TikTok was the fastest growing social media app of 2020. There’s no wonder why you want to utilize TikTok marketing and the organic reach potential of this exciting, brand new app to go viral!

Going viral on TikTok is not an exact science. In fact, it’s more like witchcraft than science. You can do everything right and still not receive your likes, comments, and follower count skyrocket even after you post several videos.

But what is “right” when it comes to harnessing a TikTok marketing strategy to go viral? Well, though nothing is guaranteed on social media, there are definitely several things you can do to improve your chances of going viral on TikTok.

Here are seven top tips to improve your TikTok marketing and (hopefully) go viral!

1. Pay Attention to Your Profile

If you want to go viral on TikTok, that means you want to be TikTok famous. In which case, you should pay close attention to every single detail. Your profile and bio is a great place to start.

Firstly, your username. It needs to be short, snappy, and easy to remember. Limit the number of punctuation and numbers. If you already have a significant following on other social media platforms, make sure you have the same username on TikTok.

Your profile picture should reflect the kind of content you post. And, again, if you’re popular on another social media channel it won’t hurt to have the same profile picture across platforms so you are easily recognizable. 

Make sure you put some effort into your bio and don’t leave it as an afterthought. Mention what kind of videos your followers can expect. Are you a stay at home dad that posts funny videos of your children? Are you a comedian who posts one-liner jokes?

If so, make sure you put that in your bio! 

2. Be Very Active on TikTok

You need to like, comment and post as often as you can. This cannot be stressed enough if you want to use TikTok for marketing your personal brand. Try and engage with bigger TikTok stars as well as ones creating similar content to you.

You need to post at least one video every day, the more the better. No one said becoming TikTok famous would be easy work! More content gives you more opportunity to go viral. 

And if you do go viral (congratulations!), you want to give potential followers a reason to stick around. You want to keep receiving as many TikTok likes, comments, and followers as possible after you go viral to keep up the momentum.

But if you don’t consistently create videos, people will unfollow you.

3. Take Part in a TikTok Challenge

Participating in TikTok challenges is one of the best TikTok marketing strategies. Not only are they extremely popular on TikTok, but the best challenges also get picked up by other social media platforms, Reddit, and worldwide news.

Even celebrities get involved! A lot of eyes are on these challenges, and you never know, your video could end up being the most popular.

For inspiration, here are some of the most prolific TikTok challenges so far:

• Lizzo’s DNA Test Challenge

• Fleetwood Mac’s Cranberry Juice Challenge

• The “Vogue” Challenge

• The Old Town Road Challenge

• Various dance challenges like Drake’s Tootsie Slide and Megan Thee Stallion’s Savage

There are so many and you should research specific challenges within your niche. But a lot of challenges are relatively easy to join and don’t require a lot of prep (except maybe the dance challenges!). 

4. Use Hashtags Strategically 

Hashtags on TikTok work exactly the same way as they do on Instagram. They allow you to essentially categorize your content into several different groups via hashtags.

For example, if you post a makeup tutorial, you might consider using the hashtag #makeuptutorial so people looking for those kinds of videos can find yours.

You can be even more specific, by also using the hashtags #eyelinertutorial and #wingedeyelinertutorial, and so on. And you can (and should) do this in any niche.

If you’re using TikTok for marketing, then using hashtags is a great way to reach relevant users. Plus, you’re much more likely to go viral using hashtags than without them! Otherwise, new followers won’t find you.

Be sure to only use relevant hashtags. If a dance challenge hashtag is exploding, don’t tag your prank video with it.

5. Share Your Expertise

One of the best ways to go viral on TikTok is to be the best at something. Or if you can’t be the best, you should still be pretty darn good.

Are you a great chef? Do you do impressions? Can you knit or crochet your socks off? Literally, anything goes on TikTok and has the potential to go viral.

It’s even better if you have expertise within a niche area. Can you do impressions specifically of characters in The Crown? Are you incredibly fast at creating origami sculptures? Do you only cook meals using bacon?

Anything you do well has the potential to go viral on TikTok!

6. Be Authentic and Unique

TikTok may be a social media dominated by Gen Z, but don’t think that means you should attempt to get “down with the kids” in order to go viral.

Don’t do a dance challenge if you aren’t a dancer. Or better yet, do it badly and show what an amazing time you’re having regardless! But don’t do a makeup tutorial if you don’t know your bronzers from your brow kits just because they’re popular videos.

And you don’t need high production values or lots of editing as most people will see right through gimmicks.

Be your most weird, nerdy, authentic, and unique self and you will come across as friendly, likable, and relatable. And everyone wants to follow someone like that on social media!

7. Collaborate With Influencers

Once you have created a significant amount of videos (let’s say, over 50 as a benchmark), you could reach out to influencers for a possible collaboration. TikTok influencer marketing has the potential to expand your reach exponentially.

By collaborating with influencers, you can be exposed to a ready-made, huge audience that will like and share your videos with their friends, and so on. 

Because an influencer’s followers like and trust them, they are likely to like and trust their recommendations.

Getting the influencer collaboration is the tricky part. You can’t contact someone on TikTok unless they are following you back so you may need to use another social media platform to contact them.

Make sure the influencer you contact is within the same niche as you, and propose a type of collaboration that they have done before. You can also use a new hashtag for this collaboration in the hopes you’ll create your own TikTok challenge too!

Use TikTok Marketing Strategies to Go Viral!

Using TikTok marketing to potentially go viral isn’t easy. There isn’t one foolproof step-by-step method to guarantee TikTok notoriety and success.

However, as long as you consistently create funny, relatable, or helpful videos, you will definitely find a great community on this fast-growing social media platform.

Check out the rest of our articles for social media tips!