By Berta Ventura, on 11 April 2023
Creating viral content on TikTok is much more accessible than on other platforms, such as Instagram. If you as a brand or a content creator are considering developing a strategy for this social media platform you are in the right place! We also have tips for those who have been on it for a while, but want to know some tricks to make their posts successful. Read on and start seeing results!
1. Add Subtitles to Your Videos
A large part of your audience does not activate the sound when they are consuming your TikTok content, either because they are in a public place or because they simply don't want to disturb whoever is next to them. Therefore, adding subtitles to your voice content is an excellent option if you want your post to reach more visitors.
Since 2021, you no longer need to use an external application or tool to embed subtitles in your videos, as TikTok has this option built-in. However, you can use the manual option, which allows for greater variety in terms of font and text color.
2. Use the Green Screen Effect
Among the multitude of effects that any content creator can use on TikTok, the green screen effect is one of the most used. This is because of the good results it gets and the type of content it allows you to make.
The filter has the same function as traditional green screens. It allows a person to record themselves and eliminate all the background, so that they can embed in it the images or videos they want. Audiences like content that features people more, so this filter can help you give that human component to your publication.
3. Use Trending Audio
It's no secret that using trending music in your TikTok video can increase your chances of it going viral. What not as many people know is how to tell if an clip audio is trending or not. The best way to check is to go to the "+" button (as if you were going to upload a video), click on the "add sound" tab and finally select the "trending" option.
If you want to do this from your computer, the process will be different. In this case, you will have to log in and scroll until you find the "trends" section in the left column. The options that have a music icon will indicate the songs that are viral at that moment.
4. Make Vlogs
Vlogs are publications in which the content creator shares a part of their day while narrating what has happened to them. This can be in voice-over or not. They are usually more realistic, less edited, and with a more personal and intimate touch. Vlogs can deal with a wide variety of topics, from "what I eat in a day" to talking about routine in a general way.
5. Add Hashtags from Your Sector and Trending Hashtags
Using the right hashtags in the description of your posts will help you be more visible to your target audience. This element is one of the many factors that the TikTok algorithm takes into account when displaying content. It's not only the algorithm that looks at them, but the platform's users themselves also search hashtags to find content that interests them.
It is important that your hashtag strategy includes both those considered niche and those considered popular. It is similar to keywords in SEO. There are more generic ones with more searches, and more specific ones with fewer searches.
6. Respond to Comments in Video Format
This is one of the many ways you can use content created by your followers to create your own. It's also a great way to connect with your audience.
In the comments section, some users leave you questions and instead of answering them directly in text format, you can use them to create a video response. If you are a brand, you can take advantage of this to explain the characteristics of your products or services in a more engaging and entertaining way.
7. Give Your Community Valuable Content with Video Tutorials
Surely, as a company, you try to make your content seem as non-promotional as possible, since posts that are obviously trying to sell something tend not to go viral. One way to make promotional content go unnoticed is by creating what are known as video tutorials, a type of post in which you offer valuable content to the viewer without sounding commercial and give them tips on how to do something while including mentions of your product or service. Collaborating with other creators on these types of videos can be interesting to make the content seem even more natural and fresh.
8. Get Inspired by Viral Videos from TikTok
In any business environment, looking at what the competition is doing is key to sharpening your strategy, and the world of TikTok is no different. We don't mean that you copy the videos they publish (although in the case of challenges you can), but that you get ideas on what the public wants to consume. Look at the videos of your direct competitors that get the most views (if possible those that reach one million views) and analyze their content.
9. Incorporate Voice Effects
Adding distorted voices to TikTok videos has become a trend that seems to be here to stay. Depending on the moment, a different voice effect will go viral. Most of them are used to add a touch of humor to the content, but you can also use them for informative content.
Inserting these effects in your videos is very simple and you can do it from the TikTok platform itself in the "voice effects" section when you are editing the content.
10. Make Short, Dynamic Videos
In general, the shorter and more dynamic a video is, the more likely it is to go viral. Keep in mind that the main audience of this social network is gen Z, which prefers videos of 8 minutes or less. Also, do not forget that the first few seconds are key to capture the attention of the audience, so the beginning must be very attractive and interesting if you want users to stick around. After all, the more people you get to watch the video from beginning to end, the more visibility the platform's algorithm will give you.
11. Leave a CTA at the End of the Video
Sometimes, if you want your audience to interact more with your publication, you just need to ask for it. Even if your audience already knows that they can comment, save, and share your videos, it never hurts to remind them in case they don't think of it at the time. A little nudge always comes in handy. Adding a small call to action, both in the video and in the video description, will help you increase interaction with your content and, therefore, its reach.
12. Be Clear about Your Objectives
It's not that helpful to follow the tricks above if you don't have clear objectives. Establishing which audience you want to reach and what you want to transmit is essential to creating content that can go viral and, at the same time, bring in sales or increase your followers. Otherwise, even if you manage to make a video go viral, it will be difficult for you to repeat the success.
13. Work on SEO on TikTok
Yes, TikTok also has its SEO rules and following them will be useful to increase your chances of going viral. Earlier we talked about hashtags, music, and sound effects, but these are not the only resources to position your content well. Using keywords in the titles and descriptions, as well as configuring your account, are fundamental steps to position yourself better on the platform.
Despite what you may think, factors such as the number of followers you have do not influence the positioning of your content. This is rather unique to this social network and others, like Instagram, do not do this.
14. Be Consistent When Posting
Posting videos on a regular basis is essential for the algorithm not to think that your account is inactive and end up promoting less and less your posts. We recommend that you create your own publishing schedule or use tools to do so. Choosing the times and days when you'll post will help you be consistent. Something that can also be useful to maintain consistency are content scheduling tools, which we encourage you to use.
15. Test Several Types of Content in Your Weekly Strategy
Something that often happens to certain brands and content creators is that they tend to always publish the same type of videos, making their account lose freshness and seem very monotonous. To avoid falling into that, we suggest you develop a weekly content strategy in which you establish the creation of different types of videos. For example, there could be 3 videos of valuable content, 1 with a humorous touch, and another more informative one per week. This way you will force yourself to create varied content and not fall into a routine.
Once you have been using this strategy for a while, you will be able to analyze what type of videos work best and create content along these lines, thus increasing your chances of going viral.
