How to Track TikTok Follower Growth (2024)

If you take TikTok seriously, especially with its massive user base of 1.6 billion globally, you will want to grow your followers regularly over time. This is particularly important if you use TikTok for marketing or aim to become a TikTok influencer. However, like all social and video apps, not all followers hold the same value. Some may follow you after watching just one video and then never engage with your content again. Worse, some followers might not even be real people but bots trying to game the TikTok algorithm.

While high follower numbers may not be the most accurate measure of your TikTok success, they remain a visible metric that people use to compare accounts. However, it's crucial to focus on gaining quality followers who genuinely love your videos and engage with any new content you share. After all, having a large number of disengaged followers offers little benefit to your account.

Focus on Engaged Followers

The secret to any social media audience is that they are engaged. You don't want passive followers who like one of your videos and never view another. You want followers who once they've seen one of your videos, regularly return to your page to search for more clips. You want them to like your videos, make positive comments, and to share via their other social accounts.

Therefore, you need to find creative ways to pick up quality TikTok followers while avoiding the dross and bots. You want to work on building a distinct TikTok community that feels like a definite group of like-minded people.

Ways to Gain TikTok Followers

1. Work to Get Your Videos in "For You" Feeds

And that is quite a fundamental difference. On Instagram (and indeed Facebook), each user faces a newsfeed of new posts, predominantly from the people they follow. On TikTok, users face a feed of posts made by strangers that TikTok believes will interest them. Sure, it's easy enough to switch to videos from people you're Following, but most people begin by watching the videos TikTok selects "For You." This gives an ideal opportunity for your videos to reach new people, who may, in turn, follow you.

Having your content appear on people's "For You" page means that TikTok recognizes the quality of your content, over all the other videos that people upload. This helps you gain recognition and have your videos viewed by a wider audience.

InHow to Feature on TikTok's "For You" Page, we covered how TikTok's algorithm works. The algorithm continually searches for new videos to share with viewers, rather than continuously recycling the videos of existing celebrities and influencers. This helps people to build an audience and gain fame. Any account, even a relatively new one, can create quality content and then have TikTok position it before a broad audience.

2. Determine Your Target Audience

3. Share Videos That Will Appeal to Your Target Audience

We talked previously about the importance of having your videos appearing on people's "For You" feeds. However, as "For You" feeds are highly customized, depending on the demographics, interests, and TikTok behavior of each viewer, then you need to target specific people with your videos.

For this to work, you need to ensure that your target audience will love your content. Make the types of videos that will most appeal to them. Remember that TikTok is all about user experience. Their users don't come online to watch videos from you advertising your products. You can still make your product very clear without making blatant advertisem*nts.

If you target teenage girls, for instance, think about the types of videos that most interest them. This might mean traditional TikTok lip-synch videos if that is what your target audience prefers. In some cases, you can feature your products in your videos. For example, if you sell makeup, you could share videos demonstrating how to apply it. But don't try and shoehorn your product where it is not appropriate.

@haileybieberquick little 1-2 💁‍♀️♬ never be yours by kali uchis - Kali Uchis Fan Page ❦

Perhaps you sell car accessories to boy racers, and you target an audience of males in their late teens and early twenties. In that case, you could share videos featuring fast cars, showing your accessories in place if relevant.

4. Look for TikTok Trends

TikTok users can sometimes be fickle. They love to follow the latest trends, and then discard anything they feel has been fashionable for too long.

You will often see multiple variations on one type of video – where many TikTok users have created their take on the trend.

Remember, in most situations, TikTok users aren't looking for you and your videos. They are looking for fun, exciting videos that follow the prevailing trends. This gives you excellent opportunities to join in, building brand awareness if you are a business (or even your personal brand if you're just an individual).

5. Use Trending Hashtags

One specific type of trend that you can use to gain TikTok followers is to use trending hashtags. These add to your discoverability on the platform. People who search for those popular hashtags might come across your video. If they like them, they may follow you, in the hope of seeing more similar-type content.

As always, however, think carefully about the appropriateness of any hashtags you use. Some were created for specific uses, and if you misuse them, you might not attain your goals. Also, keep in mind your target audience. Not all trending hashtags will be relevant or of interest to them.

TikTok also has a few hashtags that may help you gain positions on people's "For You" pages, including #grwm and #ForYou. You will, of course, be competing with everybody else who uses these popular hashtags, so the quality of your videos remains paramount.

@kat_longoria #grwm ♬ Karma - JoJo Siwa

7. Post Your TikTok Videos at the Right Time for Your Audience

As well as posting videos regularly, you should post them when your target audience is most likely to be online. TikTok experiments by sharing your videos on a small number of "For You" pages to begin with, and if they appear popular, TikTok shares your videos with a broader audience. If you post at the wrong times, your preferred audience may not be online at that time, and fewer early viewers show interest in your videos. As a result of this, TikTok might stop adding your videos to additional people's "For You" pages.

Over time, you should be able to see from your analytics the times of day when people are most interested in your videos. You can then use one of the social media management apps that recognizes TikTok to schedule your future videos at the optimal times.

8. Collaborate with Others

TikTok users love variety. One way you can do this is to collaborate with other TikTok creators. This means that you can create videos with double the value – two TikTok personalities in a single video. This gives you access to your collaborator's audience (and them to yours).

@khaby.lame Why are the Bad Boys always doing the most? 😂🚪🔒 #BadBoys: Ride Or Die is exclusively in theaters this June @Bad Boys: Ride or Die @Sony Pictures #SonyPicsPartner ♬ original sound - Khabane lame

9. Engage with Your Audience

Finally, we emphasize the most important rule of social media. You must be social. You can't look at TikTok as a broadcast mechanism. It isn't one-way like television. We talked above about how you want an engaged audience. For that to occur, however, you also must engage with them actively.

If you want to increase your followers, you need to spend time communicating with other TikTok users. This means watching videos that interest you that you find in your "For You" screen, following those creators you particularly enjoy. In many ways, you need to model the behavior you are looking for in your target audience. Watch videos, like them, share them on your other social sites, and write engaging, informative comments. Keep a close eye on the comment streams on your videos and ensure that you are part of the conversation.

Conclusion

Achieving success on TikTok involves more than just growing your follower count. The real goal is to build a community of engaged followers who genuinely connect with and interact with your content. By focusing on creating high-quality videos that resonate with your target audience, staying current with trends, and actively engaging with your followers, you can cultivate a loyal and enthusiastic audience. Prioritizing the quality of your followers over sheer numbers will lead to more meaningful growth and long-term success on the platform.