How to Viral Video on TikTok in 2022

Updated on January 13th, 2023

Many people on TikTok have become famous in a very short time and you can also make your or your brand’s account go viral by incorporating this platform into your TikTok marketing strategy.

From pop stars and police officers to teachers and healthcare workers, TikTok’s platform offers users everything from helpful life hacks to the latest trending memes.

So you are wondering how to go viral on TikTok, huh? Well, I don’t blame you!

It’s the social media platform that everyone can’t stop talking about, and the app has experienced tremendous growth since the quarantine started.

It’s no longer a place where pre-teens do silly dances and lip-sync, but a community where people of all ages share a variety of content on anything from silly dog videos to the life of an astronaut.

Any type of content can be successful on the platform, which is part of what makes it so fun.

Here are the 10 best tips to go viral on TikTok

The first thing you need to know is that in its current state, TikTok can give each video a chance by showing a small audience on your Page (FYP).

Yes, even when you have 0 followers. If your video does well with that small group, TikTok will continue to push it to more people who they think will like it.

Because of this, you can usually tell within the first hour or two if you’ve got a viral video on your hands.

1. Work With the TikTok Algorithm

If you’re only focusing on likes, shares and follows, you’re looking at the wrong data. This is where understanding the TikTok algorithm is crucial for you to appear on the most coveted page (FYP).

The critical data you should consider is your average viewing time. The length of your video and the average watch time on that video determine how well the TikTok algorithm will promote your video.

Let’s say people stay on your video for 3 seconds, the algorithm will show your video to a few people. If they last 5 seconds, they will be offered to more people.

Your average watch time compared to the length of your video determines how many users your video will be shown to. The higher your average watch time, the better chance your video has to go viral on TikTok!

2. Structure A Video For Virality

Now that you know how the TikTok algorithm works, you might be wondering how you can increase your average watch time. This all depends on how you structure your video.

You need to tell a convincing story to keep your audience engaged until the end. Before you create, ask yourself why your audience will stick around or watch this video.

Here are some strategies that you can use.

A. Have A Strong Hook

Engage your audience from the get-go. The attention span of TikTok users is between 1 – 4 seconds.

You only have so much time to capture the audience’s attention. You can do this by presenting a problem and then offering a solution.

For example, check out this video by @pakistananalysis that shows the easiest way to remove a security tag.

Although it doesn’t suggest an exact solution, it entices the user to see the inevitable result, increasing the average viewing time.

Here are 101 ways to go viral on TikTok. The video received about 8.5 million views and 1.9 million likes.

The music or sounds you use can help get your videos discovered by a wider audience. Spending some time on FYP can help you identify what is trending.

Do some research to see what music is being used by popular creators and then use the trending audio tracks for your trends.

To quickly find trending audio or music, you can go to the Discourse page, select the ‘Sounds’ option and TikTok will show you the list of trending audio.

C. Break Videos into Different Steps

If your topic selection is very broad, making a long video may not be the solution because the longer your videos, the less likely you are to hit the desired completion rate that will make your video go viral.

Instead, you can break it down into a series. The possibilities for creating a series are endless and you can create one specifically for your location.

D. Use Strong CTAs

You can create a great video with best practices but what do you want your viewers to do after watching your video? This is where having a strong CTA comes in handy.

Ask your audience to share your video or hit the + sign to follow you where to go once they’ve watched your content.

Identifying and using a trending sound as your CTA, something as simple as a bell ringing can register in the user’s memory. Every time they hear that sound, it can redirect them to you!

You can also encourage engagement in the form of a shoutout or follow back, or say something like “Hit the + sign for part 2.” The possibilities are endless.

E. Use Text in Video

Starting your video with a text overlay will entice users to spend more time reading your TikTok rather than just scrolling.

It also lets viewers know what to expect. It can be the beginning of a story, a direct call to your audience or can be used as a hook.

3. Get ahead of trends fast

If you’ve ever wondered how to go viral on TikTok, a great tip is to first look for trends. By doing this, you’ll stay ahead of the trend.

Here’s a strategy for this: Visit the TikTok discovery pages first. After looking at the trending videos circulating your niche, it’s time to put your unique twist and try to copy the trend.

Also, some trends are automatic, while others are seasonal. It’s best to look for trends that may be useful in your skill or niche and be quick to take advantage of them before they disappear.

4. Keep Video as Short as Possible

Unless you’re telling a long story that requires an entire minute of video, I’d recommend keeping your clips short and to the point.

TikTok looks at the average length of watch time compared to the length of the video as a way to check quality.

Your audience is more likely to watch 8 seconds of a 10-second video than 48 seconds of a minute-long video.

5. Post the Video at the right time

What does it mean to post at the right time? Well, the best time to post on TikTok depends on when your audience is most active on the platform.

As you probably already know, getting engaged on your videos within the first hours of posting is crucial to signal to TikTok that your audience is liking your video.

And to get that engagement, you need to post them when your audience is actively scrolling through their feeds and consuming content.

A TikTok Pro account gives you access to reports that tell you when your audience is most engaged. You can find this under the ‘Follower Activity’ report in the Followers tab.

Hashtags are one of the ranking signals of the TikTok algorithm. This means that including hashtags in your video description makes it easier for the algorithm to put it in front of an audience that will respond to it.

Avoid using just generic hashtags like #FYP. Doing so means that you won’t have to compete with millions of other videos catering to the same hashtag.

Most TikTok creators already know the value of #hashtags, but popular hashtags and hashtag challenges can have a significant impact on your video’s visibility.

7. Use SEO Keywords

Along with the TikTok algorithm, you also need to leverage keywords. TikTok is becoming more and more searchable. You can easily find the content you’re looking for with the Discover page.

Say that you are an artist. Just by typing art or painting into Discover, you can access dozens of videos from creators or artists, some of which may already be trending or viral.

Short video content is now popular on almost every social media platform including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

This way, you can also reuse your TikTok content on other social media platforms.

This way, you will be able to engage your audience on multiple sites without creating separate content for each of them.

You can use a social media scheduler to streamline your content across all major platforms.

RecurPost is a tool that allows you to schedule social media videos in advance and create a static content calendar.

By mutually promoting your TikTok content on other social media sites, you will be able to convert your traffic from one site to another and increase your followers easily.

9. Reply to all your comments

The more comments a video has, the more likely it is to go viral. This works especially well if you can interact with commenters and get them to keep commenting on your video.

However, if one of your videos is going viral on TikTok and you reply to comments, don’t go too fast or you will get blocked.

I got banned from commenting on any video for over 24 hours when I replied to comments too quickly and it was very frustrating because I love my haters and I want to reply to them.