The latest bloomer among all the leading social media platforms– TikTok, has grown exponentially ever since its launch in 2016. With a whopping 1 billion users at the end of 2021, it is a thriving ground to acquire followers and build your brand’s presence online.
But, everyone knows how tough it can be to acquire followers, especially for free!
That’s exactly what we will be discussing in this blog — how to acquire TikTok followers for free using 8 simple and effective strategies.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
8 Free & Super-Effective Ways to Increase Your TikTok Followers in 2023
While paid marketing is necessary to give your brand a boost at the beginning, it is not sustainable for acquiring followers in the long run. Brands are constantly on the lookout for ways to increase their following without spending a buck.
Here are 8 best ways how you can boost your TikTok Followers easily:
Determine Your Target Audience
It’s true, TikTok is all over the internet, and every user is trying to make a place in the list of the most well-known TikTokers! So, what can you do to grow your followers and popularity organically?
It is important to have clarity about your target audience before you begin sketching ideas and creating your content to grow your TikTok followers.
If you do not plan your target audience before, you might find yourself amidst conflicting ideas and content. Thorough research or analytics can help you figure out your target audience. Consider these essential tips:
- Get a general idea of the audience through audience and market research. This can help you understand where your followers are mostly from, their language, and age group. Discover their interests and how your brand or content can cater to those.
- Use TikTok Analytics if you have a business account to understand demographics like location and gender, their interests, and when they are mostly active.
- A hashtag search can help you find out what’s trending amongst your target audience and how these hashtags are being used in every content.
Don’t Sleep On Trends
We are sure you want to feature in the ‘For You’ section on TikTok to reach hundreds and thousands of users and help them discover your content. However, that’s easier said than done. If you are ambitious and determined to grow your online presence without spending any money, you need to keep up with new and popular trends.
Focus on your target audience and study the kind of content that influences them. Once you find a pattern to that, do not wait for someone else to do something unique.
Give a twist to that trend while maintaining your niche to zoom in on the opportunity to move popularity in your direction. With trends, there can be hits and misses, but it’s never a bad idea to try out trends relevant to your brand messaging!
Addison Rae, a TikTok star famous for her dancing clips, has over 88 million followers on TikTok. Her posts usually involve her dancing on trending playlist music in her own quirky way, often with friends and family too.
However, if you do not wish to follow the same trend as others, you need to develop your own trend — just like Fenty Beauty starting the #SoStunna challenge, which gained over 6.1M views, where the TikTok community took part in the challenge using Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint.
Keep experimenting with new ideas and content, but ensure that it is something that can grab your audience’s attention quickly.
All You Can Bag With The Right Hashtag
If you are wondering how vital hashtags are in any type of content, be it photos or videos, the answer is VERY! Hashtags make it easier to find or track information on a specific topic or content.
Proper hashtags also help social media users to find more content that has the potential to hook them to it. The correct use of hashtags can help your content reach a greater audience.
Looking for a hashtag strategy? Maintain a balance between familiar and popular hashtags like #music, #dance, #cooking, #fyp, and specific hashtags like #5minworkout, #popdance, and #travelphotography. You can also opt for branded hashtags like #DisneyPlusVoices, #ShareYourEars, or #InMyDenim.
Pick the right ones from a basket full of hashtags carefully using these super easy tricks.
- Search on TikTok for trending hashtags.
- Look for hashtags that your competitors and celebrities are using.
- Keep track of the number of views your hashtags get with time.
Remember, if you do not choose enough hashtags and, of course, relevant ones, your audience reach will be limited and you will fail to amplify your influence on TikTok.
Move Across Boundaries
Don’t worry. You do not have to travel to different places, unlike what the headline suggests! If you have noticed, TikTok allows its users to link various other social media platforms with their accounts. This is a great way to share your accounts on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with your TikTok audience.
Moreover, sharing your content across platforms will help you strengthen your social media presence. You can keep your audience intact from TikTok and retain them on other social media platforms. The best part is that your audience there will remain stable if you repurpose your TikTok content as YouTube Shorts or Instagram reels even when the TikTok algorithm is not in your favour.
Hit The Post Button At The Right Time
There’s always a particular time that is best for each creator to post their content and get the most engagement. However, the trends and growth strategies on TikTok are constantly changing, given the massive number of active users around the world.
However, a personalized strategy can help boost growth. And what is the best time to post on TikTok? To be honest, there is no specific time that works for all the creators on TikTok, or on any other social media platform for that matter.
To figure out the best time for you, find out where your potential TikTok followers are from and when they are primarily engaged in the app. You can do this through TikTok Analytics on a Pro account and plan your strategy based on the information you get.
Don’t Shy Away From Challenges
TikTok loves challenges, and performing these challenges is an easy way to attract more free TikTok followers. People feel more connected when they watch something trendy and relevant on TikTok. It is also essential to remember that the challenges you perform should align with your brand to keep your followers engaged even better.
If your brand talks about makeup and skincare, try that viral ASMR skincare challenge or even the crazy 100 layers of makeup challenge! This ensures a high chance of getting featured and more views. But remember, always use appropriate hashtags to increase your visibility.
The best way to find these challenges? Be active on TikTok and look for frequent hashtags that come with challenges, video format, and songs to know what’s trending.
Engage and Collab
TikTok is a space where every creator wants to get noticed. Creators can share their works with each other and support each other to engage more audiences. Remember that collaboration between Charli D’Amelio and Takis, which gained more than 19 million views! Amazing indeed.
Share your content with a fellow creator’s audience to get more free TikTok followers or collaborate with other creators to generate more engagement and followers.
Amplify your Brand’s Presence on TikTok With a Scheduling Tool
It is essential to be consistent with your content format, theme, and style to promote yourself successfully. Consistent content will let your audience get familiarised with your brand and keep them anticipating your videos.
However, the task of maintaining consistency is pretty herculean!
This is where you need to employ a TikTok scheduling tool in the workflow.
With a scheduling tool, you can schedule your TikTok video posts, and upload during the best hours for your followers to grow your reach effortlessly.
For marketers handling multiple social media client accounts, a scheduling tool is not an option, but a necessity.
Wait No More. Start TikToking Your Way to Fame!
We have come to the end of this blog, and we can guess that you are excited to make your TikTok journey even more thrilling and wear that ‘popular’ badge soon! TikTok is an amazingly creative place that harbors positivity and encourages creativity, which is all that you need to make a place on this platform.
Captivate your audience with relatable, engaging, and informative content like beauty, travel, choreography, and so much more!
Use our easy-to-use strategies and expand your TikTok followers base for free!
Frequently Asked Questions
🌟 How can you engage more with your followers on TikTok?
TikTok is a platform for fun and entertainment, but your content does not have to be restricted to that. Engage with your followers with educational content like sharing relevant news, information on products or even life hacks to connect better with them.
🌟 How many followers on TikTok does one need to go live?
The live option is proving to be an effective way to enhance engagement rates and connect more deeply with your target audience. TikTok policies require you to have at least 1,000 followers to go live.
🌟 How can you make your TikTok profile more interesting?
Instead of just creating trendy videos, you can start hashtag trends and challenges or even host interesting contests to make your profile attractive and attract more followers.
🌟 How can you set yourself apart on TikTok?
Be yourself. That’s it. Your followers will get attracted to your personality through your content. The better you can connect with the viewers, the more likely they will follow you. Remember, we are humans, after all, in a virtual world.