Every online platform has its own tricks for going viral. TikTok relies quite heavily on its For You page to promote videos far and wide, for example. Learning how to go viral on TikTok could help you transform your long-term strategy.
In this guide, the GoRead.io team shows you how to get a viral TikTok video.
How To Go Viral on TikTok in 2024
Viral posts are often a matter of luck. But making great content that stands out is naturally a big help. If you want to get a viral TikTok post, here are some tips you should follow:
- Match your audience: Make content that you know appeals to your target audience. You can’t try to make a video everyone sees. This can be too broad to get engagement.
- Make a vlog: TikTok users love and engage with more personal vlog videos. This helps you build rapport right away, but you should still experiment with video formats.
- Post at the right times: Posting when your followers are online lets your posts get more engagement. This initial burst is vital for deciding if the app will promote your video.
- Add hashtags: The tags you use tell the app (and TikTok’s algorithm) exactly what your video is about. A relevant hashtag could even help you get on the For You page.
- Make a quick impact: Even just a second or two of boredom could end with some users scrolling away. Hook your viewers in the first three seconds — possibly with a question.
- Keep videos short: Similarly, short videos are easier to watch or even replay. You don’t need to use the full runtime. Focus on getting your point across as quickly as you can.
- Add popular music: TikTok keeps a record of songs that trend on the platform. Add one of these to your next video. This could help carry your post to a much wider audience.
Why Your TikTok Audience Matters
You can only make viral content if you have an audience to support you. Of course, going viral is sure to connect your profile with thousands of non-followers. But it’s your account’s current fans who help you get there.
How long does it take to go viral on TikTok without followers? Much, much longer. There are still some ways around this. But making an effort to build your following will help your posts reach so many more people.
Find what people in your niche are responding to on TikTok. Check for any challenges they’re all taking part in. You can only grow your following if you know how to appeal to your audience. You might even look at competitors and your community’s thought leaders.
Your follower count is naturally a big deciding factor in whether you go viral. But not as much as the quality of these followers. For example, they must be active in your niche. These are the people who will share your videos. As more people see them, the algorithm will help them grow rapidly.
How To Go Viral on TikTok Overnight
In some ways, most viral videos happen overnight or at least over a short period of time. TikTok videos pass by quite quickly. One from a month ago won’t suddenly get massive traction today, for example. At the same time, you can’t force viral videos.
Luck could be the biggest factor here. A video you put less effort into can actually do better than your best posts. If you can’t do it overnight, how long does it take to go viral on TikTok? This can range between hours and days.
When figuring out how to make a video go viral on TikTok, remember your ideal posting time. In most cases, this is around the evening. In the hours that follow, their likes and shares could help it spread rapidly. It might have thousands of TikTok views by morning.
TikTok ads can give your content a helping hand. This lets you pay to promote your posts. You’ll even be able to customize the audience you reach. If you’re wondering how to go viral on TikTok without followers, ads also help you with this.
Benefits of Going Viral on TikTok
A viral video helps you beyond giving you a broader audience. Your TikTok account will see a lot of short-term and long-term benefits. Here are just a few of them:
- More followers: The people who find your video and like it will follow you for more TikTok posts. You can use this to figure out exactly what people want from your content strategy.
- Brand deals: If you go viral more than once, brands are sure to take notice. Use this to leverage deals where you promote their products in return for a sponsorship.
- Promote other pages: Going viral means a lot more eyes on your page. You might then want to promote another social media platform that you’re more active on.
- More TikTok features: TikTok locks some features behind follower and view counts. For example, reaching 1,000 followers after a viral post will let you start a TikTok LIVE.
- Build user trust: People in your niche might trust you more once you go viral. They may even give you a shout-out on their posts through internal links to your page.
- Popularity beyond TikTok: Some viral posts will end up as memes that spread across the internet. Your TikTok video could even be the birth of new slang terms.
How Many Views To Go Viral on TikTok?
The very definition of viral is open to debate. For some niche communities, even a few thousand views might count. What separates viral posts from popular ones is their ability to connect with a broad audience.
Your followers might still get more out of the post. But so long as people understand it, they can find it funny or enjoyable. If most people viewing your video aren’t in your niche, it might count as a viral post.
There are no hard rules for which of your actual videos will go viral. But if one gets to 100,000 or more views, it surely fits the bill. This is especially true if you have under 100,000 followers.
