Whether you are a content creator looking to grow your following or a brand wanting to increase its visibility, TikTok offers you an excellent opportunity. With the short video-sharing platform expected to reach 1.8 billion users by the end of 2024, TikTok provides a chance to reach a large audience.

Besides, TikTok is arguably the best platform for beginners. This is because its algorithm does not consider the number of followers when recommending videos to users. That means even if you have no followers, TikTok will recommend your videos, making it easier to grow your account. However, statistics indicate that over 34 million TikTok videos are posted daily, and the competition can get stiff. Luckily, we have some TikTok growth tips to supercharge your following.

Importance of Growing Your TikTok Following

While there are many TikTok metrics to track, one of the most important ones is the following. This is because it opens up opportunities for growth on the platform. Here are some reasons you need to track your TikTok following:

• Increased reach and visibility. TikTok will often recommend your content to the people following your account. That means the higher the number of followers your account has, the higher its reach and visibility on the social media platform. Remember that a higher visibility is key for brand authority and influence expansion.
• More authority and credibility. Most social media users interpret a higher account following as a sign of credibility. That means when you have a higher TikTok following, people will consider your content valuable and worth sharing. Therefore, you can establish yourself as an authority in the niche.
• Content monetization. If you aim to make money on TikTok, the number of followers can impact how much you make. Remember that when searching for a TikTok influencer to collaborate with, most brands often consider the number of followers. This is because it guarantees them a wider reach. Therefore, you can get brand deals, lucrative sponsorships, and more monetization opportunities with a higher growth count.
• Community building. When you grow your following, you can easily build a loyal community that can interact with your content, get feedback, and become your brand advocates. Then, you can leverage this community for support and sustained growth.
• Get key data. With a large following, you can find some comprehensive analytics into the demographics and behaviors of your audience. You can use this data to create a more comprehensive content strategy.
• Gain a competitive edge. The social media world can be competitive. If you have a big follower base, this can provide you with an edge over your competitors. It can open doors for collaborations, exclusive events, and other opportunities not available to others with smaller accounts.
• Enhance your presence on other social media platforms. TikTok has the first growth rate of new accounts, so it can be a good choice for boosting your presence on other social media platforms. 

Steps in Growing a TikTok Account

To take your TikTok account to the next level, you should follow these steps:

Understand Your Target Audience

While GenZ makes the most of the TikTok audience, other age groups, including Baby Boomers, are also on the platform. The type of content best suited for one generation is not necessarily the right one for the other. To grow your TikTok following, you need to understand your target audience. By doing that, you can focus on creating content that is best suited for them.

Creating generic content, hoping that the right audience will see it, will not work. There are several steps in determining your audience and creating for them. These are:

• Check your TikTok analytics. This free and built-in TikTok analytics tool can provide insights into the age, gender, and location of your audience. You might realize they are millennials who love gadgets or GenZs who love traveling. After identifying your audience, consider the kind of content they want to see and how they prefer to be engaged.
• Create their desired content. After determining your audience, you must create the right content that speaks to them. For instance, if your followers are on fitness, you might want to create a video of your workout routine. That is more likely to work well than creating a dance challenge video.
• Keep experimenting and adjusting. You can create different types of content to find the most engaging one. For instance, if you aren't sure whether to do comedy skits or dance trending videos, you can post both to see which will produce the highest engagement.

Remember that understanding your target audience isn't a one-day affair. It's an ongoing process. Therefore, keep looking into your analytics, listening to your audience, and changing your content strategy to meet their needs. This is important as people’s preferences can change while the TikTok algorithm keeps changing.

Participate in TikTok Trends

Viral TikTok trends, such as dance trends, are big. They are the reason for the fast popularity of the platform. That means creating trending challenges is one way to make your videos appear on the For You Page. These videos will also increase your chances of appearing on the main feed, and the TikTok algorithm will grow your reach.

Remember that TikTok trends aren't just about creating viral moments. They are about widening your reach, showcasing your creative side, and even increasing your chances of going viral. However, you should remember that trends often don't last for long. Therefore, the earlier you join them, the better.

However, when joining a TikTok trend, you must ensure it aligns with your brand. You can find good trends by following popular influencers and creators and seeing the trending hashtags. This should be for both videos and audios. Once you find a trend that aligns with your brand, you want to adapt it to ensure it fits well in your routine. 

