When To Post on TikTok?

When To Post on TikTok?

If you’re trying to get more views on TikTok, the platform’s intricate algorithm can seem confusing to decode. This algorithm makes it easier to find users and brands based on your interests, rather than who you follow and like (which is what happens on Instagram). 

MuteSix is well-versed in this algorithm and is here to help you take full advantage of everything that TikTok has to offer. 

What Is TikTok?

TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing social media application where users can record, edit, and post videos up to three minutes long for a global audience. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and the platform is known in China as Douyin. 

TikTok is home to many influencers who build dedicated followings by posting content about things like fitness, trends, beauty, fashion, traveling, cooking, parenting, music, history, and more. Influencers may even have a specific niche within these more general categories. 

For example, an account might be known for HIIT fitness, RV traveling, vegan cooking, gentle parenting, or American history. These influencers have millions of followers and hold authority in their chosen niche category. 

Here’s a list of some of the biggest creators on TikTok along with their follower count: 

• Charli D’Amelio — 135.9 million followers
• Khaby Lame — 131.8 million followers
• Bella Poarch — 88 million followers
• Adison Rae — 86.6 million followers
• Zach King — 67.1 million followers
• Will Smith — 66 million followers
• Dixie D’Amelio — 57 million followers
• Loren Gray — 54.4 million followers
• Jason Derulo — 51.3 million followers
• The Rock — 50.4 million followers

A Brief History of TikTok

TikTok has a complicated and interesting history that’s important to understand if you’re trying to build your following on this platform. TikTok was first launched by ByteDance as Douyin back in 2016, after which it acquired nearly 100 million users in China. TikTok was then launched in September 2017 and shortly thereafter, ByteDance acquired the rival app Musicall.ly and pushed 200 million users to switch from that app to TikTok. 

The acquisition of Musical.ly caused TikTok’s viewers and average watch time to skyrocket and the app reached an impressive one billion global downloads in February of 2019. TikTok’s popularity also grew as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 when people were bored at home during the initial periods of quarantine. 

TikTok’s history becomes more complicated in 2020, as it was banned in India in July along with other Chinese apps. Prior to the ban, Indians made up a large chunk of TikTok’s users. However, TikTok’s challenges didn’t end in India, and by August 2020, the app was set to be banned in the United States as well. 

Who Uses TikTok?

TikTok is an international platform with over one billion monthly active users all across the world — making it the world’s seventh-largest social media platform after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat. TikTok has the largest number of users aged 18 and over in the United States (120.8 million), Indonesia (87.5 million), Brazil (72.3 million), Russia (48.8 million), Mexico (41.6 million), Vietnam (39.7 million), Thailand (35.6 million), the Philippines (33 million), Turkey (24.6 million), and the United Kingdom (20.1 million). 

Given the popularity of TikTok around the world, it’s worth noting that creators of TikTok content typically have fans living in many different time zones.

Let’s break down TikTok’s user analytics in one of the app’s top territories – The United States – to get an even better idea of who uses the app: 

• 25% of American TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 19
• 22.4% of American TikTok users are between the ages of 20 and 29
• 21.7% of American TikTok users are between the ages of 30 and 39
• 20.3% of American TikTok users are between the ages of 40 and 49
• 11% of American TikTok users are over the age of 50
• Gender Analytics: 61% of American TikTok users are female, 39% of American TikTok users are male

How To Post on TikTok

TikTok is an extremely user-friendly app that makes it easy for people to quickly and creatively post videos. This platform is entertainment first, and selling last. Everything is more lo-fi, which makes content more engaging and authentic. Ultimately, this leads to expanded reach and conversions.

Here’s a quick guide for posting TikTok videos:

1. Download the app and create a TikTok account. From there, you’ll be prompted to create your profile page.
2. Launch the app and select the “+” button located at the bottom center of the screen. 
3. Choose the duration of your video between 15 seconds, 60 seconds, and three minutes. Keep in mind that your video can still be any length that’s shorter than three minutes. 
4. Begin recording your video or select pre-recorded video clips to add. If you’re recording your video live, you can set timers and countdowns to make the recording process easier. 
5. Choose the speed of your video, effects, enhancements, and filters. You can also choose from pre-made video templates or add an existing sound to the video. 
6. Once you’re done recording or uploading, select the “checkmark” button located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
7. From there, you can view and edit your video by adding additional sounds, filters, visual effects, voice effects, voiceovers, captions, noise reducers, enhancements, stickers, and text. You can also just the timing and presentation of your video clips. 
8. Once you’re satisfied with your video, select the “next” button located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. 
9. Finally, type a description for your video by incorporating hashtags, tagging friends, and linking other TikTok videos. Select a cover sequence for your video that will show up on your user profile and in the search tab. Choose who can view your video and whether or not to allow comments, duets, and stitches. 
10. Select the “post” button located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to post your video. If you’re not yet ready to post the video, you can alternatively choose to place the video in your drafts by selecting the “drafts” button located at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. 

