How to Get Famous on TikTok: Tricks to Go Viral & Stay Popular

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Achieve TikTok fame fast with this complete beginner's guide
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TikTok began as a lip-syncing app, but is now one of the most popular apps to find viral videos of all kinds. Becoming famous on TikTok translates to real-life success—just look at Lil Nas X, Charlie D'Amelio, and Olivia Rodrigo! All it takes is one viral video to become TikTok famous, but it'll take more than that to keep your fame alive. Although there's no specific formula for going viral on TikTok, most TikTok-famous people combine their talents (or shortcomings) with the latest trends. We asked social media experts for advice on becoming TikTok famous. Read on to learn their best tricks!

Getting Famous on TikTok

According to social media influencer & marketer Jenna Jean Davis, one of the best ways to get popular on TikTok is to be relatable. Make short, entertaining videos that resonate with the majority of people instead of sticking to one niche only. The more people you reach, the better your chances are of going viral.

1

Post every day.

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  1. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, where posting too often can get on people's nerves, people expect a lot of content from each creator on TikTok. [1] If you can get your average viewer count up, you’ll be more visible to a greater number of new users. [2]
    • Even though you should be consistent, Davis recommends post quality over quantity. "There’s a lot of information out there saying you should be posting like 3-7 times a day on TikTok. If you have enough content to be posting that much, go for it! But producing more quality content will actually convert those viewers to followers. [3]

    Meet the wikiHow Experts

    Jenna Jean Davis is a social media influencer and marketer specializing in organic social media & TikTok marketing.

    Beth Cormack is a social media manager who specializes in multi-channel social media marketing and storytelling.

    Wayne Dang is a fast food and social media expert who shares restaurant and food reviews with over 1.5 million TikTok followers.

    Ramin Ahmari is a social media expert, CEO, and data scientist who has worked with major brands on implementing influencer & marketing strategy.

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2

Be relatable.

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  1. Make videos that resonate with people from all walks of life. Instead of diving into a smaller niche right away, social media influencer and marketer Davis recommends talking about things the majority of people would understand and relate to. "TikTok is one of the most real social media platforms," she says. "You don’t need fancy makeup or lighting to film a video; in fact, I think people relate and appreciate the more raw, authentic vibes." [4]
3

Capture your unique skills and stories.

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  1. "The best way to grow a following on any social media," says social media manager Beth Cormack, "is to find a niche that you're an expert in, whether it's cooking or some type of sport, and focus on creating content around that." [5]
    • What is something you know a lot about or can do well? Are you an avid record collector? A nurse working in the emergency department? A rapper? A mom who has nailed easy Instant Pot meals? Use the Search tool on TikTok to check out what types of videos already exist for topics you know a lot about, and think about how you could add value to those topics. [6] "The more consistent you are in posting about it and the more interesting it is," Cormack says, "the more your audience will grow." [7]
    • Having a focus doesn’t mean you must only make a certain kind of video, but it does help to build a following.
    • Davis recommends experimenting with different types of videos and topics to give your audience some variety. "See what your audience reacts best to and what sticks," she says. "Whatever is your most popular topic, post about that most often, but you don’t need to be singularly focused on one thing. [8]
    • If you run a business, promote what you do. For instance, if you have a hair salon, you might post before-and-after transformations.
    • You could also focus on what you don't know, or things you're comedically bad at!
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4

Make every second count.

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  1. Make your videos as short as possible without sacrificing quality and detail. Fast Food and social media expert Wayne Dang says to keep your viewers interested, avoid any unnecessary information that could make the viewer click away. "Take away any dead spaces and change up the clip scenes every few seconds to keep them interested," he recommends. [9] As a TikTok Creator, you have plenty of free analytical tools you can use to find out where your videos succeed (and where they fail). To see how long your viewers spend watching your videos (and where they click away), open a video, tap •••, and select Analytics . [10]
    • Retention Rate tells you what percentage of your video users have watched. You can use this tool to find out exactly where people lose interest. Once you identify drop-off points, you'll know to incorporate less content of that type in your videos (or just make your videos shorter).
    • Watched Full Video tells you the percentage of viewers that watched your entire TikTok video until the last few seconds.
    • Average Watch Time tells you the average amount of time people spend watching your videos. You can use this value to determine how engaging your videos are and whether you need to make them more interesting (or just shorter).
5

Get inspiration from your For You page.

