Jamal breaks down how TikTok's algorithm is becoming more like a search engine, rewarding niche, informative videos over viral content. Use consistent niche hashtags to build authority, keep captions under 300 characters, and lean into trending sounds. TikTok e-commerce jumped from $2B in 2022 to $23B in 2023, creating a major opportunity for businesses.
Questions this video answers
September 25, 2022.
300 characters.
Increase from $2 billion in 2022 to $23 billion in 2023.
Patrick Biddiscombe.
Chapters
The TikTok algorithm is changing from a social media algorithm to a search engine, and it might not be long before TikTok starts giving Google Search a run for its money. They're going to be sweating out there. What's up? It's Jamal from HubSpot, and in this video I'm going to explain why TikTok is making this major change and what you can do to make sure you're taking advantage of this new algorithm to increase your views and your followers. I'm also going to let you in on a massive monetization opportunity coming to TikTok in 2023 so you can start building an audience now and be ready to rake in those dollars when the time comes. Now, if you're new to TikTok, the best way to get into the game is to download the marketer's guide to TikTok for business. This is a free ebook from HubSpot that teaches you everything you need to know about starting and building a following for your brand on TikTok. The link is down in the description even if you're already active on the platform. From secret strategies to best hashtags for views, I promise there's tips in this guide that will help you get more views on your TikTok videos. So what is the new search algorithm? When it first started, TikTok was known for its silly dances and other viral trends that let anyone get in on the fun. This made it the world's fastest growing social media platform, skyrocketing to more than a billion users in less than four years. This rapid growth gave every new user a chance to go viral even without a massive following. Already today, the TikTok algorithm is still serving us what we want. But what many users want has changed and that is affecting not only TikTok's algorithm, but the entire online ecosystem. Will this ever stop? Will we ever be done with new kinds of content? Probably not. At a recent conference, the senior VP from Google noted that young people are turning to TikTok instead of Google when looking things up like what to eat, where to shop or how to get fit. Gen Z prefers TikTok's fast paced, informative videos to Google's old fashioned search results page. Get out of here scrp. And they trust the opinion of creators on the app over the mountains of reviews that fill up many websites. This news absolutely shocked the digital marketing world. But it wasn't really a surprise. At TikTok, videos on the platform covered more and more areas of expertise over time, and the algorithm saw this change in user intent and began to evolve to focus on those niches. Hashtags became the new keywords and choosing the right ones for your TikTok content is now as important as SEO on your website. This change is so new that most marketers aren't even aware of it. Even I don't know and I'm telling you about it. What? Never mind. This, of course makes this a huge opportunity for those who are in the know to lead the way and reap the rewards. So I'm going to give you a few tips to optimize your Captions to capture TikTok search. First, include a mix of trending hashtags and niche ones specific to your content. It's easy to find trending tags using the search function on the TikTok app. Start by doing a search for your particular niche, then select hashtags for a list of related tags to use in your post. A good rule of thumb is to use two broad or trending hashtags and two niche hashtags, but you can also use four niche hashtags depending on your content. Tip number two is keep your niche hashtags consistent. Much like SEO keywords, you need time to develop authority. Owning a couple of consistent niche keywords teaches the algorithm to properly categorize your content and serve it to users who are interested. Tip number three Hashtags are important, but just as important is a caption that gets the user's attention. TikTok gives you 300 characters to work with, so include both hashtags to help the algorithm ID the content and a caption that the user will appreciate. And speaking of users experience, the fourth and final tip is don't fake hashtags. I see you out there Jeremy, trying to be a ne' er do well trick people into looking at your your frickin blog recipes. Not this time. The algorithm is is ahead of you. Make sure that the videos you're posting on TikTok deliver whatever hashtags you include. Nothing will hurt your ranking in the algorithm more than users swiping past your videos because they don't get what they're actually looking for. Cheating a hashtag might seem like a shortcut to views, but it hurts you in the long run. Besides, what's the benefit of sneaking your content into someone's feed if they're not actually interested in what you're selling? By staying honest with your hashtags, you not only start to reliably come up in search, but your videos will also start showing up on users for you page putting your message in front of interested viewers even when they're not actively searching for your hashtags. And you better make sure your content is worth the user's time. And that doesn't mean every has to be real, real, you know, real glossy with a nice professional studio setup like this. All right. In fact, videos that look too professional can work against you if the user scrolls past because they assume it's an ad hoc true dilemma. If you will. The best brands on TikTok capture the look and feel of the platform and modify it just enough to get the messages across. One way to do that is by using popular sounds in your videos. TikTok describes itself as a sound on platform, so use already trending audio to capture attention on TikTok. There really is no benefit of being the most creative brand in the feed. Instead, use your creativity to fit your message into what's already trending and you'll see your views and followers go through the roof. So if TikTok started out as a fun social media platform and is now becoming a search engine, really makes you wonder what's next for the world's third most popular platform. Recent financial disclosures from the company reveal that it's planning to increase its e commerce business from 2 billion in 2022 to 23 billion in 2023. Um, it's a lot of money, certainly more money than I have in my bank account right now. You know what I'm saying? So you can expect a lot more tools to help you monetize your TikTok audience in the near future. That means now is the time to get started by downloading the free ebook from the link in the description. Use it to button up your TikTok performance today and reap the rewards that are coming soon. And if you thought this video was helpful, be sure to give it a like and subscribe to this channel to make sure you never miss one of our videos to help you succeed on every digital marketing platform and and be sure check out all of our other videos on the topic below. And with that, I'll see you next time I can find this client info.
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