When To Post on TikTok

If you’ve posted on TikTok before, you may have noticed that some of your videos get more views than others depending on when you posted them. This is because posting at peak times is incredibly important when posting on social media and TikTok is no exception. So if you’re looking to maximize your views and reach on TikTok, here are the best times to add to your posting schedule for each day of the week: 

• Monday at 6 AM, 10 AM, and 10 PM
• Tuesday at 2 AM, 4 AM, and 9 AM
• Wednesday at 7 AM, 8 AM, and 11 PM
• Thursday at 9 AM, 12 PM, and 7 PM
• Friday at 5 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM
• Saturday at 11 AM, 7 PM, and 8 PM
• Sunday at 7 AM, 8 AM, and 4 PM

Out of all of these options, the very best posting times for TikTok in terms of engagement are Tuesday at 9 AM, Thursday at 12 PM, and Friday at 5 AM. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these times are pulled from generalized data and the best time for you to post might be different for your specific audience. 

To determine the best time to post on TikTok for your audience, you can check your TikTok audience analytics from your previous campaigns. The analytics dashboard in your account gives you insight into the stats on your past TikTok posts.

Can You Advertise on TikTok?

You can post on TikTok for free, but there’s also the option to pay to promote your content on this burgeoning platform. Did you know that MuteSix was the first-ever agency to partner with TikTok? We know that advertising on this platform is essential because of the low cost and high-reach you’ll get with your potential customers and clients. 

Here’s everything you need to know about paid advertising on TikTok. 

Why Advertise on TikTok?

Even if you’re already paying to advertise on other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, you should still consider adding TikTok to your advertising portfolio. 

For starters, TikTok is a great way to reach the younger demographic that includes Millennials and to a greater extent, Generation Z. It’s estimated that 37.3 million of TikTok’s users belong to Generation Z and that number is projected to increase to a whopping 48.8 million by 2025 — bypassing Instagram and potentially Snapchat in terms of Gen Z users in the process. 

Additionally, since TikTok is still considered a relatively new social media platform, many brands haven’t adjusted their advertising strategies to include this platform. As a result, there tends to be less competition in terms of paid advertising on TikTok compared to other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Depending on your keywords and target audience, this can translate into lower CPCs and higher ROIs. 

A huge bonus is that advertising on TikTok is more affordable than other channels. There’s lower CPMs, which allows TikTok to fit into a healthy omnichannel marketing strategy. 

Finally, you should advertise on TikTok to take advantage of high engagement rates. There’s a reason why TikTok has taken the social media world by storm — it’s a very fun and engaging application that users love. TikTok isn’t an app that users simply open once a day and scroll through for just a few minutes. Instead, it’s an app that users open multiple times a day and spend up to an hour scrolling, liking, and commenting on videos. 

How To Advertise on TikTok

Clearly, advertising on TikTok is worth your while. Here are some of the different ways that you can advertise on this platform, reach your target audience, and grow your brand: 

• In-feed video ads: These ads show up as users are scrolling through their FYPs (which stands for For You Page. It contains contend that is pulled based on what you like and view) with a “sponsored” designation. As a result, this is a more organic type of ad designed to fit in with the organic and non-sponsored content on the platform. 
• Spark Ads: Spark Ads is an influencer marketing whitelisting option that’s huge on TikTok. This ad format allows brands to boost their posts organically throug in-feed ads.
• Branded hashtag challenges: These ads show up on the “Discover” tab on TikTok and encourage users to post their own take on the “challenge” and use the hashtag in their own videos. Come up with a fun and unique challenge to boost the effectiveness of this TikTok ad. 
• Brand takeovers: These ads show up when the app is first launched and come in the form of either a three-second image or a five-second video. Each TikTok user only receives one brand takeover ad a day, which means that competition for these ads can be fierce. As a result, these ads tend to come with high price tags that range between $50,000 and $150,000. 
• TopView: Similar to brand takeovers, these ads also show up when the app is first launched. However, TopView ads feature videos up to 60-seconds in length. These ads also come with a higher price tag due to their invaluable location and extended length. 
• Branded effects: These ads show off your brand’s creativity through fun and engaging effects like filters, lenses, and stickers. Branded effects also encourage users to incorporate these effects into their own videos to boost visibility. 

TikTok Advertising Best Practices

In addition to posting at the right time, here are some other TikTok advertising best practices designed to help you expand your reach on the platform and grow your brand: 

• Partner with influencers: We’ve touched on the topic of TikTok influencers with their millions of followers, however, you can gain access to these followers by partnering with individuals that are relevant within your product category. You can either pay them directly or provide them with free products depending on their popularity. Just make sure that your chosen influencer is a good representation of your brand values and will have a positive effect on your brand image. Spark Ads (whitelsiting) is a great example of how you can partner with influencers, which results in organic growth.
• Access your data: We’ve also touched on using TikTok’s data analytics to find the right time to post. However, you can also use this data to further improve your overall TikTok advertising strategy by figuring out what works and what doesn’t based on how people view and interact with your different campaigns. 
• Work with experts: Finally, you can work with TikTok advertising experts to take all the guesswork out of the process and achieve the best possible results. MuteSix is a TikTok advertising agency that boasts over 80 million impressions over a six-month period, 1,000 TikTok influencer partners, and $130k in client revenue since June 2020. 

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to take advantage of everything that TikTok has to offer by posting the right content at the right time, reach out to the experts at MuteSix for a complimentary marketing consultation. As the first agency to partner with TikTok, we are the experts in posting and advertising on this platform. 

Check out our TikTok case study here.

Sources:

The 20 Top TikTokers with the Most Followers | NewsWeek

What Is TikTok? | Investopedia

US TikTok Users by Age 2021 | Statista