Becoming a TikTok Influencer — How Easy Is It?

Spoiler alert: it’s incredibly difficult to reach influencer status if your goal is to become powerful and rich simply by posting TikTok content.

The news isn’t all bad, though. There are different “levels” of social media influencers, and you can begin monetization of your account as a “nano-influencer” with just 1,000 TikTok followers.

You won’t be buying that McMansion or yacht you’ve had your eye on once you’re a nano- or micro-influencer (the second level requires 10,000-100,000 TikTok fans), but you can still earn decent money from tips, collaborations, and promotions.

And here’s more good news. Once you’ve started growing your fan base, the app increases your audiences. That makes it easier and easier to build your TikTok account and become a macro-influencer (100,000-1,000,000 fans) or a mega-influencer (1,000,000+) and rake in the really big bucks.

The process won’t be fast or simple, however, even if you’re just trying to reach the magic 1,000-follower level. It will require lots of planning, work, and dedication — but the rewards can be worth it.

Let’s get started on the journey. We’ll begin by discussing your videos because it’s impossible to become an influencer without producing high-quality content.

1. Planning

No TikTok users became influencers completely by accident. They may have unexpectedly seen one of their posts go viral, but even if they regularly create great videos, explosive popularity is a one-time thing. Even most terrific TikTok videos attract small audiences unless the content creators producing them have a long-range plan to build on their successes.

You’ll need one, too. That plan should have several components.

Choosing a Niche

There are more than two billion TikTok users, and no video that anyone creates will appeal to all of them.

That’s fine. To build a fan base on the social media platform, you need only a tiny percentage of the user base to love your content, engage with it, and decide to follow your TikTok account. The most efficient way to find that target audience is to choose one subject that you’re passionate about and make it the focus of all the videos you produce.

Forget about sharing posts about your lunch, your new outfit, and your toddler’s toilet training; no one except family members and friends will be interested in your day-to-day life unless (until?) you’re a TikTok celebrity. Ordinary users are on the app looking for content that matches their own interests. They’ll follow you if they realize that you’re a like-minded creator.

You don’t have to pick a topic that regularly trends, or one that’s already oversaturated on the platform, either — so don’t worry about shooting dance or prank videos (unless those are your passions). Choose a subject that you’re knowledgeable about or accomplished in, and concentrate on making vids that others who share your interest will find compelling.

With 2+ billion users on the app, there are plenty of potential followers for any content niche.

Perfecting Your Video Techniques

Even members of your target audience will quickly scroll past your TikTok posts if they’re hard to watch. Shaky, fuzzy, or out-of-focus video, or audio that’s hard to understand, will lose you any new followers you might otherwise be able to add.

If you’re producing simple content, the camera(s) in your phone should be good enough. For more complicated videos, you might need to buy better equipment. Either way, make sure you know how to use it to create the highest-quality content possible, before trying to entice surfers to watch and become your TikTok fan.

Learning editing techniques is almost as important. You want your videos to keep people watching, and that requires making them easy and enjoyable to watch. You don’t have to be a professional to use TikTok’s editing suite, thankfully, but you should understand all of the ways you can make your content look professional to the viewers you bring in.

Having a Content Strategy

“I think I’ll make a video about (subject)” can let you post something on your timeline — but even if the vid is a smash hit, that’s not a strategy that will let you build on your success. You should brainstorm and develop plans for a number of posts that you can upload on a schedule, and have at least a few of them ready to go before posting your first piece of content.

In fact, it’s best to already have added several videos before uploading what you think is your best one. Those who love the post will probably check out your account; if they see you haven’t created any others, they’re unlikely to hit the “follow” button. Potential fans want to know that you’ll be regularly entertaining them with new videos before committing to a follow.

The word “regularly” is important. Create a schedule for your new posts and stick to it; that will keep you on track and let followers know when to expect new content. Pro tip: check TikTok analytics to find out when most of your fans are online, and upload at those times. They’re more likely to engage with your account if they see your new post while they’re surfing.

Planning is important for each of your videos as well. Only accomplished broadcasters and actors can “wing in” when it comes to creating content, and you’re probably not either one. Script or plan your entire video, complete with specifics for dialogue, camera angles, props you might need, pauses for editing, and effects to be added. After that, you’re ready to shoot.

Quite simply, a professionally-produced video attracts more viewers and followers.

Paying Attention to Details

Small details can have a huge impact on the number of people who will find and watch your TikTok video and become your fans.

• Trends: We’ve mentioned that you don’t need to create content focused on trending topics, but any chance you have to include trending subjects that fit with your niche can bring in additional viewers.
• Optimization: TikTok has its own search function, so SEO is a good way to attract people who wouldn’t otherwise see your posts. Write enticing descriptions that will make people think your post contains “must-watch” video, use search-friendly keywords in the descriptions that will bring in traffic, and include a call-to-action (CTA) that tells people to stop and watch. Choose the most enticing thumbnail for your cover photo, too; adding compelling text to it will help even more.
• Hashtags: Add relevant hashtags to your posts, as well as trending hashtags if they fit the topic of your content.

2. Increasing Your Viewership

You can’t become an influencer without bringing in lots of TikTok users who aren’t familiar with your account and convincing them to follow you. Having great content is half the battle — but finding a larger audience is the other half.

Now that you have a robust content strategy and you’re posting videos, it’s time to turn your attention to sources of new viewers. There are lots of approaches you can take; using all of them is smart if you want to build a following more rapidly.

• Cross-Promote Your Content: Not all of your potential fans spend time on TikTok. Use your accounts on other social apps to promote your videos or TikTok profile to your fan bases there. Some will come over to TikTok to take a look and get hooked on your content.
• Look Elsewhere on TikTok: TikTok Stories is becoming a more popular section of the app, and posting teaser clips of your videos there may help you find viewers who don’t spend much time scrolling their feeds.
• Make Yourself Visible and Accessible: Respond to every comment on your posts and every DM you receive. That’s a good way to build a bond with visitors and turn them into followers, and keep existing fans on board long-term. Look for other content creators and influencers in your niche and comment on their posts, too; others who “hang out” in their comment sections will get familiar with you and check out your account.
• Collaborate with Influencers: Speaking of influencers, find ones who are into the same subjects that you are and ask if they’re interested in a collaboration. Some nano- and micro-influencers may be happy just to exchange promotional shoutouts; bigger ones may want money to mention your account. If an influencer wants to collaborate on a video, that’s great exposure for you. Explore the possibility of doing TikTok Duets and Stitches as well.
• Participate in Trending Challenges: You may not be crazy about some of them, but the more challenges you get involved with, the more users there are who will see your entries. If you can get your own challenge trending, that will bring in a bonanza of new views.
• Run UGC Contests: Asking visitors and existing followers to submit user-generated content in return for a chance to win prizes can boost visibility for your account and engagement with your audience.

All of those methods have worked for users trying to find and acquire new followers, but be prepared: it can take forever to acquire new followers a handful at a time.

For faster and more effective growth on your way to becoming an influencer, you may want to do what so many other macro- and mega-influencers have done to become popular and influential on TikTok. iDigic’s TikTok growth services can quickly increase your organic follower count, audience, and engagement metrics; please click the link to read more about them.