How to Make Your Video Go Viral on TikTok
TikTok took the world by storm when it first became available in 2016. Just two years later, it became the world’s most downloaded app, and today it has 1.1 billion active monthly users, according to Demand Sage. No wonder so many companies are looking for ways to go viral on TikTok!
Going viral on TikTok has become an especially big focal point for brands when you consider the vertical video platform’s growing demographic and its emerging eCommerce store.
TikTok’s Demographics
Although TikTok has long been viewed as a haven for young teenagers, its demographics changed dramatically over the last few years. Here’s how it breaks down in the United States today, according to Backlinko:
25% of US TikTok Users: Ages 10-19
22.4% of US TikTok Users: Ages 20-29
21.7% of US TikTok Users: Ages 30-39
20.3% of TikTok Users: Ages 40-49
11% of US TikTok Users: Ages 50+
The TikTok Shop
As platform demographics have shifted to include a wider swath of the population, TikTok’s capabilities have also improved to better serve businesses. The recent creation of the TikTok Shop has made it easier for businesses to sell their products on TikTok, creating a new potential revenue stream for companies!
With so much opportunity, it makes sense that so many businesses have flocked to TikTok to promote themselves. But while many are trying their best, it sometimes seems like going viral is impossible.
Fortunately, we’ve analyzed some of the most viral TikTok videos of all time, and we’re breaking down exactly how to make your videos go viral on TikTok, too!
Table of Contents
How Does Going Viral Help Brands?
3 Examples of Companies That Have Gone Viral
The 10 Most Popular TikTok Videos Of All Time
How Does Going Viral Help Brands?
Before we discuss the most viral TikTok videos of all time, let’s understand how going viral can help your brand in general.
We’ll start here: Throughout the 1900s, the best way to get your brand in front of people was to pay for it in the form of TV ads, billboards, radio spots, and print materials. Today, though, there are many less expensive ways to get in front of consumers, including social media.
And going viral on social media can turn a few hours of work into millions and millions and millions of views, which then lead to a surge of orders and inquiries.
3 Examples of Companies That Have Gone Viral
1. The Squatty Potty - The “This Unicorn Changed the Way I Poop” Video: With its bright colors, brilliant sense of humor, loveable mascot, and careful editing, this video launched the Squatty Potty—a stool for helping people use the bathroom—into mainstream conversation. Since launching seven years ago, the video below has garnered 41 million views on YouTube—and you can bet it received just as many across other social channels!
2. Starbucks - #WhiteCupContest: When Starbucks sat down to design a new, reusable cup for its stores, it asked its Instagram followers to create their own designs and submit them using the #WhiteCupContest hashtag. The stunt earned the company millions of free impressions and tons of news coverage. Plus, folks lined up to get cups (and coffee) to create their own submissions for the coffee giant.
3. Blendtec - "Will It Blend?" Series: Blendtec is a major manufacturer of blenders, and they stand apart by going the extra mile to prove just how powerful and durable their blenders really are. While the “Will It Blend?” series has been popular across all social platforms, its most popular video shows the company slipping an iPad into the blender (a stunt that has collected 19 million views for the video below):
In each of these cases, the companies received millions of views, tons of online engagement, and great press coverage—all for only the cost of video production.
In other words: It’s worth going viral on social media!
The 10 Most Popular TikTok Videos of All Time
Before we discuss how to make a video go viral on TikTok, let’s look at some of the most viral TikTok videos of all time.
As of August 2023, the TikTok videos with the most all-time views are:
1. Zach King’s Magic Ride
Total Views: 2.3 billion
Total Likes: 22 million
Total Comments: 570,800
Total Saves: 917,600
Total Shares: 1 million
Why It Stands Out:
It taps into one of the most popular franchises of all time (Harry Potter), which naturally spurs shares and comments, leading the algorithm to share the video with more people!
There’s a great illusion here, which plays well into Zach’s overall branding and is impressive even in the age of CGI.
It leverages humor, which helps the video appeal to a wider audience.
It’s very short, which lends itself to replays—another factor that’s good for the TikTok algorithm
2. James Charles’ Christmas Sisters Party
Total Views: 1.8 billion
Total Likes: 8.6 million
Total Comments: 107,000
Total Saves: 237,900
Total Shares: 134,900
Why It Stands Out:
It taps into a trending audio from Counter-Strike, which helps the video get more views.
Clever transitioning. The meticulous transitioning between shots makes this a fun, exciting video.
Beautiful environment and decorations. James Charles has a beautiful home and holiday decorations, which makes this a fun video to watch.
