In case you missed the news last August, Musical.ly became TikTok. To be more precise, Chinese company ByteDance bought Musical.ly in November 2017 and chose to absorb the app into their existing TikTok app nine months later.
Although many Western users may not have heard of TikTok until the morning they updated their Musical.ly app, it has always been popular in China. Indeed, according to Sensor Tower’s app download statistics, TikTok was the Apple App Store’s #1 non-gaming app download in Q1 2018, and #6 across all platforms.
Although Musical.ly users found themselves migrated to a new TikTok app, the user experience remained much the same. The new app featured a new interface but retained the features of both the original TikTok and Musical.ly. At its heart, TikTok is still the app for teens and tweens to swap 15-second videos, although perhaps the term “muser” is no longer as appropriate as it once was.
Like most social network users, TikTok users (TikTokers or does that sound too much like a clock?) look to build a following. The best way by far to build your TikTok likes and followers is always the organic way of befriending others on the platform and liking their videos. However, some tools claim they can help you find TikTok users. As with all such tools, some are more ethically legitimate than others are.
Tips and Tools to Build Your TikTok Likes and Followers:
- The Organic Way to Increase Your TikTok Likes and Followers
- Tools Marketed as Boosting Your TikTok Likes and Follows
- 1. TikFame: Free Fans & Followers & Likes
- 2. MusiFame
- 3. Real Followers for Musically - Get Free Likes
- 4. Boost for Musically Followers
- 5. Michael Cashman Free Musically Followers
- The Best Way to Build Your TikTok Likes and Follows is Organically
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Organic Way to Increase Your TikTok Likes and Followers
By far the most legitimate way to improve your TikTok account is to build an organic following. Here are some of the best ways you can enhance your TikTok following organically:
- Create an attractive and concise profile – your profile should give the essential details about you and the type of content you like to create and share. Be careful you don’t give away too much information about yourself, however. Avoid providing too much personal data that unscrupulous people could use.
- Use trending (but relevant) hashtags on the videos you upload. Consider making videos that tie in with trending hashtags. However, always think of your audience. There is little point in making a video if it is unlikely to interest your followers, just because the hashtag is trendy.
- If possible, upload original videos, not just the typical lip-synch video uploaded by the vast majority of TikTok users. Sure lip-synch videos may make a good start to life on TikTok, but they will not help[ you stand out from the crowd
- Choose a good soundtrack for your videos – that would appeal to the type of people you want to follow you. TikTok has made arrangements with most of the leading music companies to permit you to use their copyrighted music in your videos
- Try to make the best quality videos possible. Learn from each video you upload. Buy better equipment when you can afford it. Once a user gains a reputation for uploading high quality, fun videos, followers usually flock to them.
- Upload videos regularly, preferably daily. However, don’t sacrifice quality, just so you can upload more videos
- Engage regularly with your followers. Reply to their comments on your videos. View their videos and make intelligent and encouraging comments on them
- Comment on other users’ videos. In particular, look for others who make the same types of video as you. Make certain that they’re intelligent, helpful comments though, not a curt “good video” comment
- Promote your TikTok videos on your other social channels. Share trailers for your videos on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Make sure your descriptions clearly indicate the type of people to whom you target your videos
- Collaborate with others on TikTok, but don’t try to jump above your level. To succeed you need to work with people who have a similar (or fractionally higher) number of followers than yourself. As you gain followers, you will gain access to better collaborators
Tools Marketed as Boosting Your TikTok Likes and Follows
Here are a variety of tools that claim to help you in your mission. Most of these tools are free. Some of these tools make highly debatable and vague claims. Some have a whiff of snake’s oil about them. We make no promises about the effectiveness of these tools.
Most of these tools originate from the Musical.ly days, with many still feature that name. It may take a while for everybody to adjust to TikTok being the new Musical.ly moniker.
1. TikFame: Free Fans & Followers & Likes
Unlike many of the competing apps, TikFame at least recognizes the change from Musical.ly to TikTok and was last updated recently (January 2019).
This app claims to help you get more likes on your TikTok videos. It says it can make your videos easily discoverable, increasing their popularity and likes. All you have to do is to follow the steps within the app.
2. MusiFame
MusiFame may not have changed their name to reflect the change from Musical.ly to TikTok, but it has a banner saying that all their services are running dated today’s date.