For instance, if you are a creator in the workout niche, you can turn the latest dance trend into an exercise routine. Remember that your brand authenticity matters when deciding on the trends to join. Only participate in trends that align with your brand aesthetics and values.

 Also, remember that participating in trends will not always work. Your efforts might not work or may backfire badly. However, when it does, the rewards can be great such as increased visibility, higher engagement, and more followers. The key is to use them when they are relevant to your brand. Always watch what is trending, but remember to stay aligned with your brand values.

Influencer Collaboration and Cross-promotion

If you only create content and post it on your account, there is no chance of reaching a new audience. The only way to double your videos' reach is by cross-promoting them on other creators' channels. Besides, this is a good way of building a community and creative exchanges. The good news is that TikTok has some great features that enable you to collaborate with other creators on the platform. 

One of the top features you should use is a duet, which allows you to create a video alongside another creator. You can also use stitch, which will enable you to cut and add scenes from another creator's videos to your own. You can reach a new audience on TikTok by leveraging these tools. If the collaboration turns out successful, it can be the beginning of an ongoing relationship. You can create a challenge or content series together. You can also cross-promote one another's events or merchandise.

In addition, you can partner with an influencer in your niche to reach a new target audience. Research, check their engagement rates, and create a good proposal when finding one.  When collaborating with another creator, ensure that:

• They have a clear agreement on the kind of content they should create and the messaging to use.
• Their brand isn't in conflict with yours.
• They give credit where necessary.
• The collaboration is authentic and natural for both parties and not forced.

Cross-promotion can be great for both parties as it helps them reach each other’s audiences, create a unique perspective on your content, and build networks. Therefore, start looking for creators with whom you can collaborate within your niche.

Create a Content Series

Creating a one-off video is excellent, especially if it is high-quality and engaging. However, to grow your following on TikTok, you need to think long-term. The best way of doing that is by creating content that hooks your target audience to keep coming for more. Since a series can have a storytelling format, this can be a good way of connecting emotionally with your target audience.

A content series often consists of interconnected videos with a central narrative or theme.  You can create a long serialized story broken into small parts or simple videos on “daily dose of wisdom.” Whichever option you choose, remain consistent in tone, theme, and posting schedule.

There are several steps to follow when creating an outstanding content series. These are:

• Define your plan. You should begin by determining several factors, such as the overarching themes, the number of videos it includes, the call to action, etc. The goal should not just be to create intriguing and engaging content that will make viewers look forward to the next series.
• Hook the viewers. Remember that a series requires people to keep coming back to watch more. Therefore, there has to be something unique about it that keeps them hooked. You can add a hook as an unanswered question, a cliffhanger, or a challenge to the audience.
• Be consistent. If you are inconsistent in posting your series, people will not know when to look forward to the next episode. Therefore, you should determine how often to create daily, weekly, or bi-weekly content. This will build anticipation in your audience and increase engagement.
• Try different formats. You will sometimes create a series that will not drive as much engagement as anticipated. You don't have to keep pushing if an idea isn't working. You can easily determine whether the idea works by looking into your analytics and audience feedback. If the results aren't good, don't be afraid to pivot. You can add a new angle or even create new content. Whatever method you choose, be ready to adapt.

While starting a series requires commitment, it can also be very rewarding, as it boosts engagement and followership and provides a structured framework to enhance your content.

Add Hashtags

Hashtags are essential in TikTok marketing because they help make content discoverable. When you add the right hashtags to your content, it becomes easier for your target audience to find it, increasing your chances of increasing TikTok engagement and getting new followers.

But how do you find the right hashtags to use on TikTok?  First, ensure you add between three to five hashtags in every video. Mix some general hashtags with other niche-specific ones and trending ones. The general hashtags will help you cast your net widely, while the niche-specific ones will attract your target audience. The trending TikTok hashtags will provide you with an instant shot at fame.

Branded hashtags are great for brands with a significantly big following or need to improve their visibility. They can help them rally their community and enable tracking of user-generated content. When adding TikTok hashtags, follow these tips:

• Use TikTok's creative center to find relevant hashtags that meet your content needs.
• Participate in relevant trending hashtags.
• Avoid spoiling the flow of your caption by using general and irrelevant hashtags. Mix up different types of content to reach different audiences.

Remember that hashtags play an essential role in a TikTok content strategy. You should, therefore, use them to improve your reach and engagement. However, you must be strategic and thoughtful when using captions and hashtags.