It taps into a holiday. Videos that play into current events often receive more views over a small period of time, which is what happened with this video!
Very short. Short videos tend to get better metrics!
3. Zach King’s Unexpected Hiding Spots
Total Views: 1.1 billion
Total Likes: 9.5 million
Total Comments: 17,700
Total Saves: 119,000
Total Shares: 56,600
Why It Stands Out:
Humor. Zach’s videos regularly leverage humor to make them more enjoyable, which spurs engagement so it’s seen by more people.
Great camera tricks and edits. Again, we see another great illusion from Zach King.
It plays into nostalgia. Everyone played hide-and-seek as a child, and this plays into the fraught scenario of trying to find the perfect hiding spot when all of them seem like they’ve already been taken!
It’s short, which makes it more likely to be watched all the way through.
4. Glass and Cake Illusion by Zach King
Total Views: 1 billion
Total Likes: 13.2 million
Total Comments: 75,900
Total Saves: 206,000
Total Shares: 490,000
Why It Stands Out:
Taps into the “Is it cake?” trend. If you don’t remember, “Is it cake?” was an incredibly popular trend in which bakers would turn cakes into lifelike objects.
Great illusion. Again, we have a great illusion from Zach King!
Very short. Short videos tend to get better performance metrics on TikTok.
5. “M to the B” lip-Syncing by Bella Porch
Total Views: 690.7 million
Total Likes: 62.2 million
Total Comments: 2.3 million
Total Saves: 3.3. million
Total Shares: 42.4 million
Why It Stands Out:
Very short. Short videos tend to get better performance metrics on TikTok.
Plays to a trending audio. Trending audios are a great way to get more impressions in a short period of time!
6. Zach King’s Wet Wall Illusion
Total Views: 659 million
Total Likes: 11.3 million
Total Comments: 73,700
Total Saves: 215,000
Total Shares: 243,000
Why It Stands Out:
Great replay cut. This video features a seamless transition that allows this video to be played on a loop.
It’s relatively short, and that replay loop means it could very easily be watched twice without someone realizing it!
Humor. Again, Zach King’s unique sense of humor and storytelling is on view.
7. Sorrel Horse Dancing to “Say It Right”
Total Views: 421 million
Total Likes: 52 million
Total Comments: 708,000
Total Saves: 3.9 million
Total Shares: 1.7 million
Why It Stands Out:
Juxtaposition. “Say It Right” was a hit song all over the world in 2006, propelled forward by its mysterious emotional quality. That’s juxtaposed with a man wearing a Power Rangers shirt in a dirty bathroom. It’s an unexpected combination that lends itself to humor (discussed below).
Humor. The video starts off with a view of a dirty bathroom, then goes into a dance for a remix of a popular R&B song. That’s enough to make it a funny video worth sharing (which has been done 1.7 million times)!
8. Nyadollie’s makeup tutorial
Total Views: 409 million
Total Likes: 37.2 million
Total Comments: 705,000
Total Saves: 1.8 million
Total Shares: 523,900
Why It Stands Out:
It’s relatively short. The video is under 30 seconds, which makes it easy to watch a couple of times.
Plays into a popular audio. Grover Washington, Jr.’s “Just the Two of Us” is an immensely popular song, and it makes for a romantic soundtrack to this video!
It’s a makeup tutorial. Makeup tutorials are incredibly popular on TikTok, and this plays directly into that demographic hungry for great makeup ideas.
9. A Baby Laughing by Daexo
Total Views: 392 million
Total Likes: 35.3 million
Total Comments: 445,000
Total Saves: 1.1 million
Total Shares: 1.6 million
Why It Stands Out:
It’s short. Again, short videos tend to get more plays!
It’s cute. Everyone loves cute babies!
It taps into a song and choreographs it. This only heightens the cuteness level, helping the video get more attention!
10. Billie Eilish’s Face Warp Challenge
Total Views: 357 million
Total Likes: 40.7 million
Total Comments: 589,000
Total Saves: 684,800
Total Shares: 295,900
Why It Stands Out:
Plays into the Face Warp Challenge trend, which helped boost the video’s popularity while helping to endear Billie to her fans.
It shows a celebrity not taking themselves too seriously. Again, Billie is endearing herself to fans by laughing at her silly image.
Cuts off on a good laugh. Again, Billie humanizes herself in this video. She’s not a celebrity who’s out of reach; she is a regular human being willing to laugh at herself in silly situations.
It’s short. Again, short videos tend to get more plays!