Viral TikTok Video Ideas
On TikTok, short, funny vlogs usually have an edge, but viral videos can take any form. Any type of content that people like watching could get very popular in days (if not hours). Here are just a few ideas:
- Makeup transformations: Show off your latest, most spellbinding look. Use hidden cuts to make the change happen in seconds.
- Lip sync videos: Mouth along to a popular song. Add a caption that makes people think of the lyrics in an entirely new context.
- Funny stories: Simply tell a funny, true story. If it’s outrageous enough, your viewers will want to share it everywhere.
- Stitch response videos: One of TikTok’s underrated yet essential functions, a stitch lets you respond to other videos directly.
- Comedy sketches: Come up with a funny scenario and act it out. Gen Z viewers tend to favor ironic and surrealist humor.
- Gameplay videos: Upload footage of your latest online match. Put together a highlight reel of your most impressive moments.
How Often Should You Post on TikTok To Go Viral?
TikTok usually won’t penalize you for posting often. Sharing several videos a day may help your chances of going viral. But you can’t just throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks.
Putting an effort into content creation means having a great TikTok strategy. High-quality videos that your audience enjoys are more likely to get popular. But rapid-fire posting might make your quality suffer. The app might even think you’re a bot if you leave little time between vids.
Any one of your videos may end up lucky enough to break through the algorithm. But if you’re wondering how many views you need to go viral on TikTok, that number is not exactly clear. However, there’s a common thread with these questions: the answer is rarely in a raw number.
How To Go Viral on TikTok Without Followers
Most people rely on their followers to carry posts to the TikTok algorithm. If you don’t have many (or any) followers, you might face an uphill battle. However, the goal when going viral is to find a lot of viewers outside your usual network.
However, the answer isn’t to keep your content as broad as possible. Deliberately broad content is hard to get right — you might just struggle to engage anyone. Hashtags are a great method of reaching people outside your community. But how many hashtags do you need on TikTok to go viral?
Don’t overuse your hashtags, and try to pick a mix of broad and specific ones. This shows TikTok the niche your videos deal with. The app could then help your videos find people who like those tags and the sector they represent. These users might follow you or just find your videos on the For You page.
If you want to get more followers on TikTok, ads are again worth experimenting with. This naturally costs money. But you might see this as a good investment that helps your long-term growth. These payments could even give the post a place on the app’s For You page.
How Long Does It Take To Go Viral on TikTok?
It’s rare (but possible) to go viral right away. You need to post at exactly the right time to give the video its best chance, however. The more likes it gets, the more For You pages it ends up on, and the more famous you become on TikTok. At this point, the views are mostly guaranteed. But only high-quality videos can sustain this.
Experiment with different posting times to find which one works best. But once you find this, how often should you post on TikTok to go viral? Don’t fire off several posts at once just because it’s the right time of day. This may just split your audience and make going viral even more difficult.
How Many Hashtags on TikTok To Go Viral?
Three to five high-impact hashtags will help your posts thrive. You could make one of these “#fyp” or even “#trending.” These are very popular hashtags, but this means they’re also very competitive. You should aim for at least two low-competition tags that are specific to your niche.
There’s no direct TikTok hashtag limit. You can add as many as will fit in the caption. But if your goal is to go viral, you can’t just stuff the description with these tags. Your caption can also help your TikTok SEO. The app recently increased its captions to 4,000 characters. But shorter captions are easier for people to read.
Good hashtags can show you how to go viral on TikTok overnight. Use online generators to find high-engagement tags both across the site and in your niche. You can also look at popular videos in your network and see which hashtags they use.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get 1,000 views on TikTok?
You can unlock more views by mixing a great hashtag strategy with content that people engage with. Beyond this, buying views is also an option. Just make sure these aren’t bot profiles — this could harm your engagement.
How do I make my TikTok video go viral?
There’s no one answer to how to make your video go viral on TikTok. Focus on building a page that’s full of great content. This is what will help your posts find more people.
How do I get TikTok likes?
People will engage with and like posts that they enjoy. But reminding them to leave a like can be surprisingly effective. User-generated and TikTok-first content will get the most love here.
The Secret To Going Viral Online: GoRead.io
If you want to know how to go viral on TikTok, organic follower growth services can help. If your TikTok needs a bigger network, GoRead.io has much to offer you.
Our team will boost your TikTok account and make sure it gets organic long-term engagement. We also never use bots, so everything is completely above board. Check out GoRead.io today, and you can give your TikTok the growth it’s looking for.