Everyone is talking about TikTok – and for years, TikTok has increasingly become one of the most important apps for creators, influencers and brands. I’ll give you some tips on how to get off to a perfect start with TikTok for beginners. You can find my TikTok channel at Vanessa.Pur .
If you already have experience with Instagram or Snapchat, you won’t have any major problems switching to TikTok. In my opinion, the app is even much tidier and easier to understand than the last versions of Instagram.
Just as I have already given you many explanations and tips for more followers on Snapchat, I would also like to help you get your TikTok channel off to a successful start.
Tips and tricks for the perfect TikTok start
Before I present my first TikToks to you, I would like to share some tips and tricks that helped me get started:
- Think about what you want to post about: If it’s just for your friends and family, some content from your vacation or a trip, the first impressions from your own garden or from cooking, just follow your instincts. However, if you want to be successful as an influencer and content creator, you should think about a strategy right from the start and initially focus on how often you want to (and can) post and what you want to stand for.
- Know your target audience: TikTok users are younger, want to be entertained and are looking for original and creative videos to follow people. Think about what you are particularly good at or what makes it easy for you to create new content. It is not without reason that there are often TikTok videos with a young dog, for example. You always have a perfect partner with you who is happy to join in and it looks cute too.
- Stay authentic: Don’t pretend to be TikTok and don’t copy other successful channels. These channels are so successful because they are authentic in the content they create. You would always be in competition and be a copy. Make your own strengths (or weaknesses) your specialty and it can also be imperfect. If you don’t pretend, people are much more likely to follow you. I couldn’t produce funny dance videos either, even if it was successful on TikTok. There are other creators who can and do it much better. Everyone has their own strengths for a perfect TikTok start.
- Post regularly: No app thrives on visibility like TikTok. The algorithm is very precise, but also enables it to go viral very quickly. Even if not every person who has watched your video becomes a follower straight away, it will still be registered and help you to promote your next video. Think about 5-10 video clips (even shorter ones) that you can upload at regular intervals at the beginning before you have to create, edit and upload new content every day.
- Activity – interact with your community: Compared to Instagram and YouTube, TikTok offers significantly more opportunities to interact with your followers. Respond to comments and reactions, say thank you for likes and views and use the duets function with other TikTok users. On the one hand, this shows that you care about your community and that you are happy to receive feedback on videos and ideas.
Why TikTok is the perfect start for beginners
TikTok is currently an app and a social media network with an extremely high reach, a very high level of interactivity and at the same time many opportunities to attract attention or quickly gain followers.
Creativity and interactivity are particularly emphasized on TikTok and often participating in a dance challenge is enough to get a good start and then increase your channel and produce more content. But of course you should always focus on your health in all challenges. Unfortunately, TikTok sometimes has challenges in its range that are absolutely not recommendable and absolutely do not deserve attention. Always think about your health and the people around you before you do anything for “fame” or “notoriety”.
If you stick to these warnings, you have countless opportunities to try out your own creativity, whether with cool cuts, special camera angles or the various options in the app – from cool filters and special fonts to collaborations.
Hardly any other app currently offers such hype when it comes to cool videos – and unlike YouTube, the length is secondary. TikTok followers usually want to have short content, experience short moments and then scroll on. Don’t try to produce the perfect video that contains all the content that is running on other channels. Find your own content and try it out with lots of small scenes.
For me it was important to often simply present my outfit of the day (OOTD). In the early days of Instagram, it was almost common to take a mirror selfie and then share it with your followers. Today, Instagram has long since lost its fascination due to far too many ads in the stream, inappropriate ads due to the algorithm and no clear structure of the app as to where it should go.
TikTok – the easiest way for fashion and travel communication
Rarely has it been so easy to create modern content and make it interesting. Where you used to need complex editing and programs for a YouTube video in vlog style, today you can do everything in most free apps on your smartphone or directly on TikTok. The narrative styles have changed, it no longer has to be a 10-minute YouTube clip, it can be short, concise or interesting. The followers, fans and joy are then much more looking forward to the next part a few days later.
The same applies to fashion looks and special outfits on TikTok. While the famous “mirror selfie” used to be almost standard on Instagram and countless influencers photographed themselves in front of the same set every day, there was often a big problem. You only saw one side of the outfit or not, as the look falls. Now they’re all little simple video clips that you can also send to friends via WhatsApp or iMessage and, unlike an embellished photo, the mood and feel of the clothes is conveyed much better.