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  1. The For You page is the seemingly random assortment of videos that appear when you open TikTok. Winding up on people's For You pages is central to becoming famous on TikTok—this is why it's important to pay attention to what shows up on your For You page, as many of these videos have already been liked or shared a bunch.
    • TikTok tailors each user's For You page to their interests, which means that no two For You pages are alike. [11]
    • In general, people react to things they recognize. If you can capitalize on a popular trend, you can easily increase your number of followers.
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6

Participate in meme trends and make remixes.

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  1. From Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” to the surprising time traveler, there is no shortage of memes that originated on TikTok. TikTok also makes it easy to add your take to someone else's video by stitching or duetting your spin on it, which is essentially how viral memes are created—a video takes off, and other TikTokers "remix" the original song or punchline to add their jokes, hot takes, lyrics, dances, or stunts.
    • Making people laugh is a great way to get views. Rather than telling straight-up jokes, most comedic TikTok creators tell funny or embarrassing anecdotes, record goofy missteps, and dig into the most hilarious aspects of day-to-day life .
7

Put your signature spin on every trend.

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  1. TikTok is a platform that celebrates fresh and wacky ideas, so don’t hesitate to be bold and do something that hasn’t been done before. [12] Social media expert Ramin Ahmari stresses the importance of creating content that resonates with people, but bringing your own story into the video. "Who are you? People want to connect with someone and trust someone," he says. [13]
    • Remember to use the same hashtags in your video as the original creator so your video is easy to find.
    • It’s fine to use another person's video as a template for your TikTok. This isn’t usually seen as copying so much as it is perceived to be a user participating in the format.
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8

Use trending songs and sounds.

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  1. Music is a massive part of TikTok, and videos with popular songs can get billions of views! [14] Sometimes, doing your cool, creative, or funny performance to a trending song is enough to make you go viral.
    • For example, #FakeTravel was a popular hashtag that used foreign-language songs and weird costumes to make it seem like the user was in a different part of the world.
    • Children’s songs like “Baby Shark” or "Castaways" from The Backyardigans are always trending and can make for some funny videos.
    • To find trending music and sounds on TikTok, check out TikTok's Trend Discovery tool .
9

Jump on a TikTok trend.

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  1. Since they use the same hashtag for all videos in the challenge, they have a built-in audience! Challenges can be dances, lip-syncing, hilarious stitches, or even stunts. To make a challenge video, study a few examples and try to put your spin on the format. [15]
    • Take your time when crafting challenge videos, since they’re more likely to be seen than your normal videos.
    • Some popular challenges are the "Waking up in the morning" challenge, "Pop out at 1 in the morning" dance challenge, "Big mama" challenge, "Tell me (insert topic here) without telling me you (insert topic here)," #InMyFeelingsChallenge, and #UnMakeupChallenge.
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10

Collaborate with friends and influencers with large fan bases.

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  1. Let your friends know that you’re trying to get more followers and politely ask to be in one of their videos. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone or damaging anyone’s property, pulling pranks on friends or family members can make for excellent TikTok content, too!
    • Duets and stitches are great ways to collaborate with popular TikTokkers.
    • If you’re focusing on comedic skits, come up with an idea together and act it out over a funny song.
11

Make content you will want to keep making.

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  1. It will be hard to be consistent if you're not interested in the content you're making. Even if your goal is simply to become famous, make sure you're creating content that interests you so you stay inspired and won't give up. You should also make sure this content is something there's an active audience for, although there's most likely a niche audience for anything you're into! Here are some examples:
    • True crime stories
    • Singing and dancing
    • Telling hilarious stories
    • Lip-syncing to funny songs
    • Life hacks, including cleaning tips
    • Cooking delicious (or gross) food
    • Current events
    • Political commentary
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12

Use hashtags so people can find your videos.

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  1. Look at popular TikToks to see how they use hashtags in their videos, and try to hop on a trend as early as possible. Never skip this step—hashtags are crucial, especially when doing challenges.
    • Tap the Discover option at the bottom of the app to see the latest trending hashtags, sounds, and effects on TikTok. When you tap a trending hashtag, sound, or topic, you'll see popular videos that have used those features.
    • If you can incorporate any combination of trending topics into one or more videos, you're more likely to wind up on people's For You pages.
    • While you don't want to mirror someone's content exactly, you can gain inspiration from TikTokers who are already popular on the platform.
    • To find trending hashtags on TikTok, check out TikTok's Trend Discovery tool .
    • As long as you're using at least one or two popular hashtags, you can add some goofy or ironic ones. For example, if you’re singing a love song to your cat, you could use #TrueLove, #HeHatesMe, or #We’rePurrfect to add a funny element to your video.
13

Leave insightful or hilarious comments on other videos.

