With the popularity of the viral video app skyrocketing, you may be wondering how to get more followers on TikTok.
The creative ways to gain followers and build a TikTok community are endless, from leveling up your posting schedule to taking part in challenges and optimizing your hashtags.
We’re sharing our top 12 strategies to get more followers on TikTok without relying on shady tactics.
There are over 1.590 billion monthly active TikTok users worldwide in 2025, so it’s safe to say there are enough people out there to grow your following on the platform.
But getting more followers on TikTok isn’t just a case of setting up a profile.
TikTok is centered around the For You Page (FYP), TikTok’s equivalent of the Explore Page on Instagram.
Instead of users scrolling through a news feed, TikTok curates a For You Page (an endless stream of personalized content for each user).
The FYP is filled with recommendations based on how users interact with other videos on TikTok.
Think of the For You Page as a mix of already viral content and what TikTok thinks you’ll like based on your previous app activity. So with no two For You Pages the same, there’s the opportunity for every brand to get in front of the right audience.
That means that TikTok has a fairly level playing field when it comes to achieving viral status on the app. Unlike Instagram or YouTube, even accounts with zero followers can get millions of views on a new video. Content really is king on TikTok.
For example, Content Marketer Taylor Loren had over 3M views on her TikTok candle tutorial video. At the time of posting, she had less than 50 followers on the app and grew to 20K followers in just 4 months.
With this in mind, you really need to commit to a TikTok strategy and be brave enough to experiment with this new form of video to reap the rewards.
Before we get to tactics, there are a few things brands and businesses should know about TikTok to help define the best strategy for growing your TikTok community.
What You Need to Know About TikTok
#1: TikTok Has Majority Gen Z Users (But That’s Changing!)
For many, the first thing that comes to mind when we say “TikTok” is lip-syncing teenagers and dance challenges. But don’t be fooled!
Brands like The Washington Post, Aerie, and Gucci have all joined the ranks of TikTok and have gained millions of followers, and not only from lip-syncing and dancing!
While much of TikTok's audience is Gen Zers, that’s not to say their audience isn’t loyal.
For Gen Zs, building brand awareness and affinity where they are most active is important, especially since they are the next generation of consumers and advocates. If you can resonate with this demographic now on a platform that they enjoy using, you can look forward to them being loyal followers for years to come.
But the TikTok audience is changing and is continuing to grow in popularity. So even if your target audience isn’t Gen Z, it’s worth keeping in mind that TikTok is showing no sign of slowing down.
So now’s the time to build up your profile so you’re ready for when everyone (and we mean everyone!) is on TikTok!
#2: More Followers Doesn’t Equal More Sales
For brands on social media, growing your following usually comes with the promise of better sales opportunities or clicks through to your website.
But on TikTok, your goal should be to have a great brand affinity and to provide a space where your followers enjoy engaging with your content. It is a great way to build up a community that loves and supports your brand.
Take Fenty Beauty, for example. Fenty was one of the first brands on the app to create their own “Creator House”: The Fenty Beauty House.
Here, influencers and content creators came together to share TikTok videos about their life in the house, their beauty hacks, and of course, showcase the Fenty beauty line.
So, rather than using TikTok to make sales, Fenty founder Rihanna used it to support the creators who were already loyal fans of the brand and built a TikTok community around them.
Luckily, if social commerce is important, you can use a link in bio tool to drive your engaged followers from TikTok to your products.
Whether you’re just starting out in the world of TikTok or you’re looking to fire up your TikTok game and build a new strategy, we have you covered with our 12 top tips to grow your following.
Tip #1: Identify Your Target Audience
As we mentioned, the more TikTok users who view your videos, the more likely you’ll end up on the For You page, ultimately gaining you more followers.
There is a wide range of content (and users) on TikTok, meaning there really is room for everyone! Whether you’re a gamer and love Animal Crossing or you’re a fan of satisfying soap-cutting videos, there are videos for you.
But, it’s important to understand you can’t cater (or reach) everyone, which is why it’s a good idea to hone in on one clear and defined target audience. While TikTok is different from other platforms, it’s still crucial to understand who you’re making videos for.
Gen Zers do make up a large population of the TikTok audience (and subsequently trends), but don’t let that put you off!
Think about what type of content your audience likes and dislikes. If you’re just starting out, it doesn’t hurt to ask your followers on Instagram Stories. Maybe share a question or poll sticker, asking them what kind of TikTok content they engage in and what they’d like to see from you. You may be surprised by what they say!
Also, look at your competition (if any!) and see what they are doing in the space.
Take Jera Foster-Fell, with the handle Jera.bean on TikTok, for example.
