How I Got 10k TikTok Followers Overnight: 9 Hacks To Rapidly Grow Your Following On TikTok

TikTok: the cool kid on the social media playground.

Especially right now during quarantine, everyone and their mothers (literally, I see so many moms and grandmas on the app these days) are trying to get TikTok famous. TikTok works so differently than other platforms, like Instagram, that it can be hard to know where to start. 

In this post I’m sharing how I get a video to earn over 1.6 million views, how I earned 10k new TikTok followers overnight and tips for getting your videos to go viral. Keep reading! (Note: this post has been updated for 2021 best practices)

How I Got 10k TikTok Followers Overnight: 10 Hacks To Rapidly Grow Your Following On TikTok

>> Got a question about TikTok that you need answered quickly? DM me on Instagram @thewhimsysoul or on TikTok @whimsysoul and I’ll be happy to help!

Introductions first! Hi, My name is Kara and my life is prettttty crazy. (If you get that reference, I love you. Also, you’re OG enough you probably don’t need TikTok tips.)

All jokes aside, I’ve been blogging here at Whimsy Soul for over 5 years. We have over 80,000 followers on Instagram, over 400,000 people read teamsandthemes.com each month and running this content business is my full time job ( I’ve even hired my husband!) You don’t need a million followers to create full time, and I love showing others how they can grow on social media, too.

I have about 14k TikTok followers at the time of writing this article. Most of them came almost overnight when one of my videos went mega-viral and got 1.6 millions views. I haven’t got a video go that viral since, but I have figured out how to steadily grow a consistent stream of new TikTok followers & I’m sharing my tips in this post! 

So, you’re trying to figure out how to get more likes on TikTok and more followers on TikTok? Keep reading my hacks! 

  • Update: I now have over 300,000 followers on TikTok using the tips I chat about below! 

1. Good Lighting On Your  Videos

Quality lighting on your videos is KEY! Why? TikTok needs to know your video is safe for people to view, aka not porn. When you film your video in a dark room, the machine has a hard time figuring out what your video is about.

TBD I get most of my good video ideas late at night after a couple of drinks. Instead of filming them at night, I write them down and film videos during the day in a bright room. You don’t need a rim light, but they help. This one is my recommended rim light that’s affordable.

 

So, you made your video in good light. The next step is to use a trending song (obviously unless your audio is original or video idea is specific to some other sound.) 

Here’s why it’s smart to use trending songs: in short, TikTok is a bit rigged to promote videos using trending songs. TikTok low-key rules the music industry. Just take a look at the Top 100 Songs of the week lists. Many of the top songs are ones that are super popular on TikTok. 

It’s not a coincidence. TikTok frequently has deals with record labels to push artist’s songs in the app to increase that song’s sales and increase the chances that song will reach top charts. 

How do you know what songs are trending? When you make your video, simply use one of the recommended songs that the app suggests. It’s easy as that! You can also help yourself by saving sounds you find on your FYP that you notice come up a lot and make sure to use those in your videos.

I promise that by using trending songs you can increase from 100 TikTok followers to 1000 TikTok followers pretty fast. ♬ original sounds are good to use, too! 

 

Again, the smarter your hashtags are, the more TikTok likes and views your videos will earn. On top of working with record labels, TikTok frequently partners with brands and those campaigns are always anchored around a hashtag and audio. If you use that hashtag, your video has a higher chance of being pushed on more people’s For You Page during the length of the campaign. 

Example: remember that “Eyes Lip Face” audio from a few months ago with E.L.F Cosmetics? That was a TikTok campaign. 

You can find trending hashtags via the in-app hashtag suggestion tool. You find this when you are in the caption stage. Simply hit the # and suggestions will pop up. Use those suggestions! 

AKA, do that trending dance or trending video concept, but put a spin on it to make it your own. If you are a small creator, you need to mix the trending videos with new content. 

For example, last fall there was a trend around “I can take your man if I want to” where hot girls flaunted for the camera. I took that trend, but did a MASSIVE twist at the end that was 100% original but also funny.

This video got over 1.7 MILLION views and is the reason my account blew up overnight with 10,000 TikTok followers.

@whimsysoulHope nobody has done this yet… ##takeyourman ##fyp♬ Take Your Man – Mahogany LOX

5. Post At Ideal Times

Just like with any social media platform, posting at ideal times helps. It’s not as important as with Instagram, but posting at times when more users are on the app can help your videos get more views quicker, which leads to more TikTok followers. 

I suggest posting early in the morning, mid-afternoon, or late at night as these are times that people tend to be looking at their phones more (morning commutes, afternoon lulls, on the couch, etc.)

This requires a bit of playing around with on your part. Social media services don’t yet have good tools for predicting ideal posting times. Thankfully, Tiktok services built into the app does include some insights on when YOUR audience is active. Post when your Tiktok fans are on the app!