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  1. Follow popular influencers and TikTok creators. [16] You can comment on how funny or relatable a video is, or you can crack a joke. If your comment gets a lot of likes, it will be more visible to other people checking the comments section of the video.
    • Avoid getting into public arguments in comment threads. People won’t want to click on your profile if they think you’re rude or aggressive.
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14

Make the kind of quality content you'd like to see.

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  1. Yes, your videos don't always have to be giant productions, but setting up a video with good lighting, clean editing, and crisp audio can make a difference. [17] Consider things like:
    • Location: Consider filming in weird or funny locations or switching up the lighting in your room.
    • Lighting: Natural light is best, but if it's nighttime, you'll want to make sure people can see you. Consider investing in a good ring light if you don't have a location bright enough to film in.
    • Volume: If people can't hear you over the music, why would they want to see more of your videos? Listen to your video before sharing it to make sure it sounds the way you want.
15

Dance, dance, dance!

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  1. Just think of the dance videos with audio from Megan Thee Stallion, Drake, The Weeknd, and other artists. [18] And many of the most popular dance videos are just funny takes on the originals—you don't even have to be a particularly good dancer to take part in a dance challenge!
    • If dancing isn’t your strongest quality, simply have fun and use goofy moves to draw your audience in.
    • Have you noticed more than one video that contains a particular dance routine? It's probably a challenge. Try learning it, or at least film yourself stumbling through the process.
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16

Go viral with recipes and food preparation.

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  1. Whether you're an expert cook or have hilariously bad cooking luck, you can easily go viral on TikTok with the right cooking videos. You might even go viral by cooking something that looks gross and having Tanara Mallory do one of her famous "Everybody's so creative!" voiceovers over it. [19] Also try making aesthetically pleasing content, using creative ingredients or interesting fusions, making budget recipes, special dietary meals (plant-based, keto, etc.), etc., as these are are all massively popular on the app.
17

Try lip-syncing and dialog reenactments.

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  1. But lip-syncing to a popular song isn't enough to go viral—some of the most popular videos on TikTok are of people lip-syncing to other people's TikTok videos, scenes from movies, and other non-musical sounds. Get creative with the audio you choose, and you’re more likely to gain a following.
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18

Know your audience.

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  1. Your target audience is important because it defines how you create and target your videos, what you wear, what you're doing, and how you structure your videos. [20]
    • If your audience is primarily Generation Alpha, keep your content short, use eye-catching graphics, and make sure every second of your video is entertaining.
    • If your audience is Gen Z, create shareworthy content that fosters a sense of understanding and community and values self-expression.
    • If your audience is Generation X or older, consider nostalgic content, information about health and family, current events, and witty/sarcastic content. [21]
19

Have a unique saying that can catch on.

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  1. Many people on TikTok are trying to do the same thing you are, so having some unique style to your videos can make you stand out. Think of ways you can use the latest trends to entertain your audience with your personality.
    • For example, have a unique way of saying hello. Like: "What's up, my ________!" or "Hey _______! How y'all doing?"
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20

Make an uploading schedule.

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  1. 1
    Be consistent when posting to TikTok. We all have lives outside of TikTok, so keeping a schedule to still live your regular life and upload to TikTok is important. At the very least, Davis recommends posting daily. "I started posting two times a day, every day. Now I post once a day, every day," she says. [22]
  2. 2
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21

Post on other platforms, too.

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  1. Each platform has its own set of followers who might be interested in your content. Even if you only want to focus on TikTok, build a smaller presence on these other platforms to entice their users to come check out your TikTok videos.
    • You can also post different types of content on each platform. For example, you might post photos of dishes you cooked on Instagram, then tell your Instagram followers to check out your TikTok to learn how to make it.
    • Give reminders like, "Just posted _____ on _______. Check it out!"
    • Add links to each of your social media accounts in all of your profiles.
22