She’s a social media marketer who uses TikTok to educate her followers. She mainly offers content tips, pose tricks, and TikTok hacks (with some fun trends and dances thrown in the mix).
She found a niche audience of new TikTok users, marketing professionals, and people who want to up their content game! And so far it’s working for her — she has over 300K followers (and counting!).
TIP: Targeting Gen Z? Here's What Marketers Need to Know About Gen Z's in 2025
Tip #2: Hit TikTok Trends at The Right Time
TikTok created its own genre of video content by allowing users to combine sound clips and music with their own original video content, and viral trends pop up overnight!
That’s why you’ll often see multiple variations of the same video, just with different takes on the song or concept.
For example, Kate McKinnon and Elizabeth Warren did the ‘Flip the Switch’ challenge on Saturday Night Live — a trend that’s been alive for a while but hadn’t picked up full-viral status.
This video is SNL’s most successful TikTok video to date – another proof point for why it is so important for your brand to have your finger on the pulse of current TikTok trends.
Want to find the original sound that kicked off the trend? Just click on the song as it plays on the clip. It shows content using that sound-byte, including which profile used it first.
If you want to hop on a trend and you’ve got something creative and fun to offer to stand out from the crowd, you’ll definitely see more TikTok followers on your profile.
PS. Every other week, we provide The Top TikTok Trends heating up on the feed, what they are, and how you can incorporate them into your strategy
Tip #3: Create Your Own Trend or Challenge
If the current trends don’t seem to fit your brand’s messaging (we get it, a lot of them feel like an inside joke), another way to grow your following is to create your own trend or dance.
Famous performers like Jennifer Lopez are using TikTok to create “challenges” where fans recreate a dance and upload it to the platform.
But brands are getting in on the action, too! Chipotle is a good example of getting more followers by creating its own challenges that are easily accessible to everyone, such as their #ChipotleLidFlip challenge and their #GuacDance challenge, which proves that a fun challenge could be one of the best tactics to grow your following.
TIP: Follow in Chipotle’s steps and make a challenge that’s easy enough to execute so it’s fully inclusive and not totally out of reach.
Tip #4: Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags act the same way on TikTok as they do on other platforms, like hashtags on Instagram, for discoverability.
There’s no clear-cut guide to which hashtags are the most effective on this platform, but you can use a combination of content-specific hashtags and general hashtags related to the platform, so your content is discoverable to help you get more TikTok followers.
For example, if your TikTok is a fun video of your café staff at work, you could use general hashtags like #barista #coffee along with specific hashtags like #ForYou or #fyp to try to get a coveted spot on the For You page.
Remember that these larger, more general hashtags can be saturated, making your content even harder to find. So it’s worth considering adding more unique and niche hashtags like #CoffeeCornerVancouver.
Just like Instagram, using a hashtag suggestions tool can go a long way to getting more eyes on your posts. Ready to get more eyeballs on your TikTok videos? Read How to Find the Best TikTok Hashtags For Your Videos.
Tip #5: Post Original Content Often and Don’t be Afraid to Get Creative!
Getting creative with TikTok’s editing features and creating your own content on a regular basis, will definitely increase your chances of getting more TikTok followers.
Like most social platforms, the TikTok algorithm rewards posts that have a lot of engagement and interaction, so the more you post, the better your chances will be of getting seen by the platform’s huge audience.
The editing features within TikTok make it easy to create entertaining content, but what you post and how often will be determined with experimentation.
But, don’t be disheartened if some videos get thousands of likes overnight, while others flop and barely get any engagement. That’s quite normal for TikTok.
Once you find a format that works for your brand, try to replicate or find a new iteration that will work again and again!
For example, fashion influencer Alexandria Pereira regularly uses her “7 days, 7 ways” format to show off outfits on her TikTok, which is a great way to repurpose content and serve your audience across social channels!
No one is able to truly crack the TikTok code to success yet, but being original and consistent definitely pays off!
Tip #6: Post at Peak Times
Getting more followers on TikTok is easier once you know when your audience is most active.
And thanks to TikTok Analytics, you can find out the specific days and hours your audience is most active.
Note: TikTok displays all analytics in UTC time. That means you’ll have to do a timezone conversion to find out when your audience is most active in the location that they’re in.
Apart from knowing when your audience is most active, you also need to be a little brave with experimentation and tracking the results.
Each TikTok account will be different, so our trick and suggestion is to use a TikTok management tool to determine your best times to post based on when your followers on online and most engaged. Start a trial today.
Tip #7: Connect to Your Other Social Media Channels to Cross-promote
TikTok makes it super easy to download videos from any profile (including your own) and repost them to other social media channels.
