The title of this article is correct. After just 1 month of consistent TikTok use, I experienced substantial growth. By no means am I an expert on this platform but in 1 month, I experienced growth rates of up to 16,000% in terms of views, profile visits and followers and today I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned.
In the past 6 months, the conversation on social media has been centred around TikTok with a lot of questions being asked such as:
• Should I be using TikTok for my brand’s Social Media strategy?
• Should I be investing money into TikTok?
• Does my brand belong on TikTok?
• How do I grow on TikTok?
For time’s sake, I’ll tell you this, TikTok is a powerful application that requires what every other app does, consistency, strategy and enthusiasm. Now, this article won’t tell you if TikTok is the best thing for your brand, but today I’ll be sharing some information based on my personal findings.
As a recent grad, I’ve been asked in the last couple of job interviews if I have a growing knowledge of TikTok. If someone had asked me this a few weeks ago, I would have given them some basic knowledge. But now, I have an actively growing audience and some statistics to back me up.
Over the past month, as most of us are, I’ve been stuck inside my house. I’ve picked up several hobbies and tried to spend my time being productive. One of those hobbies was attempting to grow my TikTok following. I’ve successfully been able to grow on apps such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr so I figured, let’s try this out.
For reference sake, I started posting kind of consistently on TikTok as of March 21st, 2020.
I’ve found some success and some failure through my experimentation and based on this information; I’ve decided to share some of the learnings.
I also need to state that I had the app when it was formally known as ‘Musical.ly’, When it merged to TikTok, I had approximately 600 followers that were in-active. I am aware that I started ahead of the game, but this article is based on the collective growth based on a month of activity.
I will add that I’m not considered ‘TikTok famous’ but I have had successful content perform well on the platform. I do have a background in Digital Marketing, but I am no means a TikTok expert. (as of right now)
First, I’ll show you some statistics to back up my performance. (provided by TikTok in-app analytics).
The TikTok in-app analytics allow you to track stats from 7 days or 28 days. For the purpose of this article, I will be using ‘28 days’ and tracking my stats as of March 27th, 2020.
I will be showing growth in the following areas:
- Followers
- Total Video Views (across my entire platform)
- Profile Views
- Total Likes (across my entire platform)
Below are screenshots from the in-app analytics showing the growth of my profile
Followers
On March 27th, 2020, I had 755 followers. As of April 22, 2020, I’ve grown to 883+ followers with a steady growth of about 1-10+ followers a day. The growth rate for my followers is approximately 16.95%
This isn’t that substantial. But I have been able to find growth in a small amount of time.
Total Video Views
In terms of video views, on March 27th, I had about 603 video views in total. As of April 22nd, I have 97,446+ collective views, with a growth rate of 16,060%
Profile Views
In terms of profile views (times people have viewed my profile) On March 27th, I had approx. 12 profile views in total. As of April 22nd, I have 2,376+ profile views. The growth rate for profile views is approximately 19,700%
Total Likes
If you’re interested in likes, as of April 22nd I had approximately 20,754+ likes and it continues to grow every day based on the success of 2 specific videos.
As TikTok doesn’t currently track like growth, I’m not able to share the growth rate.
Based on my personal growth, I’ve decided to share some of the observations I picked up from posting content and learning from others. I hope this helps!
1. Post 2-3 times a day (at least) if you want to see consistent growth
Like any app, TikTok requires consistent posting. Your followers want to see lots of content and you can’t depend on the success of 1 or 2 videos. If you’re determined to go viral or create a good following, you need to be active on the app and post at least 2-3 times a day. I’ve found the best success when I’ve posted multiple times. Also, don’t limit yourself, if you want to post 10 times a day, go for it!
2. Find a Niche
If one of your videos specifically gains traction, continue to post similar content. My most successful video is about concert photography so I’ve been posting some photos I’ve taken at concerts to keep consistency.
