What happens when you get over 10k followers on TikTok?

I remember the first time I heard about TikTok: well, it was called Musical.ly back then. My little cousin watched teenagers do the same, choreographed dances to trendy songs, and I thought, “I don’t see the appeal.”

Since then, the platform has wildly changed. I’ve learned how to manage my stock portfolio better and take care of my house plants, thanks to TikTok. I’ve laughed harder than any comedy movie I watched in the past five years. I’ve come across genuinely talented people — many above 30, I might add.

As a writer, I wanted in on the success and virality that I heard people talk about when referring to TikTok. The algorithm far exceeds any social media platform in terms of organic growth nowadays.

Plus, I knew I’d be launching my book soon. Grow an audience, promote my book, and help people with their love lives? Seemed like a win-win. But I knew I needed to go in with a plan.

So I waited for a few months.

I consumed the platform and took notes of what worked. I followed marketing accounts that taught TikTok best practices. I learned from people who were already big so that I wouldn’t be jumping in without any clue.

And once I started posting, what happened, well, wasn’t shocking. I grew from 100 followers to 10,000 in a matter of 28 days. My engagement rate was at 28%, crushing my 2% engagement rate on Instagram.

And I’ve been hooked ever since. My following is now over 32,000 people, I have a monthly average of over 2.5 million views, and I’ve signed brand deals for paid TikToks.

What’s wild is, you can do the same, especially if you’re a writer, but even if you’re not. You just need to follow a few best-practices.

Pick a Niche or Three

To niche or not to niche? That seems to always be the question with any new social media platform.

I won’t lie and say that TikTok isn’t a crowded platform — they have over one billion users. You won’t stand out if you simply think, I’m hilarious or I’m pretty.

Users want to know what they’re getting from you. They’re looking for one of three things: entertainment, education, or inspiration. And, regardless of which one you choose, they want consistency. That consistency will be your niche(s).

I began creating videos about dating and relationships. But it wasn't until I created a video on dating with anxiety that I tapped into something astounding. After that video went viral, I noticed I hit a nerve with people. It resonated with their personal experiences.

Since then, I’ve amassed a following of people with anxious attachment styles who want dating advice. I dabble in self-love and relationship content, too, but those are the main niches that I stick with.

Creating Engaging, Quality Content

As much as I don’t like it, the reality of TikTok is that you need to catch someone’s attention quickly. People scroll through their FYP mindlessly every single day. If you’re not getting to the point, no one will watch your videos.

When I have videos where I’m simply talking, I break up what I have to say into shorter videos. That way, the cuts shake things up and keep the viewer’s attention.

I also use psychology to my advantage. Whenever I have the chance, I use the word you within the first five seconds of my video. It grabs the person’s attention and makes it feel like I’m talking to them rather than at them.

Although, none of the above will matter if you don’t have quality videos. Things like poor lighting, shakiness, and looking like you just rolled out of bed won’t exactly help you create a sense that you know what you’re talking about.

At the very least, invest in a ring light tripod. A mere $40 investment can take your videos from looking like you live in someone’s basement to a professional, personal vibe.

Repurpose Your Articles for TikToks

I didn’t jump into TikTok with no idea what dating and relationship topics people wanted to learn about. Instead, I went back to my archive of articles and examined what performed well.

With an arsenal of articles that had already proven to do well, I repurposed them into TikToks.

Take my article, “7 Ways to Express Love Physically,” for example. It’s among my top 50 best-performing articles — to date, it has over 53,000 views. I re-made this article into a TikTok video where I explained the love language, physical touch.

As you can see, this video gained over 28,000 likes and 117 comments. Was that by luck? Not really. I knew it would do well, thanks to my article that came before it.

Even if you’re not a writer, take note of any content you’ve made that’s done well. If you have absolutely zero content, go out onto the beautiful interwebs and search which topics are trending and doing well in your niche.

Pay Attention to Trends and Adapt Them to Your Niche

One great thing about TikTok is that they have a feature called Trends. You can find them on your explore page, but you’re better off if you can notice a trend when it’s still at an early growth period.

Trends can be anything from a song, to a prompt, to a mixture of both. Sure, there are some dancing ones that you can skip if you’re a horrible dancer like me.

The trends I want you to focus on are the ones you can adapt to your niche.

As an example, above is a trend I hopped on while it was still growing. The trend consisted of the music you hear plus saying whatever your catchphrases are. But, instead of saying my personal catchphrases, I adapted it to my niche by using phrases people with dating anxiety use.

This video has close to one million views. It’s my best performing video, and I even made a part two, which has almost 700,000 views.

While consistent, quality content is the building block for your TikTok, trends will help you get noticed by a large audience.

Notice What Content Does Well, Then Start a Series

A series is a collection of videos on a certain subject. You can several parts to it, and when people find a certain video, they’ll know they can go through your profile to find more videos on that subject.

When my video about dating anxiety went viral, people wanted videos on how to manage their anxiety. And so, I started a “Dating with Anxiety” series.

If you find that your audience keeps asking the same question or one of your videos did particularly well, ask yourself if it could be made into a series. If so, go for it. Just make sure to add cover art stating that it’s part of a series so people can easily find them. See the example of my profile below.

Engage With Other Creators in Your Niche

A side-effect of getting onto TikTok is that I’ve met some phenomenal creators who are also killing it on the platform. Making friends and networking always makes being on social media more palatable.

But none of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t engaged with people in my niche. I found various people who created dating, self-love, and relationship advice and started commenting on their videos.

This leads me to another feature that TikTok boasts: you can like and comment on people’s comments. If your comment receives enough likes, it will be moved to the top of a video’s comment section.

When your comment is thoughtful enough, people will click through to your profile and check it out. If they find engaging content that’s close to the other person they already follow, they’re bound to stay on your page.

Commit to Posting Once a Day, if Not 2–3 Times a Day

Since I started taking TikTok seriously, on November 15th, 2020, I posted at least once a day. I haven’t missed a single day since then.

When I say consistency is key, I mean it. Quantity does matter when it comes to creating a following on TikTok. It’s like many platforms: the more you post, the higher your chances of going viral.

Currently, I post 2–3 times a day on the platform. Best practices suggest that you post 3–5 if you want to see the best outcomes, but I stick to a frequency that’s doable for me.

A trick that helps me stick to this daily posting average is creating videos in bulk. I usually film two days a week for around two hours. That creates enough content for me to consistently post 2–3 times a day throughout the week.

Plus, I also don’t have to worry about whether I’m in the mood to film every day. I get them out of the way in one fell swoop.

Conclusion

If you want to capitalize on the wild growth people are experiencing on TikTok, now is as good a time as any to start. With these best practices in mind, you’re going to be off to a better start than the majority of the people who are just joining the platform.

Remember:

• Quality and quality matter.
• Consistency is key.
• Hop onto trends whenever you can.
• Create more content based on videos that perform well.
• Engage with others in your niche.

But most importantly: have fun. TikTok isn’t only the platform I’ve performed the best on — it’s also the platform I most enjoy using. It’s a fun community of people who are authentic and real.

So enjoy the ride and tailor my tips to whatever feels authentic to you. Authenticity will always get you the furthest.

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