How to Get Followers on TikTok in 2024: 22 Proven Tips
Thanks to the effectiveness of TikTok’s algorithm and For You feeds, building a following on TikTok can be more challenging than other platforms. Technically, TikTok users can enjoy endless scrolling without following a single account.
Luckily, you can still build a major audience and online presence on the platform. Plenty of creators and brands have built communities on TikTok. In fact, we spoke to three social media experts — from Intel, Booking.com, and Verizon — who did just that.
In this blog post, we’re diving into their keys to success, how they’ve grown their audience, strategy tips, and so much more!
Bonus: Get a free TikTok Growth Checklist from famous TikTok creator Tiffy Chen that shows you how to gain 1.6 million followers with only 3 studio lights and iMovie.
Why follower growth on TikTok is important
Growing your TikTok followers is the difference between being a one-hit wonder and a multi-platinum-selling artist who can go on sold-out tours.
Sure, you can post a viral video and gain brand awareness. But the attention of those viewers is fleeting, and their awareness is gone by the next swipe up.
Investing in efforts to grow your TikTok followers will pay you off in the long run in the form of:
- Reach and brand awareness: Once a user follows you, TikTok will show more of your videos to that user (even on their For You pages). Having more followers will naturally increase your views and brand awareness.
- Monetization opportunities: Increasing your follower count can open many doors to monetization. Creators can charge more per post, receive more collaboration and sponsorship offers, and qualify to work with larger brands with larger budgets.
- Better chances for virality: Having an engaged community of followers can also increase your chances of going viral on TikTok. If your followers spend time watching, commenting, or sharing your posts, this will signal the TikTok algorithm to show them to more users.
- Brand trustworthiness and authority: Vanity metric or not, TikTok users still consider follower count a signal, especially if they’re unfamiliar with your brand. And if you’re running ads or selling products on TikTok, a higher follower count serves as social proof to trust your account.
Gabe Gomez, Verizon’s Social Strategy Lead, shared, “Verizon tracks growth as it signals our content is being well-received and that we’re adding real value to those who are seeing our TikTok content.”
Once you start growing an audience, don’t take your existing followers for granted. They’re your best source of truth about what you should post on TikTok.
How to get followers on TikTok: 21 full-proof ways (with examples)
1. Make follow-worthy content
If you take just one thing away from this article, let it be this: the most effective way to get followers is to make good content.
This directive has resonated as long as TikTok has existed and will continue to ring true no matter how much the platform changes.
So, what makes good content on TikTok? Your videos or posts should be at least one of the following:
- Entertaining: Can your content make someone laugh? TikTokers use the app to feel good and pass the time, so make your videos bring a smile to someone’s face.
- Educational: TikTokers love learning. Sharing quick tips, tutorials, or little-known facts will make users want to follow you for more.
- Inspiring: Show TikTokers something that will make them want to take action. It could be for self-development, or it could be for shopping — inspiration comes from all places!
Once you have the foundation of good content, you can apply the tips below.
Duolingo walked so other brands could run entertain us with their own chaotic mascots.
2. Understand TikTok’s algorithm
The first step to getting a follower is getting your content in front of them. To do that, you need to understand and make peace with the almighty TikTok algorithm.
The most critical factors contributing to posts hitting FYPs are user interactions, post information, and device and account settings. The first two are weighted more heavily.
Generally, you should focus on creating good, TikTok-native content that resonates with your audience—more on that below.
For example, this video came up in my FYP. The only way it could be more specific to me is if it were a McLaren-themed handmade Eras Tour outfit instead of Aston Martin.
3. Identify your target audience
When using TikTok for business, it’s crucial to identify your target market. This audience should consist of individuals interested in your industry, engaged with your products or services, or passionate about your work. In other words, users who will want to follow you.
For Booking.com, their target audience is anyone interested in booking travel experiences. So their content includes both widely-appealing travel inspiration and more subtle posts like the below.
4. Be consistent
Once you’ve identified your target audience, the next step is to choose your niche. Choosing a niche will help you narrow your focus and get to know your audience better.
Gomez notes that if he were starting a TikTok account from scratch today: “I would focus on creating a steady drumbeat of content each week to build relevance and recognition. Organic social growth is a long game, and consistently posting high quality content is key to growth.”
5. Participate in trends
Trends are to TikTok what memes are Twitter and viral audio is to Instagram Reels.
Once a trend starts blowing up, you see it everywhere because every brand and creator wants to share their take on the sound, transition, or format. Users feel compelled to stop and watch to see if it’s as good as the ones they’ve watched before.
“This video is a prime example of us humanizing the brand and leveraging trending audio to heighten the chances of folks tapping the follow button.” saysGomez.