I’ve found the most followers from a specific audience (fans, other photographers) and now my entire For You Page consists of photographers. If dancing is your thing, post-dance videos. If you’re into comedy and you happen to be funny, continue on that road. There’s a girl who got thousands of followers for 60-second cake decorating videos, there’s another girl who got viral over the videos of her making cute lunches for her kids. Anything is possible, don’t be afraid to try other content, but stick with what works! I promise it’ll pay off.
3. Being cute with a good fashion sense can get you lots of followers
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but cute people get followers. I came across this attractive boy on my FYP when he was first starting. He probably had 800+ followers at the time. In addition to being cute, he has a very cool street style and happens to be funny. I kid you not, this kid is now at over 13k+ followers in under 3 weeks.
He started posting consistently and now has a bunch of teenage girls vying for his attention. He used what worked for him and now has several videos that have gained traction. I’m not saying it’s entirely based on him being cute, but I have to admit that I have followed people based on if I find them attractive. If you happen to be cute, it will pay off for you.
Like any social media, people care about the person behind the account. One of the most popular users of the app is Addison Rae Easterling.
She is beautiful, very positive and happens to be a great dancer. In about 8 months, Addison has amassed over 35.8 million followers on the app and as a result, has grown on Instagram and Twitter. She now has over 50+ million collective followers as a result of her TikTok fame. This proves the point I made, if you’re pretty, consistent and stick to your niche, you can grow into a full-blown influencer.
4. Comedy = Followers
TikTok is currently channelling energy that is comparative to Vine and YouTube. The generation of viewers currently engaging in the app wants quick content that is entertaining and keeps them coming back for more. There is a user named ‘snarkymarky’ who has gained over 2 million followers based on his comedy. He has blown up on this app and is currently gaining traction for a remixed version of his audio ‘ladies and gentleman, the volume inside of this bus is ‘ASTRONOMICAL’
This is the original TikTok below.
Comedy attracts followers and a lot of users have become popular for this. People like funny things and will continue to follow someone if they make them laugh. Now I’m not one of the people who have found success in comedy, but everyone has their strengths right?
5. The algorithm is hard to play with but can be optimized
The main page on Tiktok is called the ‘For You’ page, this is the tab that most people try to make it on. I’ve had friends text me saying ‘I saw you on the FYP page’ and it does make me happy. But sometimes it’s hard to predict. The For You algorithm is something I still haven’t quite mastered, but it works in a couple of different ways. Here is what I’ve noticed.
- When you initially post a video, the algorithm will show your video to a bunch of users (sometimes location-specific, sometimes not) and if a whole bunch of users like your post, it’ll continue to get shown on the For You page. If it doesn’t get likes, it may continue to get views but will end up halting at a certain amount.
- Some videos will get constantly picked up and continue to grow over time. My most popular video continues to get likes and views per day and have substantially grown
- If you’re on your For You page and a video has come by with (for example) 50k likes, this video is probably not recent and has built up traction over time.
Through TikTok’s ‘in-app analytics’ you’re able to find the times where your followers and viewers are most active. This has worked for me! You can find these stats in the ‘Followers’ section of the In-App Analytics. I’ll admit that I’ve had more videos gain traction while posting during consistent times then randomly posting videos midday.
Based on the app and my specific followers, I find that users are most active online after 8 pm EST and from 4-6 pm EST.
6. It’s important to put a unique spin on popular trends or use trending sounds in a unique way
If a sound or trend is popular, this goes without saying, do not do what everyone else is doing. From what I’ve seen, users who find the most success are those who put a unique spin on a trending sound or challenge.
Show your uniqueness through your posts, people are more willing to follow someone who does different things than someone who follows everyone else. Being unique will allow you to stand out.
7. Just because you’re not a professional dancer, doesn’t mean you can’t dance
A huge trend in TikTok has been dancing challenges. The most famous TikTok dance is the ‘Renegade’ or ‘Say So’ and both have blown up and made for viral content across the app. A lot of popular users have gained traction through dancing and have continued to grow. But don’t worry if dancing isn’t your thing. I have to admit that I’ve tried several of the dances and have never posted one of them. But they can be learned. Now I’m not saying that dancing is key to TikTok growth, but it is one of the niches that has been successful in creating certain users’ follower base.
