Your Ultimate Guide on Creating Viral TikTok Content
In light of TikTok’s potential ban in the US…
Because we’re in disbelief that our favourite app might disappear for 150 million Americans! So, here’s your extensive guide to creating viral TikTok content on the regular. Buckle up, a lot more goes into it than just luck.
FIND THE GAPS
We want you to stand out from the vast amount of creators on the platform, it’s all about creating content that is unique. You can do this by analyzing creators from your industry!
What are the topics they’re/ they aren’t talking about in their content?
What’s the style of their videos (pace, talking, trending sounds, long, short)?
What trends do they follow? And how?
What similarities do you see in their content?
What differences are there?
And so much more. You want to dive deep and figure out how you can break through the noise in your industry with your content.
Create Crisp Quality Content
Low-quality videos are not it if you want your audience to listen to what you have to say. Let’s be honest, we all scroll past content with bad quality. Now I’m not telling you to buy a super high-tech setup, a good-quality phone is more than enough!
Tips for the best camera quality:
Film in natural light, preferably facing a window, or use a high-quality ring light. Our top hack for this: film in your car! The windows reflect the light perfectly on you.
Film with the back camera of your phone, for the best quality. Our top hack for this: put a mirror right next to your camera, so you can see yourself - cause we know, this one’s a little hard, we all get insecure!
Use no or minimal filters (i.e. the smooth effect) for optimal quality.
Turn on high-quality uploads in your settings, always filming in 4k!
High-quality videos don’t just mean video quality, but the actual contents of the video & what is said/ given in the video itself. Here are a couple of tips for creating engaging videos:
Use hooks to grab your audience’s attention. Hooking the viewer the first 2-3 seconds is crucial so that they watch your TikTok all the way through. PSA these don’t only need to be words like “I don’t know who needs to hear this”. While that is a great hook, you can also use hooks without words, like Meredith Dixbury does, by using her intriguing foundation technique, which has never been seen before and definitely stops your scroll. This could be a great option for product-based businesses, and don’t forget to be innovative like Meredith is!
Either give value with information/perspective-shifting/ motivation or entertain with humor/ storytelling. Your audience needs to gain something from your TikTok in return for their time!
Make sure any text is readable and not cluttering the screen. Meaning, don’t overwhelm your audience with too much text so they can focus on the content, and make sure the text is aligned and doesn’t get cut off at the sides!
Optimizing Keywords
Including keywords in your content will help you reach your target audience since the TikTok algorithm will recommend your videos whenever they search for a keyword related to your industry. Not only this, but this also makes you searchable in the long-run! You can find relevant keywords your target audience looked up in the search bar or by scrolling down to the “others searched for” section. Watch the video for a tutorial!
Trending Sounds & Topics
Trends play a vital role in your TikTok success! Keeping up to date with what topics, sounds, or content styles are trending will help you stay relevant since TikTok, like any other social platform, is constantly changing. My best tip for this is to be a consumer yourself but do so in a mindful and observing manner. You want to actively observe and take note of what is currently trending, not just mindlessly scroll (sometimes you can, we’re all guilty of it). When you find a trend, don’t just copy what everyone else is doing, because NEWSFLASH it’s never about the trends, but how you use them. The more unique and different you can be, the better! TikTok consumers love seeing brands use trends with an unexpected and creative twist to them and the perfect example of this is Duolingo. And no, not one singular video… but ALL of them.
Be Bold
Have you ever taken a look at the leading brands on TikTok? None of them seemingly post “professional” or “serious” content. Big brands like Duolingo or Ryanair create content that is far from what corporations deem as professional, yet it outperforms their competitor’s content, boosts their likability and relatability with Gen Z, and helps them not only stay relevant but also lead on social media. It’s not necessary to create perfectly curated and aesthetic content on social media anymore, even if you are a professional. On TikTok, curated content will have the opposite effect of virality - irrelevance. Think outside of the box, be raw, and get creative with your content, no need to hold your creativity back here.
And if you’re like, can’t you guys just create viral TikToks for me, we sure can. Click here to see all the ways we can support your brand’s success on social media. Trends Talk. We Translate.