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The secret code of going viral on TikTok

The secret code of going viral on TikTok

Michael Baumgartner
May 10, 2023
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TikTok has established itself as a premier short-form video content platform among social media apps, offering everyone the opportunity to create engaging content with videos ranging from 3 seconds to 10 minutes. With the right strategy, a dash of creativity, and some luck, anyone can potentially create viral content on this popular platform. This article outlines essential tips for optimizing your TikTok productions and achieving better results.

The True Goals of TikTok Content Creation

While the prospect of going viral on TikTok is alluring, it's crucial to focus on creativity, self-expression, and relevance. Your videos should educate, entertain, or inspire viewers. Moreover, TikTok can be an invaluable platform for promoting your business and achieving your marketing goals. By following the tips in this article, you can improve the quality of your TikTok content, increase your brand awareness, generate leads, and even sales.

Understand the TikTok algorithm

TikTok employs a sophisticated recommendation system to connect users with relevant content based on user interactions, video information, and account and device settings. This algorithm effectively tailors each user's For You Page to their unique interests and preferences. The more users watch and engage with your video, the higher its ranking will be.

TikTok's algorithm considers a variety of signals to determine the content it recommends. User interactions such as views, likes, comments, shares, and searches play a significant role in shaping the content served. Video information, including captions, hashtags, text and voice-overs, sounds, and effects, also influences recommendations. By understanding these factors and optimizing your content accordingly, you can create videos that capture users' attention and keep them engaged with the platform.

Master TikTok SEO

TikTok SEO employs specific techniques to analyze and optimize content for higher rankings. It takes various factors into account to recommend videos to users. While it shares some similarities with text-based SEO, such as the use of analytics and keywords for ranking, TikTok primarily focuses on visual content since it's a video-based platform, unlike other search engines that concentrate on text content.

To better understand TikTok SEO and its techniques, it's important to know how TikTok ranks videos. As we mentioned before, The platform chooses videos to display based on users' interests, utilizing viewers' interactions to curate the most suitable content for the For You Page (FYP). As a result, you may come across content from creators you don't follow, but that still captures your interest. This is what TikTok SEO aims to optimize and showcase: content that resonates with users, regardless of their familiarity with the creator.

[Link to “Mastering TikTok SEO” article]

Below are some tips to help you navigate TikTok SEO and enhance your content creation efforts to achieve optimal results:

Tips for Viral Success on TikTok

Participate in trends: Keep up with current trends and challenges, as this can increase the visibility and shareability of your content. Popular videos often feature well-chosen music and sound selections.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYsvMVEA/

Use trending audio: Trending audio can boost your video's view time and help users discover your content through the audio's search page. For example, Guess's successful #InMyDenim campaign used carefully selected audio to accumulate millions of likes and views.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYsv6kE7/

Utilize hashtags: Hashtags help index and categorize similar content. Use 3 to 5 relevant hashtags and participate in popular challenges to make it easier for users to find your videos. Avoid using irrelevant hashtags or going off-topic.

Create share-worthy content: Focus on creating engaging content that people want to share, including entertaining, educational, and inspirational videos. 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYsvYQRR/

Capture users' attention with hooks: TikTok takes average watch time into account when ranking content, so it's important to use a strong hook in the first few seconds to keep viewers engaged and encourage them to spend more time on your content.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYs7vG3X/

Some more examples of strong hooks: 

  • Here’s (Number) lessons any (Niche Related Title / Profession) can learn from (Popular Celebrity Figure) brand (Niche Related Brand related to Celebrity).
  • In this video I'm going to show you how to get rid of your (common problem) in 15 seconds or less.
  • 2 (apps / social platforms) updates you absolutely need to know about! Grab your pen and paper we're going in!

Post consistently and cross-promote: Regularly publishing content and promoting it on other social media platforms can improve your growth on TikTok. Sharing your TikTok posts on LinkedIn and Instagram, for example, can help reach a wider audience. Have a look at Justin Fineberg’s social media accounts, he promotes content in different social media platforms simultaneously and has gained wonderful results so far.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYsvFJM3/

Enhance video information: Use captions, stickers, transitions, and special effects to make your videos more engaging and visually appealing. This can increase view counts and shares.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYs7WjRR/

Engage with your audience: Respond to comments, collaborate with other creators or brands, and engage with content within your niche to build a community around your brand. Be genuine and authentic in your content to resonate with your target audience. Take a look at this page and its comments:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYsvJMLr/

Pro TIP

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Conclusion

TikTok is an incredible platform with over 30 million users worldwide, and with a diverse range of content, it caters to various interests and preferences. By utilizing creative content and following the strategies outlined in this article, marketers can optimize their TikTok campaigns and potentially go viral. Your intelligence, creativity, and good fortune could lead to a widely-followed TikTok account that captivates audiences.

Michael Baumgartner
May 10, 2023
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Meet The Author
CEO of Zebracat
A seasoned entrepreneur and AI enthusiast, Michael frequently shares insights on the intersection of technology and marketing. His writing focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance marketing strategies.

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