Tips For Recreating TikTok Trends
TikTok’s main feature, the For You Page, is where viewers can see content chosen specifically for them based on their past likes and comments. This content may occasionally be niche, but in general, the TikTok algorithm favors trends and will push your video ahead of niche videos if it includes trending content. If you are marketing on TikTok, participating in trends is a great way to reach a larger audience, and enjoy feeling like a part of the TikTok community.
So, what’s the key to recreating TikTok trends? What does it take to make sure your version hits the mark?
Spend Time Scrolling TikTok
TikTok content moves quickly, and trends come and go within a few days. If you aren’t keeping up with the most recent content you are certain to miss trends or discover them too late to participate. In between making your own TikToks, be sure to spend time scrolling your FYP and trending content. This is also a great way to sort out which trends you’d like to try since you’ll be able to see lots of different versions of different trends.
Involve Your Team
If possible, try including your employees, coworkers, and colleagues in your TikToks. Viewers and customers like seeing behind the scenes of their favorite companies and brands, and trends are a super fun way to get lots of people involved. No, you don’t have to pick the best dancers or the people who will be the most ‘talented,’ just choose people who will have fun with it and want to play along! There are tons of trends that involve more than one person, from lip synching dialogue to doing something silly as a group.
Choose Trends You Like
There are many TikTok trends, but you don’t have to do every trend you see! Choose trends you like, or ones that resonate with you in some way (whether funny or meaningful), you can direct your content to like-minded people. Chances are good that many of your ideal clients or customers will have the same interests and likes as you, so choosing to do trends that you enjoy will make you more likely to connect with viewers with similar interests.
Learn To Limit Hashtags
Some social marketers have perpetuated the idea that you need to use dozens of hashtags to become relevant, but this simply isn’t true. On TikTok in particular, short-and-sweet is the name of the game. Viewers don’t want to read long captions, and the same goes for added hashtags. Instead of cramming your hashtags with every conceivable phrase or term, choose 3-5 specific hashtags to fit either your niche or the trend you are doing. Fewer, more carefully chosen hashtags will increase your chances of reaching the right audience, and help you to avoid being seen as a spam account.
Be Open & Honest
Lots of trends involve sharing a story or something about yourself. While sharing something funny is a perfectly good way to participate in these trends, TikTok users also enjoy sincere, open, and vulnerable stories. If you choose to do trends where you share something about yourself or your brand, be sure to be as open and honest as possible.
If, for example, you have had to overcome certain challenges while developing your brand, consider sharing what it took to get through the hard times. TikTok viewers like to be able to relate to content creators, and sharing something personal is a wonderful way to draw in views and develop a trusting relationship with your audience.
Make Trends Your Own
No matter how simple a trend may be, there is always room for you to personalize it and make it your own. Try to incorporate some part of your brand, your mission, or your personality into every trend you participate in, either by making some small change or just doing it in your signature style. A great example of a brand taking on trends while still making it their own is Scrub Daddy.
Scrub Daddy’s TikToks often include lots of members of their team, and of course, their signature smiling Scrub Daddy sponges. In a recent video, the Scrub Daddy team recreated a trending interview on the streets of New York (you may know it as the Bing Bong Interview) using a Scrub Daddy as the microphone and featuring multiple employees lip synching different parts.
