What type of content do you primarily create?
TikTok is one of the biggest social media platforms of our time. The average TikTok user spends almost an hour per day on the social network, making it a superb place to promote your business or become a full-time creator.
The problem is: TikTok is overrun with content. People have an infinite amount of videos they can watch on their “for you” page. If your video doesn’t pop up and engage them, you’ll have a hard time turning TikTok into a moneymaker.
The secret to TikTok marketing success lies within knowing how to manipulate the algorithm and get more views. From editing TikTok videos to cross-promoting content outside the platform, this guide shares 11 smart hacks to increase your TikTok view count.
What is a TikTok view?
TikTok counts a view when someone watches your video. Unlike other social media platforms, users don’t have to watch for a set amount of time before it’s counted as a view. On TikTok, you’ll get one view as soon as your video begins to play. If someone watches it again, you’d get two views from the same person.
How much does TikTok pay per view?
TikTok has a Creator Fund that pays creators when they post high-quality videos on the platform. Although its official documentation doesn’t give a set price, creators have said they earn between $0.02 and $0.04 per 1,000 views. If your video goes viral and you end up amassing 1 million views, that’d result in a payout of around $20 to $40.
To qualify for the TikTok Creator Fund, you’ll need to meet these requirements:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have at least 10,000 followers on your TikTok account
- Have at least 100,000 views in the past 30 days
- Be based in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, or Italy
Although these rates are low, creators with more views can lean into other TikTok monetization techniques like affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and even selling their own merch. All of these revenue streams can quickly add up and help you become a full-time creator.
11 tips and tricks to get more views on TikTok
- Keep videos short
- Use hashtags in your videos
- Follow viral TikTok trends
- Use trending sound effects
- Create a multi-part series
- Team up with TikTok influencers
- Stitch or duet viral videos
- Cross-promote on other social networks
- Add humor to your videos
- Recreate your own popular videos
- Add captions and subtitles
1. Keep videos short
TikTok exploded in popularity because it was the first social network to go all in on short-form content. At the time, Instagram and Facebook were both in their infancy and didn’t have algorithms that heavily weighted short videos. But to get more views as a TikTok creator, you need to lean into short-form content. It’s why the platform has a minimum video length of just three seconds.
Shorter videos help capture people’s attention while also increasing your view count quickly. There’s a good chance of people watching the entire video if it’s short, which bumps up your completion rate (a key ranking factor in TikTok’s algorithm that helps you reach even more people).
Plus, if the video loops back to the beginning after those 10 seconds are up, it’ll count as two video views—even if they come from the same person.
Even if you have a perfect take, you should still use a TikTok video editor to cut your footage down. Remove long silences, pauses, and false starts. These things alone can easily shave 10 seconds off any video.
📹 Start producing: How to edit TikTok videos: 6 easy tips for success
2. Use hashtags in your video description
TikTok is more than a video-sharing site. It’s quickly becoming a search engine—40% of Gen Z audiences search TikTok for answers over a more traditional search engine like Google or Instagram.
TikTok hashtags help new people discover your content. These can be:
- Industry or topic-specific hashtags, like #beauty or #ferrari
- Video-specific hashtags, like #newborntips or #skincareroutine
- Brand-specific hashtags if you’re a well-known or popular brand
- Trending hashtags which you can find using the TikTok Trend Discovery tool
One particular hashtag to pay attention to is #FYP which stands for “for you page”—the main discovery feature and the screen that appears when people open the TikTok app. Videos with this hashtag have amassed over 553 billion views collectively.
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3. Follow viral TikTok trends
TikTok is a platform that thrives on trends. Take one look at your “for you” page and you’ll see a collection of videos that are popular right now. Most lean into trending or newsworthy topics—hence why 32% of TikTok users rely on the platform to stay up-to-date with news and current events.
TikTok’s Trend Discovery is a powerful tool to find trending topics. Click the “TikTok videos” tab and see a list of the most popular videos. Try to replicate what you see for your own product, niche, or industry.
“Stay updated with TikTok trends, challenges, and viral content within your niche,” advises Joe Bowab, founder and CEO of Lobster Anywhere. “As for my niche, many food trends are happening globally. So, I keep a close eye on what is trending and what food lovers want to see. Timely participation can significantly boost visibility.”
4. Use trending sound effects
Some of the most recognizable sound bites from the last few years originated on TikTok. Users can turn their audio into a TikTok sound for other creators to use.
Sound effects also have their own results page. Anyone can click a sound and see a library of other creators’ videos that use that sound. If you choose a popular sound, the chances of someone viewing this page are higher—immediately giving you a wider pool of people who could choose to watch your TikTok video.
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5. Create a multi-part series
The single best way to get more TikTok views is to get people coming back to your profile to watch more TikTok content. A multi-part series is the perfect type of content to do this.
With a series of videos, people need to watch several videos to get the full context. If you were to break a video into three smaller ones, for example, you’d triple the views (assuming everyone watches each video).
