11 TikTok Video Ideas to Go Viral
Hereâs a fun fact: TikTok recently surpassed Google and Facebook as the worldâs most visited domain. Wondering why this has happened? Some of of its incredible popularity can probably be attributed to the fact that content creators are going viral on the platform daily.
This is good news for brands. They can leverage TikTokâs opportunties for virality and enjoy faster growth, clicks, and sales.
But thereâs more to consider: polished, Instagram-like content doesnât usually work on TikTok. (Note that more âpolishedâ content on TikTok can be successful, it just needs to align with the brand and its audience.) Regardless, the more you can connect on a genuine level with your target audience by being authentic and âreal,â the better your content will do. But to do that you need fresh ideas.
Hereâs a handy list of different types of viral TikTok ideas that have worked before (with examples).
11 TikTok video ideas
Hereâs a walkthrough of a few genius TikTok video ideas to provide inspiration for your own content.
1. Show what goes on behind-the-scenes
No one does behind-the-scenes content better than Itâs August co-founder @Nadiaokamoto. As a DTC brand that sells sanitary period pads, Nadiaâs TikTok account posts several behind-the-scenes videos dailyâeach of which gets substantial likes, comments, and views.
Behind-the-scenes content on TikTok is more sticky when you create it with an off-the-cuff feel. It can be as easy as hitting that â+â button on your TikTok account and filming footage of what itâs like to run your brandâno fancy montage or intros necessary!
Here is a great example that has amassed more than 15.4 million views and 1.3 million likes:
Makeup brand @mangopeopleofficial also does a fantastic job showcasing the story behind its product along with visuals on how it’s made and applied. Its video has garnered more than 150k views and over 33k likes:
Experiment with different visuals and behind-the-scenes formats that will appeal to your target audience.
2. Use the Q & A format
The Q & A format is especially helpful if your audience is curious about how to do something. You can make a TikTok video answering the questions you get most frequently while adding visuals in the background.
Donât forget to be creative! Your footage doesnât have to be just you sitting there answering each question passively (though you can also try that). Try compiling attention-grabbing footage so your target audience doesnât just scroll past it.
Hereâs a perfect example from TikTok artist @tahliastanton that has received more than 16 million views and 3.5 million likes:
TikTok pro tip: Don’t forget to use plenty of relevant hashtags so you have a better chance of being discovered on the FYP (âFor you pageâ).
3. Create edutainment content
âEdutainment,â or educational entertainment, works great if you sell a service or product that teaches people valuable skills or knowledge. Edutainment comes in all shapes and sizes on TikTok.
You can either add fancy transitions to your videos or keep it simple and speak to the camera. Edutainment videos can be an avenue through which you share life hacks, science experiments, or answer questions. These fun and knowledge-based videos are algorithm-friendly and improve brand awareness.
Creator @maysiyoga_âs video has more than 2.3 million views:
Creator @kendalaney uses TikTok to grow her audience and teach them about improving a presence on social media. One of her most popular videosâwhich boasts more than 53k viewsâis an explainer on how she uses Pinterest to generate traffic to her website.
4. Vlog
Vlogging isnât dead! In fact, itâs a great way to connect with your audience on a much deeper level, rather than just trying to sell them a product or show them highly polished content.
Vlogs can be what you make them. You can vlog your morning routine, your whole day in a âday in the lifeâ-type video, or vlog what itâs like to live a whole week in your shoes. Just make sure to showcase how you build your brand while youâre at it.
Creator @thelauracroft used the vlog format to snag more than 6 million views with one video and build her personal brand. The video is about her journey to the office at Nike headquarters:
Hereâs another small business vlog example from @bossupcosmetics that has more than 700k likes!
5. Tutorials
Youâll increase your chances of virality on TikTok if you can entertain, inform, or teach something useful. Tutorials are a great way to hit all three.
Fitness creator @jessicabickling managed to go viral after creating a video with plenty of visuals, pauses, and on-screen explainer text that showcased the right way to do Bulgarian squats.
While tutorials have higher production costs and might take longer to create, the payoffs can be massive. Itâs unlikely that this creator would have managed managed to generate 3.9 million views on her video if it was not in a tutorial format:
Another tutorial from verified TikTok educator @jera.bean with more than 510k views shows how to create a multiple walking shot video:
TikTok pro tip: Donât forget to use trending sounds to help give your content a better shot at virality. Sites like Tokboard can help you find out whatâs trending weekly with a quick search.
