4 Steps to Grow to 1 Million Followers on TikTok With daily work and consistency, you can build an audience in less than 24 months.
By Lewis Schenk
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By now, it's no secret that TikTok is the platform of choice for creators looking to build an audience in 2022. With the insane reach, hard to put down content and overall ingenuity of the platform, it's no wonder why people from all areas of business have flocked to the app.
It isn't uncommon on TikTok for someone new to the platform's video to go viral, leading to thousands of followers within a matter of days — sometimes even hours. With a lot going on in business, it can be a tough thing to manage. That being said, there are always tips and strategies that we can learn from those who have already done it.
Related: 5 Tips to Help Curious Marketers Get Started On TikTok
Being curious by nature, I wanted to find out how some of these creators had grown at such a rapid rate. Fortunately, through a good friend of mine back in July, I was introduced to Kyle Elliott. Kyle is an entrepreneurial TikToker who amassed a whopping one million followers on the platform in less than 24 months. Having spent a few hours on Zoom calls picking his brain, I asked him the question: If I wanted to get to one million followers within a couple of years, what are a few things I can do? Kyle's strategy is simple, and he was kind enough to share it with me — and it's now my duty to share it with you. Here are the four tips on how to grow to one million followers on TikTok.
1. Choosing a niche
As the saying goes, the riches are in the niches. When choosing a niche to pursue on TikTok, you will be most successful when selecting something you are either passionate about, or have expertise in.
Perhaps the most important thing to do before selecting your niche is doing your research. Search up a keyword in your niche. Take a look at your potential competitors. Note the amount of views on the keywords hashtag (make sure it has almost, or more than one billion views). Check what type of content works in that particular niche. Once you've done this, come up with the unique angle you will leverage. This can be a particular hook, style, etc. You can't be just like everyone else, you need to be able to differentiate yourself in some way.
2. Consistency and cadence
You will never unlock meaningful growth without consistency. But, and this is very important, do not over commit to a cadence that isn't sustainable. A lot of people get very excited in the beginning, and want to post five, six, seven or even sometimes 10 times a day. This is a surefire way to hit a content block. And, once you miss just a single day, you will be unmotivated and quit. If all you can commit to is one post per day, that's okay. Your goal is to become a part of your audience's routine, a small part of their everyday life.
So remember, stay consistent, no matter the cadence.
3. Content creation
The two most important things when it comes to content creation are having a strong hook and creating content native to the TikTok app.
First, your hook is the most important factor when creating content on TikTok. Attention spans in humans are dropping dramatically. You only have a few seconds to capture the attention of viewers. This requires a thumb-stopping hook. Typically, if you can catch the eye first, they will respect what you have to say. But if you can't hook people in, the rest of your video doesn't matter in the slightest.
Second, your content has to have that TikTok feel. The fastest way to not make it on TikTok is to make it blatantly obvious that your content was not created in the app. It is highly recommend that the shooting, editing and posting are all done natively on the app for maximum efficiency and exposure.
Related: How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business
4. Optimization tools
When it comes to hashtags, trends and sounds, they are all nothing but optimization tools. None of these things will make you go viral or prevent you from going viral. However, they are important tools to optimize your content.
When talking about hashtags, it's almost certain that you've heard an array of tactics from various TikTok gurus. The most important thing to understand is the role they play on TikTok. Different from an app like Instagram (where hashtags are all about discoverability), hashtags on TikTok are solely for categorizing content. So, you're going to want to use the biggest hashtags in your niche. This tells TikTok's algorithm that your content is suitable for a wide variety of people on their app — and this is something that they love. What you don't want to do is use multiple trending and/or broad hashtags. All this does is show your content to people who may not have the least bit of interest in what your video is about. P.S. keep it between three to five tags per post.
Talking about trends, utilizing app-wide trends and applying them to your niche can work wonders, as long as that's not all you're doing. Remember, people are following you because you create content they can't find anywhere else, not because you're doing the same trends that millions of other people do on a daily basis.
Sounds can get interesting. You want to use trending sounds to your advantage. But, if it doesn't fit well with the video, don't overdo it. Typically, you want to pick a sound that is familiar to people on the app and also matches your video's general vibe.
So whether you're just starting out or an already established TikToker, these are the four proven steps to grow your account to one million followers in under two years. Just like most things in life, with patience, discipline and consistency, incredible things are possible.
Related: 4 Reasons TikTok Should Be Part of Your Marketing Plan