Once you notice a trend, jump on it as soon as possible. TikTok trends tend to blow up and move on in a matter of weeks or days. Establish a fast approval process as part of your TikTok marketing strategy to avoid being slowed down by corporate approvals.
Psstt: If you have a TikTok Business account, you can only use approved music and sounds. Before creating your content, check if a trending sound is accessible via the library.
6. Promote TikTok videos on other platforms
You don’t have to stay on TikTok to grow your followers there. If you genuinely want to increase your following, you must take advantage of all possible avenues.
Here are some ideas:
- Create a link in bio page that includes a link to your TikTok, and use this as your website link on all platforms like Instagram
- Embed your TikTok videos on your website
- Promote your most popular TikTok posts in your newsletter
- Plug your TikTok on your podcast
- Share links to your newest posts in your online communities
7. See what users are searching with TikTok’s Creator Search Insights
If you have a personal or creator account on TikTok, listen up: the Creator Search Insights tool is your new best friend.
TikTok created Creator Search Insights to help users understand what people are searching for on TikTok.
You can use this to your advantage in two ways:
- New video ideas: The trending search list is a great starting point to find content inspiration. Moreover, the content gap tab tells you precisely the kind of content that users are searching for but aren’t saturated on the app.
- Search-optimized captions: Once you discover a topic in Creator Search Insights, use the exact phrasing in your captions, relevant hashtags, and in-video captions. This will ensure that your video actually capitalizes on the search opportunity.
@milajaye ♬ original sound – JAYE | social media
UPDATED
#creatorsearchinsights #howtousecreatorsearchinsights
Note: Creator Search Insights is not yet available in all countries and is currently only for personal accounts, not business ones.
8. TikTok SEO
Speaking of search-optimized captions: How’s your SEO game on TikTok?
The release of Creator Search Insights is yet another signal of TikTok’s push to become a search engine. If TikTok wants to play in that arena, who are we to deny them?
TikTok SEO primarily involves optimizing your captions for searchability. This includes your post caption and any in-video captions. By optimizing your SEO, your TikToks will rank higher, get more views, and potentially gain more followers.
“Each week, we search for the most relevant keywords to include in our caption, on-screen text, or even drive a concept. If we notice a trending hashtag or search term such as “summer vacation ideas,” we’ll create a post for that concept and use the keywords in the content and caption.“ explains Gomez.
PSA: Need help writing SEO-optimized captions? Use our free TikTok SEO tool.
9. Optimize your profile
Your TikTok profile should clarify what you post about and why a user should follow you.
There are two areas to optimize:
- Your bio: You get 80 characters, so use them wisely to communicate your niche
- Your name: This shows up on viewers’ FYPs, so it’s your first chance to motivate someone to follow you! (note this is different from your username)
Here’s how I’ve optimized my small business account. I’ve included my product descriptions, unique selling points, and a CTA in my bio.
Check out how my name appears in users’ feeds — my username isn’t visible on a FYP, only on my profile page.
Pro tip: Looking for more ways to level-up your TikTok bio? Read this detailed guide on how to optimize your TikTok bio.
10. Post at the right time
Through our experiments and analysis of over 30,000 posts, we’ve found that Thursday at 7PM PT is the best time to post on TikTok.
With that said, the best posting time varies for each account based on time zones, regions, and many other factors. You should use these benchmarks as a starting point to test with your audience.
With a tool like Hootsuite, you can schedule your posts to publish at strategic times. Then, use Hootsuite Analytics to determine which publishing times performed the best for your audience.
Beautiful reports. Clear data. Actionable insights to help you grow faster.
Start free 30-day trial11. Post often
If it were up to TikTok, we’d all be posting twelve times a day, seven days a week. Since according to the platform, there’s no limit to the number of posts creators and small businesses can publish.
However, we know that’s not realistic for most business owners. If you’re looking for a starting point, we recommend posting 3 to 5 times weekly.
While producing good content is essential, TikTok is primarily a numbers game. The more you post, the more chances you have to get views, go viral, and grow your followers.
To lessen the burden of being on the content hamster wheel, you can plan and schedule your posts in advance with a tool like Hootsuite.
12. Experiment with everything
With the ever-changing nature of social media platforms and algorithms, you’ll do much better (and preserve your sanity) by treating everything as an experiment. Assume that what worked last year may not work now, even with the same audience.
Be bold and experiment with post formats, captions, video lengths, posting times, collaborators, and topics (within your niche). We recommend trying at least five posts of a specific type before analyzing and moving on.
“Much of our growth has come from experimenting with different things and learning from what worked. Our main tests involve mixing different assets for different ad objectives.“ notes Corina Bordeianu, Senior Social Media Manager at Booking.com.
