Learn How To Get More Followers On TikTok

As a premier TikTok influencer marketing agency, we get a lot of questions from brands who want to build their presence on TikTok. A common question is how to get more followers on TikTok through organic and engaging methods.

Unlike some other platforms like Instagram, TikTok has remained relatively the same as far as how users interact with the platform and the overall user experience. However, trends have changed and how content is promoted by the algorithm has undergone some modifications over the years.

Fully understanding how the platform promotes content and how users interact with TikTok content is the key to growing your TikTok followers in the most efficient way possible.

To help you start growing your presence and reach on TikTok, we’ll explain exactly how the platform decides what to promote to users and what style of content is currently attracting the most engagement.

After reading through this TikTok follower guide, you should be able to start building your audience through solid organic methods and help expand the reach of your brand or TikTok account.

Understanding The TikTok Algorithm

Like all social media platforms today, the way content is promoted and shown to various users is through an algorithm. The TikTok algorithm looks at specific metrics for each piece of content and compares those to similar content posted on the site.

Of course, platforms like TikTok keep the exact nature of the algorithm secret because they don’t want people to exploit it. However, through trial and error, a lot can be learned about what TikTok prefers and what it tends to not like.

When you understand these basics, you can better start to tailor your content so it has the highest chance of being promoted to as many relevant people as possible. This fuels your growth and engagement, which becomes a repeating cycle that inevitably helps you get more TikTok followers.

Algorithms can be quite complex, but we’ll go over the basics of what the TikTok algorithm takes into consideration when promoting a video to other users.

Analyzing Phase

The TikTok algorithm begins by analyzing your video to determine what it’s about. It does this through a series of techniques. Some of these involve the algorithm listening to what’s said in the video along with any other sounds. It also analyzes the video visually to make a further determination.

Based on this, it determines the category and audience that will most likely enjoy the video. Notice how during this phase it doesn’t look at any hashtags or what you tell the platform.

This early part is completely done by the algorithm and doesn’t take into consideration what you’ve told it.

This is important because you want to ensure your video content is easily categorized by an algorithm. The easier it is for the algorithm to know what your video is about, the better chance it has of performing better when the video is placed by the algorithm.

Phase 2

During this phase, TikTok will show your video to a small sample of its overall audience. The size can vary depending on your current follower count and how your past videos have performed.

The reason it does this is to confirm that it got the categorization for the audience correct during phase 1. It’s also the first check to see if the content is resonating with an audience.

This is another reason you want to make sure your videos are easy to categorize. If you pass this second phase and get good metrics, you save yourself from the possibility of your video getting demoted or thrown into the depths of TikTok where nobody will ever see it.

One important aspect of this phase is that TikTok also uses your account’s past history to categorize the video. This is why it’s important to post consistent content. If you vary your content too much, it may get promoted to the wrong audiences and perform poorly.

Overall, this phase is more critical for new accounts with a shorter history of content. Later in this guide, we’ll offer tips on how to make content that performs well during this testing phase.

Phase 3

You can look at this phase as the make-or-break portion of the algorithm deciding what to do with your video. It’s based on the previous phase and how your video performed in the test group.

If your video performs poorly, it will generally be taken out of most people’s feeds other than maybe your followers, but even then it gets demoted so it won’t show up high on their FYP.

However, that doesn’t mean your video is doomed. TikTok wants videos to get attention, so depending on how poorly it performed, they may show it to a secondary audience to determine if they got the category of the video wrong.

This is like a “second chance” for videos but you likely only get one of these. If many of your TikTok videos are going this route, you’re going to have a hard time increasing your TikTok followers. 

People interested in your content simply won’t see it and it won’t matter how good the videos or the content is.

This is why the first step to making great content is understanding how important it is that TikTok knows what the video is about. If you’re struggling to get your content seen and you know it’s good, it’s likely TikTok doesn’t know who to show it to.

You have to be honest with yourself though since everybody thinks they make great TikTok content. If it’s truly good, then focus on getting it categorized correctly by the TikTok algorithm.

If so, you will start getting more followers on TikTok relatively quickly and consistently.

Should You Buy TikTok Followers To Grow Your Account?

Buying followers is one subject that can bring up a lot of different and controversial opinions. For the most part, it’s a bad idea to buy followers for TikTok. There are some professionals who believe that buying a small number of followers when first starting an account can help add “social proof”. 

However, this doesn’t really save any time when you consider how long you plan on building the account. So in the end, buying followers generally only works for spam-type accounts that will be used for a short time and then discarded.

For a legitimate brand or influencer, buying followers can also harm your growth.

Skewed engagement numbers

One of the biggest reasons to avoid buying TikTok followers is that it skews your overall account metrics. The TikTok algorithm looks at these metrics to partially decide how much it promotes your content.

When you buy followers, those are fake accounts following you, meaning they don’t interact with your content.