You can even get people who visit your TikTok profile for the first time to interact with these multi-part series. Add each video to a TikTok playlist so people can watch the series in the right sequence and watch multiple related videos at once, therefore increasing the number of views your content amasses.
🗓 Stay organized: The best social media management tools
6. Team up with a TikTok influencer
TikTok paved the way for content creators to make money from social media. Instead of being on the receiving end of a sponsorship deal, contact popular influencers in your niche and team up with them to increase your TikTok views.
Joe Bowab put this into practice when creating a TikTok strategy for his ecommerce brand Lobster Anywhere. He collaborated with Chuck's Flavor Train, a creator with over 2.5 million TikTok followers, to produce this video that Chuck posted to his own TikTok account.
“I actively research the current influencers that are getting popular with their food videos,” Joe says. “Collaborating with them is like building a bridge towards a wide range of target audiences who could be interested in your page too. This increased my online presence and helped to engage with more people worldwide.”
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Influencers don’t have to have millions of followers to make it a worthwhile collaboration. Creators with just 10,000 loyal followers might hang on every word their favorite influencer says. Should you create a post with them, have them tag you in their own post, or reply to their comments in a video, you could piggyback on their audience and double the amount of views you typically get.
7. Stitch or duet viral videos
Has your creative well run dry? Don’t put pressure on yourself to brainstorm TikTok video ideas from scratch. The platform has its own built-in tool to repurpose content already on the platform—even if you aren’t the original creator. It’s a great way to produce new videos with low effort.
Head to the TikTok discover page to find popular videos with a high engagement rate. If you can put your own spin on the content or respond to the creator, use one of these features to repurpose it:
- Stitch: This places the original clip at the front of your TikTok video. It’s the better option if the original video has a strong hook, or you want to continue the creator’s train of thought and add your two cents.
- Duet: This option shows the original video and your content side-by-side. It’s most often used to react to something since viewers can see both clips simultaneously.
Not only can these features help you piggyback on content that’s already popular, but they can help you produce videos more quickly. The more videos you have, the more chances you have of going viral on TikTok.
8. Cross-promote on other social media channels
You don’t have to limit your potential audience to TikTok. If you have a big audience on another social network, cross-promote your video to drive people back to your profile and get more TikTok views—like reposting the first few seconds of a TikTok video to Instagram Stories or Reels. Once people are hooked by the first few seconds, they can click a link to watch the full video on TikTok.
If you’re creating TikTok content at scale, repurposing videos can be a lengthy and time-consuming task. Descript’s Find Good Clips feature uses artificial intelligence to scan your video and pull out the most interesting sections. Just pull these out and use them as teasers to drive traffic back to TikTok.
9. Add humor to your videos
There’s a reason why “Try not to laugh” challenges are amongst the most viral videos you’ll find on social media. Humor is a powerful tool—one you can use to hook people and convince them to keep watching your TikTok videos.
Jess Quinlan, content creator and social media manager for Toast Weddings, says: “My best piece of advice for a creator who wants to increase views and go viral is to just try your best to create content that makes people smile.
“People are constantly scrolling through socials just desperate for a boost of serotonin, and all it takes is a short funny piece of content to get them to crack a smile and tap the like button,” Jes says. “All of the media surrounding us these days can be really heavy, so I think a little chuckle can go a long way.”
📹 Keep learning: Essentials for an effective social media marketing plan
10. Recreate your own popular videos
TikTok analytics is home to a wealth of information about your previous videos. Take some time to comb through your catalog and pick out qualities that your top-performing TikTok videos share.
“While consistency is vital, prioritize quality content. Virality often happens unexpectedly. Focus on creating great content. Refine your strategy based on audience feedback.” —Joe Bowab, founder and CEO of Lobster Anywhere
Let’s put that into practice and say you have 50 TikTok videos. Those with the most views all have a voiceover. In that case, it’d make sense to add voiceovers to the majority of new videos. They’re proven to engage your target audience, so by replicating them, you’re creating content your audience likes.
11. Add captions and subtitles
TikTok captions are automatic text that appear beneath your video to translate the words being said into words on a screen. They can be used to increase views because studies have shown that video captions help people remember content. And if a TikTok user remembers your content, there’s a better chance of them coming back for more.
Subtitles are similar, but rather than being auto-generated by the app, they’re baked into the video itself. Subtitles also make your videos more accessible. When you add subtitles to TikTok videos using Descript, people who open the app with their sound off, speak a different language, or are hard of hearing can engage with your content.
Create the best TikTok videos with Descript
Spending too much time creating your own video content? With Descript’s TikTok video editor, you could turn rough footage into polished TikTok content in minutes.
Descript offers professional features to help you create world-class content, including:
- Studio Sound to remove background noise
- Captions and subtitles from an auto-generated transcript
- Filler Word Removal to banish awkward stutters and phrases
- Built-in library of stock images, videos, and background music
- Transition templates to keep visual content interesting
Descript is the TikTok video editor of choice for some of the world’s top creators. Take a free tour today to see firsthand how you can create viral videos in minutes.
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