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How to Grow your TikTok Reach

Grow-your-TikTok-Reach

TikTok has become one of the most popular social media networks. As its popularity grows, the users start to wonder how to get to the for you page.

Whether we like it or not, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media networks. With almost 690 million daily users internationally and 6 billion app downloads, it’s hard to argue there. As its popularity grows, the users start to wonder how to get to the “for you page”. In this post, we will explain how to grow your TikTok reach and get where you want to be.

Tiktok Overview

As soon as dance routines and challenges became high on the social media popularity list, people started to ask themselves how to get to TikTok’s “for you page”. That is the main page that is shown when a user opens his app. It is made of content that is tailored for you based on what you liked and who you followed, and the longer you use TikTok the best the suggestions will be.

This post will answer that question and teach you how to grow your reach, and figure out TikTok’s algorithms.


How Does TikTok Work?

TikTok is a social media network used mostly as iOS and Android app, but it is also available in desktop versions. Its primary purpose is to create and share 15 to 60 seconds videos on any topic you can think of. It started as a simple lip-syncing app, but soon people realized that is much easier to beat its algorithms, than Instagram’s or Facebook’s, and grow a huge audience.

As we said, the very first page which appears when you open your app is the “for you page”. There you’ll see the content of tiktokers you might or might not follow, but based on your previous interactions with similar content. You can like, share, follow or add to favorites if you like video, or tap “not interested” if you don’t. You can also report offensive content. All the actions you take are remembered by TikTok’s algorithms, and after some time using the app you will have a feeling your feed is almost perfect.

Optimizing

If you get to the “for you page”, that means you created content that rolls with your audience. Algorithms picked it up for some reasons, and that just proves that it is possible to optimize it to grow reach.

For brands and influencers, this means they can gain followers faster and start making money with TikTok Creator Fund. Also, this can lead to paid sponsorships. What is truly fascinating about TikTok is that you can get 100 views per video e.g., and then suddenly appear on the “for you page” and grow to ten thousand (or more) overnight.


How to Rank Better

Same as with Instagram, there is a lot of people who shared their wisdom about what they think works on TikTok, and how to get to the “for you page”. There had been theories about certain songs you should include, or hashtags such as #fyp and #viral. And then, again just like Instagram, TikTok decided to let out an official statement to cut it out. In that statement, it stands that the “for you page” is unique for every user (which we knew). It also stands that they recommend content based on a mixture of factors – from the interest, a new user will show to the form one personalized his/her feed.

Here is what algorithms really like:

  • User Interactions – This one is a classic and it applies to a lot of social media networks. The more comments, likes, shares, and duets your video gets, the more likely it’ll be noticed by algorithms. Another important thing is the completion rate. The more users watch your video until the end, the better for you.
  • Video Information – Your captions, hashtags, and sounds will help you get on the “for you page”. If you use a trending hashtag or sound, you do have better chances, indeed.
  • Account Settings – You may not like this, but your location, language, and country do play a part in algorithms. Even they are not as important as other stuff, though. You still have a chance to reach a global audience.

Tips

User Tips of Tiktok

It is really hard to combine a list of things you need to do to grow your reach because it depends on many things. As in any other social media network, algorithms are changing. Also, if your content is not good, nothing will work for you. But, there are few things you can try out.


Use Right Hashtags

Use Right Hashtags

There are no hashtags that will guarantee that you will go viral or encounter any kind of great success (despite the rumors). But there are those which will place you into the right niche and help you to reach the right audience. That is what you should consider important.

  • choose a smaller number, but relevant hashtags
  • mix popular with less popular hashtags
  • use some of the trending hashtags (in your niche)

Make Shorter Videos

Yes, you can make 60-second videos. But if you don’t have to, don’t. If you make shorter videos, there are bigger chances that people will watch it through the end, and we mentioned how important is the completion rate.

Some niches require longer videos. Sometimes you will need more time to do what you want to do. Then you have to make sure it is interesting enough to keep users engaged. In our post “How to get more views on YouTube” we explained some techniques on how to get viewers interested enough to watch them until the end. These tips are perfectly applicable on TikTok also, so check it out.


Write Great Captions

Write Great Captions

You have 150 characters to say what you want in your captions section, and that includes your hashtags. So, it’s not a place to write long stories (you have your video for that). But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think through what you should write. Your captions should:

  • Be short
  • Be consisting with your niche and hashtag
  • Improve engagement

The best things to write are something like “This took me x attempts”, “Watch until the end to…” or asking your viewers a question. This will encourage comments, which is a good thing for your content.


Make High-Quality Content

Make High-Quality Content on tiktok

That may be the most important thing. Posting low-quality, blurry or grainy videos is not an option. And it’s definitely not a way to find your spot on TikTok.

Creating high-quality videos will more likely encourage users to watch them until the end. Also, TikTok will prefer to show great videos. That makes sense because they want people to stay in the app.

Most smartphones today have ridiculously good cameras, and there is no excuse for your videos not to be high-quality. Editing skills are easy to learn and use, inside the app or with some other tools. TikTok likes filters, stickers, and transitions, and will certainly count them in when reviewing your video.


Think of the Right Time

Think of the Right Time on tiktok

You should consider which is your best posting time, but also the one for answering and writing new comments. Engagement is a crucial factor for your reach on TikTok, so if you think that posting/commenting time is not so important… Think again. Everything is important.

So, how to know when’s the best time? TikTok’s pro account is free and it has analytics very similar to those Instagram has. That’s the place where you can see video views up to 28 days ago, profile views, your audience growth, trending videos, and the times when your audience is online. You will need at least 100 followers to see the audience data, though.


Add Trending Sounds on tiktok

It seems that a lot of people don’t realize the importance of TikTok sounds. Yes, you should add something consistent with your video. But not necessarily what you like, but rather what everyone likes. Even we mostly support uniqueness, when it comes to TikTok sounds, there is no doubt that trending sounds have a great impact on the reach of your video.

There are several ways to figure out which music is trending. The easiest is to check out the “trending” section when adding a sound to your video. You can explore the trending page by category. But what we think is a very good idea, when you are scrolling through your feed and hear the sounds that are repeating in different videos, there must be a reason why. You can save those to your favorites and use them later.


Conclusion

If you combine and follow the tips we provide you with, there are good chances you will improve your reach and possibly start to appear on the “for you page”. There is no guarantee, but you need to take all the chances you got. Share your results with us!

AlexisKestler

Written by Alexis Kestler

A female web designer and programmer - Now is a 36-year IT professional with over 15 years of experience living in NorCal. I enjoy keeping my feet wet in the world of technology through reading, working, and researching topics that pique my interest.