For example, @bookingcom succeeded in a new format thanks to this video’s short duration and trending sound.
13. Give duets and stitches a go
Speaking of experiments, why not test out duets and stitches?
Duets and stitches are TikTok features that involve creating your video on top of an existing video. They’re a fun way to build on a trend or share your brand’s unique take on something.
@jordan_the_stallion8 is famous for stitching his reactions to trending videos. What makes his content follow-worthy is that he shares the details of the products shown in the videos.
14. Partner with creators
Partnering with other creators can help you gain followers in two ways.
First, it allows you to create content different from your usual posts (such as user-generated content). Second, creator partnerships earn you views from users who wouldn’t usually see your content. Just ensure that your partnership agreement includes posting the content on both accounts.
Case in point: “Working with content creators and influencers to showcase how Intel is an AI company and how our technology improves the lives of everyone.” shares Stephanie Green, Social Strategist at Intel Corporation
Psstt: Ready to partner up? Here’s a guide to how to find original creators to partner with.
15. Add a CTA
One more way to get followers: just ask!
Add a final frame at the end of your videos with a short call to action, such as “hit the follow button if you liked this video” or “follow me for more _______.”
Though, be sure to explain why they should follow you and it doesn’t hurt to note what you’ll post about in the future, too.
16. Create a content series
Creating a content series means posting multiple videos that build on the same topic, story, or trend. You can organize these videos in playlists on your profile.
A content series can gain you more followers in two ways:
- Drive viewers to visit your profile to watch more videos (after which they may follow you)
- Motivate viewers to follow you from the FYP (especially if combined with tip #15) to see subsequent parts
@intel *licks finger and holds it out to detect wind*
♬ Walking In The Rain (Lofi, Chill, Soft, Contemplative, Lounge, Rest, Rain) – PlaySAFEMusic#Intel #TechTok #LearnOnTikTok #LearnTech
Intel’s “What the Tech” series has driven 4.4x higher engagement above its usual benchmarks, demonstrating the value of this educational content to its followers.
17. Engage with your audience
Some of the best moments on TikTok happen not in the videos themselves but in the comments.
Show off your brand voice when responding to comments to help build an engaged community that will keep following you and sharing your videos.
“If I were starting a TikTok account today, I’d lean heavily into community management and trending formats. Listen to your audience. See what topics resonate, answer users’ comments, and find videos to engage with outside your typical audience to reach new ones.“ notesGreen.
Hot tip: Video replies are another fun way to engage your audience. These videos give users another reason to follow you: to get answers to their burning questions and to see if you’ll reply to their comments.
18. Use new TikTok features
This tip is more about helping you win with the algorithm. Nonetheless, win the algorithm = more reach + more followers!
When TikTok releases new features or formats, it’s a good idea to start using them ASAP. Usually, new features get more weighting in the algorithm to encourage users to use them.
So, the next time TikTok releases something like Stories, text posts, photo carousels, or TikTok Shop, make sure to be an early adopter.
Source: Verizon
This example from Verizon leans into a new format (photo carousels) and a timely trend.
19. Go viral
Okay, we know saying “go viral” is cliché and not something you can simply achieve.
However, going viral is effectively one of the best ways to gain followers on TikTok.
Personally, in my early days on the platform, I posted a video about my job and its perks and received almost 500,000 views. The video catapulted me from 0 to 5,000+ followers.
@lothwe still can’t believe I get €4,000/year for travel
♬ original sound – laura | product + remote work#remotework #workperks #womenintech #techjobs
And while nothing is guaranteed, this guide can help you give your TikToks the best chance to go viral. Should it happen, the most important thing to do is continue posting consistently and engage with your new followers.
20. Run TikTok ads
If you have the budget, running TikTok ads can bolster your audience growth alongside your organic content. While the algorithm decides the distribution of your organic content, you control who sees your paid content.
Since 2022, Booking.com has been running an organic and always-on paid strategy on TikTok. Both methods have helped the brand grow to over 1.3 million followers, with their biggest spikes coming from campaigns supported with paid budgets.
Recently the brand partnered with celebrity Brooklyn Beckham to cross promote their Genius loyalty program. The result? Hilarious content authentic to both Beckham’s and Booking’s audience.
21. Dive into your analytics
TikTok provides limited analytics for creators and businesses. However, tools like Hootsuite can help you efficiently get the most out of your data.
By interpreting your TikTok data through Hootsuite Analytics, you can pinpoint which videos have the most significant impact on increasing your followers.
From there, you only need to continue learning, iterating, and making more of what resonates with your community!
Grow your TikTok presence alongside your other social channels using Hootsuite. Schedule and publish posts for the best times, engage your audience, and measure performance — all from one easy-to-use dashboard. Try it free today.
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