Social media is a billion-dollar industry, and creators are always trying to find the best time to post. You can find dozens of guides online claiming to have found the one perfect time.
Unfortunately, things aren't that clear-cut. Here's what you need to know about when to post on TikTok, including information and analytics from Insider's own TikTok account.
What's the best time to post on TikTok?
TikTok is a global platform, available in nearly every country — and timezone — on Earth. This means that the exact best time to post on TikTok will differ depending on where your followers live.
According to Insider's senior distribution producer Elizabeth Morales, Insider's TikTok activity tends to peak between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET. Insider's TikTok is managed from the East Coast of the United States, and this is when the majority of Insider's followers are online and ready to watch new videos.
But even Morales says that Insider's followers "tend to be pretty active throughout the day, so there isn't one 'sweet spot' for posting."
If you live in another country, consider posting around noontime in your timezone. It all depends on where your followers are.
How to find where your TikTok followers live
Luckily, you're not all on your own when it comes to learning about your followers. TikTok has a "Creator Tools" section in the app that gives you a massive amount of data about your followers, including where they live and what time of the day they use TikTok.
To find this menu, go to your profile and tap the three lines in the top-left corner. On the page that opens, tap Creator Tools, and then Analytics.
The Followers tab of your Analytics page has a few different statistics. The data here is updated every morning.
- Total followers and New followers show how your follower count has changed over time. Meanwhile, Growth rate tells you by what percentage your follower count changed last week.
- Gender tells you which gender your followers have listed on their profile.
- Top Territories shows you the five countries that the majority of your followers come from.
- Finally, Follower activity is a bar chart that shows what times during the day your followers use TikTok the most. The taller the bar, the more followers are online.
You can also head to the Analytics section on the TikTok website for more detailed information.
How to get more views on TikTok
If you've changed your posting times but haven't found more success — or you just don't have enough followers for it to matter yet — you'll need to learn some new TikTok strategies.
Here are ways to earn more TikTok views (and followers), including tips from Insider's Elizabeth Morales.
Experiment to start, then get consistent
If you're just starting out and don't have a known brand, embrace variety. Test out making videos on different topics, using different narration and filming styles. Find out what you like to make, and what people like to watch.
But "once you find a topic that hits and you find an audience," Morales says, "lean into that topic or style of video."
In other words, once you strike gold, keep on it. TikTok users appreciate consistency from the users they follow, and making yourself the go-to creator for a specific topic or style is a great way to build a brand.
Keep track of trends
TikTok is a fast-moving platform where new songs and memes are born and die every day. Becoming a TikTok mainstay means keeping track of the trends and making the most of them.
When a new TikTok meme appears, consider making a video with it. When a new song starts popping up in everyone's videos, consider using it in yours. If a specific TikTok video is going viral, don't wait to remix, react to, or parody it.
And when you post your video, add popular hashtags. This will encourage TikTok to show the video to more users.
Collaborate with other users
Including multiple people in a TikTok introduces so many opportunities for comedy, drama, and more. The Duet is TikTok's most popular editing feature for a reason.
If you have friends on TikTok — especially if they have followers of their own — get together and collaborate on a video. Not only will your fanbases mix, but you'll have a chance to bounce ideas off another creator and make something special.
Give the beginning a hook
In creative writing, the first few lines of a story are called the "hook." This will be your story's first impression to readers, and it needs to be interesting enough to keep them reading.
TikTok videos work the same way. How often do you scroll past a video without watching even the first five seconds? On an app like TikTok where millions of videos are competing for your attention, that first impression is vital.
This means that when filming and editing, your opening shot is the most important part. Think about what you could do or say to make a viewer keep watching.