Pulling Back: Understanding Why These Videos Went Viral
There are so many lessons to learn from the videos above, but here’s the most interesting: In each of the videos above, the creators already had big platforms. In fact, outside of Billie Eilish, you might have a difficult time explaining what any of the creators listed above actually do for a living!
That’s a fact that’s contrary to what we might expect: Companies work so hard to create content that gets traction while highlighting products and services, but the biggest videos of all time focus more on entertainment than sales.
With that in mind, it’s better for company accounts and solopreneurs to set their products and services aside while creating content on TikTok. Instead, it’s better to focus more on connecting with your audience (which we’ll discuss more in our next section).
With that out the way, let’s look at some of the common themes in the videos above. Tactics they’re using include:
Playing into a trend - A few of the videos above play into what was trending at the time with other videos.
Playing into seasonality - The James Charles video was a Christmas video.
Playing into a bigger IP - All of these creators have their own IP, but Zach King’s most popular video celebrated Harry Potter—one of the world’s biggest franchises of all time.
Using humor - Many of the videos are funny in some way. Even the Billie Eilish video cuts off with a laugh!
Keeping videos short - You’ll notice that most of the videos above at less than 20 seconds, and all of them are less than 60 seconds.
Using effects and edits - All of the videos above include some sort of clever edit, camera technique, or special effect. Billie Eilish’s video plays into the face warp trend, Zach King’s videos are cleverly edited, and Nyadollie’s video contains a variety of quick cuts.
All of these tactics are valuable, so don’t be afraid to leverage them into your own videos—which we’ll explore in our next section.
How To Make Your Video Go Viral On TikTok
Here are 11 ways to make your video go viral on TikTok:
4. Use Humor
8. Collaborate With other Accounts
1. Plan Your Video Beforehand
Very few videos in the top 10 were shot randomly without any previous planning. Zach King’s videos, for example, are all highly produced with sophisticated special effects. James Charles’ video was likely storyboarded before he posted it. And Nyadollie’s makeup tutorial featured tons of cuts and zooms to ensure each shot properly captured its subject matter.
Planning ahead of time ensures you have the tools, resources, and vision for your video to go viral on TikTok. Plus, planning gives you an opportunity to:
Finish your script. If you want to avoid looking like you’re reading your lines off a cue card, this prep work will allow you to remember and rehearse your lines so you’re completely ready once you step in front of the camera. (For help writing a script, check out our pre-production services.)
Figure out your camera angles. Stanley Kubrick, the Hollywood director responsible for classics like The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey, was famous for often not knowing how a scene would be shot before production started. Fortunately, Stanley Kubrick had decades of experience and a natural instinct for film helping him make decisions. Since you may lack that level of experience and gift for film, map out your camera angles ahead of time. Get in front of the camera, work on your framing, and storyboard each shot. This will ensure you get a great final product!
Check your audio. You don’t want your audio to be garbled or unintelligible. Check your surroundings before filming to ensure there’s not too much ambient noise or background noise. If necessary, choose a different film location or invest in gear for better sound quality.
Decide on your promotional tactics (which we’ll discuss momentarily). There’s much more to a TikTok video than the visuals! You also need to pay attention to your copy, engagement, and how you personally share your content!
2. Keep It Short
Most of the world’s most viral content stays under 60 seconds. In fact, the top three videos we discussed above stay between 15 and 22 seconds.
By keeping your content brief, you increase the chances of:
The video being watched all the way through, which is an important signal to the TikTok algorithm
The video being played multiple times, which is another important signal to the TikTok algorithm
Holding your viewers’ attention
By keeping your video short, you do your viewers and yourself a huge favor!
Important side note: A 15-second video rarely takes 15 seconds to produce. Don’t fall into the trap of expecting your video to go viral so quickly. You have to get through planning, filming, editing, posting, promoting, and monitoring to officially call a video “done!”
3. Leverage A Trend
Some of the most viral TikTok videos of all time leverage a contemporary trend in some way. Examples:
Billie Eilish’s Face Warp Video played into the “face warp challenge,” which was popular when she posted the video.
Bella Porch’s lip-synch of “M to the B” was recorded at a time when the “M to the B” audio was trending.
James Charles’ Christmas video used a trending audio from Counter-Strike, the popular video game
Zach King’s cake video played into the “Is it cake?” trend and popularity, where skilled bakers would fool viewers into thinking cakes were everyday objects.
The algorithm (and people) love seeing current trends pop up in videos, and you could be rewarded with extra exposure and traction!
4. Use Humor (When Appropriate)
Most of the videos in the top 10 are funny in some way. In fact, out of the 10 we discussed, only Nyadollie’s beauty tutorial lacks any sort of humor.
