ve As part of Assignment 4, I will be reworking some aspects of my strategy based on feedback provided by Will and Fan in Week 9 that was beyond helpful.
The article that Fan linked to me shed more light on the inner workings of the TikTok algorithm.
As I have predicted, engagement ranks low on the list of key factors that contribute to the popularity of a TikTok post, while factors that I have yet to consider, rank high. Below are the new factors that tested out and incorporated into my strategy.
1) Completion of Views
A shorter, snappier video will undeniably help to garner more points in this area, as the probability that TikTok users stay till the end will be higher. This also works hand in hand with a repeated view.
2) Repeated Views
The notion that repeated views rank highest on TikTok’s algorithm implies that as long as the video gets viewers to rewatch over and over, it would help immensely with contributing to the success of a TikTok post. Whether it be content that is confusing to grasp yet interesting (i.e. too quick to catch), sounds that are insanely catchy, or sped-up videos that are extremely satisfying to watch.
The idea is that a video that gets more repeated views will be promoted to other users more often, as opposed to one that gets more unique views.
On top of that, getting a repeated view also assures that the previous view was one that is complete, strengthening the power of a repeated view in the algorithm by twofold. So for instance,
1 unrepeated (incomplete view) = 1 incomplete view
1 unrepeated (complete) view = 1 completed view
1 repeated view = 1 completed view + 1 repeated view
Either way, repeated views are difficult to guarantee, but I decided to go ahead with testing out the inclusion of this factor in my strategy.
In order to employ this tactic, I uploaded a TikTok that might take a couple of rounds of rewatching to fully understand. The content-type was somewhat of a “hidden gem” hack situation that is short and sweet. Users would have to be focused on reading the caption first, and subsequently re-watching the video to take note of what I am doing or vice versa.
@riestellashops r reopening but stay home & stay safe ##stayhome ##stayathome ##wfh ##gamesathome♬ original sound – karishmak_
Initially, I was admittedly sceptical of this method, but results were surprisingly pleasant, receiving about 2-3 times more views than other videos.
3) Shares
As TikTok prioritises shares relatively highly on their algorithm, it would be wise to optimise content for this purpose by following a style of TikToks that calls on viewers to share and send the video to friends with the listed specific qualities and/or personality traits.
@riestellaperiodt ##tiktokaustralia ##tiktoksingapore ##whatatimetobealive ##sendthistosomeone ##sendthistoyourbestfriend ##sendit♬ original sound – riestella
Unfortunately, this post didn’t gain as much traction as expected. I believe this strategy might have worked better in conjunction with the previous two.
In my next report, I will be sharing tweaks that I made according to my findings from Assignment #4, and summing up the project.
Word count: 508 words.