They offer the “service” of allowing you to buy Musical.ly buys and likes. To use this service you first choose a package, then enter your details, wait a couple of minutes, and then see the results as your bought followers propagate your account. You can select from a range of packs for followers or likes, ranging from 100 fans or likes up to 5,000 fans or likes.
3. Real Followers for Musically - Get Free Likes
As its name suggests, Real Followers for Musically - Get Free Likes is an Android APK app designed to find you followers on Musical.ly. It hasn’t been updated since June 2018, so I am uncertain whether it still works now the platform in TikTok.
The app claims to help you build your number of followers. Although it is free, you do have to “pay” a price to gain your followers. Your “payment” is to perform various simple tasks, e.g.
- Spinning the wheel of fortune to gain followers
- Installing other apps from Google Play Market
- Watching videos and commercials
- Playing simple games
According to the app’s page: “With us, real followers will flood your account, and you will become the top Musically user! Isn’t it what you have dreamed of?”
4. Boost for Musically Followers
Boost for Musically Followers is another Android APK app designed to help you boost your Musical.ly following. It has yet to have a TikTok-specific update.
This app is straightforward to use. It asks you for your Musical.ly username, your requested number of free followers, and your required amount of free likes.
5. Michael Cashman Free Musically Followers
Michael Cashman Free Musically Followers also offers you Music.ly followers for free (with no mention, yet, of TikTok). They claim that “The first 10,000 people who will benefit from our service will receive a bonus for each option we offer, it is this: Musically followers, musically fans, and musically likes. Bonus amounts to + 5,000 to the selected option.”
The Best Way to Build Your TikTok Likes and Follows is Organically
Although the above tools all promise to increase your likes and follows, it is unlikely that any followers they bring will have any interest in your content. Some may not be real people at all – merely bots which is frowned upon and just not legitimate at all. We have written extensively on the dangers of buying Instagram followers. The same warnings apply to TikTok / Musical.ly.
There is only one way to become an influencer on any social platform. That is to produce quality content, engage actively with real people on the site, and gradually build up your account. You may feel that you lack the video-making skills to succeed on TikTok, but you can develop these as you go along.
Tools promising you free followers (or even worse, asking you to pay for such people) will not bring genuine, interested followers. At best, your new followers will be somebody from a low-pay country receiving a few cents to be your friend. Often they will merely be a computer. In the worst case, they could be people trying to defraud you or worse.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I increase my followers on TikTok?
In this article, we have seen a range of ways to increase your followers on TikTok. These include tools marketed as boosting your TikTok likes and follows. However, note that the ethics of using these tools is highly questionable, and the effectiveness of most is debatable. By far, the most legitimate way to improve your TikTok account is to build an organic following, using the techniques we have covered here.
How do I get more followers on TikTok without downloading apps?
We have written about ten organic techniques that should help you get more followers on TikTok without downloading apps. In summary, these are:
Create an attractive and concise profile
Use trending (but relevant) hashtags
Upload original videos
Choose a good soundtrack
Make the best quality videos possible
Upload videos regularly, preferably daily
Engage regularly with your followers
Comment on other users' videos
Promote your videos on other social channels
Collaborate with others on TikTok
How do I get famous on TikTok?
We wrote about this in more detail in How to Become TikTok Famous in 4 Easy Steps:
Create Disruptive Content - you need to unleash your wildest, wackiest side while cooking up TikTok content.
Identify Your Niche - most famous TikTokers stick to a particular niche that resonates with their audience
Piggyback on Influencers – strike a partnership with influencers to promote your content
Invest in Advertising - TikTok has launched a formal advertising program if you have spare cash
How do you get a TikTok to go viral?
One of the secrets to TikTok success is making and posting many videos. This can be challenging if you have to fit TikTok around real life. Your videos still need to be high quality, however. Watch other people's videos to inspire you. Keep a close eye on the TikTok trends and try them out for yourself. Make sure you look at what is appearing on your Discovery page regularly. TikTok videos are concise, so make sure you don't waste a second in each clip.
How many fans do you need on TikTok to go viral?
There is no set number of fans before you go viral. Even relative newcomers with small followings can make a video that sparks the imaginations of people sufficiently that TikTok shows it to millions. The key to success on TikTok is getting your videos onto as many people's For You pages as possible, and you do this mainly by making videos that attract, entertain, and interest people. If you follow the organic techniques we have mentioned in this article, you should do well.
