Tips for TikTok Marketing: How to Get More Followers

TikTok is on the rise right now. In fact, it’s the #1 downloaded app in the world.

If you’re interested in promoting your brand on TikTok, you’ll need to adopt some contemporary TikTok marketing strategies.

In this guide, I’ll share a few. Start using them and you’ll get more positive reviews, more likes, and more customers.

It Starts With a Thumbnail

If you scroll through TikTok search results, you’ll see that each result displays a thumbnail.

And when you’re trying to promote a business, that thumbnail needs to give people a reason to tap.

Here’s the challenge: the thumbnails are short and skinny. They don’t give you a lot of digital real estate.

You’ll need to get creative.

I like to give people a reason to click on my TikToks using the thumbnails. I do that by inserting a clickbait headline in the thumbnail itself.

Yep. A graphic headline.

Examples include: “Powerful New Google Ad Tip,” “New Hack to Get More Traffic From Bing,” and “1 Simple Tactic to Get Big Press.”

Folks interested in PR marketing will likely click that last headline. Others interested in SEM for that other search engine will go for the Bing hack.

By the way: to add this kind of headline, make sure you click the option to add a cover before you post the video.

Quick Edits

Next up: edit your videos to make them informative to your target audience.

Successful videos use short scenes packed with info. Sure, those kinds of edits might have an adverse impact on people’s attention spans. But you’ll keep their attention for the duration of the video.

Good TikToks also include lots of text so that people who watch the video without audio can follow what’s going on. Remember: some viewers need to watch in silence.

Tell a Story

Don’t forget about story-telling. Some of the best marketing efforts tell stories.

If you can get a story out about your brand in a short-form video, you’ve won TikTok. Especially if it’s an interesting story.

You can check out @tipsfromtheerguy, a TikTok user, to see an example of how to attract an audience with story-telling. Start with the “Full Moon” video.

You’ll see that the user earns lots of likes and engagements by simply talking about what life is like in the ER when there’s a full moon.

Spoiler alert: ERs tend to get busier during those times of the month. 

But also pay attention to how the user presents the story. He tells it like a nightly news anchor covering the latest headlines.

Keep in mind: the way that you tell the story can make all the difference in the world. Put some thought into it.

Reel ‘Em in From the Get-Go

If you’d like to see a great example of TikTok marketing, check out @lawbymike‘s content. He bills himself as the “#1 Lawyer on Social Media.”

Clearly, he knows the law well enough to know that he can get away with that kind of puffing.

Anyway, one of his videos starts off like this: “This YouTuber just got her whole channel demonetized for some messed-up stuff.”

That’s it. One sentence and you want to watch the rest of the video to find out what kind of “messed up stuff” got her demonetized.

And further, you’d probably also want to know if she has legal recourse against YouTube for ending her income stream.

Answer Questions

Think about this: it’s probably the case that at least some of your content marketing strategy involves answering questions posed by people in your target market. So why not do the same thing with your TikTok strategy?

You can. And you should.

Take a look at @therealrealbradlea for an example of how to do that.

He’s got an interesting efficiency strategy as well. He’ll take 20-30 clips from an interview and turn them into individual TIkToks.

Just one interview and he’s got content for a month. What’s not to love about that?

Fast Text

Using fast text is a great hack to get people to watch your videos again and again.

Here’s how it works: use your thumbnail to tease some great content. Then provide the content in the form of fast text within the TikTok itself.

If you’re unsure what I mean by “fast text,” it’s the text that appears on the screen quickly. It’s often presented in the form of listicles.

Since viewers want the info but they can’t necessarily read as fast as the video presents the text, they’ll likely watch the TikTok repeatedly.

That gives you more views.

Take a look at @themrspedersen for an example of a TikTok user who uses fast text. She’s got a million followers so she’s probably doing something right.

Wrapping It Up

There you have it. A few great ways to boost your TikTok marketing strategy.

If you’re on TikTok and would like to start reaching more people, why not identify a few strategies that work best for your brand? 

Then, get busy.