TikTok Growth Strategy: Trends and Best Practices

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Carolyn Howell

Last Updated: Oct 18, 2024

TikTok Growth
Want More Real TikTok Followers?

“How many TikTok followers do you have?” If you can answer with a number you’re proud of, congratulations! If you feel your follower count puts you in a bad light, there’s hope for you yet. Whether you already have a strong TikTok presence or are still struggling, prioritizing sustained growth on the platform is essential. Let’s look at the latest trends and time-tested practices in building a TikTok growth strategy.

Phone screen displaying official  TikTok account.

What Is TikTok Follower Growth?

Some TikTokers simply get lucky and stumble into TikTok fame. Others need a full-scale marketing strategy to establish a successful TikTok presence for their brand. But what constitutes success on TikTok? How do you define TikTok follower growth? How many followers qualify someone as a TikTok celebrity? Let’s answer these questions one by one.

What Does It Mean To Be Successful on TikTok?

TikTok success can mean different things depending on what you wish to accomplish on the platform. There are seven types of objectives on TikTok: reach, traffic, app installs, video views, catalog sales, lead generation, and conversions.

If you’re an influencer, the goal is to keep climbing the ladder to reach the next tier and increase your value. If your business is on TikTok, success means achieving high engagement and conversions to meet your monthly financial goals.

How Do You Define Good TikTok Follower Growth?

According to one report, the average follower growth across all account sizes is “at least 2-3% every month.” Accounts with fewer than 50k followers average more than 5% monthly growth, while accounts with more than 50k followers grow at a rate of 2.5% or more per month. Follower growth standards also vary per industry.

Once you reach the 100k mark, your TikTok follower growth strategies will deliver more followers much faster.

How Many Followers Make You a TikTok Celebrity?

Within the influencer industry, having 5,000 to 50,000 followers on TikTok qualifies you as a nano influencer. This can make you a minor celebrity within a dedicated niche. To become a micro-influencer, you need to reach 50,000 to 150,000 followers on TikTok and increase your visibility.

People typically view macro-influencers with 150,000 to 750,000 followers as low-level celebrities. You’ll need more than 2,500,000 TikTok followers to become a mega influencer. Mega influencers often land exclusive deals with big brands because they can deliver massive and quick exposure with a single post.

What Is a TikTok Growth Strategy?

A TikTok growth strategy is all about figuring out what works best to build your audience and keep them engaged. It’s not just about posting random videos and hoping they go viral. Instead, it’s about knowing your audience and what they like and creating content that keeps them coming back for more.

TikTok account growth means more than just getting views — it’s about creating connections. To do that, you’ll need to understand trends and post consistently. Think of it as a way to build a community rather than just boosting numbers. Whether you’re hopping on the latest trend, collaborating with influencers, or using hashtags wisely, every step is part of your strategy.

You can adjust and improve your content over time as you watch what works and track your progress. That’s how a smart TikTok growth strategy turns casual viewers into dedicated followers.

TikTok icon in the middle of a ring light.

14 Tips To Boost Your TikTok Growth Strategy

Organic TikTok growth is the golden standard when it comes to brand performance. These ideas for a TikTok follower growth strategy will reward you with loyal and highly engaged followers. Here are a few ideas on how to grow TikTok followers: 

1. Know Your Target Audience

Knowing who your target audience is is one of the key follower growth strategies. Before you learn how to grow followers on TikTok, you need to know who you want to have follow you. Identify your target audience according to the following:

  • Their demographics. What’s your target age group? Where are they located? Do they belong to a specific cultural or social background?
  • Their interests. You may have to target different sub-groups whose interests overlap and are relevant to your niche. For example, if you’re an illustrator, your audiences may include children’s book authors, publishers, and readers.
  • The type/s of content they like to engage with on TikTok. Once you’ve narrowed down your target audience, you can start researching what types of TikTok videos they enjoy.

2. Audit Your Competition

Scrutinizing the competition should be a permanent component of your TikTok followers growth strategies. Identify three to five brands or communities on TikTok that are in your niche or most similar to yours. Study their content and marketing strategies. Take note of what works and what doesn’t. Identify each competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. What hashtags are they using to optimize their content for higher visibility? Which posts are getting the most views and engagement?

You should also check out TikTok influencers and personalities who share your target audience and learn from their various approaches.

Person working on a laptop and developing TikTok growth strategies.

