Maybe you’re an aspiring influencer or in charge of growing your brand’s TikTok presence to increase sales.
Either way, we’ve created THE guide for how to get more followers on TikTok.
You can thank us later when you’ve done the work to make your account go viral, and you’re raking in cash. For now, let’s get to it! ⬇️
Why might you want more TikTok followers?
You might think that TikTok is all about views, but followers prove that people are interested in you, which makes a difference on TikTok.
If you’re an influencer and wondering how many followers on TikTok you need to get paid, good news. With the rise of micro-influencers, brands realize that it’s less about the number of followers you have and more about how engaged your followers are. They’ll still look for you to have at least 1,000-5,000 followers, but anything above 5,000 is gold.
Here are some of the benefits you’ll see when you figure out how to get more followers on TikTok:
Increased awareness and brand engagement
The more TikTok followers you have, the more brand awareness, reach, and engagement you’ll have. What that means varies depending on the type of account you’re running.
For influencers: When more people are interested in what you have to say and the products you promote, you can negotiate better-paid deals.
For brands, TikTok will allow you to reach new customers organically. You can also use TikTok to provide a better customer experience by sharing helpful tips or connecting with your existing customers and turning them into a community. Which brings us to the next benefit…
Community building
If you’re building a legitimate following around your values and brand, you’re also taking the first steps toward creating a community. Both influencers AND brands can do this–after all, influencers are building their personal brands.
Building a strong community should be one of your top priorities. Why?
Because if you’re an influencer, your community is the factor you can leverage when striking deals with brands.
If you’re a business, building a loyal following will increase the lifetime value of your sales–aka, you’ll have more returning customers.
Of course, getting followers on TikTok is only half the game of building a community—but they’re an important piece. You need to have followers before you can turn them into your tribe.
Monetization opportunities
This one pretty much applies to creators–while you might expect to see more sales if you grow your brand’s TikTok following, getting followers on TikTok opens many doors for monetization if you’re a creator. You might be able to unlock access to the TikTok Creator Fund or simply land more brand partnerships because your numbers are great.
Either way, more followers equals more opportunities for moolah if you're an influencer.
Opportunities for UGC
You might not have thought of this one, but it’s an important one for brands:
When you have more followers (especially if you can turn that following into a community), you have more opportunities to get UGC from your current customer base. The UGC you get from customers is free, and you can use it to fuel more growth. (Like Adobe did by using this video)
You can even encourage influencers to produce UGC for you via challenges, contests, and promotions. This can be a great way to find influencers who love your brand!
4 ways to get followers on TikTok
If you’re wondering how to get a lot of followers on TikTok, well–you’ve come to the right place.
Just keep in mind that real, genuine growth doesn’t happen overnight. Be prepared to repeatedly do the right things for your brand or influencer account, knowing that if you do, you will find the followers you’re looking for.
Some of these ideas work better for brands than influencers–and vice versa. We’ll note which ones are which! 😉
Influencer marketing
Who’s it for? Brands (mostly).
If you’re a brand, you’ll likely see more new followers than sales after you partner with an influencer because people might be *intrigued* by your products but not yet ready to make a purchase.
Remember: it’s easy and free for people to follow your brand’s TikTok account. After they do, it’s your job to convince them to buy your products.
If you’re an influencer, you’re probably not as keen to partner with other influencers–aka, the competition. But, if you collaborate with some amazing people who are in niches related to yours (e.g., if you’re a fashion + beauty influencer but you partner with someone who’s all about skincare), it can be a great opportunity for BOTH of you to grow your following. It may not always be the best idea, but it’s a great way to mix it up sometimes!
TikTok challenges
Who’s it for? Brands and influencers.
There are so many fun (and hilarious) challenges on TikTok. If you’re a brand–why not start your own with something related to your products? If you’re an influencer, why not join some challenges?
TikTok has two main varieties of challenges: community challenges, which are created by people on TikTok just for fun, and brand challenges, which are started by brands hoping to drive awareness about their products.
A great example of a branded challenge is the #targetchallenge, where couples test how well they know each other by buying gifts for each other at Target. Here’s an example: TikTok
And a community challenge that’s had everyone counting recently is the #12345678 challenge. Based on a viral TikTok voice warm-up, creators of all kinds are putting their spin on it. Here’s a fun example (notice that it got WAY more views than their other recent videos).
Advertising
Who’s it for? Brands and influencers.
Like other social media platforms, TikTok encourages you to run ads to drive awareness, engagement, and followers to your profile. This is the best option if you want to know how to get followers on TikTok fast. And you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to see results.
Start with something small–up to $100 monthly–and take it from there. The great thing about running ads is that the followers you get from ads will be invested in your account and what you’re about.
The downside, of course, is that advertising takes money. And you may not have a lot–whether you’re working for yourself or trying to get approval to spend money for your brand. Think of it as an investment–whatever you can put toward advertising your account WILL pay dividends in the long run. You’ll see more engagement and awareness, for sure. And eventually, you’ll get more brand deals as an influencer or sales as a brand.
Of course, running ads won’t just get you followers on TikTok. It’ll also help you learn to run ads, which is a super helpful skill. If you’re promoting a brand, that’s a skill you can use all the time. And, if you’re an influencer, learning the ins and outs of targeting, metrics, and setting up ads can help you understand your audience on a deeper level–which will allow you to grow your account faster and negotiate better deals.
Jump on ongoing trends
Who’s it for? Brands and influencers.
Jumping on trends is a GREAT way to increase engagement. As we already discussed with TikTok challenges, engaging with current TikTok trends can boost you in the algorithm.
Trends transcend niches–if it suddenly seems everyone is talking about something or making a specific kind of video, that’s probably a trend. This isn’t limited to events–it can be anything from a sound to a video format to a challenge.
The downside is that you need to know what trends are up-to-date to make the most of them. But good news! Tons of accounts help you save time by creating trend alerts. Here are a few you can check out:
Another thing you can do is engage with larger cultural events and use the relevant hashtags. For example, posting about the Paris Olympics isn’t just for the athletes–TikTokers worldwide share their favorite parts, reactions, and clips of their favorite players. For example, check out this video of someone reacting to Marchand’s gold medal swim.
Summing it up: How to get followers on TikTok
Here’s the simplest way to put it: figuring out how to get followers on TikTok takes some time and resources. And if your only goal is to grow your following, you’re selling yourself short. What you want to do–whether you’re an influencer or running a brand account–is to grow a community.
A community is created, not bought. It takes time and effort to connect with your audience in a personal way. If you can do that, then the followers you gain will prompt even more people to follow you.
So yes, jump on trends, join or start challenges, run ads, and collaborate with influencers. But make sure every piece of content you create along the way speaks to your audience. Do things that will put you in front of followers who will LOVE everything about you and share your content with others. That’s how to get followers on TikTok. 😊
Table of content
Looking for influencers?