6. Use comedy
Are you naturally funny? Congrats! Your chances of hitting virality on TikTok have gone up substantiallyâcomic content does great on TikTok. Bonus points if youâre able to masterfully weave it into a brand partnership and make it feel native to the content you naturally create anyway.
Creator @delaneysayshello is a perfect example of this. Hereâs her brand partnership video with Sephora with more than 200k views:
Get creative and mix comedy with a relatable skit. @delaneysayshello has one the best examples of this in her video featuring a âgatekeepingâ friend who refuses to tell her where she got her outfit. As a partnership with Abercrombie, it just works.
It has over 400k views!
7. Narrate candid moments
People love candid moments, especially when they can relate to them. The good news is that a lot of different candid moments can work here. Anything from a conversation you had with a friend to a business mistake you made that ended up costing you can work.
Thatâs the beauty (and maybe curse) of TikTok. You just donât know what will go viral. Take this TikTok video from creator @tasselamor narrating a conversation she had about the product she makes.
It has more than 1.5 million views and over 100k likes:
Donât be afraid to experiment and be yourself. (Turns out Mom was right!) The more you can connect with your audience and be relatable, the better your content will perform.
@luxehomedecorltd uses this style to create a narrative video about a special customer order she received. The result? Over 4.5 million likes and a whopping 21 million views:
Get creative and experiment with lip-syncing, stickers, voiceovers, creating original sounds, or even participating in dance challenges. TikTok marketing is all about increasing visibility by expressing yourself. It doesn’t matter if you do it through funny videos, hashtag challenges, or creating prank video content (there’s a type of content for just about everyone on the platform!)
8. Host a challenge
A solid way to grow your brand presence and gain more followers is by creating sticky challenge creators can get behind, like the trending âdrop challenge.â
This challenge entails recording you and your friends squatting at specific beats of a Beyonce song. While it might sound silly, thatâs the whole point of TikTok. Youâre free to be expressive and create content thatâs 100% you.
Take this example (which has more than 891k likes and comments) from creator @jordanb123:
Creator @baochisjourney created a âscrunchieâ challenge where she made scrunchies big enough to fit large items into. As her audience responded in the comments on what she should do next, she managed to create a series of videos that brought her more views and followers.
Hereâs an example:
9. Create a skit
Creator brands like @booboothafoocloset use skits to grow their profiles (@booboothafooclosetâs currently boastsat more than 1.3 million followers). Skits like âWhen Teachers Say âIâll Waitââ got more than 7.7 million views and thousands of likes.
Here is another great example of using the green screen tool to create a scenario.
Donât be afraid to use all the creator tools TikTok offers to create the most entertaining content possible. The more you experiment, the more youâll learn what your specific audience responds to.
10. Answer a comment
Once you start to get traction on TikTok, youâll start getting comments. Use those to your advantage! Comments are a goldmine for content ideas because users tend to be vocal about what they want to see more of or learn about as well as their likes and dislikes.
Creator @cryptobec used a comment left on a previous video to highlight the excitement over her crypto explainer videos. The new video has over 620k views:
11. Create a stitch/duet this video
âStitchingâ videos is a feature thatâs unique to TikTok; itâsa way to react to a video from other creators as you âstitchâ other video footage with your own.
Stitched TikTok videos can be great when you want to make a point. Does your product solve a problem the video youâre stitching focuses on? Do you disagree with a videoâs opinion and know a better alternative (like your product or service)? Then stitch the video and show your audience how!
Hereâs how creator @benlabuzzeta stitched his art video to earn more than 110k views:
Creator @maizimmy created a stitch this video showcasing her best cleaning hacks. It has an impressive 4.4 million views so far!
Experiment to learn what works
Gone are the days when a perfectly curated online presence was your best bet for social media growth and sales. TikTokâs short-form approach to videoâalong with its trending sounds and fun video effectsâhas made it substantially easier for creators and eCommerce brands to reach their audiences.
Now itâs your turn to hop on the TikTok train and start building an engaged audience. Whether you do it through posting organic content or a paid TikTok ad strategy, the skyâs the limit on the platform.