How To Get More Followers on TikTok (2026)

Lots of people want to get more followers on TikTok but aren’t sure how.

Are you an aspiring TikTok influencer hoping to get access to in-app monetization features like the Creator Rewards Program, for creators with 10,000 or more followers? Or maybe you’re a small business owner growing your online presence to get your product in front of more eyes. Whatever your business and platform may be, how you gain followers matters. If your followers don’t interact with your posts, your engagement rate suffers and you won’t make money on TikTok.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to get more TikTok followers who are engaged with your brand, using tips from popular businesses and creators. 

How to get more followers on TikTok (11 ways)

1. Create a series
2. Host a giveaway
3. Show your passion
4. Jump on trends
5. Collaborate
6. Create high-quality content
7. Build in public
8. Talk about more than just business
9. Engage with your viewers
10. Increase your discoverability
11. Pay attention to the analytics

Here are some ways to use TikTok to increase your follower count and drive real engagement:

1. Create a series

A multipart series encourages viewers to follow you on TikTok so they don’t miss an episode. For example, Snack brand Pretzelized gained 17,000 TikTok followers from its four-episode series Pretzel or Pita Chip. The series was inspired by comedies like Seinfeld, as well as by the success of social media campaigns like Tower28 Beauty’s The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls.

Soda brand Olipop took things a step further by co-producing a YouTube TV show called Shanked. “[It’s] basically like The Office, if it was filmed at a country club,” Steven Vigilante, director of strategic partnerships at Olipop, said in a Shopify panel.

“I fundamentally believe people hate being advertised to,” Steven says. “I want [Olipop] to be in content that people want to watch as opposed to interrupting the content that they’re watching.”

Olipop’s series serves up content that feels engaging rather than overtly promotional. The brand isn’t the focus of the show, but it makes an appearance in each episode, like in this TikTok clip. According to Steven, the return on investment (ROI) is good, too: “[Co-producing the show] costs a fraction of what you would spend in a month [on ads] to reach that amount of people on YouTube.” Shanked has 26,000 subscribers on YouTube and 9,500 TikTok followers.

2. Host a giveaway

One way to get more followers on TikTok is to host a giveaway that requires entrants to follow your account. Accessories brand Heaven Mayhem decided to partner with influencer Becca Bloom on a giveaway after Becca went viral on TikTok. Becca had shared a video admitting that she bought a new laptop because she “fell in love” with the Heaven Mayhem laptop case, but it didn’t fit her current laptop.

To enter the giveaway, viewers had to follow both Becca and Heaven Mayhem on TikTok, and leave a comment with their favorite laptop case design. The results were powerful—the video announcing the giveaway received more than 9,000 comments.

The giveaway also helped continue the momentum Becca’s video created around Heaven Mayhem’s laptop cases. “Our laptop cases were already taking off, but [the giveaway] just blew them up, and we honestly still can’t keep them in stock,” Heaven Mayhem founder and creative director Pia Mance says on an episode of Shopify Masters.

3. Show your passion

Showing how passionate you are can be infectious—and can help you get more followers on TikTok. For Haley Pavone, founder of convertible shoe brand Pashion Footwear, in-person events let her share her excitement about her company. 

When attending pop-ups and trunk shows, Haley realized that her brand passion and her skills as a salesperson made people want to learn more about her business. But the company didn’t have the budget to send her around the US to talk about her product at different events. So she started dedicating more time to TikTok videos.

“It’s just me with my phone an hour a day, every day talking about the product and the company that I love. That was really the big breakthrough,” Haley says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “Much to my delight, it caught fire in Q1 of ’23. I gained 250,000 followers overnight.” 

Haley still talks about her business several times a week on her personal TikTok, where she now has one million followers.

4. Jump on trends 

The TikTok algorithm recommends videos that contain content similar to other videos you (or people like you) have enjoyed. When you jump on TikTok trends, you increase your chances of reaching beyond your follower base. If new viewers like your content, you may persuade them to follow you.

The iconic historical doll brand American Girl saw a 5% increase in TikTok followers after incorporating more trends into their content. By posting a mix of trend-inspired videos and evergreen videos featuring American Girl dolls in everyday situations, the brand is able to mix up its content and stay relevant.

5. Collaborate

Collaborating with other brands and influencers gets your videos in front of new audiences. This can be an effective way to get more followers on TikTok. For example, beverage company Vita Coco leaned into playful content on TikTok by partnering with Romeo Bingham, a creator known for their viral Dr Pepper jingle. 

Romeo’s followers had rallied behind them because they wanted Dr Pepper to collaborate with the creator—and Vita Coco capitalized on this buzz by asking Romeo to write them a jingle of their own. The paid partnership went viral, with Romeo’s video receiving 50 million views. In the month since Romeo posted the Vita Coco jingle, the business got 130,000 new followers on TikTok. 

