We’ve all heard about those viral TikTok trends that have caught on among users – particularly among the younger user demographic. The most popular TikTok trends generate thousands of video uploads and shares on the platform as everyone wants to get in on the action.
While many TikTok trends gain traction among creators and casual users, marketers can gain massive exposure on the platform and build brand awareness by getting in on the latest trends. That’s because your videos are more likely to come up in searches for relevant keywords and associated hashtags – even for users who don’t follow you or have never heard of your business before. You can put your own spin on popular trends as well to ensure that your videos stand out and get views. Of course, you’ll also want to follow the tried and true best practices, answering questions such as when is the best time to post on TikTok and how to get more views on TikTok, how to optimize your TikTok ads library, or how to get the most out of TikTok trending hashtags.
So, what are the most popular trends on TikTok in 2022, and what trends should you be keeping your eye on in the coming months and years? While trends can come and go faster than you can say “viral,” there are some TikTok trends that are likely to stick around for a while. If you want to gain traction on TikTok by hopping on the latest trends, read on to discover some of the overall stats about the platform and the coolest, hottest TikTok video trends today.
TikTok Usage Trends & Stats
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1. The platform continues to grow. Reaching more than one billion active monthly users globally as of September 2021, up from 700 million in the summer of 2020, TikTok is exploding in popularity. There are more than 138 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone.
2. TikTok leads the pack for installs. SensorTower reported in July 2021 that TikTok was the first non-Facebook-owned app to surpass 3 billion downloads globally. It was also the most-downloaded and highest-grossing app in the first half of 2021.
3. TikTok was the most-downloaded app in 2021. According to Forbes, the app was downloaded 656 million times in 2021 alone. TikTok was downloaded 850 million times in 2020 and 693 million times in 2019.
4. TikTok gets more engagement than YouTube. It may sound preposterous given YouTube’s widespread popularity, but it’s true: Marketing Charts found that the average monthly hours per TikTok user surpassed the average monthly hours per YouTube user in the U.S. around April 2021.
5. U.S. users spend an average of more than an hour per day on TikTok. The average usage per day among U.S. users is 68 minutes. Poland users also clock in at an average of 68 minutes per day, while users in the U.K. and France spend an average of 60 minutes per day on TikTok. But Norway users spend the most time on TikTok each day: an average of 74 minutes per day.
6. Younger TikTok users spend more time on the platform. Qustodio reports that TikTok users around the world between the ages of 4 and 15 spend an average of 75 minutes on TikTok each day – nearly double the amount of time this age demographic spent on TikTok in 2019. In the U.S., the same age group spends an average of 87 minutes per day on the platform.
7. Nearly half of TikTok users give the platform their undivided attention. TikTok reports that 46% of users say they “engage with TikTok’s content without any other distractions.” What’s more, 35% of users say they spend less time watching TV or videos since they started using Tiktok. That means that you have a more attentive audience than you might have with other channels such as television advertising or even other social networks.
8. The majority of TikTok users access the app several times a day. According to Oberlo, a whopping 90% of users open the app multiple times each day, and that means more opportunity for your content to be seen.
9. Many young people use TikTok. One-fourth (25%)of TikTok users are 19 or younger, and 22.4% are between the ages of 20 and 29.
10. However, TikTok’s user base is actually trending up. 21.7% of TikTok users are between the ages of 30 and 39, and another 20.3% are between the ages of 40 and 49. And those over age 50 are using TikTok too, making up 11% of the platform’s users.
11. More than 1 in 5 Americans use TikTok. According to the Pew Research Center, 21% of Americans were using TikTok as of February 2021.
12. Nearly one-third of Gen Z-ers research products on TikTok. According to research conducted by GWI, 30% of Generation Z social media users turn to TikTok when they want to research new products.
13. More than one-third of users participate in hashtag challenges. According to AdAge, a leaked TikTok pitch deck revealed that 35% of the TikTok user base participates in hashtag challenges.
14. TikTok ranks 6th among the most used social media platforms. Hootsuite’s Digital 2022 Report reveals that TikTok is the 6th most-used social media platform globally, behind Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and WeChat.
15. Nearly half of TikTok users say TikTok videos have helped them make buying decisions. According to AdWeek, 49% of users said they’ve purchased a product or service after seeing an advertisement, promotion, or review for it on TikTok.
16. TikTok’s revenue continues to grow. According to Sensor Tower, consumer spending reached $824.4 million in Q4 2021, a new revenue high for the platform. The revenue from Q4 2021 was more than double the revenue from Q4 2020 ($382.4 million).
TikTok Marketing Trends
17. Businesses plan to increase their TikTok investments in 2022. According to Marketing Charts, 84% of marketers surveyed said they’ll be increasing their spending on TikTok this year, a higher percentage than any other social media platform.
18. Only about half of major brands have a TikTok presence. InVideo evaluated 317 brands and found that 50% of them did not yet have a TikTok account (or had an account with no videos posted). That spells opportunity for smaller companies, but you’ll need to get in on the action quickly given many companies’ plans to increase their TikTok spending this year.
19. Brands can now sponsor hashtag challenges to boost brand awareness. TikTok introduced the Branded Hashtag Challenge for businesses — which allows brands to sponsor a hashtag challenge — in early 2022 in response to the widespread popularity of these challenges.
20. Most brands that advertise with Branded Hashtag Challenges don’t have much content on their brand channels. Mediakix explains that while 89% of brands advertising on TikTok through Branded Hashtag Challenges do have a brand account, 84% of those brands have posted less than 100 videos. More than one out of 10 (11%) don’t have brand accounts on TikTok at all.
21. More marketers see TikTok as an effective social media platform. The number of marketers who perceive TikTok as an effective platform grew from 3% in 2021 to 24% in 2022 in a survey conducted by HootSuite. That’s a 700% increase!