3. Set Appropriate Goals

Your TikTok follower growth rate won’t see improvement without setting TikTok goals. Make sure your goals align with your overall brand objective. Use the SMART goal framework to help you set specific, measurable, Attractive, relevant, and timely goals. Your goal/s for your TikTok brand may include any of the following:

  • Reaching a new audience to increase brand awareness, conversions, and sales.
  • Improving your brand image.
  • Promoting new products.
  • Strengthening customer relationships.
  • Driving more traffic to your website.
  • Building a community around a cause or movement.

4. Strictly Follow a Content Calendar

Consistency is crucial to top-of-mind awareness. A key part of how to create a TikTok strategy is maintaining a content calendar and strictly adhering to it. Build your TikTok content calendar around the best times to post to optimize audience reach. The timing and frequency of your posts should align with when your audience is most likely to engage.

5. Monitor Your Performance

You need to track your performance through a TikTok account growth tracker to find out if your efforts are working. Monitoring your analytics will also help you perfect your growth strategies. Regularly check your analytics to see where you are with your goals. Your analytics will show you how many followers you’re gaining and which posts get the most engagement. You’ll also find out when you’re getting the most engagement and a lot more valuable information about your performance.

6. Engage With Your Audience

A successful TikTok growth strategy includes active engagement with your audience. Respond to comments, ask questions in your videos, and encourage your viewers to participate through likes, shares, and duets. By interacting with your followers, you show that you value their opinions and contributions, which helps build a loyal community. Engagement is also important to TikTok’s algorithm; it prioritizes content that sparks conversations and interactions. The more you connect with your audience, the more likely TikTok is to push your videos to the For You page.

7. Optimize Your TikTok Videos

Optimizing your TikTok videos is essential for better visibility and growth. Start by making sure your content is aesthetically pleasing and fits the image of your niche. Add trending music or sounds to help your videos be discoverable. Timing is also crucial; post when your audience is most active to increase your chances of getting more views. Lastly, always experiment with video length to find out what works best for your followers. Some viewers are more engaged with quick, snappy clips, while others may prefer longer, in-depth content. Find what fits your niche.

8. Stay Updated on Trends

Staying updated on TikTok trends is always important in maintaining consistent growth. TikTok’s algorithm favors fresh content, especially when creators align their posts with current trends. Keep an eye on viral challenges, popular sounds, and trending hashtags. Jumping on these trends while incorporating your unique style can increase your chances of landing on the For You page. Trends move fast on TikTok, so being quick to adapt will boost your content. This is a crucial part of how to grow your TikTok account overnight.

9. Partner With Creators

Collaborating with other TikTok creators is a great way to grow your audience. Partnering with influencers or creators in your niche exposes your content to their followers. It’ll help you reach new viewers who may not have discovered your account otherwise. This is one of many effective TikTok account growth solutions. Whether it’s a duet, shoutout, or joint project, collaborations foster community engagement and can help grow your TikTok account quickly.

10. Use Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags are essential to getting discovered on TikTok. Using a mix of trending and niche hashtags helps TikTok’s algorithm categorize your content and show it to the right audience. Avoid overloading your videos with too many hashtags. Instead, use a balanced mix of 3-5 hashtags that align with your content and audience. Try including general trending hashtags along with more specific ones that speak directly to your niche.

11. Include Captions in Your Videos

Captions play a major role in keeping your audience engaged. Many TikTok users watch videos without sound, so including captions helps convey your message clearly. Captions also improve accessibility so all viewers can engage with your content. Clear, concise captions can keep users interested and make your videos more shareable. 

12. Post Videos at Optimal Times

Posting at the correct times can significantly boost your visibility. You’ll want to post when your audience is most active to maximize engagement. Check your TikTok analytics to determine the best times to post for your specific audience. Posting during these peak hours increases your chances of gaining more views, likes, and followers.

13. Experiment With Video Length

TikTok allows for a wide range of video lengths, so experiment to see what resonates with your audience. Short, snappy clips might keep viewers watching until the end, while longer videos may offer more detail and caption attention spans. Track the performance of different video lengths to find out what works best for your audience. Sometimes, varying your video length can keep things fresh and appealing.

14. Use Popular Music and Sounds

Using trending music and sounds in your videos is an easy way to increase your content’s visibility. TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes videos that use popular audio clips, which helps push them to more For You feeds. Incorporating trending music not only makes your videos more engaging but also aligns them with what’s currently popular on the platform. 

Woman taking a video with her phone for TikTok.

