TikTok has taken the social media world by storm, with over 2 billion registered users. As a business, leveraging TikTok effectively can transform your brand’s visibility and engagement.
If you’re an e-commerce brand, a retail company, or a local business, this is the best time to embrace TikTok for sales.
Caseharden, a Thai fashion accessories brand leveraged TikTok to double product sales year-on-year, generated 1 million views, and attracted more than 5,000 followers within the period.
This article will guide you through 8 growth strategies, ranked from best to least effective, so you can focus your efforts where they matter most.
Let’s dive in and explore the best ways to grow your TikTok presence, attract leads, boost sales, and enhance brand awareness.
But a quick note first — if you want to work with our expert team to supercharge your TikTok revenue engine, please schedule a strategy call now.
What is TikTok Growth Strategy?
A TikTok growth strategy involves using targeted techniques and methods to increase followers, engagement, and brand visibility on TikTok.
This can include creating viral content, leveraging trending hashtags, collaborating with influencers, running paid ads, and engaging with the audience regularly.
Businesses, influencers, and brands aiming to expand their online presence, attract a younger demographic, and boost engagement should use these strategies.
Whether a small business looking to increase local reach or a large brand aiming for global awareness, TikTok growth strategies can help achieve significant growth and build a loyal following on the platform.
Below is a table ranking TikTok growth strategies, with the difficulty level and what’s required.
| Growth Strategy | Difficulty Level | What’s Required |
| 1. Collaborate with Influencers | Easy | Money |
| 2. Utilize Trending Hashtags | Easy | Time |
| 3. Post Consistently | Medium | Time |
| 4. Engage with Followers | Medium | Time |
| 5. Create Viral Challenges | Medium | Time & Creativity |
| 6. Leverage Paid Ads | Medium | Money |
| 7. Analyze and Adapt Content | Hard | Time & Tools |
| 8. Cross-Promote on Other Platforms | Hard | Time & Strategy |
Ranking 8 TikTok Growth Strategies: From Best to Worst
Let’s explore proven strategies to grow on TikTok, so you know where to where to spend your time, money, and other resources to get results:
Are you investing more than $10,000 on TikTok? Influicity can help. Schedule a strategy call to learn more.
1. Collaborating with Influencers
Effectiveness: Very High
Difficulty Level: Medium
Partnering with influencers is a powerful strategy to boost your brand’s visibility on TikTok. 61% of people trust recommendations from influencers they follow on social media.
By collaborating with transparent TikTok influencers, you’d gain access to a pool of audience and increase engagement for your brand.
Influencers can create authentic content that resonates with their followers, and their endorsement acts as a form of social proof. This method leverages their reach and credibility to introduce your brand to a larger audience.
Case Study: Chipotle collaborated with influencers for their #GuacDance challenge, which resulted in 250,000 video submissions and millions of views. This campaign not only increased brand awareness but also drove sales by encouraging users to participate in the fun, user-generated content.
To implement this growth strategy, identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target market. Ensure they have genuine engagement rates rather than just a high follower count.
A successful collaboration involves a clear agreement on deliverables and creative freedom for the influencer to maintain authenticity.
2. Utilizing TikTok Ads
Effectiveness: High
Difficulty Level: Hard
TikTok offers a variety of ad formats that can significantly boost your reach and engagement. These include In-Feed Ads, Branded Hashtag Challenges, and TopView Ads.
Paid advertising allows you to target specific demographics and interests, ensuring your content reaches the right audience. It also provides measurable results and insights to refine your strategy.
Case Study: Guess successfully used the Branded Hashtag Challenge (#InMyDenim), which generated over 5,500 user-generated videos and a 14.3% engagement rate. This campaign highlighted how effective TikTok ads can be in driving user participation and brand engagement.
The best way to implement this strategy is to start with a clear objective for your ad campaign, whether it’s to drive website traffic, increase app downloads, or boost brand awareness.
Use engaging and creative content that aligns with TikTok’s style, and utilize TikTok’s targeting options to reach your desired audience.
3. Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC)
Effectiveness: High
Difficulty Level: Medium
Encouraging users to create content related to your brand fosters a sense of community and increases organic reach. UGC serves as social proof and can build trust with potential customers.
According to Referral Rock, the best type of UGC with the most ROI (up to 48%) for brands is ‘consumer reviews and recommendations.’
People trust recommendations from their peers more than traditional advertising. UGC provides authentic and relatable content that can attract and engage a wider audience.
Case Study: Gymshark leverages UGC by encouraging followers to share their fitness journeys using their products. This strategy has created a massive online fitness community and significantly boosted their brand engagement.
To get started, create a branded hashtag and encourage your audience to use it when posting content related to your brand.
Feature the best UGC on your official account to show appreciation and incentivize more participation. This not only generates content but also fosters a loyal community around your brand.
We run TikTok channels for some of the biggest brands in the world. See why they trust Influicity. Schedule a strategy call to learn more.
4. Participating in Trends and Challenges
Effectiveness: Medium
Difficulty Level: Easy
Engaging in popular trends and challenges is a quick way to increase your visibility on TikTok. Trends change rapidly on the platform, and participating in them can boost your content’s discoverability.
Trending content is often featured on TikTok’s Discover page, which can significantly increase your reach. By joining in on what’s already popular, you align your brand with current interests and increase the likelihood of being seen by a larger audience.
Case Study: Elf Cosmetics successfully participated in the #EyesLipsFace challenge, which became one of TikTok’s most viral branded campaigns, amassing over 3 million user-generated videos and over 1 billion views.