6. Don’t Delete Your TikTok Videos

Here’s the thing: not every video I post does well right away. Some totally flop… but do you know what? It’s not uncommon for a video I posted a few weeks ago to suddenly hit the FYP page on a mass scale and go viral all on its own.

That’s why it’s important to never delete videos from your TikTok account. For example, I posted this video of re-potting a plant that got about 1,000 views on the first day and stalled. BUT, about 2 weeks later it started trending again and it earned me 4,000 new views and around 80 new followers. 

@whimsysoulHow i never pay for new plants (or new pots!) ##upcycle ##plants ##reallifeathome ##bohochic ##plantlover ##gardening♬ Knock Knock Let Em In – Trey Traylor

You never know if a video is going to hit people’s FYP again, so don’t delete content! Tik Tok isn’t like other social media platforms where you can delete old stuff and nobody will notice. You can easily earn more Tiktok views on your old stuff. 

7. Have A Good Profile Bio

 Make sure your TikTok profile looks approachable & fun so you can earn more new followers who tap over to look at your profile.

If your bio is boring, feels stiff or makes it seem like you are trying too hard, you may not earn as many followers as if you have a good bio. Don’t just copy over what you have on Instagram into TikTok, craft something new! Your bio can be funny or relatable. The best bios have some sort of call to action (like: follow for fluffy cat content.)

You can even use a company like Linktree to make a landing page that displays tons of links at once. Let’s say you post a lot of videos around your small business — this landing page can make it easy for your tik tok followers to find the product they want to buy!

8. Stitch! 

TikTok launched a new feature called Stitch in late 2020 and it’s a great way to rapidly scale your following. Stitch is basically where you can use the first few seconds of another person’s video in your own video. Most people use it to share a story they have that’s similar to the original video or to expand on that topic. 

Here’s an example of a video I stitched that got almost 700k views and still gets me, new followers, to this day! Because this is still a newish feature, TikTok is pushing Stitches in the FYP more than they are pushing regular videos. So go stitch! It’s a great way to add to conversations and get more clients or followers. 

9. Have fun!! 

At the end of the day, it’s important to use TikTok for fun. Really, if you are trying to figure out how to get TikTok famous perhaps the most important hack is to just be yourself. Be real, be raw, be YOU. Stop thinking so hard and make things off the cuff.

If you feel “old” or unconfident in your content, that shows through on video. Real tiktok followers want to see your quirkiness. 

How to get more followers for free? BE YOU! 

10. Use TikTok Stories

Brand new in March 2022 are TikTok Stories! They have been testing this out for a while but finally rolled it out to everyone. TikTok is going to want to get users to use Stories so they will reward the TikTok users who are using them. Create content for them like you would for Instagram Stories or Instagram Reels!

You post a TikTok Story by using the “quick” setting and then tapping the Post The Stories button. 

When In Doubt, Post Your Cat Or Dog

I mean, the people love pets. I get new TikTok followers every time I post a video featuring my cat. And most of those videos aren’t even good, I just think my cat is cute and so do other people I guess! 

@whimsysoulI paid $40 to visit this flower field, this better not flop ? ##foryou ##doitfortiktok ##flowers♬ Midsummer Madness – 88RISING

How To Get Free Followers On TikTok

Umm, DON’T! It can be tempting to use a paid service to get more fans. When researching for this blog post, I was shocked at how many services there are now that advertise ” free TikTok followers ” and ” free TikTok likes ” (but for a price). Fake followers are not the answer for success. Buying TikTok followers is not the answer. You want real followers.

The easiest way to get free TokTok followers is to USE THE DANG APP and grow organically.

Seriously – TikTok is not Instagram. Followers don’t matter nearly as much as they do on Instagram because every video you publish makes it on someone’s FYP even if they don’t follow you. Of course, more followers = more likely your videos will get viewed by people, but someone doesn’t need to be following you to see your content in their home feeds.

So, it’s important to have TikTok followers for marketing purposes, but it’s not smart to buy your way to 100k followers with fake bots or fake user generated content engagement. 

If sites are saying they can grow your TikTok follower count and give you 10000 TikTok followers free – they’re lying to you and will give you bots. Not real free TikTok fans — robots. Which are useless for you and your social media marketing goals. Yes, your tiktok followers count matters but using a bot tiktok followers generator ain’t it, boo.

Say no to Like to Buy, TikTok follower apps, ” free tiktok followers instantly ” gimmicks, buy content scams and other bogus social media marketing services. You don’t need fake social media promotion, not manner how good their customer support seems. 

Using Fake Followers Won’t Get You Into The TikTok Creator Program

I know, I’m in it! They want TikTok creators who have original Tiktok content that resonates with their target audience. Just like everyone says, you can’t buy your way in. Plus, how do you expect to get brand deals with fake followers? Brands don’t want to hire cheaters for their TikTok ads.

