The TikTok Algorithm and View Count

By now, TikTok has been around for a few years and has become quite popular. With over 1.67 billion worldwide users, the platform is worth getting into if you’re trying to get social media famous. Still, you’ll need to understand that TikTok’s algorithm differs significantly from that of other social media platforms. Let’s take a look at how the TikTok algorithm works, how you can get a higher view count, and other ways the platform stands out.

What Is The Tiktok Algorithm

To get TikTok famous, the easy route for beginners is to buy TikTok Views. But you might want to consider more permanent solutions that will help improve your presence on the platform. In order to do that, you’ll need to understand the algorithm. 

First, let’s get the basics out of the way: an “algorithm” in the social media sense is the set of predefined rules that the platform uses to recommend content to users. In other words, this is what you need to focus on if you want your content viewed by more TikToker users.  So how does it word? How does TikTok decide which videos are worthy of recommendations? Here’s a basic rundown:

• Engagement: Videos with more engagement from other uses are more likely to rank higher according to the Tiktok algorithm. This includes likes, follows, comments, related content, favorite videos, etc.

• Negative interactions: Some type of engagement will reduce view count. This includes videos marked as “not interested”, skipping videos, reported videos (those considered inappropriate), etc.

• Info: Any additional info included with the video such as transcription, captions, hashtags. This information helps TikTok’s bots categorize videos better and recommends them based on other users interests and preferences.

• Settings: Users can set preferences such as language, country setting, and categories of interest. These impact what shows up on the “For You” page, but content creators have little to no influence on this factor.

Strategies To Increase View Count

Now that you have a primary idea on how TikTok’s algorithm works, you might be interested in how you can get more people to view your videos. It may take some time for your TikTok page to gain some traction, so be patient. If you are truly committed to going viral on social media, you should be able to do this by incorporating the following strategies to your TikTok activity.

Trending Topics

Understand that the internet is fast paced. Trends change so quickly that it takes serious effort to keep up with what’s “in”. TikTok’s algorithm is especially adept at suggesting videos with popular content to new viewers. So, if you’ve heard the advice that you need to read a lot if you want to write well—this is the same principle. You’ll need to constantly check TikTok for trends if you want to be trendsetter.

Teach yourself to notice patterns and take note of the type of content your target audience is interested in. If you are able to predict what topics are likely to be trending, that’s better. If not, it doesn’t hurt to join a trend, especially if you join early on. 

The Right Hashtags

Unless you’re entirely new to social media, you’re probably familiar with how a hashtag is used to reach audiences. Effectively using the relevant hashtags on your posts will allow your target viewers to find your content more easily. 

More importantly, the TikTok algorithm factors in the hashtags that you include, recommending your videos to interested users. Thereby, your view count should increase once you learn how to use the right hashtags on your TikTok posts.

Note that using hashtags that are overly vague can have the opposite effect—-too many people will be searching for those hashtags, and many more content creators will be using them. Basically, your videos would get lost in the sea of existing content. So, be very specific and intentional in your use of hashtags.

Posting Series

Finally, one of the lesser known ways to get more people to view your TikTok content is to post a series of videos. This could be as simple as a two-part series of related videos, but longer series are more successful at getting increased view counts. 

Of course, you should also consider why anyone would click on the next part of your series. If the first video is not interesting enough, you’ve lost the opportunity to compel a user to watch the next part. This means knowing when to end each part of a series—cliffhangers are great for this purpose.

Pro Tip: Avoid repeating content. This means you shouldn’t post a second video that consists of 85% of the first video and expect users to keep watching. Your cliffhanger may have worked but the frustration of repeated content leads to loss of view count.

Views vs. Followers: Impact On Your TikTok Account

As with other social media platforms, TikTok places importance in both view count as well as follower count. However, their impact on your account might be slightly different. For example, increased views on one post may prompt the algorithm to recommend only that video to other users. 

Follower count is mainly something to strive for in the long run. You may also be interested in an increased follower count if your aim is to partner with brands because they might value your TikTok page more if you have more followers as opposed to more views.

In terms of “going viral”, views are the more important metric to keep an eye on. In fact, it is much easier to increase your view count than it is to gain more followers on TikTok. This may partially be due to passive scrolling habits that users have developed over the years. Nevertheless, you’ll find that view and follower count will typically increase proportionally, and their impact on your TikTok account is fairly similar.

Conclusion

Increasing the number of views on your TikTok posts may not be easy, but there are few strategies that can help you achieve that goal.