Reasons why you should choose TikTok:
- Trend-based format: TikTok thrives on trends and is constantly reinventing itself and its content. There are hip trends, fun challenges and cool music. Two or three cool videos are often enough to increase the number of followers and see the first successes. In contrast to Instagram and Instagram reels, you can see much more quickly what works, what’s “in” at the moment and which looks are popular with people
- Interaction: Even if other platforms also offer comments and likes, TikTok gives you even more opportunities to interact with your own community. You can react quickly and easily to comments and suggestions and also quickly derive a new video from them. It increases the loyalty of the community, provides new ideas for videos and creates a high level of trust and therefore even more views and reactions for your own videos.
- Global: Hardly any other network is growing as strongly worldwide as TikTok. In many countries, TikTok is the absolute number one app on smartphones among the younger generation. People communicate about it, share videos and thoughts. While the older generation still prefers phone calls, communication today is exclusively via messenger and videos. However, this also means for creators and influencers that the target groups are online at all times and can see the new content immediately.
The right mix at TikTok: Fashion, travel and behind-the-scenes
With my TikTok channels, I want to make sure that there is something for everyone. It is often difficult to pack all content into one channel, especially if, for example, as a travel blogger or fashion blogger you also have personal moments or thoughts that don’t necessarily fit into the fashion stream. Anyone who is only interested in your fashion would certainly be put off following the channel by moments with your dog or cat, as well as problems with your boyfriend. The right fans will also follow your two channels and it will help you with the structure.
Maybe it will help your orientation for your TikTok start as a beginner, but I had considered the following structure for my channels.
TikTok fashion channel – Vanessa.Pur:
- Mainly complete fashion looks, just as the lookbooks used to be online on YouTube or on my blog – VanessaPur.com. Beautiful backdrops, a mix of my typical outfits in everyday life and for events
- Username identical to my well-known Instagram channel – @Vanessa.Pur – which has been online for many years
Behind-the-scenes channel – TikTok channel – ItsVanessaPur:
- There are often lots of funny and interesting moments while traveling, but they don’t fit on a pure fashion channel.
- I also often film moments that were once planned for a YouTube video, but are then not used because they are either too short or the story is not completely appropriate, so there is often content like this here.
- Sneak peeks – exclusive content from unboxing new clothes, preparing for my calendar production or creating new videos for YouTube or Patreon.
- I’m sure there will be a scene or two from a delicious breakfast, a nice dinner or a special event – usually with my fashion look
Channel to blog – TikTok channel – VanessaPur.com
- Close-ups and additional content: When you film lookbooks or videos from YouTube, there are often many scenes that are simply very beautiful and have a great atmosphere, but no longer fit into the video. So if you’re looking for a close-up of my high heels, tights or leather pants or anything else that goes with this blog, you can find them on the TikTok channel VanessaPurcom
TikTok for beginners – become successful
TikTok lives above all from you – your interaction and your likes, comments and moments. If you want to create your own channel and get started as a creator and influencer, you should be guided by the following points:
- Create content in advance: try it out, try different styles in your videos, play around with editing programs and find out what is particularly easy for you and what you enjoy doing. There is no point in trying to create different content. It may be successful in the short term, but you have to pretend too often and lose interest (and therefore success) in the long run
- Plan your content: On which days would you like to upload a video, which days are already filled with other activities? Start with 2-3 videos per week and find out which days of the week are less popular for your topics. Friday evenings, for example, are often not as interesting, as many people are out and about and don’t look at their smartphones as much. Use the other days to like, comment and make other people aware of your videos (without spamming!)
- Stand out with your videos and your profile picture: If you have a cool style, a special look or a special way of filming, you will also stand out and be shared. The same applies to comments and likes. People who have an interesting profile picture are viewed more often and I also tend to look at profiles if the picture looks interesting and I want to know who is behind it. This significantly increases the likelihood that your channel will be seen and that people will follow you.
- Take part in challenges: Take part in challenges and use hashtags to share your own fashion looks and behind-the-scenes moments. Together you can build an inspiring community.
CONCLUSION – TikTok for beginners
TikTok is the largest active network there is at the moment and, unlike other networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook or X/Twitter, the increase has not yet come to an end. The search for new and creative content continues to grow and therefore also offers beginners on TikTok a good opportunity to become successful and build their own brand.
TikTok thrives on support, a community and togetherness. Those who only want to post content – without interacting – will not be happy and successful in the long run.
Tiktok offers countless opportunities for TikTok beginners to find their own niche and make it special. In contrast to YouTube or Instagram, the growth rates are significantly higher and it’s easier to try things out. A good video quickly generates 100, 1000 or even 10,000 views and the number of followers grows.
It is well known that getting the first 100 followers is hard, as is getting the first 1000 followers and the first 10,000 followers and then at some point it just works itself out…
Try things out – be creative and trust in yourself …
Have fun with TikTok