The result is you have lower-than-average engagement. If TikTok expects someone with 100K followers to get 5% engagement, an account getting 2.5% engagement because half the followers are fake will get promoted less by the algorithm.

Also, users on TikTok and other platforms are more savvy. They can spot skewed engagement numbers like this which makes it obvious an account is using paid followers.

Possible Penalties

Using paid followers is technically against the TikTok Terms of Service. Although banning accounts over this is rare, it can happen and it’s a risk that’s not really worth it since the benefits are virtually non-existent for a legitimate brand account.

Paid Followers End Up Declining

Since paid followers are bot accounts, they end up getting removed from TikTok over time. This means your follower count will start going down as your bot followers are discovered and removed from the platform.

So not only do you lose what you paid for, but it makes your metrics look worse since you’re losing followers.

7 Tips For Getting More Followers On TikTok

So now that you have an overview of how the TikTok algorithm works, it’s time to offer some genuine tips that help your content perform better. This will help you save time and grow your follower count as fast as possible.

Tip #1: Posting More Isn’t Always Better

Many social media platforms reward creators who publish content more frequently. YouTube and X are two prime examples. With TikTok, things are a little different.

TikTok looks at the average performance of your entire account when it decides how to promote and display your newest videos.

This means if you upload a lot of fluff content, you start to bring down the average performance of your account, which makes it worse in the eyes of TikTok. There’s nothing wrong with posting a lot of content, but only if it performs well and is engaging.

Don’t post just for the sake of posting because you think it will help you get more TikTok followers faster. The opposite will happen and when you do produce a good video, it will have less reach due to the watering down of your metrics.

This doesn’t mean you can go weeks between uploads, but one video per day is plenty if you’re growing your channel and your TikTok followers.

Overall, try to focus on content that has a strong initial hook and will carry viewers to the end of the video. The health of your account will increase and subsequent videos will have more reach.

Tip #2: Experiment With Different Content

This is mostly true for new accounts but it can also help established accounts that are struggling to gain traction. When brands or influencers start posting content, they often have an idea in their head of what they want to produce.

That’s great and having a vision is important, but you have to be flexible with social media. Audiences on TikTok are a fickle bunch and what they like can shift and vary, sometimes in strange ways.

If your content isn’t resonating or getting promoted, it may not always be the fault of the algorithm. Sometimes audiences just don’t respond to it and the algorithm is actually telling you the truth.

Mix up your content and look to other popular accounts closely related to your niche. Don’t copy them, but try to get inspiration from their content and incorporate it into your own videos.

Social media users are very picky, often without even knowing it. They subconsciously decide on what content to interact with without even giving it much conscious thought.

Sometimes just a small change can have a huge impact on how audiences respond to a video. It’s very common for creators on various platforms to struggle at first until they make a minor tweak like changing thumbnails or video titles. Once they make the change, their metrics start climbing.

So don’t be afraid to mix things up and try different content ideas. If you land on something that works, lean into that and use it as a springboard to keep the momentum going.

The beauty of the TikTok algorithm is that it does give you several chances to succeed, which makes it more forgiving than some other platforms when trying to get more followers.

Tip #3: Timing Can Be Everything

If you follow successful influencers and creators, you’ll start to notice that they usually post content at the same time each day. They may occasionally post surprise content that’s just random since it’s responding to some current event. However, most of their main content will generally follow a posting schedule and go up at consistent times.

The reason is that the influencer has determined that’s when their content gets the most traction. Every platform is different and each audience can require different times for this, so it does take a bit of trial and error.

In general, most influencers believe the best days to post on TikTok are Tuesday and Friday. Mid-morning, lunchtime, and early evening tend to be times when content performs best.

Make sure to also take into consideration time zones and how they may relate to your content. If you provide stock market-related news in the U.S., you’ll likely want to publish on East Coast time where the markets are located. 

Some creators have found that Sunday is also a good time to publish as many users have free time on that day and will browse their favorite creators to catch up on content they missed during the week.

Start by trying Tuesday and Friday at the times we specified and then experiment from there. You’ll quickly find which times work best and then you can stick to that for your main content drops.

TikTok also offers a built-in post scheduler so make sure to take advantage of this tool when experimenting with different times to publish your content.

Tip #4: Increasing Audio & Video Quality Helps Gain TikTok Followers

People generally think of TikTok videos as having a raw and personal touch, but quality is becoming more and more important when trying to grow your TikTok followers.

Sharp visuals and clear audio are key aspects of a successful video that engages viewers from start to finish.

Getting better video and audio quality can be its own article, but there are a few tips you want to keep in mind if your content doesn’t look or sound as sharp as your competitors.

Lighting Is Important:  With any kind of video or image, lighting is one of the most crucial elements. If you walked onto a professional movie set with professional lighting, you could capture a stunning video with just a mid-tier phone. It’s all in the lighting.

Of course, you don’t have access to professional Hollywood lighting, but you can still maximize what you do have.