If your brand already has a solid following on another platform, chances are, you’ll be able to get more TikTok followers who migrate over... but only if you tell them.
Steak-umm is a perfect example of this. The brand reposts its TikTok videos to its Twitter profile, which has over 157,000 followers. Now, their TikTok account has nearly 82,000 followers:
Curious to know which platform is easiest to go viral? We did the test and compared virality on Instagram Reels vs TikTok Videos vs YouTube Shorts.
Plus, using an all-in-one social media management platform can help you easily plan, repurpose, and schedule content across multiple platforms. Discover why so many users are streamlining their social workflow with Later. Try it for yourself today!
Tip #8: Collaborate with Content Creators
It’s no surprise that individual personalities and profiles are the most popular on TikTok, and that’s why they have the most followers.
And many influencers from other platforms (particularly YouTube and Instagram) have been successful in migrating their huge followings to TikTok since their followers are already active and tuned into their content.
Just like on Instagram, brands can really gain a whole host of benefits by partnering with an influencer or content creator.
Take, for example, Aerie. As a relatively new brand to the TikTok scene, they wanted to give their following a boost. So the retail brand partnered with TikTok’s biggest star, Charli D’Amelio, to create sponsored content that drove new eyes to their brand page.
They created 3 videos and already have a following of over 17 K.
Partnering with content creators can take effort to set up. You'll want to find the right influencer to represent your brand and put aside a budget for the campaign.
Tip #9: Repost TikTok as UGC
People love to see their content reposted on social media profiles they love, so capitalizing on user-generated content (UGC) can help you get more TikTok followers.
It’s easy to download and repost content directly from TikTok; the TikTok logo and content creator’s handle are automatically added to each video download, so there are never any issues about giving credit.
If you don’t have time to create your own content, reposting UGC can help make your TikTok profile feel “full” and really boost your posting frequency!
If users know there’s a chance they could be featured on an account other than their own, they’re usually excited to create content and tag the brand to have a shot at thousands of TikTok users seeing their post.
NARS Cosmetics has begun reposting UGC TikTok content that features its products, and it seriously works for their feed.
If you’re a brand with a physical product, reposting UGC can be a great way to get more followers!
Tip #10: Create a Clever CTA
It’s one thing for users to enjoy your content, but that may not be enough to get more TikTok followers.
Profiles who use a call-to-action at the end of their videos increase their chances of boosting their following because sometimes a little nudge in the right direction works!
The catch? You have to make your CTA as exciting, clever, and enticing as the content you’re creating. This can come in the form of simple text additions on your video (“Follow us for more videos like these!”), or you can even host a giveaway, like the one EOS did. They even encouraged followers to tag a friend, which helps build exposure exponentially.
Tip #11: Engage with TikTok Content You Like
It’s easy to forget that TikTok is a social media platform — anyone who has lost a couple of hours scrolling through their feed will know that it’s highly addictive, but not exactly built for conversations like Facebook or Instagram.
So the only real way to engage is through likes and comments on other videos. One strategy to grow your following is to simply get on TikTok and start engaging with content that complements your brand.
Follow influencers that would be great partners for your brand and engage in their videos, or find other brands in your industry that you’d like to support.
You may find that you’ll get more followers from simply engaging more because your comments are being seen by other users on other videos, which could ultimately lead them to watch your videos and engage with your profile!
Tip #12: Explore TikTok’s Paid Options
TikTok Ads are a great way to be seen by the right audiences, as the competition is still relatively low!
With TikTok Ads, you can target specific demographics and locations to make sure your content reaches the most relevant audiences, which could mean plenty of conversions into new followers.
These are your TikTok Ads options:
In-feed ads: TikTok content that shows up in a user’s feed, between organic posts
TopView: Presents the profile when the app opens, reaching a wider audience as it’s one of the first things they see
Brand Takeover: Similar to TopView, these are full-screen ads that are displayed when the user first opens TikTok
Brand Hashtag Challenges: A custom hashtag challenge is placed on the Discovery page, providing the opportunity for maximum reach and engagement
TikTok Ad options are still growing, and we’re expecting to see a lot more options in the future on how brands can use paid-for opportunities to grow their brand and following. But for now, we can just watch this space!
And that’s it — 12 tips to getting more TikTok followers!
Ultimately, the best way to grow your following will come down to your own creativity, so don’t hold back and start experimenting with the videos you’ve always wanted to try.
Our final tip? Using a TikTok management tool allows you to save time, streamline your process, and get detailed analytics to up your TikTok game and grow your following. Start your free 14-day trial with Later and watch your follower count soar!
