TikTok Marketing Tips for Beginners: How to Create Viral Content and Build a Career as an Influencer

Information for this blog post was obtained from TikTok Business, HubSpot and Sprout Social

Image Courtesy of Unsplash

Do you want to learn how to get noticed differently through TikTok? It is no secret that TikTok can be advantageous to both consumers and business owners. However, with 7 million businesses on the platform, gaining visibility can certainly be difficult. Here is how to devise a strategy to successfully market via TikTok. This blog is about using TikTok for marketing and personal branding. To begin, we will discuss beginner level TikTok marketing which is to build the account and reach the right audience. Then, we will cover the most important components for making videos go viral—timing, community engagement, and participation in trending activities. To wrap up, we will talk about what it takes to start monetizing likes and views, transitioning into a career as a TikTok influencer.

For those who are unfamiliar with TikTok marketing, here is a list with the most important instructions, featuring the first steps in growing your account.

Step 1: How to TikTok Market for Beginners

You should know your target audience before strategizing marketing campaigns on TikTok. Conducting demographic and trend analysis will help you develop content that captures viewer's attention to create appealing TikTok videos. Marrying creativity, eye-catching visuals, and participating in relevant hashtag and trend challenges is fundamental to TikTok content creation. To enhance marketing strategies, maintaining awareness of current trends is critical. The use of influencer marketing, allows for the collision of influencers and brands, which ensures captivation of a broader audience.

TikTok for Business believes in understanding the platform, creating engaging content, leveraging trends and influencers, and utilizing paid advertising strategically, you can harness the full potential of TikTok marketing.

Here’s the reason TikTok is so beneficial to marketers:

• Broad Spectrum: TikTok is home to more than 1 billion users worldwide which allows access to one of the most diverse audiences on any social platform.

• Enhanced Audience Interaction: Users spend over an hour a day consumed by the platform.

• Reduced Cost: TikTok advertising is usually more affordable when compared to advertisements from other marketing channels.

• Unrestricted Business Promotion: From trends, challenges, TikTok is a realm for creative and entertaining marketing stories.

Step 2: How to Create Viral Content on TikTok

Strategy and research often go hand in hand with creativity to achieve outstanding results through videos on TikTok. With over a billion active users, TikTok stands as the most unmatched platform to elevate your brand’s recognition and raise a following. According to HubSpot, TikTok is the 4th largest social media platform by monthly active users. Standing out isn’t easy, and going viral isn’t just luck but with a few creative strategies, here are a few ways to create viral content. 

1. Keep Up With The Trends

Trends on TikTok usually happen in the form of viral sounds or hashtag challenges. If done properly, they can help in boosting one's chances of going viral. To keep up with the trends, checking on the TikTok Creative Center daily would work wonders. However, do not just blindly follow along the trends; adapt and tweak them to best suit your brand and customer base.

2. Post Frequently But Optimize Strategy

Posting regularly on TikTok increases one’s chances at gaining a wider reach. Don’t forget to check your Creator Center analytics page, as it will provide great insight on content performance. Oftentimes most people face a lack of scheduling. This feature can help with scheduling videos when followers are most active. Active follower participation in combination with consistent posting leads to enhanced content exposure to a wider audience.

3. Interaction With Your Audience

Duet and Stitch features enable further engagement with followers by allowing them to respond to comments through video replies. Community building improves your content’s overall visibility, leading to positive change.

4. Ensure To Grasp Attention If Possible Immediately

The first 2 to 3 seconds are crucial. Use a captivating statement, a thought provoking question, or an eye-catching image to get the full attention of the viewer. Keep your videos short in duration. The highest engagement and watch time metrics occur between 21 to 34 second videos.

5.  Boost On Variety Of Platforms

Share your TikTok on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. To maximize views, repurpose TikTok content into email newsletters, the company website, and advertising campaigns.

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Step 3: Building a Career in TikTok Influencer Marketing

Currently, TikTok is not just a platform with videos for dances, it enables users to build their personal brand and pursue a career as an influencer. My advice would be to create short videos that are enticing enough to make users want to comment or share the videos. After meeting the certain follower requirements, you can start making money through your account via brand deals, sponsorships, and even TikTok’s Creator Fund. According to Sprout Social, TikTok analytics reveal where your followers are located, age demographics, their most active times on the platform, and relevant metrics like views and impressions. These insights will help you craft content that connects with your target audiences and expands your reach. It also gives you a clear answer to whether your efforts are paying off.

To begin with, select a niche you are passionate about speaking or presenting, whether it is beauty, fitness, gaming, fashion, or even comedy. Select a niche topic since this makes you different from the rest of the competition and also targets a defined audience. After setting up your creator account, set up an interesting bio and select a profile picture that represents your brand to complete your profile.

Consistent posting helps keep your audience. Testing different post types helps determine what keeps yours coming back. Adding top-performing sounds, tags, and video types raises your discoverability. Being online also depends on engaging with your audience. Reply comments, live, and features such as duets or stitches help build a community around your content. 

There are several methods of earning money if you have an active followership. You can be part of the TikTok Creator Fund, collaborate with brands, sell your personal merchandise, promote affiliated products, or even create your own influencer management agency. For others, there are also other forms of monetization in the form of live stream gifting and donations. With the proper technique along with determination and creativity, the social media app TikTok can very easily become a lifelong profession. If you enjoy making humorous and engaging videos and interacting with new people, then a profession as a TikTok influencer may be the ideal one for you. In today’s world full of online distractions, TikTok can actually be a great tool—whether you're a student, hoping to become an influencer, or even running a small business.

Conclusion

I wrote this blog to show how TikTok can be used to create a brand, build an audience, and even an entire career. For beginners, I first outlined the fundamental aspects of TikTok marketing. Then, I explained trend-following and the necessity of regular posting to become viral. Lastly, we explained monetizing engagement through influencer marketing. Having a clear plan, the right approach, and creativity helps in showing TikTok's true potential. The application has the potential to do more than just amuse - it can be a worthwhile chance.

For more information about TikTok marketing, click below to head to my colleague, Olivia Albers, article.

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Resources

TikTok For Business. (2024, August 22). TikTok Marketing Guide: Reach more customers with short-form video: TikTok for Business Blog. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/tiktok-marketing-guide?acq_banner_version=73412989

TikTok analytics: Data-driven strategies for Growth. Sprout Social. (2025, March 3). https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-analytics/

Amaresan, S. (2019, August 13). How to use TikTok: A step-by-step guide. HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-tiktok