Every TikTok content creator is chasing the holy grails of followers and likes. There are few better metrics to judge your success on the platform than how many users are engaging with your content, after all. While follower numbers don’t necessarily translate to increased engagement, it stands to reason that the more followers and likes you have, the more popular you will be on TikTok.
Of course, getting followers and likes really isn’t as easy as just setting up a profile, making a few videos, and waiting. You’ll have to be proactive in your approach if you want to achieve TikTok success. With the right attitude, you can become successful and well-known on TikTok, but you have to put the work in. Here’s how to get followers and likes on TikTok in 2021.
Improve your content
TikTok is a different kind of social media experience than many people are used to. Where Facebook and Twitter are all about your life and what you’re up to – to varying degrees, of course – TikTok places a far heavier emphasis on the content side of things. That means if you want likes and followers, you need to make sure your content is on point. Study your favourite content creators, observe their techniques, and try to understand what makes their content great. Once you’ve got a feel for it, translate those techniques to your own style and personality.
Be individual
If you’re simply aping another user’s style or content, then you won’t get very far on TikTok and you won’t get likes or followers. Being individual and authentic is the key to making it on this platform; more than any other social network, TikTok prizes this aspect of its user base. That means injecting your personality into every video you make on the platform and ensuring that you’re bringing across your idiosyncrasies. People will respond well if you make content that comes from the heart, but if you’re pretending, they’ll be able to see through you.
Look for trends and jump on them
TikTok trends move incredibly quickly. If you want to make sure you’re at the forefront of content creation on the platform, it’s important to keep track of what’s going on and try to make content themed around it. Just hit the search button near the bottom of the screen and you’ll see a list of trending hashtags. Those are the hashtags you want to try and make content around. You can still create videos for which you had a plan, of course, but if you can try and find a way to change the theming so it’s consistent with the hashtags, you’ll see likes and followers jump.
Make content educational and informative
A video that entertains your followers is one thing, but content that makes them think is quite another. You’ll gain more followers and likes quickly on TikTok if you’re making videos that are educational or informative. Tutorials always perform well; if you’ve got a skill that others could learn, then making videos about that skill is always a good way to go. Alternatively, if you don’t want to make a skill tutorial, try picking a topic and educating your followers about it. This sort of content gets organic word-of-mouth, which draws followers to you, which then in turn encourages those new followers to like what you’ve done.
Try to go viral
Obviously, most influencers on TikTok are constantly attempting to go viral with their content. While nobody knows exactly what makes a viral hit, there have been many attempts to dissect the DNA of existing viral videos to find out what makes them tick. Generally speaking, viral videos are narrative in some way; they have a strong focus on audio; and they contain catchphrases or other meme-worthy elements that will encourage other users to reference them or build on them in their own content. These can all be great ways to get new followers and amass likes.
Be savvy with your timing
If you want to maximise exposure for your content, then timing is critical. Making sure you’re posting at the right times of day – and on the right days – is important for building up a solid follower count. When you’re looking to post, try hitting days you know are holidays for your particular demographic; if you’re pitching your videos at younger people, aim for educational holidays, and if you’re skewing older, try days everyone has off work. Timing-wise, try posting in the evenings or the mornings, because that’s when most people are scrolling through TikTok.
Try a growth tool
There are plenty of platforms and services out there that will offer TikTok growth services for free, so if you’re struggling for followers and you want a quick boost, you could try one of these. Be sure that the service you’re opting for is reputable and fair; many services will simply flood your account with bots, and while you may gain a brief artificial follower jump, you’ll eventually lose followers as people realise most of your account’s engagement isn’t from real humans. Services should be used sparingly, but they can be a good way to build follower and like counts.
Worry more about engagement
In the marketing world, there’s a term for follower counts and like counts: “vanity metrics”. When you’re worrying about getting followers and likes on TikTok, you’re engaging with vanity metrics, and while they can tell you a lot about whether people are finding you, it’s more about engagement. Talking to your followers, getting them to interface with your content, and building lasting relationships with them are all more important than simply building the numbers, so if you’re worried about the counts, try focusing more on engaging with your followers instead.
