How to go viral on TikTok?

Many content creators dream of going viral on TikTok, home to 1.58 billion active users, making it the fifth-largest social network, but achieving this requires more than luck. Understanding the key strategies to capture attention and drive engagement is crucial in a platform buzzing with creative energy and endless trends.

A major reason for its success is its element of virality. Thanks to TikTok, you can become a social media celebrity overnight, provided your bite-sized video strikes the right chord with its viewers. 

So, how do you go viral on TikTok? You must ensure you’re creating video content that gets the TikTok algorithm in your favor. Only then do you stand a chance of going viral on TikTok.

So, in this piece, let’s explore how many views it takes to go viral on TikTok, plus 16 ways you can increase your chances of going viral on the social video app.

How do you make your video go viral on TikTok?

Everyone has a fair chance to become viral on TikTok. Follower count is not the only factor it considers but also the quality of your content. You have to beat TikTok’s Algorithm.

Not long ago, Khaby Lame was a struggling factory worker & now the second-most followed person on TikTok. Today, his silent skits are shared on more platforms than just TikTok. Lame became an overnight social media sensation simply by making funny videos and jumping on TikTok trends.

@motivational.english.sub

@Khabane lame: Believe In Your Dreams.

♬ original sound – Motivational English subtitle

But would he have been this famous had TikTok been like other social media sites? Unlikely.

For most other social apps, the bigger your follower count, the better. Your chances of organic success are pretty low if you don’t boast a fan following of millions. TikTok is different, though — it is fairer as everyone, regardless of follower count, has a chance at success.

Uniquely enough, TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t just look at your number of followers. Instead, it considers your interactions with others on the platform and content information, such as the sounds, hashtags, captions, and more of your videos. 

If your videos have discoverable hashtags, trending sounds, and excellent quality, you can go viral on TikTok. Based on these factors, TikTok will show your videos to a selected group of people who may be interested in them. If your video resonates with this small group of early viewers, then the TikTok algorithm will show it to an even bigger audience — increasing your video content’s reach.

This is exactly how Khaby Lame’s videos gathered millions of views on TikTok. His videos got good engagement initially, so the algorithm pushed them further — giving Lame’s videos the showtime they deserved. 

But, working with the platform’s algorithm is the key to making your video viral on TikTok. 

So, make exciting videos, stand out of the crowd, and follow TikTok trends to reach users’ main feed, the ‘For You Page (FYP)‘. Remember that the more people watch your videos, the better.

How many views go viral on TikTok?

There’s no specific number that you must hit to be considered viral. But generally takes about a million views to be mildly viral and about 2.5 million views to be a viral sensation. However, you need back-to-back viral videos to make a name on the video app. One hit among many flops will do you little good.

You might wonder how TikTok works to understand how videos go viral on the platform. To explain in detail, Tiktok shows the video you post to around 300 to 500 people. These people watch videos like yours, so your video is recommended to them in their “Feed” or “For You Page.” If you earn a good chunk of views, shares, likes, and a desirable video completion rate, TikTok considers you good enough to boost your video further.

Note that the video completion rate is an essential factor that TikTok looks at. The video completion rate is the number of people who don’t just view your video but watch it from start to finish. Only a compelling and fun video gets more folks to watch it fully. 

Viral TikTok videos get around 300 to 500 likes in half an hour of posting, and it takes 5 to 7 days for the views to reach millions. So for those wondering ‘how to go viral on TikTok overnight?’ Hold your horses; it takes time, as virality doesn’t happen instantly. 

Related Read: Post & schedule TikTok videos with ContentStudio

16 ways to go viral on TikTok

Now, to the meaty bit — what trends should you follow on TikTok, what elements should you add to your videos, and what video features will help you go viral on TikTok? 

To tell you all, here are 12 proven tips you can follow for overnight success on the video-sharing social app:

1. Post consistently at the right time 

Posting consistently and at the right time on TikTok can significantly increase your chances of going viral due to the platform’s algorithm and user engagement patterns. The algorithm favors creators who post regularly, signaling that you are an active and reliable content provider. This regular activity increases the likelihood that your videos will be promoted in the “For You” feed, where exposure and viral potential are highest.

Additionally, posting at times when your target audience is most active maximizes immediate engagement, which is a critical factor in the algorithm’s decision to push content further. Regular posting also helps in building a loyal audience who are more likely to engage with your content consistently, further boosting your visibility and chances of going viral.