If you’re feeling up to it, try a dance or two, You may be surprised that you’re a good dancer. I’ll include some of the popular dances below.
Renegade Dance TikTok Compilation
Say So Dance TikTok Compilation
8. Sharing your skills makes for good content
Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a lot of skill-based content on my For You page. Maybe this is because we all have a lot more time, but I’ve been seeing a lot of photography, drawing and art-based content on my page. The way I’ve gained traction on the app is actually due to my photography skills. However, I’ve seen a lot of different users who have painting or drawing skills and have used this to gain followers. TikTok has provided a platform to share and promote your skills and for me, that’s a win-win.
My most successful video has over 10.5k+ likes and counting and has been viewed over 81,000 times. This video, (included below) is about photography. As some of you know, I’m a concert photographer who had the opportunity to work for a record label in early 2019. During this time, I got to take pictures of a bunch of concerts and build a solid portfolio.
My biggest following came after I shot the PrettyMuch concert with Kenzie Ziegler as the opener. I knew that Kenzie Ziegler was popular on TikTok and so I used my knowledge of that and told a story with my content. In the pit of the concert, I made a connection with a member of Kenzie’s team who gave Kenzie the photos. She ended up reposting them. I quickly shared this story using a popular sound and the rest is history. This video has picked up a lot of traction and has been one of my biggest sources of followers. I used my resources and skill and gained traction from there.
9. Tell a story with your content
The most successful content I’ve seen (besides dancing) has come for storytelling. This practice isn’t new. Social Media content strategies thrive off of good storytelling and this doesn’t end at TikTok. Good storytelling is powerful no matter what emotion it generates. I’ve told stories and they’ve skyrocketed my content. Good storytelling makes for good viewers. People will generally watch the entirety of your TikTok if it engages them. Then, it may prompt them to share it with their friends. This in term leads to good viral content. Tell a story with your videos, make your content meaningful and I promise you, you’ll find success.
10. Traction and viral content can take time
As I noted before, a lot of the videos that have ‘blown up’ or gained views for me have done so over time. I have yet to see a huge growth instantly from a video. This is different for more popular users who have an instant activity with followers and see activity within the first hour. This is not the same with everyone, this is only what has worked for me over the last month!
11. Be active with the followers/commenters who comment on your videos
My second last point is simple. Be active and responsive to your followers. One of my most popular videos has continued to get daily comments and I make it my duty to respond and interact with as many users as I can. The people commenting are the ones giving your video traction, they are so important.
My post about a popular boyband has spawned comments from fans of the band, they have replied saying they’ve seen my photos, they love my photos and even as far as saying ‘I have this photo as my lock screen’ I am so grateful to have given these fans photos and I’m so happy that they’ve liked them. It doesn’t take anything away from me to like or respond back and potentially acknowledge a ‘fan’ of my work. This is a practice I’ll continue to do because there is so much value in engagement.
For reference, here is the video!
12. Have fun!
The most important thing I’ll note is to have fun. Focus on being authentic and have fun with your content. Users will pick up on someone’s inauthentic behaviour and can notice that in your posts. Use your time to explore different trends and just make the best of it. TikTok is pretty new compared to a lot of existing social platforms, so try to explore and see what you can do with it.
I hope these 12 findings might have helped you in some way. I’ll wrap this up by saying that I am no means an expert at this, like anyone else I’m just using this for the sole purpose of passing the time. I do have experience in Digital Marketing and Social Media growth, but for the most part, I’m simply just having fun and finding some good success in it.
TikTok is a great platform and offers anyone the potential chance of success. I encourage anyone reading this to explore the platform and see what they can do. You may not become the next Addison Rae but try to have fun anyway. If anything, you’ll get a couple of laughs.
If you’re interested in following along with my content, be sure to follow me on TikTok @supmallory and stay tuned for more posts coming soon!
Your Social Media Queen
Mallory T
Welcome to My World 