If you can pull off a joke or even simple silly irreverence, work it into your content. You don’t need to be hilarious—and few of the videos above are truly laugh-out-loud funny—but a little bit of humor can make people feel good about your content, which can lead to valuable engagements and extra impressions.
If you’re naturally serious or aren’t confident your humor will land, don’t try doing it by yourself. Work with a collaborator or avoid trying to use humor at all.
5. Give the Algorithm A Push
The algorithm is constantly working to determine which video it’ll show to a user next. You can help it make up its mind by helping your video stand out. A few strategies:
Embed the video across your channels. Your blog, website homepage, partner websites, and other platforms are great places to embed your video. This will help it earn more views in more places.
Copy the link and share it with your colleagues, team, and email subscribers. This is a great way to get more eyes on your content, which can turn into more engagements.
Ask everyone on your team to watch and engage with the video through their accounts. The sooner they can do this after the video is published, the better. We know some teams who blast new social media content out through their internal Slack channels to immediately earn engagement.
6. Use High-Quality Video
Take another look through the top 10 videos, and you’ll see that nearly all of them feature relatively high video quality. And although they could have been filmed on newer phone models, the important note is this: Few of the top videos have low video quality.
Out of the 10 videos we watched, only Jamie’s feels like it’s relatively low quality, and that’s partially because of the dirty mirror he films in front of.
Remember: High-quality video will make your brand feel sleeker. Low-quality video, which has its time and place, can harm your overall brand value.
If necessary, check out your options for video equipment rentals!
7. Keep It Entertaining
All of the videos in the top 10 are entertaining in some way, especially to their target audiences.
More importantly, only Nyadollie’s video could be construed as pushing a specific product or service.
Still, all of these accounts benefit in part from a large social media presence—either by leveraging their status as an “influencer” or using the platform to sell additional products and services later on.
If you’re a business owner looking to sell products or services through TikTok, remember this important truth: You may see better success focusing on the entertainment quality of your videos first, and the promotion of your products and services second.
Not everything needs to be about the value you can provide to your customers. Sometimes, you just need to take the time to connect and build a wider audience.
8. Collaborate With Other Accounts
Creating content with other accounts is a way to help you tap into new audiences—which can assist in going viral.
As a bonus, this is also a great way of establishing and deepening your connections with other professionals in your industry.
When you grow together, you win together!
9. Engage With Followers and Commenters
This is one of the best strategies for small and medium accounts to get more engagement, followers, and, ultimately, more impressions!
You have a few different ways to engage followers within a single TikTok post:
Respond to comments
Ask a question in your caption
Ask a question in your video
Make a bold claim in your video (one that will spur conversation in the comments)
Make a bold claim in your caption
Tag followers you know will enjoy the content
Share the post with followers or accounts you believe will appreciate or engage with the post. By consistently engaging, you’ll bring more and more people back to your content—which will help it earn more views, likes, shares, and saves.
As your content racks up and more and more engagements, the algorithm will continue pushing it out to new audiences, helping it gain more traction.
10. Write An Engaging Caption
Although many of the top posts we covered had one- or two-sentence captions, that’s not always the best move (especially if your account is relatively small). Captions are a great place to:
Add high-powered hashtags (which we’ll talk about in a moment)
Start meaningful conversations as an extension of your video
Add value for your viewers
Discuss how your video ties back to your products or services
As of August 2023, TikTok allows 4,000 characters in a post. Don’t be afraid to use them!
11. Use Hashtags Strategically
Many companies and creators feel confused when it comes to using hashtags on TikTok—and that’s totally understandable! There’s a lot of misinformation out there.
For example, many social media “gurus” recommend using #FYP or #ForYou in an attempt to show up in more “For You” pages within the app.
Unfortunately, TikTok has never confirmed that this strategy works, and few accounts actually experience meaningful success from it.
Instead, here are some hashtag strategies you can employ:
Use a small number (four to seven is a good range) of relevant hashtags, as we’ll discuss below
Use trending hashtags relevant to your niche
Use branded hashtags to link your posts together
Mix popular and trending hashtags with less-used hashtags
By creating a balance in your approach, you can ensure you reach a balanced audience hungry for your great content!
Get Help Capturing Video For TikTok
While going viral on TikTok is possible, it can be difficult to achieve if you’re uncomfortable working with a camera. Contact us for help!
We can assist with the entire video production process, helping you create outstanding content that viewers will love!
Be sure to check out our social media videography packages!
For a related article, check out our explanation of how to make your video go viral on YouTube!