Related Read: What is the best time to post on TikTok? 

2. Cross-promote your tiktok videos on other social media platforms

Cross-promoting your TikTok content on other platforms is an effective strategy to broaden your audience and enhance your chances of going viral. By sharing your TikTok videos on platforms like Instagram, Twitter (X), Facebook, and YouTube, you can tap into your existing follower base and attract new viewers who may not yet be on TikTok.

This increases your content’s visibility and drives traffic to your TikTok profile, potentially boosting your follower count and engagement rates. Additionally, cross-promotion can help you leverage the unique features and audiences of each platform; for instance, using Instagram Stories or Reels to showcase TikTok clips can engage users who prefer visual content, while Twitter can help in reaching out to audiences who favor text-based updates with embedded videos.

3. Engage with your audience

Engaging with your audience on TikTok is crucial for building a strong community and increasing your chances of going viral. Responding to comments, participating in trending challenges, and acknowledging user-generated content can create a sense of connection and loyalty among your followers. This interaction not only fosters a positive relationship but also encourages more engagement, as users are more likely to comment, like, and share your videos when they feel valued and heard.

Moreover, TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes content with high engagement rates, so actively engaging with your audience can enhance the visibility of your posts. By making your audience feel involved and appreciated, you boost the likelihood of your content being shared widely, leading to increased reach and viral success.

4. Good editing skills

Improving your editing skills on TikTok can significantly enhance the quality and appeal of your content, thereby increasing your chances of going viral. High-quality editing can make your videos more engaging, visually appealing, and professional, which attracts viewers and keeps them watching until the end.

Utilizing TikTok’s built-in editing tools, such as effects, transitions, and music synchronization, can help you create dynamic and captivating videos. Additionally, learning advanced editing techniques through external apps or software can set your content apart from others. Well-edited videos are more likely to be shared and commented on, which boosts engagement metrics that TikTok’s algorithm uses to determine which content to promote.

By investing time in improving your editing skills, you can produce more polished and compelling videos that resonate with your audience and increase your viral potential.

5. Make sure your videos are of the ideal length

If your video is too short, it may not leave an impact. If it’s too long, viewers can quickly lose interest. To hit the bullseye, remember that the best-performing videos on TikTok are between 9 and 15 seconds long. 

It’s always good to keep it short, though. The TikTok algorithm evaluates the length of your videos to determine their quality.

Not to mention, shorter videos get more views as people are more likely to rewatch them. On the other hand, longer videos may not reach a video completion rate that signals the algorithm that your content is engaging TikTok’s users.

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♬ original sound – ContentStudio

On another note, people have shorter attention spans. So they’re likelier to watch shorter videos instead of skipping them as they typically do with long videos (unless they know it’s from one of their favorite creators or brands). So, even though you can shoot 10-minute-long TikToks, keep your videos short and engaging. 

To deliver short yet powerful stories, edit your videos to tell a longer story quickly.

6. Be quick to make videos of trending sounds

According to a recent TikTok report, 88% of users find audio an essential element of their experience on the app. 

Jumping on the bandwagon of trending music is a great way to increase your chances of making it to many FYPs. And no, you don’t have to dance to the music.

There are many creative ways you can make videos of trending sounds. This way, you can stay in your niche and tap into the popularity that trending sounds offer. 

For instance, you can make a styling video with a trending song in the background. You can also keep the volume of the sound low and add your voiceover to personalize your video, like how Fenty Beauty has done in this video:

One can search for viral sounds by exploring your “For You” feed or search for viral sounds using the search bar, TikTok’s sound library, or Creative Center.

You can also search for trending sounds about your desired niche.

7. Take part in trending TikTok challenges

Challenges on TikTok are an Uber way to catch traction. 

Take, for example; the Cat Dance challenge. This challenge got so many people playing along, and even Instagrammers started participating and posting videos on Instagram!

@abramengkurt will do this dance 10 times – current count: 2♬ cat dance – Kayden

TikTok challenges are of two types:

• Branded Challenges: Businesses start these by partnering with content creators to increase brand awareness and achieve other business goals.
• Community Challenges: TikTok influencers create these challenges based on a viral new TikTok trend. Community challenges are organic and aren’t linked to a specific brand. However, many creators give shoutouts to brands in their skits.

You can easily take part by adding the challenge hashtag to gain visibility.
Related Read: 9 Ways to Track Results from Partners & Influencers

8. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags.