Use Closed Captions in Videos

While many brands don't pay much attention to closed captions, these can make a lot of difference in your content. This is because they increase the accessibility of your content to deaf people and those with impaired hearing. On top of that, they play an essential role in the TikTok algorithm and can help increase viewer engagement.  

With over 2.5 billion deaf people and another 430 million affected by hearing impairment, you can increase the reach of your content by using closed captions. Remember that while the TikTok algorithm considers various factors, one of the most important ones is the engagement level. When you have the deaf and hearing impaired adding to your engagement, the TikTok algorithm will consider this a sign of your posts' popularity, improving your visibility on the platform. Captions are also crucial to TikTok SEO, making your content more searchable. 

You can add closed captions manually or generate them using third-party apps. Whichever method you choose, ensure these are accurate and will work great for your videos. There are several tips you can consider when adding closed captions. These are: 

• Keep them short. Since TikTok videos are often short, you should aim for the same with the caption.
• Time them well. Ensure you have time for the caption to match the video's action or audio.
• Use the correct format. Your caption's background and font should be easy to read. Don't use fancy colors and fonts that don’t align with the video.

While adding closed captions to a video doesn't take a lot of effort, it can bring great results. This is because it increases the reach of your video, improves engagement, and makes it easier to discover the video. Therefore, don't forget to include captions in your next videos.

Select the Best Video Posting Time 

As noted earlier, engagement rate is one of the key considerations that the TikTok algorithm considers when deciding which videos to show on the For You Page. One way to drive up your engagement is by posting at the right time when your audience is mostly online. By posting now, you can reach a bigger audience and increase the chance of your TikTok content going viral.

To increase the reach of your video, find out when your audience is mostly active on TikTok. While this will depend on different factors, such as your audience demographic, it is usually between 4 and 5 p.m. midweek. Remember that time zones are a reasonable consideration if you have a global audience. Here are several factors to consider when determining the best posting time:

• Check past data. Go through the TikTok analytics to determine when your posted videos received the highest engagement.
• A/B testing involves posting two similar videos at different times and days to see which performs better. A good idea is to experiment with posting at different times to determine when you will receive the highest engagement. You can also consider posting videos at different times of the day to see which one brings the highest engagement.
• Check real-time analytics. Once you have posted, watch keenly to see how fast each video gains engagement. This will provide you with great insights.
• Be consistent. While finding the right posting time is important, pay more attention to consistency. If you struggle to find the best posting time, you can focus on posting consistently so your audience can always look forward to your content.

If you post when your audience is online, you can give your videos an initial boost and increase their reach and views. Therefore, this is one of the simple but effective strategies for your TikTok success. 

Post the Right Length of Videos

While TikTok allows you to post videos between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long, you will need to consider the correct content length. When doing that, remember that shorter videos are more consumable and have a higher video completion rate, which is a critical ranking factor. On the other hand, longer videos offer an opportunity to explore your topics more deeply. Therefore, the most important thing is to find a good sweet spot that will work for you and your audience.

If you are a beginner on TikTok, you must go with the shorter video, ranging from 15 to 30 seconds. These are quick to watch and have a higher engagement rate, making them perfect for simple and catchy content. Therefore, these are great options for capturing the audience's attention.

The long videos, ranging from three to ten minutes, are great for deeply exploring a topic. Therefore, you can use it for different kinds of content, such as storytelling, tutorials, and other types of content that take longer to explain. However, these long videos will require you to have great story telling skills if you will keep your audience hooked. Remember that you can always mix up your content to include short and long videos to determine which length will work well with your audience. You can also use these tips to determine the right video length:

• Use a hook. No matter the length of the video, ensure that you start with a strong introduction that will grab the viewer’s attention.
• Use the right pacing. Ensure that the content is flowing naturally to keep viewers engaged.
• Have a great ending. Add a call to action at the end of the video, asking your viewers to like, share, and follow you.

Remember that TikTok videos don't have a one-size-fits-all length. Instead, you need to tailor it to the content type, the message you are conveying, and your audience's preference. When you try different video lengths and keep optimizing, you can find the correct length for maximum engagement and TikTok account growth.

Conclusion

Remember that even as you implement the strategies above, you must keep tracking the results to determine whether they are working. You can use the results you get to determine what is working and the key areas of improvement. Also, remember that growing a TikTok account isn't an overnight affair. 

To see significant growth in your account, you need to consistently post high-quality videos and take a strategic approach. Therefore, go ahead and implement these strategies to grow your TikTok account and gain more followers.