Since it became available worldwide in 2018, TikTok has grown quickly into a must-have application for any social media influencer or online business. One of the most prominent features TikTok offers is the For You Page, more commonly abbreviated as the FYP, which is a constantly-refreshing feed of TikTok videos sorted through via an algorithm designed to personalize the FYP for each individual user.
If you’re a prospective social media influencer or a business owner looking to expand your social media presence, beating the algorithm and learning how to land on the FYP is essential. Here are 6 tips and tricks to make sure your TikTok account makes it onto everyone’s FYP.
Understand the Demographic
If you’re looking to make it big on TikTok, you need first to get acquainted with the app’s user base. While TikTok is a widely-used app with a diverse user base consisting of many age groups and nationalities, TikTok’s largest and most prominent demographic is Generation Z, also known as Zoomers. As such, you’ll want to make content that appeals to Gen Z to develop a large following on TikTok.
You also need to know how to take advantage of trends on TikTok. On TikTok, trends rarely last very long: at most, you may have a month to participate, though it’s more common for trends to last anywhere between a couple of weeks to a few days. Definitely don’t participate once a trend has passed; your video will likely be ignored by the algorithm and fellow users.
Use Hashtags
An easy way to manipulate the algorithm is to use hashtags to your advantage. TikTok allows you to place hashtags in your post caption to make it easier to find among the many videos uploaded daily. It’s quite commonplace for users to place hashtags that aren’t related to the video they’re captioning for algorithm purposes.
Try to caption your videos with hashtags related to current trends. Though you might have heard that captioning your video with “#fyp” or “#ForYou” is a surefire way of making it onto the FYP, this is just a myth. Also, don’t overload your caption with hashtags; simply select a small but strong set.
Participate in Challenges
Every once in a while, a challenge will take TikTok by storm, meaning videos of people taking on said challenge will likely spread onto people’s FYPs like wildfire. If a new challenge starts popping up on your FYP, don’t hesitate to try it for yourself. Often, participating in a popular challenge will increase your engagement and make you more recognizable to the user base.
If you’re the kind of person who feels uncomfortable participating in certain challenges like dancing because you’re not confident in your skill, try to find a humorous twist to incorporate into your video. Comedic videos tend to do well on the app, especially those that subvert ongoing trends.
Use Trending Audios
Regardless of what you’re filming and posting on TikTok, you should definitely be selective when choosing your sound. At any given time, a handful of audios will be popular on TikTok; occasionally, these are soundbites from TikTok users or clips of hit songs you might hear on the radio. Using a trending sound or audios in your video will make it easier for your post to be picked up by the algorithm and spread over people’s FYPs.
You don’t necessarily need to structure your content around sound or audio. For instance, many TikTok users who post recipes or vlog content will use a trending sound in the background as they use the voiceover feature to narrate what they’re doing in a given post. Videos like this still get picked up and promoted by the algorithm.
Record Shorter Videos
While TikTok has rolled out features to post longer content (maxing out at around 3 minutes), shorter videos might be the better option for engagement and algorithm-hacking. Shorter videos can rack up more views in less time and are often more engaging due to their brevity compared to longer videos which can bore and disinterest viewers over the course of viewing. Most trending sounds are relatively brief, anyway.
If you’re still intent on making long-form content like storytelling, you should consider splitting up your content into individual parts. This can actually bolster your chances of making it onto the FYP by increasing the number of videos you have that can reach the feed. Moreover, it can drive up engagement by getting the audience invested in the whole story, in each of its parts.
Interact with Other Users
A great way to both increase your follower count and make it onto more people’s FYPs is to interact with other users, particularly those who comment on, Stitch and Duet your content. TikTok allows for collaboration between users via the Stitch and Duet features, wherein other users can add their own recordings alongside or in response to your post. Interacting with these helps redirect traffic to your account and your video, making it easier for the algorithm to find.
A smaller, yet no less effective, way of doing this is to simply interact with comments other users leave under your videos. Liking and replying to these comments on your Android phone indicates that your account is active and interactive, therefore encouraging the algorithm to promote your work. Plus, it makes you appear more friendly to your fellow users, which encourages following you.
Hopefully, these tips will assist you on your journey to success on the TikTok app. Many influencers and small business owners have found their start on the app and continue to reach new heights. With any luck, you’ll soon be over everybody’s FYPs, taking the world of social media by storm.