In 30 seconds:
- To create results-driven content on TikTok, search trends for your inspiration. Here’s how.
- TikTok Trend Discovery tool is the app’s solution to help. But what is it and how does it work?
- We’re letting you in on two exclusive tools that will help you find trending content instantly.
TikTok Trend Discovery is the video-first channel’s newest tool. But what does it bring to the table?
It’s no secret that trends matter on TikTok. In fact, one of the channel’s slogans is “trends start here”. Why do trends begin on the app? It’s a place of discovery. 84% of TikTok users say the channel is a source for discovering or learning something new. This lean towards discovery has led to a TikTok-specific social commerce loop where discovery fuels purchase, and purchase fuels discovery. You can read more about that in our article: How to Use TikTok for Social Commerce.
In short, trends sell. So brands need to get on board if they want to generate leads. But it’s no good just jumping on every bandwagon you see and hoping for increased ROI. Successful TikTok marketing starts with understanding your audience and growing from there.
Trending TikTok videos can help inspire your approach, but you have to ask yourself whether your target market will want to see that particular trend. You need to know what’s hot, what’s not and what ought to be the best trend for your target market. Then you can start measuring results.
So how do you discover TikTok trends? We’ve got a secret weapon.
The Fanbytes TikTok Trends Newsletter
Staying in the know on TikTok is fundamental to campaign success. But simply seeing what’s trending isn’t good enough.
Brands must know how to use these trends to skyrocket their reach and nail their goals. The fastest way to get in the know?
Sign up to our TikTok Trends Newsletter.
Every Tuesday, we’ll update you with the latest TikTok trends going viral. But we don’t stop there. We let you in on why each is so popular and more importantly, how to use them. So you can stay one step ahead of even the most informed competition.
Our information is based on insider knowledge and expert understanding, plus our in-house, social listening and trend-spotting tool, Bytesights. (more on this later).
To put it simply, we deliver specialist advice on new trends, how they work and how you can apply them – all for free. So, what are you waiting for?
What is TikTok Trend Discovery?
TikTok Trend Discovery is the TikTok for Business trend-browsing tool located in the app’s “Creative Center”. Here, you can find the latest trends, creators and viral hashtags.
TikTok used to have a Discover Tab but replaced it with this new system. TikTok describes it as a place to “find what performs well on TikTok and better engage with your audience”. It effectively puts all the most popular trends in one place for you to find. This can help inform your strategies so you can make content that feels up-to-date. This is important for winning over Gen Z, who are notorious for criticising out-of-date internet humour (they did invent the term “cheugy” for this, after all).
How do you use TikTok Trend Discovery? First, you need to log on to the TikTok Creative Center. Only TikTok business accounts can do this, so ensure you fit under this category before proceeding. If you haven’t got a log in or Business account yet, you can sign up and switch.
Once logged in, you’ll see different trending categories – hashtags, songs, creators and TikTok videos. When you go onto one of these sections, you’ll see the top results for each. You can use filter tools to personalise the data on each page and find out the best information for your brand and target audience.
Each listed category can help inform your strategy in different ways. Let’s break them down…
Trending Hashtags on TikTok
Hashtags help users find, share and engage with the kind of content they’re looking for. Using the right hashtags on your TikTok descriptions is not only good practice, but it can also supercharge your TikTok SEO.
As we mentioned before, TikTok is a place of discovery, and for Gen Z (who say it’s their favourite app) it’s become their preferred search engine too. That’s right; young TikTokers are bypassing Google to use this platform as their primary tool for discovery. So, hashtags (and descriptions) matter. If you can find trending hashtags that work with your niche, utilise them to boost your reach as much as possible.
The TikTok Trend Discovery Tool can help you find the biggest hashtags of the moment, but it’s important to note that these are already the loudest, which means their popularity is likely to deplete.
How can you maximise growth through viral hashtags? One method is by creating them too. Fresh trends can keep TikTokers engaged and help you nail your growth strategy. Want to know how you can do this? Check out our article: Trending TikTok Hashtags: How to Create a New Viral Hashtag on TikTok.
Another method is to make use of TikTok’s hashtag trends while they are still on the rise. Becoming the “poster boy” of a burgeoning trend can transform your reach on the app, as the TikTok app’s interface prioritises the most popular videos for a given hashtag, creating a snowball effect. Join too late and you’ll get lost in the noise, but joining early means all those eyeballs will land on you.
This kind of trend-spotting isn’t something that TikTok Trend Discovery offers – but our tool, Bytesights, does.
Trending Sounds on TikTok
88% of users say sound is vital to the TikTok experience, so it makes sense to use it within your TikTok marketing strategy. Finding trending sounds can help propel your brand into the spotlight, reaching more of your target audience.
On the TikTok Trend Discovery page, TikTok has the category “songs”. It’s no secret that music is essential on the platform. Some artists have even started their journey to success by going viral on the app (we’re looking at you, Lil Nas X).
TikTok sounds are so popular because they entertain and help users create. Picking the right viral sound for your brand can uplift UGC (user-generated content) by encouraging others to make their own short videos. Sounds can birth creative trends, and using the right one for your audience will inspire them to produce content. The result of this? Increases in organic growth and nailed KPIs.
