In this article, we will talk about what is TikTok, everything it offers and what you can do with this great social network that every day captures the attention of more people around the world. It is an application that allows you to create content in a different and fast way.
Even if you are a company, this article should also be of interest to you, since Tiktok is the ideal platform to promote your products or services and is constantly growing. If you are a content creator, this article will help you to know how it works and what you can do to grow more on TikTok.
Summary
- It allows you to create content in a very easy and interactive way.
- You can reach more people knowing much better about the TikTok algorithm and how it works.
- It gives you the option to monetize if you are a content creator and promote your brand if you are a company.
What you should know about TikTok
Next, we will talk about the most relevant things about TikTok, how it works and what you can do with this application. We will talk about how the algorithm works and how to be able to grow on this platform without violating the usage policy, as the application has a somewhat strict policy that can even affect users and be penalized.
TikTok is a particularly famous app among young people and companies are realizing this. Therefore, it is a very good way to be able to reach more people, its growth is increasing more and more and it has managed to surpass some other social networks in downloads in the last 2 years.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is an application that allows users to create interactive videos, using different effects, filters, and sounds, and with a variety of tools to edit the videos. It allows you to make videos of 15 and 60 seconds, and even 3 minutes, and you will be able to share these videos on other social networks and even upload them in HD quality.
Its official name is Douyin, but only inside China, and outside it is known as TikTok. Its popularity grew from 2018, but 2020 showed its biggest increase in downloads because of the global pandemic caused by Covid-19 (5). Which made the popularity of this social network increase massively.
Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2022, ranked by the number of monthly active users.
How does the TikTok algorithm work?
TikTok wants users to enjoy the content of the videos because having better content will recommend more users and they will use the application more. TikTok makes money from advertising and music from artists who upload their songs on the platform. The TikTok Solo algorithm displays based on:
| Metrics | Contents |
|---|---|
| Likes | They are easy to get, as many people give likes, but it is the least important of the metrics. If you get more than 10% likes it is a good sign. |
| Comments | The more comments the better, because it generates debate, when people comment on your video, the more the algorithm shares it. |
| Sharing | It is the number of times users share your video, it is like recommending the video and it is the second most relevant metric. |
| Holding the audience | It is the most important and consists of the user viewing the video in its entirety, these videos are the most recommended by TikTok. |
You need to create strategies combining good content with good quality audio and video to capture attention and these metrics help the TikTok algorithm to better recommend your content so you have the opportunity to make your videos more viral.
What are TikTok bots?
In TikTok many people have wanted to increase followers faster, even paying for it, one of the most common methods is the use of Bots, bots are robots or fake accounts that pretend to be users who follow a specific account. There are many pages that sell bots and thousands of people use them to have followers and even likes on their videos.
Bots are not a recommendation for TikTok, because if the algorithm detects that bots are being used, they can even penalize your account and not show your videos or limit your account to very few functions. TikTok detects bots because it logs into the account and detects many followers, no videos, no profile picture, and inactive.
Advantages of TikTok
TikTok is undoubtedly one of the best social networks today and has a wide variety of advantages. For both companies and users, the application offers many advantages that help the community to keep growing more and more, among the most important ones are:
What is fyp in Tiktok?
Fyp (for your page) or For you, is a section of TikTok where its algorithm shows you videos that might interest you, depending on the content you like the most, it is a section of recommendations (1). Usually, they are videos of accounts that we do not follow and TikTok recommends them to generate more interaction, it also usually shows viral videos in that section.
Fyp is also often used as a hashtag to try to position the videos in this section so that the TikTok algorithm shows them. In Spanish-speaking countries, Para ti is usually used, since it is the Spanish version of it. Although, TikTok posts videos that may be of interest to users, not necessarily using this hashtag.
TikTok Policies
TikTok policies have been recently updated and are focused on protecting the user. Likewise to protect LGBTQ+ communities, minors, and issues related to race or religion.
Accounts that do not respect TikTok’s policies and whose content violates the rules will be penalized and in some cases suspended.
In the same way, they will penalize the challenges that they consider dangerous for the integrity of people, this is because they have caused death because many people hurt themselves to make a challenge on the social network, therefore, Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety, has reported it in an official statement from the company.
Why is TikTok so popular?
TikTok is very popular because of the good marketing strategy they used on their platform, and because it makes it very easy for people to interact through videos showing their life, making others laugh, or even talking about various topics.
On TikTok you can find a wide variety of videos, from animals, recipes and people’s experiences.
