How to Create and Organically Grow Your TikTok Account

TikTok has taken the social media world by storm over the past couple of years and this trend is likely going to continue to accelerate. The platform provides great opportunities for any person or business to “go viral” through its innovative algorithm. Due to the dramatic rise in popularity of TikTok, many businesses are pondering how they should incorporate the up and coming platform into their digital strategy. Our team at Mythic Media is here to help provide guidance on the best and most efficient ways to organically grow a TikTok account so that it becomes an asset for your business.

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Getting Started

The first step to getting started on TikTok is deciding on the direction you are going to take the account. This includes choosing theme and creating an effective username. When creating a theme and username, make sure they fit what your brand is trying to communicate. This gives your future audience an idea of what your page will focus on. An effective username should be easy to remember and not be a deterrent in any way. What this means is it should not be so complex that it eliminates people sharing your account to others via word of mouth. For example, the username Jungle_cat0x!ghg3 would probably not be the best choice for a zoo as it would be difficult to remember and would create confusion. A better choice would be JungleCatZoo (if available). Your username can be changed later after creating your account, so don’t worry if you do not love the username you have already created.

Posting Effective Content

Once you have created your account and have chosen what type of content your account will focus on, it is imperative to spend the necessary time finding or creating effective content to post. A good way to do this is to utilize other platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook to find content that your target audience would likely be interested in. Once you find the type of content you are looking for, you can create videos based off of this content by creating clips, compilations, and reaction videos. For example, if you are running a golf account, you can search “Best Tee shots in 2022” and create a compilation of videos that fit this criteria. Once an organic video has been created, you can choose from a variety of filters, background music, fonts, etc to add some creative flare to your content. For longer videos, you may want to split the video into multiple parts to incentivize users to come back to your account in anticipation of the next part being released.

Growing Your Audience

When building an audience on TikTok, there are many strategies that can help you accelerate the growth process. One of these strategies is the “following/unfollowing” method. This strategy is implemented by following accounts that are active and are interested in the type of content you produce. A great way to do this is by searching for videos that are similar to the type of content you produce on your account. Once you find a video similar, follow the account that posted it as well as a number of users who liked and commented on that particular video.

The idea is that if you follow an account that is interested in similar content and who is highly active and engaged, then they would be likely to follow your account back. Implementing this simple strategy is a great way to increase the likelihood of your content ending up on someone’s “For You Page” that has similar interests to what you are producing. A good rule of thumb is to follow no more than 200 accounts per week in order to avoid being “flagged” by TikTok.

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Engaging with Others

Once you have built a community of active followers, it is important to keep them engaged by interacting with them. Before and after posting a video, you should like and respond to comments from your previous posts. This will notify the user who commented on your content and they will be more likely to return to your page and see your recent posts. Another recommended technique is to go through your “For You Page” and respond to or like comments on other people's posts. Doing so will expose new users to your account and encourage them to engage with you on the platform. This engagement technique will also show up in that users notifications resulting in greater exposure for your brand. The most effective times to implement these engagement strategies are a few minutes before and after you post a new video.

Hashtags

Another great way to reach new users from your desired target audience is to make effective use of hashtags. There are differing opinions on the best way to incorporate hashtags, but typically using 6 hashtags per post is a good starting point. When choosing these hashtags, make sure they all relate to the specific video being released. Additionally, it is best to include hashtags with varying ranges of popularity. For example, some hashtags you use should have less than 10,000 uses while others should have millions of uses. It is important to pay attention to which posts do the best on your account. Note the amount and types of hashtags you use on posts that do well versus those that do not. Over time, you should be able to adjust your strategy based on what works best for particular account.

Time to Post

Once you are ready to begin posting content on your TikTok account, it is important to post at times when engagement levels are likely to be higher. The first priority is to always remember to post consistently. Posting close to everyday keeps your audience engaged and in the loop with the content you're creating. It is also perfectly acceptable to post more than once a day, however you may want to spread them apart. When getting started, a reliable time to post is often 1 PM but the TikTok algorithm changes frequently. In order to keep up with this, a simple Google search can update you on the best times to post in each region for a specific day. After posting a few times with trial and error, you should start to get a feel for what times are most effective on your account.

Summary

TikTok’s ever changing algorithm is complex, but also provides a great opportunity for any user or business to reach large audiences, as it is an equal opportunity platform. There is no perfect formula guaranteed to grow your account immediately on TikTok. The best strategy is typically one that revolves around a specific theme and a dedicated posting schedule. If you post consistently high quality content, you are likely to reach the right audiences over time that take your account to the next level. In the meantime, enjoy the process of finding creative ways to spread your brand's messaging on this newer social media platform!