Growing your following count on any social media platform, including but not limited to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X, is a process that requires knowledge about algorithms, the platform you’re using, and your target audience for your content. It is important to market yourself to your audience as someone they would want to invest their time into watching and engaging with. These are the following pieces of advice I, an Integrated Marketing Communication major at Pepperdine University, would give to a creator who is interested in growing their following on YouTube or TikTok:
1. Hone in on a type of content to post. When looking through your favorite creators’ profiles, you’ll be able to see that they typically post a specific type of content. There is a huge range of types of content you can dedicate your account to: product reviews for makeup or clothing, travel content, recipes, your pets, relatable content, and the list goes on. In fact, there’s even a TikToker (@abbeywwwww) who is known for posting reviews of the bathrooms in luxury stores, hotels, and restaurants and calls the series “Come take a shit with me at …”. It is important to know your target audience. Who do you want to target with your content and what type of people do you want to follow you? It is important to keep the content somewhat niche so your followers know what they are signing up for when they choose to follow you. Otherwise, they might like one of your videos, but your others are nothing like it so they will become uninterested and unfollow you. Followers actively make the choice to follow creators if they like their content. Therefore, it is important to be conscious about the content you share.
2. Posting consistently. Followers will appreciate following or subscribing to creators who post content on a regular basis. It is important to find a good balance with a posting schedule. Followers will be overwhelmed and annoyed if you post too much content and it is overflowing their feed. On the hand, followers will not want to follow creators who post content inconsistently. It is important to set a posting schedule so your followers have an idea of how often they can expect to see new content from you as a creator. This can range from once a day, once every two or three days, or once a week. This schedule is also based on the type of content you are posting and depends on if you have content to post often. Followers will not want to see repetitive content if you don’t have anything new to share. Overall, set a posting schedule and stick to it.
3. Engage with your followers. Many followers love to engage with creators, such as liking their content, commenting, and even sending direct messages. Followers will especially do that if they know that there is a chance the creator will engage back with them. Therefore, this raises your engagement and encourages followers to further engage with your content. On TikTok for example, you can respond to a comment using the feature that allows you to respond to comments with a new TikTok video. If the creator is well known and has a big following, this is something that the follower would be excited about and want to share with their friends. This is a way to reach new audiences.
4. Utilize hashtags and hop on trends. TikTok’s algorithm is very specific. TikTok utilizes hashtags and trends to reach users on their “FYP” based on the type of content that the user is interested based on their viewing history. Therefore, it is important to tag your content with hashtags to reach followers who have liked or engaged with similar content. This will give you more success when trying to reach your target audience.
Ali Fergusson, a student in Jon Pfeiffer’s media law class at Pepperdine University, wrote the above essay in response to the following question: "Using the principles of your major, what advice would you give a YouTube or TikTok creator to grow her following?"
Ali is an Integrated Marketing Communication major.
Contact Jon and his team today.
