TikTok reached nearly 2 billion users in 2023, an increase from the previous year. That was a huge jump for a relatively new social media platform. Ads on TikTok reach more than 1.2 billion users each month, a figure that’s grown by more than 12% in just three months.
What does all this mean? With TikTok, businesses can increase their reach and build brand awareness, especially if the target market is a younger audience. But if you’re here, you likely already know about TikTok’s strong potential to help grow your brand. And now, you want to gain more followers to maximize your reach.
Well, you’re in the right place.
How to Get More Followers on TikTok: 9 Proven Strategies
Are you ready to rack up those TikTok followers? Use these nine tried-and-true strategies to skyrocket your growth.
1. Define Your Target Audience
Yes, TikTok has a huge audience. If you want to get your brand in front of as many people as possible, it might be tempting to appeal to all users to attract followers faster.
However, it’s better to take a targeted approach. To do this, you need to know your target audience. What types of consumers are most likely to buy your products? These are the people to go after on TikTok.
Once you define your target audience, you’ll know what content to create. So, take your time to identify their pain points, goals, and interests. Study your competitors and businesses that sell similar products and services to yours.
Which of their posts get the most engagement? This will tell you what type of content your audience is likely to engage with on your own TikTok account.
2. Start a Content Series
Whether they tell a story or offer helpful information, video series on TikTok get a lot of engagement.
Since most TikTok videos are short-form, it can be challenging to fit your message into a single video. However, you can use this to your advantage to build anticipation and make your audience eager to see more.
For example, let’s say you want to create videos to promote your home repair business. You can make a TikTok series titled “Home Repair 101: 30 Days of Expert Tips.”
So, for 30 days, you could provide homeowners with best practices to keep their homes in tip-top shape.
It not only empowers people to tackle certain issues confidently, but it also demonstrates the business owner’s expertise, building trust.
3. Work With Influencers
80% of consumers have purchased products directly after watching social media content. And 37% of consumers trust social media influencers over brands.
Building relationships with social media influencers is a great way to build your TikTok following. Influencers can showcase your product or service to their audience. Since they’ve already built a strong, engaged audience, this can easily drive more traffic to your TikTok page.
As you look for the right influencers, make sure they align with your brand’s values and have the potential to connect well with your audience. Most importantly, the content they post should be relevant to your business and industry.
4. Stay on Top of Trends
One of the easiest ways to get followers on TikTok is to post content that’s most likely to go viral. Study top content trends to know what’s currently hot and going viral. To do this, open the TikTok app and tap the search icon. Once you do this, you’ll see a few trending searches.
For instance, you might find a popular search term such as, “Wisdom Tooth Recovery Foods.” When you tap on it, you’ll see a many videos that offer tips on what foods to eat after recovering from wisdom tooth removal.
In a few of these videos, dentists share helpful tips. This educational content helps them drive organic traffic to their TikTok accounts, which increases their chances of getting more followers. These types of videos are in trending searches for a reason. They provide value, build trust, and help make people’s lives easier.
5. Aim to Educate and Inform
TikTok is more than just a platform for viral dances and challenges. It can also be a treasure trove of helpful and informative content.
You’ve probably heard someone say, “I learned that from TikTok,” or “TikTok made me buy it.” That’s because people often use TikTok to learn new information and discover different brands and products. In fact, one in three consumers use social media channels to gain knowledge or find new products, services, or brands.
So, if you post engaging, valuable content, you’re likely to get more likes, shares, and followers. Don’t know what to post? Think about the industry you’re in and the common pain points your target audience has.
6. Participate in TikTok Challenges
Challenges are part of what made TikTok so popular. There’s something about participating in fun, silly challenges that fosters a sense of community and camaraderie.
Every one of your TikTok videos doesn’t have to be about your business. You can make your brand more human and relatable by creating challenges. You can mix business with fun and challenges that include your brand and add a fun element in some way.
For example, some brands have created fun dances, which has generated over a billion views. This is a perfect example of combining branding with humor.
7. Use Relevant Hashtags
Familiar with the different hashtags your target audience uses? Add them to your video captions. This will help you gain more exposure. When someone searches for a trending hashtag related to your business or product, your video may appear in the search results.
If you don’t know what hashtags to use, try using a hashtag generator tool. Or, as you create the caption for a video, just use the # sign, and you’ll see a list of relevant hashtag suggestions from TikTok.
8. Create Duets & Stitches
Duets and Stitches are a great way to collaborate with other brands on TikTok. These features allow you to react and remix with other creators’ videos.
With Duets, you can create side-by-side videos with other content and react to or add to it. Stitches allow you to clip and combine scenes from someone else’s video into your own. This gives you the power to remix their narrative. It’s like remixing a song but in video form.
These types of TikTok videos work well because they encourage engagement by allowing users to interact directly with other people’s content. They also provide a platform for creative collaboration. You can build upon existing content and add your own unique twist or commentary. Plus, you can also reach the audience of the original creator as well as your own.
Some TikTokers challenge entrepreneurs to duet videos with their best business pitch. As more people engage with and share the video, the creators gains greater visibility. As a result, they can reach a wider audience, increasing exposure for them and the participating entrepreneurs.
9. Use TikTok Advertising
Just like we said in the introduction, TikTok ads have an extremely wide reach. So, why not take advantage of it? Ads may not be the most engaging content you’ll ever post on the platform, but they definitely get the job done in building brand awareness.
That’s where advertising technology platforms come in handy. You can strategically reach new audiences beyond your current followers. By employing targeted advertising campaigns informed by demographics, interests, and behaviors, you can promote your TikTok content in front of users most likely to engage.
Taking this targeted approach accelerates follower growth and attracts a more relevant audience interested in your niche.
Here are a few more tips for creating high-performing ads:
- Make sure your ads blend seamlessly with the organic content on TikTok.
- Tell a story or convey your message in a creative and engaging way.
- Incorporate popular TikTok trends, trends, or hashtags.
- Leverage user-generated content (UGC).
- Include a clear and actionable CTA.
- Keep your ads short and snappy.
- Hook viewers within seconds.
- Know your audience.
- Be authentic and fun.
Wrapping Up
Growing your brand on TikTok is all about authenticity. Users are more likely to engage with brands they can relate to and feel a strong connection to. Follow these strategies to build these connections. And the more people like, comment, and share your content, the more potential followers you’ll get. Always prioritize original, high-quality content. Here’s to your success in harnessing the powerful tool of TikTok for content strategy to grow your follower count!
