Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has become a global phenomenon, captivating millions of users with its addictive short-form videos. From funny skits and dance challenges to educational content, TikTok offers a limitless space for creativity to thrive. Dominating the charts as the most top downloaded app in 2021, TikTok has truly revolutionized the way people interact with online videos and altered the landscape of content consumption as we know it.

Being a completely user-generated platform, you can find anything on TikTok, from relatable, everyday humor to useful tips and tricks and even shopping. With the help of AI and advanced machine learning, TikTok’s algorithm customizes content for users based on their preferences, creating a highly engaging and personalized experience each time you open the app.

Not only is it a constant stream of curated content, but it also functions as a literal search engine for the modern age. In fact, it’s become a more popular search engine with Gen-Z audiences than Google. 

But with over 34 million videos published daily, how can you amplify reach on TikTok with your content? Easy – hop on the trends. 

For any brand, a major pillar that should be incorporated in your brand’s TikTok video strategy is reactive content (aka TikTok trends).

TikTok trends are ever-changing, but when done effectively, incorporating trending content can elevate your brand awareness and engagement to new heights. With this guide, we’ll show you how you can find trends more easily to create reactive content with wider reach.

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5 ways to find TikTok trends

TikTok is a fast-moving platform, which means trends have a short lifespan and its algorithm favors content that can be activated instantly. So expect quick turnarounds!   

But the most important thing? Put your own spin on TikTok trends. Tap into the targeted vertical of your brand. There’s an endless amount of trends that appear, from popular audio clips to product recommendations to video formats, effects, and anything in between.

Be sure to utilize these 5 ways to discover trends whenever you’re searching for TikTok trends to activate on.

Explore the “For You” page

The easiest way to find trending content? Simply exploring your “For You” page (or the FYP for short). 

This page is updated with new videos based on your interests, showing a mix of trending videos and popular content based on what you engage with. Be sure to scroll through the videos daily to see what types of content and themes are currently trending. Types of content to keep an eye on are trending sounds, challenges (like dances), and video formats.  

Once you’ve identified what’s trending, you can easily navigate to the original source, sound page, or hashtag associated with the video to see what other creators have made.

Trend discovery

Researching trends on your FYP is a great place to start familiarizing yourself with the platform, however, to ensure you are acting on timely trends and getting a more holistic view outside of your curated feed, it’s important to supplement that research. So, I give you… TikTok’s very own Trend Discovery analytics tool. 

With this tool, you can see what’s popular on-platform anywhere in the world. From TikTok videos to creators, you’ll see what other creators are up to. This will allow you to better plan what makes sense for your content and how to create more engaging video in-the-moment. Oftentimes, specific templates get popular that are only available in CapCut, a mobile video editor owned by the same company as TikTok. To access those, you’ll need to download the app.

Explore hashtags

TikTok has overthrown Google as a search engine. What does this mean? Users on-app are using its search functionality to ask questions, looking for videos with answers. To ensure sure your video is serviced at the top of the results, your content needs to have the right keywords. Hashtags are the keywords of TikTok and are one of the most effective ways to reach potential new followers. It helps categorize content so that other viewers can easily identify if the clip is worth watching (think of it as the SEO for short-form video!) 

Using relevant hashtags will give your videos a fighting chance with the algorithm. For your hashtag strategy, see what hashtags creators in your space are using. For example, if you’re a creator uploading Premiere Pro tutorials, you might use hashtags like “#premierepro”, “adobe”, or “tutorial”. 

If you’re searching for trending content, be sure to dig into popular hashtags relevant to your type of content you want to discover for your brand or product. This will give you an idea of what other brands or creators are creating within this hashtag and what works best. You can view the most popular hashtags on-app using TikTok’s own trending hashtag dashboard.

Follow creators

Like every social platform, TikTok has creators who rose to fame for the first time on the platform and are always tapping into popular trends.

It’s important to follow other influencers or creators on your TikTok account that are relevant to you, your brand, or business. This will allow your algorithm to service relevant content onto your feed and help you be up-to-date on any trends. TikTok’s algorithm also factors in who you follow, so related content is more likely to be surfaced onto your ‘For You’ page.

Tap into pop culture

As a brand, having a pulse on pop culture will be vital to forecasting future trends. Pop culture hot takes and memes have taken a whole new level with TikTok, so it’s extra important to be in-the-know. 

For ways to tap into other current pop culture, look to other social platforms – like Twitter (or Bluesky / or Instagram’s latest addition, Threads) or Reddit. You can also follow other brands or creators that report on pop culture media. Before activating on a trend, make sure to understand the origin of it. You want to avoid any content that is prejudiced or discriminatory. 

If you want to track the pulse on pop culture trends, you can view what users are searching on Google Trends. Alternatively, you can view if pop culture-related media is trending on-platform by browsing TikTok’s Creative Center.

Keep up with the latest video trends with Storyblocks’ help

Remember: TikTok trends can evolve rapidly, so it’s essential to stay engaged with the platform and its user community to keep up with the latest trends – that means posting frequently and staying on pulse with what type of content your target audience is searching for. We know this sounds overwhelming, but Storyblocks is here to help.

Storyblocks offers unlimited royalty-free & high-quality creative assets for one set subscription price to help you create better, more compelling video content in real time. With over a million 4K & HD stock footage clips, social media video templates, copyright-free music and sound effects, Storyblocks is an excellent creative tool to help leverage and scale your TikTok channel.

Check out our plan options to get started today.

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