” media, after all! TikTok is a community, and showing others’ support can go a long way toward helping them and you.
Like and comment on videos from other creators; engagement is the most important factor in TikTok’s algorithm, so they are likely to appreciate your efforts and be more open to returning the favor when you publish new videos.
13. Be consistent
Consistency is the key to growing on any social media platform. Social media platforms always favor content from creators who post consistently, as it brings more traffic to the app. This doesn’t mean you should post every hour, though. Rather, find a sweet spot that ranges from a maximum of twice a day to a minimum of twice a week with the best social media bulk scheduling. Posting consistently will give your followers something to look forward to and give new potential followers a sense of commitment when they scroll through your profile.
How to go Viral on TikTok With no Followers?
Have got zero followers on your TikTok account yet? Not to worry. This does not have to stop your content from going viral. Everybody wants their videos to go viral on TikTok quickly, and there are ways to do it. But someone with no followers could think that there is no way for them to make it.
Luckily, TikTok has an algorithm that will showcase any new video uploaded by you to a small audience. If your video performs well in the initial one hour, it will be pushed further ahead for more audience views. So, here are some ways to go viral on TikTok even when you have no followers:
1. Use trending music in your videos
You can push your video forward through the TikTok algorithm by using music from artists that are trending on the platform. Make sure you pick music from artists that are already doing well. This will increase your video’s chances of ranking up.
2. Have a killer opening to the video
If you want the viewer to watch till the very end, you should try to have an awesome intro to kickstart your video. This means using enticing and catchy headlines in the very beginning of the video so that the user knows what he is getting into.
3. Keep the videos short
Nobody likes boring, unnecessarily long videos. So, unless you have a long story to convey, try to keep your videos as brief as possible. When you keep short videos, the user will likely watch it till the very end and that will go through the algorithm to the top. To edit your videos accordingly and to make the process easy you can take the help of a tiktok video editor.
4. Speak directly to the audience
One TikTok viral trick of 2023 that you need to know is that you need to speak directly to the audience by using your voice. Your viewers want to feel connected to you; hence you can speak through the video to make the users feel like they are talking to you. Record your voice with no background music for this.
5. Use floating subtitles that are catchy
Make floating subtitles because these will keep the viewers hooked throughout the video. These subtitles should be catchy, clear, and attention-grabbing.
6. Share industry insights and tips
Everybody loves learning new things when they watch TikTok videos. So, if you bear certain expertise or insights in the industry, you can share it with your viewers. You can share any favorite products of yours that you use because users would love to find that out.
How to go Viral on TikTok Using Hashtags
If you thought that you can use hashtags to go viral on TikTok, you have come to the right place. Great hashtags are strategic, relevant, and interesting. Here are pro tips that you can follow for learning how hashtags are a vital part of TikTok marketing to make your videos go VIRAL:
Be aware of the target audience when you make hashtags
Categorize your posts
Study the competitors and the hashtags used by them
Use hashtags that are less competitive
Only use hashtags that are relevant today or currently
Conduct research for trending keywords and add them to the tags
How Long Does it Take to go Viral on TikTok?
Unlike Instagram, where a post will remain alive only for 48 hours after posting, TikTok videos will stick around for much longer and can go viral weeks after getting posted. Hence, there is no specific timeline for TikTok videos to go viral. Every video will have its own time of getting popular. Some might go viral instantly and some might take days to start getting viral. So, never delete a video if it does not perform initially because it can go viral on TikTok later.
Best TikTok Captions to Go Viral
Captions are a very important part of your videos too and if yes they can make your videos go viral. So, if you want your video to go viral on TikTok, you can use this list of cool captions that we have sourced from Seventeen:
Cute Captions
“They said it was a challenge but they’ve never met me.”
“All you need is love and TikTok.”
“Dancing is life.”
“And the award for the best audio goes to me.”
“Friends don’t let friends make TikToks alone.”
“So you wanna make a TikTok?”
“Loving how I look and how I feel.”
“What audio should I do my makeup to?”
“This is what we do when we’re bored.”
Funny Captions
“In search of the next best content house.”
“Great dancers aren’t born great unless they’re me.”
“It’s me, the best dancer on your feed.”
“Dunkin Donuts should sponsor me.”
“How long until I’m TikTok famous?”
“Witness history in the making.”
“My Day: Wake up, TikTok, Sleep.”
“Get in loser. We’re making TikToks.”
Quote Captions
“What, like it’s hard?” — Elle Woods, Legally Blonde
“I wanna dance in the dark and never stop. We gonna light up the night like shooting stars.” — Rihanna, “Dancing in the Dark”
“I don’t scratch my head unless it itches and I don’t dance unless I hear some music.” — Coach Boone, Remember the Titans
“Don’t be fancy, just get dancy.”— Pink, “Raise Your Glass
“Movin’ my hips like, yeah.” — Miley Cyrus, “Party in the USA”
“Just dance.” — Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”
“The party doesn’t start till I walk in.” — Kesha, “TikTok”