When choosing a collaborator, you can take a cue from Vita Coco and partner with someone during a viral moment. You might also consider nano and micro-influencers who have smaller niche engaged audiences. 

6. Create high-quality content

According to TikTok, posting high-quality content can lead to 40 times more follower growth than posting lower-quality videos. 

TikTok defines high-quality content as:

• Well crafted. Well-crafted content takes effort and care to prepare, produce, and edit.

• Engaging. Engaging content keeps viewers interested and eager to participate in conversation with you. 

• Specialized. Specialized content showcases both your creativity and your expertise. 

7. Build in public

If you’re starting a new business, taking viewers along on your journey can have a similar effect as a recurring series. You can use this approach to get more followers on TikTok because users want to know what happens next. (And as an added bonus, your growing follower count can help validate your product ideas.)

Mike Xhaxho started his hydration company, Waterboy, with an email capture landing page and a TikTok account. The first video he posted from the Waterboy account led to 7,000 followers. 

“After we launched that first video, then it was OK, like, ’We have something here. People like the story,’” Mike says on an episode of Shopify Masters. But the real follower growth happened when Mike got personal about why he was founding the brand. “It was really my story of: ’This is why I drink Pedialyte after a night out,’” Mike says. The account grew to 25,000 followers overnight.

Activewear brand Set Active founder Lindsey Carter thinks every founder should build in public. “You have to show your consumer what you’re working on,” she says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “They want the passion, they want the story to buy into, they want to root for the underdog. And you can’t do that if you’re not putting a face to the name or the brand.”

Lindsey says cottage cheese brand Cotto is the perfect example of how to build in public. Founder Kendall Kransdorf is “documenting every single thing she’s doing: Testing new ingredients in the kitchen—ones that taste really good, ones that don’t—what her failures are, what her success is,” Lindsey says. “I am so invested in her and I’m rooting for her because she’s showing me what she’s doing every day.”

8. Talk about more than just business

Expanding beyond business and showing parts of your life makes your TikTok content more dynamic. This strategy has worked for Maggie Sellers Reum, an angel investor and founder behind the Hot Smart Rich podcast who has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok. 

Maggie recommends approaching content creation the same way you would a conversation with a friend at dinner. “We don’t just talk about business at dinner,” she says on Shopify Masters. “We talk about fashion. We talk about travel. We talk about relationships.”

She wanted her TikTok account to show a more human touch. “I knew I wanted my content to resonate with people in a healthy, positive way,” she says, so audiences could connect with her and feel like they’re part of her story.

9. Engage with your viewers

Engaging with your viewers shows you’re approachable, which can help you to stand out and get more followers on TikTok. How brands engage with their audiences is one of the top considerations that users look for when they choose to follow a business social media account, according to a 2025 Sprout Social report. 

Lindsey Carter personally responds to DMs from Set Active customers. 

“I did that from day one, [and I] do it today,” she says on Shopify Masters. “I think being able to feel connected to me as a founder makes people feel special.” 

There are different ways to engage with your followers. You can use TikTok’s Q&A feature, respond to comments, and create communities through other platforms like TYB or Discord. If you have at least 50,000 followers, you can create a bulletin board, a one-to-many broadcast channel that incentivizes people to follow you to view exclusive content. 

10. Increase your discoverability

The For You page isn’t the only way for users to come across your content. Nearly 50% of consumers use TikTok as a search engine, according to Adobe. This makes TikTok SEO an important part of your TikTok marketing strategy. 

“Showing up in search results requires a different approach than appearing on the For You page,” says Leslie Ann Hall, founder and CEO of social agency Iced Media. “TikTok’s search ranking is driven by intentional keyword usage—specifically within captions, on-screen text, transcribed audio, and relevant keyword-based hashtags.”

Leslie suggests using keyword research tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner to find niche keywords that aren’t yet saturated. Then, incorporate those keywords into text elements like captions.

11. Pay attention to the analytics

TikTok analytics reveal trends in your follower count, post performance, and overall engagement. Studying your past video analytics can teach you what content performs well, which helps you replicate that content to get more views and followers on TikTok.

In the Analytics section, check out “Content” and filter your top posts by most new viewers. This shows you the posts that circulate the most to people who don’t know you. Take note of any patterns—such as related themes—within this content. For example, if shorter posts performed better, lean into that. Use these insights in your approach to future content. 

You can also dig into the “Viewers” section and look at gender, age, or locations to inform your TikTok strategy. If you see that your content resonates most with people in your city, you might focus on a more local angle. 

Should I buy TikTok followers?

While it might be tempting to buy followers for social proof or to make your account seem more popular, it’s something you should avoid. Fake followers, like bots or free TikTok followers, will not engage with your feed and won’t help you get in front of more users. In short, they won’t help you to meet your brand goals.

Additionally, TikTok can penalize accounts that create fake engagement. It may restrict or ban your account.