Becoming a TikTok Influencer in 2023: Tips & Tricks
Social media prevalence in the modern arena is unquestionable. The platforms record over 4.7 billion active users, equating to over 50% of the global population.
The popularity comes with new opportunities for marketers to reach an extensive consumer base and, with it, a chance for influencers to make money. Among the fastest-growing social media platforms for influencer marketing is TikTok, mainly attributed to the entertaining and innovative features available.
As of the last quarter of 2022, TikTok recorded over a billion monthly active users, which continues to grow by the day. This means you can tap into the huge pool to grow your popularity and become a successful TikTok influencer.
But why give influencer marketing a go? What do you stand to gain?
3 Reasons to Become a TikTok Influencer
In the last several years, TikTok has gained in popularity among internet users and its boom is proven by the numbers:
For influencers who are starting out, here are three main reasons to become a TikTok influencer.
- Let your creativity run wild. You are creative, which your growing followers’ base proves. Why not tap into your creative tank, run wild, and help people along the way with infotainment? Becoming a TikTok influencer means your voice will be easily heard, which you can wrap with brand promotion to help your followers discover more.
- Make money as an influencer. Earning from your creative work is perhaps among the most irresistible reasons to pursue a chance to become an influencer. The best part is that you don't have to change your life's course. You can keep doing your job and having more social media fun while earning some bucks on the side. Once your popularity hits the roof, you can even make it your primary income stream.
- Keep up with trends. Almost everyone seems to have hopped on the influencer bandwagon, so why not join? You can start from nano, scale to micro, and up to a professional TikTok influencer. It's an exciting and fulfilling journey, more so since you get to stay on trend since you'll be more invested in everything social media.
You have enough reasons to dive into TikTok and become an influencer.
The starting point; amass a significant following. So, how do you get famous on TikTok to attract a vast and loyal following that will turn your influencer endeavors into a profitable venture?
Below are a few pointers to help you develop a successful strategy and thrive as a TikTok influencer.
Learn About the Platform
You have picked TikTok since it is where your target audience is, but how much do you know about the platform? What are the community guidelines? What content performs well?
The easiest thing is to take a look at the graphic below to learn top 10 facts about the platform.
However, it's not enough if you want to use this platform as a communication channel.
The last thing you want is to create an account, upload spicy content, and just about when you start garnering considerable eyeballs, you are locked out.
"At TikTok, we prioritize safety, diversity, inclusion, and authenticity" (TikTok community guidelines).
You have kept that at heart, but you also must know the potential violation that could see you losing your account, which could derail your quest to become an influencer. Understanding the guidelines and the most favorable content will set you on the right path, making it easier to attract more followers within a reasonable period.
Choose Your Niche
Are you an expert in a certain field? What about your passion?
Becoming a popular and successful TikTok influencer relies on the content you deliver. You need to upload entertaining, engaging, and informative content consistently. This is easier once you pick a niche you know and are passionate about. This way, you won't struggle to craft unique and engaging content, stay on trend, and use relevant hashtags, among other measures, to generate more TikTok video views.
Here's the list of the most popular niches on TikTok for your inspiration:
You can easily become a thought leader in your niche, meaning you'll be among the most sought-after whenever a user is looking for information on that area.
Take Care of Your TikTok Profile
Optimizing your TikTok profile can't take the backseat, especially if you want to become a professional influencer.
It adds credibility, inspiring confidence in those who check out the profile.
Optimizing with appropriate keywords also enhances your visibility, making it easier to attract more followers.
Besides providing more details, the optimization is a chance to use visuals to capture more eyeballs.
This helps attract users to your profile, keep them engaged long enough to win their interest, and with a better user experience through easier navigation, convert them to become active followers. Once they are locked, you can reach them easily and make them loyal followers through consistent and top-quality content.
Create Eye-Catching Content
TikTok, like other popular social media platforms, is flooded with content.
This means you must stand out to capture more attention and direct it to your profile. Eye-catching content can help you achieve this and win more followers.
Keeping up can be overwhelming, but not with readily available resources.
At the same time, you can repurpose stock content and keep uploading eye-catching and highly engaging TikTok posts. This way, you will get more attention and post engagements, helping you amass a huge following within a reasonable timeframe.
Optimize Videos for Discoverability
Even the most creative TikTok videos won't trend if their discoverability is lacking.
You need to ensure your content can easily be discovered by users beyond your loyal followers. You can do this by using measures such as relevant hashtags, keywords for the captions, and employing trending audios, just like in the video below:
This way, users can easily discover, share, and engage with your videos, allowing you to reach an extensive pool and realize better influencer marketing progress.
Team Up with Other TikTok Influencer
Collaboration opens up more opportunities to get discovered.
Working with an influencer means you tap into their massive following, which will bring more to your profile. That's why duets are so popular among users:
Collaborations are a gem when you pick reputable influencers in other niches. It is a win-win since you promote each other in different circles. You also learn from each other, making staying on top of your influencer game easier.
Start a Conversation with Users
TikTok is a social media platform which means users crave communication with profiles they show interest in.
If you ignore this, you'll hardly secure a significant loyal following and succeed in your quest to become a top influencer.
Conversations ignite more engagements. The followers will feel more appreciated as a part of your endeavors. This way, they'll remain attached, which means they are more likely to share your posts, extending your reach. Giving the social media the weight it deserves is among the surefire ways to supercharge your efforts and thrive as a TikTok influencer.
Host a Giveaway for Followers
Giveaways provide an excellent opportunity to grow your TikTok follower base.
The campaigns are easy to set up, and since they can quickly go viral, allows you to reach an extensive pool and bring in more users and engagements to your profile and posts.
You will gain more views and, even better, easily track the results from the automation features.
Valuable giveaways worth the time foster healthy competition. This can help you grow a huge following and fast-track your quest to become a TikKok influencer.
Offer Small Businesses a Collaboration
You have your eyes set on the big score.
However, to increase your influencer status and grow, it would be best to include small businesses' collaborations.
Small businesses, especially in your niche, are a rich resource since they attract a specific audience which you can leverage to grow your followers base.
The track record will also count, making your portfolio more appealing to bigger brands along the way.
How to be proactive? Simply make the most out of the comment section:
Spy on Other Influencers in Your Niche
What are other influencers doing that's giving them an edge?
Spying on others can help you uncover your shortcoming or identify gaps you can fill and scale your quests. This will make it easier to stay on your toes, capture the latest trends, and become the go-to in your niche, as your followers won't have to look elsewhere.
It doesn't take much time or effort to find the lists of the most popular TikTok influencers, but you can also use special marketplaces to set up your filtering and find opinion leaders who resonate with you the most.
Promote Your Account on Other Social Media
Sharing your TikTok profile and content on other social media platforms generates more views and can help you secure more followers.
Cross-promoting is an excellent strategy since each platform attracts a certain audience base.
Showcasing your content to such a diverse base will help you get discovered and build a following that more brands will want to tap into, making it easier to land better collaboration opportunities.
Let's take a look at a great example of TikTok promotion with the help of an Instagram post:
Conclusion
Becoming a TikTok influencer is a process that requires a practical strategy.
It can't happen overnight, even after creating a post that goes viral and brings in thousands of followers to your account. This is more so since you can lose a significant following as fast as you captured them if you don't consistently deliver engaging content.
Once you learn the ins and outs of the platform, optimize your profile, and stick to one niche, you will have an easier process moving forward.