So now that you have a good idea of how the TikTok algorithm works,
there are ways that you can make it work in your favor.
In quarantine, guess what all the millennials,
gen-Z-ers and baby boomers were doing? Yep. They were downloading TikTok.
We all collectively went from being a little iffy about TikTok to memorizing
full blown dance routines, even grandma. If you're here,
it's because you're curious about the TikTok algorithm and how you can make it
work for you so that your videos get seen by more and more people,
but not just anyone, ideally your target customer or target follower.
So today I'm sharing everything that we do and do not know about TikTok's,
algorithm. And stay tuned until the end where I'm going to share a recent,
huge change that might actually affect your growth in the algorithm
and what you can do about it.
What I'm about to share with you has worked for my student, Amber,
whose video on TikTok has over 400,000 views in the fitness
niche. I'm Elise Darma,
and I've helped thousands of entrepreneurs like yourself use social media to
actually grow your business.
And today I am covering the TikTok algorithm in 2020.
It's probably safe to say that TikTok's algorithm is pretty similar to
Instagram's or Facebook's or YouTube's or Pinterest.
Most social media networks have this machine learning going on behind the
scenes to figure out what you, the user, would like to see the most.
However,
a big difference between TikTok and Instagram or YouTube is that with
those platforms you can actually click into and choose which video you want to
watch. With TikTok, the choice isn't yours, at least initially.
The algorithm figures out which videos to send your way.
What do I mean by that part, "At least not initially"? Well,
when you first sign up for TikTok, you are going to see a For You page.
This is TikToks algorithm at work.
This is essentially curated videos that the algorithm is putting in front of you
- most likely the most popular videos on TikTok - to see what your reaction is
like. And then based on your reaction to those initial videos,
TikTok's algorithm is figuring out what captures your attention.
The For You page is essentially where people want to end up on to be
"viral", because if a video you make ends up on other people's pages,
you're effectively getting in front of people who have never heard from you
before, and they don't follow you.
This is all in contrast to the Following page. So yes,
you can find creators on TikTok that you like,
and you can choose to follow them.
So TikTok actually separates it out into two pages. One is For You,
which is all based on the algorithm and what it thinks you'll like.
And then you have a separate page called Following,
and these are just the accounts that you've decided to follow.
Every time you're on TikTok the algorithm is tracking your actions.
It's tracking how many times you watch a video. Do you watch until the end,
do you tap into that person's profile.
This is machine learning at play.
Now it's generally believed that TikTok's algorithm is looking at five key
factors when it comes to your behavior as a TikTok user.
And these five key factors actually determine how well your TikTok videos will
do, and whether they'll go viral or not.
So let's cover the five key factors in order of least important to most
important. The first factor are likes.
Every video you create can get likes or hearts to it.
Likes are a pretty passive way for people to engage with your content,
so it's believed that this is the least important factor,
meaning it has the least weight in how the algorithm assesses your video.
The next factor is comments.
So comments take a little bit more effort than likes.
So the algorithm will track to see how many people will actually take the time
to write a comment on your video. After that,
the algorithm will look at shares.
Are people loving your video so much that they are sharing it,
whether they're sending it to someone else or saving it to their favorites,
or maybe even downloading and saving a copy to their camera roll,
which you can do on TikTok by the way. So that's the third factor.
The fourth factor is completion rate.
So are people watching your TikTok all the way through till the end?
So most TikToks are 10, maybe 15 seconds long. So the algorithm is looking,
are you capturing people's attention for the full 10 to 15 seconds?
And even saying that is kind of ridiculous because,
how short our attention spans these days? But they're pretty short.
So if you're not capturing someone in the first one to three seconds,
and they're just getting out of your video,
the Algorithm is going to take a note. With that said,
you can also get strategic on how you capture people's attention in the first
one to three seconds. So opening your TikTok with something like,
"wait for it" or hinting that there's a surprise at the end might encourage your
viewers to watch the whole clip. The fifth factor is,
are people rewatching your video? Are they watching it over and over again?
Are they finding it so entertaining or informative that they have to watch
it again? And if you think about it,
this is why dance videos do so well on TikTok.
Especially if people are rewatching a video to learn the dance routine.
So think about that when you are creating TikTok videos,
how can you make it re-watchable again and again?
The more the algorithm sees people watching your video over and over again,
the more it's going to show it to more people.
So now that you have a good idea of how the TikTok algorithm works,
there are ways that you can make it work in your favor.
The first way is being strategic in your song choice. Yes,
there are trending songs that come and go on TikTok but more than that,
if you go to your analytics on who's following you on TikTok,
the followers tab will actually give you recommendations on what songs your
followers are listening to the most. That's a big hint,
hint from TikTok to use these songs in your own videos.
The next thing you can do is post when your audience is most likely to be active
and in the TikTok app. So again, this is all inside of your analytics.
And if you go to the Followers tab, you'll get this information.
The next thing you can do is use hashtags strategically.
So if you ever want to know,
what's trending head on over to the Discover page and look at the trending
hashtags, right? See if there are any relevant to your audience, your niche,
your business, then when you're posting,
be sure to use a couple trending hashtags,
maybe one to two that are relevant and then the rest should be super niche.
They should be small and specific to your business and your market.
Avoid the really big hashtags like #viral or #FYP,
because they have billions of views associated with them,
and right now your goal is to just be niche and targeted.
Another thing you can try to work the algorithm in your favor is to create video
content that's specific to your local area, so your city,
because it's said that the algorithm is more likely to show you video
content from people who are in your local area. And I know from my experience,
I've definitely noticed that. Whether I'm in Toronto,
where I see videos of other Torontonians, filming the park,
filming their apartment, or even when I traveled to Vancouver,
suddenly I was seeing Vancouver-based content in my For You page.
Since you've made it to the end,
you might be wondering what has changed recently for TikTok?
And the answer is the coronavirus pandemic.
TikTok usage has absolutely exploded since the pandemic
because so many people have been at home in quarantine and in lockdown. In fact,
CNN reports:
TikTok was downloaded 315 million times from January through
March 2020,
an amount that tops any other app ever for a single quarter.
TikTok now has 2 billion downloads overall doubling
its total from just 15 months ago.
I'll repeat that in April of 2020,
TikTok had over 2 billion downloads.
So what does this mean for you?
Whether you're already on TikTok or you're thinking of joining? Well,
before the pandemic,
it wasn't too uncommon that you could post one or two videos and
get a ton of views.
But now there are a lot more people on the app and therefore you might need to
be a lot more consistent with your content strategy before you see one of
your videos go viral. Alright.
So if you're at least remotely curious on how you can use TikTok to actually
grow your business, I invite you to check TikTok Vault.
TikTok Vault two-part program.
One part is all the how tos that you need to know so that you can actually
make easy TikTok videos.
And the second part is a vault of 300 ideas of TikTok
videos you can create to actually grow your business and they're categorized by
what you offer in your business, whether that's services, coaching,
or products. So head to TikTokVault.co,
or find the link right below this video in the description.
To ease and revenue. I'll see you in the next video.
Thanks for watching today's training on the TikTok algorithm.
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