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  1. Link your TikTok videos to your other social media accounts to share your material with a broader audience. Include a link to your TikTok profile in the description so that people can quickly click it to follow your account. [23]
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I go live on TikTok?
    Aasim
    Top Answerer
    Tap on the "+," choose the "Go Live" tab, then choose the red "Go Live" button. You need 1,000 fans to do this.
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  • Question
    How do I know if my video is on the "For you" page?
    Aasim
    Top Answerer
    Some users comment "For you" when your video makes it on the for you page. Also, watch the view count; a video with several thousand views or tens of thousands of views might have made it on the for you page. The view count can be viewed on your profile page.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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  • Question
    Do people like tutorials?
    Aasim
    Top Answerer
    Yes, they do! You can cross-post your own useful life hacks on two different social platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube. But be aware that when you release a tutorial, you are competing with several other users also creating tutorials. If posting on TikTok, keep the tutorial under 30 seconds with a link to the more detailed one on YouTube. The more helpful tutorials get lots of likes.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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      Tips

      • It can take a long time to get a following. Be prepared to work hard and spend a lot of time on it!
        Thanks
        Helpful 31 Not Helpful 5
      • If you focus only on getting famous, you may get frustrated. Focus on having fun, and the followers will come.
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      Tips from our Readers

      The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
      • Don't forget to promote your TikTok account on other platforms where you already have an audience. Letting your existing followers on Instagram or YouTube know you're on TikTok makes it easy for them to find and follow you.
      • Using trending sounds and hashtags is a good way to get more eyes on your videos. But always add your own unique spin so your take stands out in the crowd. Combining popular elements with your own style is key.
      • Try collaborating with more popular TikTokers by asking to be in their videos or doing duets. Getting an influencer with a big following to tag you in their content is a great way to reach their audience.
      • Make sure you have good lighting and video quality. Investing in decent equipment really helps make your videos stand out. Viewers can tell when a creator puts effort into production value.
      • Don't stress too much over hate comments as your audience grows. Some negativity comes with the territory unfortunately. Just focus on making content you genuinely enjoy.
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      Warnings

      • Never give your personal information out online.
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        Helpful 32 Not Helpful 4
      • There may be some unpleasant people out there commenting on videos. Don’t get upset if your video doesn’t go over well. Some people get a kick out of being mean, but you can’t let that ruin your goal!
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        Helpful 31 Not Helpful 5
      • Never start or encourage dangerous challenges that could seriously harm, injure, or even kill people. These include the skull breaker challenge, the crate challenge, the Benadryl challenge, and the cereal challenge.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://thetab.com/uk/2020/01/17/how-to-get-tik-tok-famous-138720
      2. ↑ https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/2/18201898/tiktok-guide-for-you-challenge-creator-trend-algorithm-privacy
      3. ↑ Jenna Jean Davis. Social Media Influencer & Marketer. Expert Interview
      4. ↑ Jenna Jean Davis. Social Media Influencer & Marketer. Expert Interview
      5. ↑ Beth Cormack. Social Media Manager. Expert Interview
      6. ↑ https://support.tiktok.com/en/using-tiktok/exploring-videos/discover-and-search
      7. ↑ Beth Cormack. Social Media Manager. Expert Interview
      8. ↑ Jenna Jean Davis. Social Media Influencer & Marketer. Expert Interview
      9. ↑ Wayne Dang. Fast Food & Social Media Expert. Expert Interview
      1. ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/creator-academy/en/article/tool-analytics-intro
      2. ↑ https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you
      3. ↑ https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-ways-to-maximize-the-viral-potential-of-your-content-marketing-efforts/575878/
      4. ↑ Ramin Ahmari. Social Media Expert. Expert Interview
      5. ↑ https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/13/22832231/tiktok-2021-roundup-music-songs
      6. ↑ https://slate.com/technology/2018/09/tiktok-app-musically-guide.html
      7. ↑ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/get-social-media-followers/208397/
      8. ↑ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/get-social-media-followers/208397/
      9. ↑ https://time.com/5880779/best-tiktok-dances-2020/
      10. ↑ https://www.eater.com/23709545/everybodys-so-creative-tiktok-tanara-mallory-interview
      11. ↑ https://www.wearethereach.com/insights/gen-z-vs-gen-alpha-vs-millennials-social-media-habits
      12. ↑ https://ads.tiktok.com/business/en-SG/blog/humansoftiktok-generations?redirected=1
      13. ↑ Jenna Jean Davis. Social Media Influencer & Marketer. Expert Interview
      14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdbCCij8JLc

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      1. Study trending videos to see what those users are doing.
      2. Use trending hashtags and sounds in your own videos.
      3. Combine your own skills or shortcomings with trending topics.
      4. Do TikTok challenges and always use their hashtags.
      5. Dance, dance, dance.
      6. Post high-quality content, and do it often.
      7. Be hilarious and relatable.

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