How to Build a TikTok Community

According to TikTok, an online community is more than just people posting random videos. TikTok provides a platform for creators with the same interests to form a long-lasting bond. While it may seem daunting if you’re new to TikTok, the following strategies will have you building your community in no time. 

Don’t Pretend to Be Someone You’re Not

The point of building a TikTok community is to create an audience to support your work. This means promoting content to people who like the same things you do. If you pretend to like something to make a splash on TikTok, your followers will see right through you.

Instead of trying to follow the crowd, embrace your uniqueness and celebrate your personality with the content you post. Authenticity connects people, which means you will attract those who appreciate your creativity and sincerity.

Find Your Niche

Speaking of creativity, you should find your niche, making sure it’s something you can be passionate about. When you feel excited about doing something, your creativity will spill over into your content. Whether you like telling jokes, dancing, or cooking, you can pour out your energy and focus on what you love and are good at.

Finding your niche will help you attract the right audience and build your community. It will also help you create content your followers will look forward to.

Create High-Quality Content

Consider the type of content you look for on TikTok. The better the quality of the videos you find, the more your interest is piqued. The same goes for your own content. If you don’t produce good quality content, you won’t get far with building an online community. No matter how short your TikTok videos are, always make sure you use good lighting and audio elements to elevate your content on the platform. Good content will always keep people coming back for more.

Work Out a Content Schedule

Once you’re on a roll with high-quality content, you need to work out a content schedule. Building a thriving TikTok community entails consistent content. If your followers know when to expect a new post from your account, they will start looking forward to it. This builds anticipation and helps retain your audience numbers.

Communicate With Your Audience

TikTok community building is the same as physical community building. It requires communication from all parties. When a community agrees on something and works together towards a common goal, they are unified around it. When your followers see that you value their input on your content by liking and replying to their comments, they feel acknowledged and will unite around your brand. It also makes them feel appreciated and more likely to become loyal supporters within your community.

Give Others the Chance to Shine

Building a TikTok community also means never hogging the spotlight. Give other TikTok creators the chance to shine by creating content together. Whether you team up with other businesses, brands, or influencers, collaborations will put your brand in front of new audiences. It will expose your followers to quality content from your fellow TikTok creators.

You can also spotlight creators who are relatively unknown but produce excellent content. Feature and share their work to help them grow. You can also incorporate them into your community and give them a support system to help them continue to create great content.

Find Your Community With Hashtags and Trends

Always use trending hashtags in your posts when you’re in the process of building a community on TikTok. Trending hashtags help online users find your content and, by default, your profile. You can also increase the chances of engagement on your profile by joining current challenges. If you can get one of your challenge videos to go viral, you’ll instantly have thousands, if not millions, of eyes on your content. Going viral also increases your chances of being featured on TikTok’s For You page and gaining more followers over a short period.

Keep an eye on trends and discussions happening outside of TikTok. You can use current events, pop culture, and memes to continue to create relatable content for your audience.

Feature Your Supporters

Every brand has a handful or even hundreds of supporters—followers that support the business through thick and thin. If you notice these types of users on your profile, show your appreciation by giving them shoutouts or featuring them in one of your videos. When other TikTok users see how much you value your supporters, it may encourage them to become involved in your community.

You can even feature your supporters by creating duet and stitch chains with them. Start a chain reaction of content where followers respond to your duets and stitches. Duet and stitch chains often turn into a fun online experience for TikTok communities.

Thank Your Supporters With Surprise Giveaways

If you have an extremely popular product, you can surprise your followers with a spontaneous giveaway. Choose random commenters or those with the most creative responses to a question. Surprises like this help generate excitement around your brand and will continue strengthening your TikTok community.

Host Virtual Events

There is a reason pop-culture reality shows like American Idol and The X-Factor continue to rise in popularity even after several seasons. People love showing off talent, and it’s no different on social media. You can create a community by allowing your followers to showcase their dance skills, voices, or comedy chops in a virtual event. You can even involve judges and give prizes to make it more exciting. Virtual events create a sense of community, even if you haven’t started to build one yet.

Encourage participants to share their virtual event experiences on TikTok. Showcase the best submissions or create compilation videos to keep the excitement going and encourage others to participate in the next event.

Conclusion

There are so many strategies to explore on TikTok when looking for potential followers and community members. You can connect with local brands and create content that promotes them. Doing this can help you reach a targeted audience, and when these businesses share your videos, an entirely new audience will see your profile and content.

Building a TikTok community doesn’t happen instantly, but the eventual payoff is worth it. So, get started today, and you’ll soon be a community-building pro.