I hope this helps you learn some tips to get followers on TikTok and grow your account! Since using it, I’ve gotten more Instagram followers as a side effect, so using TikTok as a creator, influencer or brand is a smart marketing tactic.

If you have any tips to add on how to get more tiktok followers likes views or clients, leave a comment below so everyone can see!

Kara

I'm the founder of Whimsy Soul (this blog you're reading!) I'm a type 3 enneagram cat lady who lives in San Francisco and loves to find everyday magic to share with others. You can probably find me hunting down hot springs with girlfriends, kayaking, cooking with my husband, petting strangers' dogs or watching like, all the things on Netflix. Follow me on Instagram for even more inspiration!

354 comments

      5. I tryed all these step for a year and i got some new follower ebur not a lot maybe i got like 10 new follower.

  11. I like this app thank u so much .this is too much good and use full app .I am so happy .thank u so much.

    Reply

  13. I’ve had a Twitter profile for years that I post to on occasion and can’t get past 39 followers. WTF. On Insta, where I have like 30 pictures I have like 400 follower, no idea why, and on FB I have just shy of 5,000.

    Reply

  25. I and my friend are really good dancer we are wanting to be influencers one day and we don’t know how to get our fuse up so I was wondering if you guys could follow us on Tik Tok (Cynthia_and_Kelsey) and YouTube (Cynthia and Kelsey) only if you want to

    Reply

  29. J love you so so much!!
    You is my idol!!
    I love you??❤️❤️
    Please follow me!
    I don’t like Charlidamelio I like youuu! ❤️❤️❤️

    Reply

  31. Hey check Mine tiktok Itsmehoscar and Say what videospēļu should I rec or what should I Change to get On fyp

    Reply

    1. you could like make funny or do trending tiktoks or just do reactions my tiktok is ybkslime check out my page i get a good amount of vies for how many followers i have

      Reply

  47. tiktoker since 2017… still at 4.5k and used every tip here… even got a ring light for better lighting… this list needs an update because it is no longer working and i know people wont give away their secret to hitting 10k

    Reply

  49. So this is my user name on tiktok @Terryline13 I want this because my family think I will never be TikTok famous that why I want to show them God is possible in doing something for us thank you.

    Reply

  51. Plz Mam promote my tiktok account username @shamibaig_101 plz help me grow tiktok followers My tiktok account username @shamibaig_101 plz help

    Reply

  70. To get more followers on TikTok join me in our grow community. We help each other get to where they want to be. @coachjulihoward

    Reply

  73. Pls pls i need help what can i do to get lot of followers like you i have tried my best but i only have 12 pls like and follow me my user name is kenry 24 on tiktok

    Reply

    1. I want to grow my account plz 🙏😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

      Reply

  95. Hi tiktok team my tiktok account has been frozen since last month so I want you guy to please give me one more chance to get my account unfreeze please I’m really shy whenever my freaks me about my tiktok followers it’s stuck in 4K since last month I really love the TIKTOK app I want you guys to please unfreeze my TIKTOK account id Is : n.m7r7

    Reply

  102. Plz me I would like at least 1000 but every time I post nothing blows up. I’m really trying my best, but nothing seems to work plz help me.

    Reply

    1. Sir my tik Tok account name malikramzan131 please check my account no view no like no flowers please help me please

      Reply

  133. I didnt get any followers pls send me ASAP on my email and plz yall give me some follows

    Reply

  134. Please i don’t get followers or likes on tiktok…please can u help with followers and likes ….like 1k followers and 1.4k likes on my vedio
    @anwuliglory7

    Reply

    1. __official__dhanu is my tiktok account..if you grow my 20 k followers, 200 k likes and viewers also..plz,🙏🙏🙏 support me…in growup

      Reply

    1. Comment your name if I like your name that’s means.i like your name please like an comment your name pls 🥰@Jackemily65

      Reply

  145. Yo everyone can you please go show love and follow my tiktok I just made it and I have no clue what I’m doing the username is

    GetSmokedSchmuck

    Reply

  163. Can y’all plz follow me I follow all my followers right back I play fortnite and y’all can join my party to be in a. Tik TOk video my account is called monkeyman825 all lowercase

    Reply

  169. Hi I’m a small titokers can you helped me to grow my titok 🥺😭😭 please 🥺 my usernames @daisymaecastro868 I need more follower’s And viewers 🥺❤️ thank you

    Reply

  170. pls help me grow and like my tictoks and make videos about me pls my tictok account name is haydenbromley955

    Reply

  179. Love these tips! Thanks for including truly helpful information. So many other posts just say the same couple of things over and over but no real advice. I’m going to start your suggestions now

    Reply

  180. Hey guys I would really appreciate it if y’all could help a girl out and grow my account to 10k 💙!!!!

    Reply

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