Short videos are the best way to show all this content without boring users so they can stay much longer on the platform. TikTok’s algorithm is also in charge of showing you content according to your likes and the type of videos you have liked. The more you use the application, the more the application will know which videos to show you.
Another of the popularity of the network is the number of facial filters that it has that allow you to improve your physical appearance in an incredible way, this has attracted the attention of many people with the aim of capturing the attention of users as long as possible.
What company is behind TikTok?
ByteDance is the company behind the ownership of TikTok, it is a Chinese technology company based in Beijing. It was founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012. ByteDance acquired Musical.ly and combined it with Douyin into a single app under the name TikTok. ByteDance’s other properties include:
- Toutiao.
- Xigua Video.
- Helo.
- Lark.
- BytePlus.
What can you do with TikTok?
TikTok is a social network that is focused on entertaining users and you can do a variety of things on it. It is important the interaction with users, entertainment, comedy, and music. Among the most common things you can do:
- You can watch and create your own videos.
- You can add music to your videos and discover new songs shared by users and famous singers.
- Interact with other users through gifts, likes, hashtags, and comments, and even share effects and make duets or collaborations.
- Discover new videos, new trends, and people in the section for you.
- You can advertise on the platform to reach more people if you are a brand or a public figure.
- It allows you to use real money to buy gifts within the platform and send them to the users you like the most.
Among many more things you can do with TikTok, it is a network that is constantly being updated and has more and more effects, and options to entertain users and keep them longer on it and keep growing.
What time to post on TikTok?
The best time to post on TikTok is somewhat subjective, although you can try to post depending on your time zone and the audience you want to reach. Ideally at 18:00 Spanish time or 22:00 if your audience is from Latin America.
You can enter the creator tool in your TikTok profile which is located in the 3 horizontal bars on the right side of the profile, then go to statistics, in the follower section you can see the schedule in which your videos have more interaction.
What hashtags to use on TikTok?
You can use different hashtags for TikTok depending on the type of video you make, the most recommended is to use hashtags that allude to your content. The most used by the community are the following, depending on the type of content:
| Topics | Hashtags |
|---|---|
| General | #fyp #foryoupage #like #follow #explore #vira |
| Fashion | #style #ootd #model #beauty #grwm #fashiontiktok #fashioninspo #moda |
| Food | #recipes #food #foodtok #foodietok #tiktokeats #foodrecipe #dinnerrecipe #recipeideas |
| Fitness or training | #fitness #healthy #healthysnacks #exercises #losingweight #weightchallenge #training |
| Humour | #laughter #jokes #comedy #prank #meme #lol #relatable |
| Education | #languages #education #edutok #learning #career #careeradvice #educationtiktok |
It is advisable to use between 2 to 3 hashtags related to your topic and 1 general one so that the algorithm shows it to more people, taking into account the time that your videos have the most activity. You can copy and paste these hashtags to save time.
How to make money with TikTok?
There are different ways to make money on TikTok, one of them is thanks to the gifts from the users that content creators can receive when they make directs, to be able to make directs you have to reach a minimum of 1000 followers and be over 16 years old.
In the application, you can buy coins from 70 to 7000 thousand, and then redeem them for gifts, the price of the coins varies depending on the OS of the device.
| Android | IOS |
|---|---|
| 70 coins for 0.91 GBP | 65 coins for 0.91 GBP |
| 350 coins for 4.59 GBP | 330 coins for 4.59 GBP |
| 1,400 coins for 15.96 GBP | 1,321 coins for 15.96 GBP |
| 3,500 coins for 45.99 GBP | 3,303 coins for 45.99 GBP |
| 7,000 coins for 91.98 GBP | 6,607 coins for 91.98 GBP |
Another way to earn money on TikTok is the TikTok creators fund, which consists of the more visits you have, the more money you generate, this is more focused on large accounts, it is not recommended for small accounts and is only available in Europe.
Diamonds are another way to earn money on TikTok.
Gifts that are sent to the creators are converted into diamonds, a user has received 10,000 diamonds of gifts, and he can withdraw them. Once diamonds are converted into real money, they can be transferred to a PayPal account.
List of the highest paid Tiktokers in the world, still valid in 2022.
Conclusion
In conclusion, TikTok is a very good alternative if you want to start creating content with interactive videos because of its easy interface and the tools that allow you to do many things. Its algorithm is very intuitive and you have more possibilities to reach more people than in other social networks.
Knowing a little more about how TikTok works and the recommendations about its policy, remember to generate content that is interesting for people and that does not violate TikTok’s policy, so you will not be penalized and continue enjoying this great application, and you can create your content.