Hashtags, like any other social app, are a great way to increase visibility. 

When people search for a hashtag and find your content under it, it increases your TikTok views. More views mean more engagement resulting in higher chances of going viral.

While TikTok doesn’t restrict the number of hashtags you can use, it’s always best to use just a few. A pro tip here is to combine a trending hashtag with a hashtag showing your niche. 

And even though there’s no limitation on the number of hashtags you can use, the caption count is just 300 characters. This small number includes the space you get for hashtags as well.

The takeaway? Use 2 to 5 hashtags alongside an enticing caption that encourages people to watch your content. Of course, you can also create your hashtags, but it’s best to keep them simple.

Here’s a look at how RedBull has correctly used its caption space and added just the right combination of hashtags:

You can also search for trending hashtags about your desired niche.

Related: How to find TikTok hashtags and go viral

9. Create your audio

Did you know you can create your audio on TikTok and make it viral? The key here is to record clean audio with little background noise. 

If your audio is unique and catchy, people may use it for their videos. And when they do that, your videos will get more TikTok views. Bullseye!

To attract even more engagement, you can also make audios that loop. 

Make sure the sound is looped seamlessly, though. This way, people will watch your videos multiple times as the end of the TikTok video will loop into its start. 

Not only that but a sound that loops will get their videos more views from their followers, which will further boost your engagement. Pretty cool, no?

10. Collaborate with other TikTokers

Apart from participating in challenges, you can bump up your viewership on TikTok by collaborating with other creators in your niche. 

Influencer collabs on TikTok drive mega results, as TikTok itself discloses. For example, where ads without creator partnerships had a 12% higher engagement rate, ads with creator partnerships gathered 83% higher engagement!

Now you might be wondering how to pair up with creators on the app. Here are some tips to get you going:

• To start with, plan your campaign. This includes deciding how many influencers you want to work with, what you want to promote, and setting your budget.
• Next, find influencers in your niche. You can scroll on TikTok to identify which influencers your target audience interacts with and see if any influencers already know about your brand.
• Following this, reach out to the influencers and discuss your expectations, budget, and more.
• Don’t forget to give creative freedom to the influencers you work with and be clear about your goals.

For some inspiration, look at how Kraft Cheese collaborated with Tyler Jerry on TikTok, who took a creative approach to promote their product:

Read-Up on: TikTok advertising

11. Leverage the Duet feature

Using the Stitch and Duet features is a way to collaborate with viral TikTokers indirectly.

Unlike influencer marketing, Stitch and Duet features can be used for free. For example, using Stitch, you can post a video on TikTok with clips from another viral TikTok video. Then there is the Duet feature, where you can record your video alongside another viral video.

Duets are pretty famous on TikTok, with 43% of engaged users having uploaded such a TikTok.

To make a Duet video, you must ‘Share’ the video you want to make a Duet of. 

Then, click on the ‘Duet’ icon to record your video, edit it, and change its layout before posting.

Here’s an example of a Duet that Jason Derulo has posted: 

On the flip side, if you want to enable others to make Duets of your video, you can mention that in the caption. 

Also, don’t forget to make your video watchable by everyone and click on ‘Allow Duet’ before hitting the post.

Here’s a glimpse at Lays nailing how to tell the audience you want them to shoot Duets with your video:

12. Master the art of storytelling

Telling stories is always a great way to attract TikTok views. 

But how can you tell stories on TikTok? It’s not as simple as just narrating a paragraph. A good TikTok storyteller considers several aspects of the video. A good storyteller:

• Makes sure the background music is appropriate.
• Makes the correct facial expressions and projects matching body language.
• It puts forward a problem and gives viewers a solution.
• Records a high-quality video for delivering a memorable experience.

The thing is that each TikTok user watches heaps of videos in a day. This is why your goal should be to be a masterful storyteller so that your videos aren’t just watched till the end, but viewers come back to watch more videos. 

Good storytelling can not just make a single video viral, but it can help you turn viewers into followers, boosting engagement.

13. Be a tad bit controversial

People love nothing more than a juicy piece of gossip everyone starts talking about. Now, being scandalous on TikTok doesn’t mean you need to channel your inner Kim Kardashian.

Just spark a bit of a debate, and you’re going to up your chances of going viral.

But how can you do that? One way is to give opinions on topics trending on TikTok and get people talking. For instance, talk about the latest Marvel movie. A good example here is of MUAs on TikTok. Some spark controversy by changing their natural look and getting people to talk.