How To Gain Followers and Likes on TikTok: Quick Solutions

You can get lucky, go viral with one video, and gain droves of new TikTok followers overnight. A few more growth strategies can also give your follower count an impressive and quick boost. Here are quick solutions for how to gain followers and likes on TikTok.

Grow Your TikTok Audience Through Influencer Marketing

As TikTok follower growth strategies go, this one’s foolproof nearly 100% of the time. We say “nearly” because the success of your influencer marketing depends on choosing the right influencer for your brand. Make sure you tick all these boxes when narrowing down the list of potential influencers you can collaborate with:

  • A follower base that suits your needs in terms of active engagement or numbers. A nano-influencer typically has a higher engagement than a micro-influencer because their followers are more dedicated. But if you’re after numbers, a micro or macro influencer may be the better fit for your brand.
  • A proven record of good performance. You must be able to verify that an influencer’s followers are legitimate accounts. Make sure that their engagement numbers are high enough to help you achieve your influencer marketing goals. Ideally, the influencer must have already achieved success with previous collaborations.
  • Your identity and voice should align with your brand. Even if an influencer specializes in your niche, their identity and voice might not perfectly align with your brand’s identity. You might prefer an influencer with a strong sense of social responsibility over one focused solely on making money.

Working with the right influencer and having a properly designed influencer marketing plan is a no-fail combo. When done right, a single post can attract hundreds or even thousands of new followers in just a few days.

Two people shaking hands to seal the deal for a TikTok collaboration.

Grow TikTok Followers Fast With Apps

If used correctly, follower apps might boost your growth strategies, but they often only offer short-term results. Buying TikTok followers is so commonplace these days, but it also remains a double-edged sword. If everyone else is doing it, you might feel pressured to join the bandwagon to avoid falling behind the competition. At the same time, TikTok users and TikTok’s algorithm are often quick to identify people who use fake accounts. Getting caught will obviously damage your credibility.

But if you must, keep these things in mind when using apps or sites to grow your TikTok followers fast:

  • Always opt for gradual delivery of followers.
  • If your budget allows it, get “premium” or “active” followers.
  • Don’t be too quick to trust customer reviews published on the site. Check out reviews on trusted review sites.
  • Find out what the site’s refund policy is and if they offer “free refills” for followers who drop off after delivery.
  • Make sure the site has a reliable and easy-to-reach customer support team.
  • Find out how the site targets audiences.
  • Consider subscribing to a monthly plan for gradual but consistent growth with a regular flow of new followers.

TikTok Follower Growth Tracker

Use a reliable TikTok follower growth tracker to get accurate and actionable insights about your account’s performance. Make sure to take full advantage of your TikTok Analytics so you can constantly optimize your TikTok follower growth strategies.

To learn how to check TikTok followers growth, you can access TikTok Analytics through your profile and review the Followers tab. For more analytics, go to your profile and tap the three dots in the top right corner. Then select Creator tools, and then choose Analytics. TikTok organizes its analytics into three sections: Overview, Content, and Followers.

  • Overview: This section displays key metrics like follower growth, video views, profile views, likes, comments, and shares. The Engagement section within Overview specifically tracks how your videos are performing using these metrics.
  • Content: Here, you’ll find detailed data for each of your videos. This includes total views, likes, comments, shares, average watch time, traffic sources, and audience locations. Note that these metrics are only available for the past seven days.
  • Followers: This tab gives insights into your TikTok community. This includes follower locations, when your followers are most active, and any changes in follower growth.

Laptop screen displaying a graph for TikTok analytics.

TikTok Follower Growth Strategies Bonus Tip: Get Expert Help

Developing growth strategies takes time, dedication, and a lot of experimentation before you can figure out what works. If you want to create content with viral potential, you can team up with an expert in TikTok growth strategy.

As with all other social media platforms, audience targeting and organic content promotion using marketing strategies are vital for growth. You can get this double advantage when you subscribe to High Social.

High Social uses advanced AI targeting technology to track down the right fans for your TikTok, whatever niche you’re in. These are TikTok users who fit your target audience filters and whose interests on TikTok match what you have to offer.

They also have an in-house team of social media specialists who will put your content in front of your target audience. You can be sure that the followers you’ll gain are real and genuinely interested. And this is precisely what you need to build a lasting and highly engaged community for your TikTok brand.

High Social can help accelerate your TikTok growth and build a strong presence for your brand on the platform. Start growing your TikTok today!