If you always film your content in the same area, try to maximize the lighting. You can either add inexpensive LED lights or simply allow more sunlight into the area, which makes a huge difference. 

If there are a lot of shadows in your video, then you likely need more light.

Experiment with different lighting and also check out a few tutorials if you’re still struggling. It will make your videos pop and keep users engaged until the end.

Use Good Framing: In filmmaking, framing means how the subject of the video is framed by the edges of the camera focus. Framing tells viewers what’s important in the video and what they should be focusing on.

Too close of a shot and people will focus on the little details of someone’s face instead of the message. Too far and the audience’s eyes will wander off the subject or they’ll simply get bored.

For inspiration, look at other creators who make content similar to what you want to produce and pay attention to the framing.

Check Your Audio: Audio can change from the time you record or edit the video to once it’s uploaded. Different audio and video compression techniques performed by TikTok can alter how your video sounds.

Audio that’s too low or too loud and distorted can harm the engagement and prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Check your videos on your device and maybe one or two other devices to ensure they sound as you intended. Adjust your phone settings or audio levels in your editing app if you notice a problem.

The goal is to match the loudness and clarity of popular influencers and videos. If your audio is louder or softer than most videos, you need to adjust the levels accordingly.

Be Patient: Some influencers believe that TikTok increases the video quality of uploads after they reach a certain viewer count. In some cases, this is after they go through the phases we outlined earlier when talking about the TikTok algorithm.

If your video looks lower quality after uploading, wait a little while to make a final determination. The quality can sometimes increase, similar to how YouTube uploads are not always available in higher resolutions when first uploaded.

Tip #5: Don’t Try To Go Viral

One mistake new accounts often make on TikTok is to try to mimic viral videos. This generally doesn’t work out well and you end up making low-engagement videos that water down your account. This means you’re sort of digging a hole for yourself that you’ll have to climb out of.

However, this is different from participating in trends or challenges. Those are perfectly good ways to help get exposure. But copying a viral moment is different and those videos may perform well once in a while, but it’s not worth chasing them if you’re trying to grow your TikTok followers over time.

Tip #6: Use Trending Music On TikTok

TikTok has become one of the largest music discovery platforms, mostly from music used in trending videos. You can easily find what songs are trending on TikTok from the Sounds menu.

This may not be appropriate for all brands or influencers, but if your videos incorporate music, don’t miss out on extra exposure by using the top trending songs when they fit.

Tip #7: Be Creative To Get More TikTok Followers

Try to think like a TikTok user when making your content and not just a creator. A typical TikTok user scrolls through very similar videos for at least an hour a day.

If you can put a unique twist on your content, you immediately stand out and will likely get more engagement on that video.

Pay attention to the type of things that get you to stop in your tracks while scrolling TikTok. Use those as inspiration to be creative so your videos don’t get skipped as often.

Using Paid TikTok Ads To Increase Followers

For brands, using paid TikTok ads can be a way to jump-start your account. While these don’t directly increase followers, they do help you expand your reach so you can get more exposure and possibly more followers.

Some influencers such as musicians and other artists also use paid ads on TikTok and this can work if you plan carefully and monitor the ads closely.

Overall, this method is best if you already fully understand the platform and the various trends. If you’re totally new and building an account from scratch, you’re better off trying to build followers organically at first. Use our tips in this guide and then decide if paid ads can help you supplement your strategy.

Just remember, you still need to produce creative ads when paying for them. Dull or non-engaging ads will not perform well, just like dull content.

Can A TikTok Influencer Marketing Agency Help You Get More Followers?

If you’re managing a brand you may want to consider using a TikTok Influencer marketing agency. These agencies understand the TikTok platform and have relationships with top TikTok influencers in your niche.

They can help you create a TikTok campaign to raise brand awareness and help you start to build an audience for your product and content.

A TikTok influencer marketing agency can listen to what your goals are and then create a tailored campaign to quickly achieve those goals. Everything they do is tracked so you can view metrics during the campaign to ensure users are engaging with the content.

Using an influencer agency is the fastest way to start leveraging TikTok for your brand without the need to slowly grow your followers.

However, with a successful campaign, you will start to build an audience and your follower count will grow as people interact with the campaign and the related content.

If you want to hire a TikTok influencer marketing agency, we have a guide that will walk you through how to choose the best influencer marketing agency for your needs.

Stay Consistent To Increase Your TikTok Followers

Finally, it’s important to be consistent when trying to get more followers on TikTok. A common mistake people make is to get frustrated when they don’t notice any big growth in the first few weeks.

Not every account will go viral and most are built slowly over time, sometimes years. If you follow the tips in this guide and slowly optimize your content, you can experience sustainable TikTok follower growth.

Being patient and keeping a close eye on your content’s metrics will help you find more followers and grow your account as fast as possible.

Just take your time and focus on engagement and you’ll start seeing your follower count grow.