Brands can stay up-to-date with TikTok trends by regularly browsing the Discover page. Participate in trends that align with your brand’s message and values. Use relevant hashtags and incorporate your unique twist to stand out from the crowd.
5. Consistent Posting Schedule
Effectiveness: Medium
Difficulty Level: Easy
Consistency is key on TikTok. Regular posting helps keep your audience engaged and increases the chances of your content being seen by more people.
Here’s exactly how it works: TikTok’s algorithm favors active accounts that consistently post quality content. A regular posting schedule keeps your brand in your audience’s mind and can lead to more followers and engagement over time.
Case Study: NBA maintains a consistent posting schedule with a mix of highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and player features. This approach has helped them build a massive following of more than 21 million, maintain high engagement levels, and become one of the most popular accounts on the platform.
Develop a content calendar and stick to a regular posting schedule. Aim to post at least once a day, but ensure the content remains high-quality and engaging. Analyze your audience’s activity to determine the best times to post.
6. Engaging with Your Audience
Effectiveness: Medium
Difficulty Level: Medium
Interacting with your audience through comments, likes, and shares can significantly enhance your engagement rates. Building a community around your brand fosters loyalty and encourages more interaction.
Engagement shows your audience that you value their input, which can lead to stronger relationships and increased brand loyalty. Responding to comments and messages makes your brand feel more approachable and human.
Case Study: San Diego Zoo engages with its audience by responding to comments and participating in fun, relevant conversations. This strategy has helped the organization build a strong, and loyal community on TikTok of over 2.5 million followers.
Set aside time each day to interact with your followers. Respond to comments on your posts, engage with user-generated content, and participate in relevant conversations. This not only boosts engagement but also helps you understand your audience better.
Want to supercharge your TikTok revenue engine? Schedule a strategy call with Influicity.
7. Collaborating with Other Brands
Effectiveness: Medium
Difficulty Level: Hard
Partnering with complementary brands can expand your reach and introduce your content to new audiences. Collaborative content can be mutually beneficial and create exciting opportunities for both brands involved.
Brand collaborations can combine the strengths and audiences of both parties, leading to increased visibility and engagement. This strategy can also lead to creative and unique content that stands out on the platform.
Case Study: Red Bull and GoPro frequently collaborate on content that showcases extreme sports and adventures, leveraging the strengths and audiences of both brands to create highly engaging videos.
Identify brands that complement your own and approach them with collaboration ideas.
Plan content that highlights the strengths of both brands and appeals to both audiences. Promote the collaboration across both brands’ social media channels for maximum reach.
8. Running TikTok Ad Campaigns
Effectiveness: Low
Difficulty Level: Hard
TikTok offers a variety of advertising options, including in-feed ads, branded hashtags, and branded effects.
While paid advertising can boost your visibility, it requires a significant investment and expertise to execute effectively.
So why and how does paid advertising work? Paid ads can significantly increase your reach and engagement, especially when targeting specific demographics.
However, the effectiveness of ads can vary, and they may not always lead to organic growth or long-term followers.
Case Study: Guess used TikTok’s ad platform to launch their #InMyDenim campaign, encouraging users to post videos in their Guess denim outfits. This campaign resulted in over 5,500 user-generated videos and a massive increase in brand awareness.
To successful run a paid ads campaign on TikTok, start with a clear objective for your ad campaign. Use TikTok’s targeting options to reach your desired audience.
Monitor the performance of your ads and adjust your strategy based on the results. Consider combining ads with organic content strategies for the best results.
TikTok Growth Strategies: Essential Tools
To growth on TikTok, you need the right set of tools. You can’t possibly attempt to do everything manually. So here are the six tools you should use and why:
1. Analisa.io
Analisa.io is a robust third-party TikTok analytics tool that provides in-depth insights into your TikTok performance.
It offers features like follower demographics, engagement metrics, and content analysis, helping you understand what works and how to improve your TikTok strategy.
2. Waifu2x
Waifu2x is an AI-powered upscaling tool that enhances the quality of images and videos. This tool is crucial for TikTok as it ensures your content looks crisp and professional, capturing the audience’s attention with high-quality visuals.
3. InShot
InShot is a powerful video editing app that offers various tools like trimming, splitting, merging, and adding effects to your videos. It allows creators to produce high-quality, engaging videos that stand out on TikTok, enhancing viewer engagement and retention.
4. Hootsuite
Hootsuite enables scheduling and managing multiple social media accounts, including TikTok. It helps maintain a consistent posting schedule, ensuring your content reaches your audience at optimal times without the hassle of manual posting.
5. Canva
Canva is a graphic design tool that offers templates, graphics, and fonts to create visually appealing thumbnails and promotional content. It enhances your brand’s visual identity on TikTok, making your profile and content more attractive and professional.
6. Hashtag Expert
Hashtag Expert generates effective hashtags tailored to your content and audience.
It increases the visibility of your posts by helping you use the most relevant and trending hashtags, boosting your reach and engagement on TikTok.
Final thoughts
Growing your brand on TikTok requires a mix of creativity, consistency, and strategic engagement.
Brands have leveraged TikTok’s massive user base and engaging content format to grow their visibility and customer engagement despite the competition.
They create viral challenges, collaborate with influencers, and use targeted ads to reach a broader audience. However, many brands hesitate due to unfamiliarity with the platform and the perceived need for high creativity.
If you’re just getting started with TikTok marketing, it’s best to focus on creating engaging and consistent content to build a presence. You may implement paid advertising campaigns and collaborate with influencers for expanded reach and engagement.
The key is to stay consistent, be authentic, and continuously adapt to the latest trends and audience preferences.
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