14. Remember to be relatable

Whatever your niche, be relatable. Only then will people be able to understand and resonate with your content enough to engage with you. 

Being humorous also helps as entertainment is the top content category on TikTok, as per Statista.

Most importantly, make sure the start of your video is captivating. Because if it’s not, people will not watch the entire clip. And that won’t work in your favor because TikTok values two metrics a lot — the watch rate (how many people watch it) and the video completion rate (for how long people watch it).

15. Use TikTok’s tools

From editing your videos aesthetically to marketing them better, TikTok tools like auto scheduler or bio links tool and others all can be pretty helpful. 

To begin with, explore TikTok’s inbuilt tools. For instance, using TikTok’s very own Video Editor, you can add sounds, effects, voiceover, and filters to your videos. You also have the option to ‘Trim’ your videos and change camera modes using ‘Flip.’

Some external tools you can use include Hashtagify (for finding hashtags that are trending on TikTok), Klear (for influencer marketing on TikTok), and InShot for more video editing features.

As for some help with your marketing, you can use the ContentStudio app. With it, you can schedule your posts for publishing at a time when your audience is the most active on the platform — even if you aren’t yourself. Here’s how you can use ContentStudio to automate your TikTok posts:

• Open your ContentStudio account and go to Settings > Social Account > Connect TikTok Account.

• To schedule your posts, go to Publish > Composer > Social Media Post. Now select your TikTok account to publish or schedule videos for posting later.

This way, you get to create posts in bulk and post them when your audience is most active, getting more engagement.

16. Always add a solid call to action (CTA)

Naturally, after watching your video on TikTok, users are instinctually going to swipe up for the following video. Unfortunately, this means they won’t interact further with your account, which is unsuitable for your business.

For this reason, without a solid call to action, your TikTok video is going to be incomplete. But by adding a perfect CTA, you can help your viewers take the next step you want them to. So, for example, if you want more engagement, ask users to like, comment or share. Similarly, if you want people to make duets, mention that in the caption. Or, if your goal is to promote a product, direct them to a link.

Just one thing to remember: your CTA phrase must be straightforward.

Ready to go viral on TikTok?

To wrap up, TikTok gives everyone a chance to go viral. It doesn’t only look at your follower count but weighs your content’s quality and discoverability. This means you need to work with the TikTok algorithm to go viral on the social app.

So, remember to include hashtags in your captions and a solid call to action. Make sure you interact with other TikTokers using the Duet and Stitch features and tap into TikTok collaborations. 

Moreover, edit your videos by including sounds, voiceovers, filters, and effects. The utilization of video editing software can greatly enhance the quality and appeal of your TikTok content. These softwares provide different video editing features, enabling you to refine the final product and achieve a polished look. By taking advantage of these tools you can greatly increase the chances of your content going viral on the TikTok platform.

Finally, don’t forget to follow the latest trends and challenges — those are your keys to creating audience-engaging TikTok content. 

So, start today by tweaking your TikTok videos to be unique, searchable, and humorous. Then, you can plan and schedule your TikTok posts using ContentStudio so that your videos reach your audience at the right time.

Related: Call to action for social media : 15 best examples

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to make TikTok Video?

TikTok video creation can be challenging at first, but if you follow the steps correctly, it goes smoothly.

• Tap on the “+” icon on the screen
• Make a new video from your TikTok camera, or you can upload it from your gallery
• Add effects, filters, text, and most importantly, a suitable sound
• Start the record button and record your content
• Tap the check button, and boom, you created your first TikTok video
• Add hashtags and Post your video

2. How to go viral on TikTok 2024?

It’s all about trends. Hoping on trends is the best and fastest way to go viral on TikTok. Participating in trending songs, sounds, and challenges & dances will improve your chances of going viral. Unlike many other social media platforms, TikTok’s algorithm does not recommend videos based on the number of followers an account has. So, anyone can go viral on TikTok, even a brand new account with no followers.

3. How many views do go viral on TikTok?

A video reaching one million views will earn you a healthy flow of new followers while boosting your status on the platform. Likewise, you will become a viral TikTok sensation if you receive five million views within three to seven days.

​​4. How long does it take to go viral on TikTok?

Videos on TikTok can go viral within days, weeks, or even months. Thus, you have a great chance of landing a spot on the For You Page if you keep posting consistently.

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