It is crucial to note that although TikTok Trend Discovery lists the biggest songs on the platform through the Creative Center, the power of sounds when they go viral on the platform is their creativity. Using these bigger sounds is going to give you less ability to get creative and get noticed by doing so. Choose a sound that’s still on the rise, however (something we do using Bytesights) and you’ll have a better chance of turning that song’s new virality into a wider audience for your brand.
It’s not just about songs, either. Users come to TikTok to watch entertaining content, listen to stories and hear what others have to say. Sound memes are the latest viral sensation to tantalise TikTokers’ ears, and you can read more about that through our article: TikTok Sound Memes: How Brands Can Tap The New Social Currency.
Brands need to use sound carefully in social media marketing. You don’t want to make a potential viral sensation and see it get taken down because of copyright terms. Understanding how to find trending sounds, form original sounds and how you can stay within TikTok’s rules is vital. So take a look at our article: TikTok Trending Sounds: How Brands Can Get Involved, to find out more.
Trending Creators on TikTok
Since creators (i.e. influencers) on TikTok score the highest social media Engagement Rate compared to other platforms, finding trending talent can only mean one thing. Peak reach and maximum engagement for your brand.
Influencers are powerful. They have spent significant time building a trusting relationship with followers, and your brand has the opportunity to tap into this. TikTok Trend Discovery shows you the latest trending creators (particularly popular current influencers).
Working with a trending influencer can help you boost your online presence and reach your goals faster. But before you do, there’s something crucial you need to know.
Brand-influencer collaborations need to work as a relationship first and foremost. That means marketers must partner with the right kind of influencer to get their message across. You need to work with creators who align with your brand values; otherwise your audience will switch off.
Finding the perfect TikTok influencer can seem tricky at first, but there are a few things you can do to find the perfect talent for your brand. See our cheatsheet on How to Find TikTok Influencers: 5 Insider Tips.
At Fanbytes by Brainlabs, we use our in-house tool to go deeper than TikTok Trend Discovery’s capabilities. We’re able to find influencers who have organically mentioned your brand (and competitors) so that your partnership will come across as genuine. We’re also able to see influencers whose growth trajectory is on a steep curve, so brands can partner with them before they make it big – meaning they benefit from their improved reach, while fostering a supportive relationship with the creator.
After all, if you’re an influencer and a brand reaches out to you when you’re still trying to make it, you’ll love that brand even more. And that brand love comes across in more genuine, higher-performing content.
Trending Videos on TikTok
Videos themselves can, of course, become viral sensations. Trending videos are what fuel the last three types of trends. Just one viral video has the power to jumpstart a whole new TikTok phenomenon.
On TikTok Trend Discovery, you can find a whole section dedicated to trending videos and what’s popular right now. How can you use this section? Take inspiration from what each video is doing and see how you could make it brand-appropriate. You may find relevant hashtags and trending sounds or look up the creator of a video that catches your attention. This kind of research will help inform your strategy going forward.
Taking inspiration from trending videos can help. But going viral isn’t everything. You may want one of your brand videos to become the next viral sensation, but the trick with TikTok is in the long term (not the short term). You can use trending videos to understand what might work with your audience, but it’s up to you to form an engaged community who will keep returning to your brand for more.
In fact, this is exactly what we covered – and provided key strategies for – in our recent event, ‘My Brand Went Viral on TikTok, Now What?’. if you missed it, don’t worry: you can read our key takeouts here.
We don’t have a crystal ball, but we do have this.
Our in-house social listening and data insights tool, Bytesights helps find trends and trending creators before they’re even trending.
Bytesights can spot these just as they are beginning to develop so your brand can jump on board ahead of the viral growth. This includes hashtags, songs, sounds, effects and influencers.
What’s more? The intuitive tool extrapolates real-time and historical data to discover the most effective creators for your brand and strategy. So you can work with the perfect talent to achieve maximum ROI.
The system also gets us instant readings to inform ongoing campaign ideas and allows us to take immediate action to act quickly – so you can beat your competition to be the first to new trends.
So no, we don’t have a crystal ball, but when it comes to TikTok trends, Bytesights comes pretty close.
TikTok Trends are just one piece of the puzzle
Understanding TikTok and how to harness its power goes beyond trending content. The app allows marketers to connect with their audience more closely than ever. TikTok encourages community, so going viral isn’t the end game. You want to understand your audience, connect with them and work out how to communicate your message. Data-driven decisions will help you get there.
But you don’t have to enter the Creative Center to see TikTok data. You simply have to open the app and engaging as if you were your ideal customer. The TikTok algorithm pushes content to FYPs (For You Pages) based on interests. Understanding what kind of content your audience wants to see will help you create content that they’ll actually get to see. So use the app to learn about your audience, not just what is viral right now. Then you can start building a watertight long-term strategy to form a loyal fan base and increase ROI.
Discovering trends can help you understand the right kind of content for your audience. But it’s imperative that you know how to use them. Sign up for our TikTok Trends Newsletter for mega inspiration on how to utilise trending content and gear up for maximum growth. Your strategy will thank you for it.
Need some help with your campaigns? We happen to be experts on trending content and know exactly what to do with it. Get in touch to find out how we can get your KPs landing regardless of your goal.
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