22. TikTok users love authenticity and inspiration. The Digital Marketing Institute points out that TikTok users value truth and authenticity, a contrast from Instagram where perfectly polished, edited, and carefully staged posts are more common.
23. Marketers are finding influencers through TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. The Creator Marketplace is designed to connect brands with content creators to collaborate on campaigns.
24. More than one-third of influencers are making TikTok a bigger part of their brand strategy. A survey conducted by Tribe Dynamics found that 35% of influencers reported that they’re using TikTok more heavily.
25. TikTok has a Creator Fund to reward content creators. TikTok creators who meet the eligibility criteria can earn money by creating content they’re passionate about. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, some creators have earned millions of dollars through the program.
26. Brands have success with user-generated content (UGC) on TikTok. Marketers encourage their followers to create TikTok videos showing how they use the brand’s products. Branded hashtags help to ensure exposure to the brand’s audience. In fact, UGC videos on TikTok earn a 22% higher Realeyes Quality Score than TikTok brand videos. These videos also score 32% higher than Facebook ads and 46% higher than conventional ads.
27. The launch of the TikTok TV app will change the game for some brands. With the TikTok TV app, users can enjoy videos from their favorite creators on their television – and that means more opportunities for families and friends to share the TikTok experience. Of course, that means larger videos that demand the highest quality, plus it opens a new avenue for brands to flex their creative muscles.
28. Marketers that cultivate a community on TikTok can make a big impact. According to a study conducted by Nielsen (commissioned by TikTok), 60% of TikTok users say they feel a sense of community when using the app. Marketers that effectively tap into the community vibe can better connect with their audiences.
29. TikTok users appreciate brand content that blends in with the overall TikTok experience. 43% of frequent users feel that advertising blends in with organic TikTok content, and 61% of users say they perceive TikTok advertising as unique compared to ads on other top social media platforms. According to TikTok, “Users also associated the advertising on TikTok with being more authentic, fun, genuine, honest, real and trustworthy compared to other channels.”
30. Brands that tap into audience interests can get exposure on TikTok. The platform’s algorithm uses an interest-based graph (which differs from the social graph used by platforms like Instagram). That means that brands don’t necessarily need to have tons of followers for TikTok success; they just need to create content relevant to their ideal audience’s interests.
31. Ads that don’t look like ads are the gold standard on TikTok. That means native advertising will be widely used by brands hoping to cater to the TikTok userbase that appreciates branded content that doesn’t feel like they’re being advertised to. In other words, your brand’s TikTok ads will need a distinctive look and feel from your other advertising efforts.
32. Marketers can reach a sizeable audience with TikTok advertising. According to Hootsuite’s Digital 2022 Report, TikTok ads can reach 17.9% of all internet users age 18 and older, and potentially more than half (50.3%) of the adult population in the U.S.
33. Partnering with Creators is fruitful for marketers. According to TikTok, 35% of TikTok users discover products and brands shared by Creators. What’s more, 39% consider products while they’re interacting with Creators’ videos, and 65% of users say they enjoy when their favorite Creators post about a product or brand.
TikTok Video Trends & Tips
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34. Episodic content is becoming more popular among brands and marketers. Because TikTok videos are short, marketers have discovered that they can tell a longer, more compelling story by posting a series of videos that each tell part of the story.
35. Hashtag challenges remain popular on TikTok. In case you’re wondering how effective they are, TikTok reports that the median engagement rate in Branded Hashtag Challenges is 17.5% compared to less than 1% on other platforms.
36. The majority of the most popular TikTok videos have sound. TikTok reports that a whopping 93% of the top-performing videos use audio.
37. 1 out of 4 top-performing videos are around 30 seconds long. According to TikTok, 25% of the top-performing videos are between 21 and 34 seconds in length. These videos also benefit from a 1.6% boost in impressions, on average.
38. That said, longer videos are becoming more prominent. According to TikTok, videos longer than one minute receive more than 5 billion views globally.
39. Videos that use the whole screen perform best. TikTok’s data reveals that videos that use the full screen (9:16 aspect ratio) see a substantial 60.5% increase in impressions. In fact, 98% of the top-performing videos on TikTok take advantage of the benefits of filling up the full screen.
40. Shoot high-resolution videos for better performance. According to TikTok, 83.2% of top-performing videos have a resolution of 720p or higher and get a 5.4% boost in impressions.
41. Videos shot in vertical format get more impressions. TikTok users don’t want to have to rotate their screen to watch your videos. Shoot in vertical format to benefit from a 40.1% lift in impressions.
42. Videos with captions or CTA text on-screen get more impressions. TikToks using closed captioning or adding text on screen to display a CTA benefit from a 55.7% boost in impressions compared to TikToks that don’t have any added text on screen.
43. Emphasis on deals or discounts boosts impressions. Videos with footage that emphasizes a discount code, deal, or other offer have a 67.4% increase in impressions.
44. Duets are one of the most popular TikTok features. Duets are increasingly popular on the platform, particularly as a means for brands to interact with their audience. Brands can use duets to respond to their audience’s content or encourage their audiences to create duets to react to brand content.
45. TikTok’s Green Screen is one of the most-used video effects on the platform. TikTok made this feature even better in December 2021 when it introduced Green Screen GIFs in a partnership with GIPHY. Green Screen GIFs allow users to choose from a library of GIFs to apply as their background when using the Green Screen feature.
46. Shopify merchants can tag products in organic TikTok videos. TikTok partnered with Shopify to make social commerce easy for merchants. In addition to tagging products to lead viewers to online checkout, Shopify merchants with a TikTok for Business account can also add a shopping tab to their TikTok profile.
47. Songs will continue to trend on the platform. While the current trending songs change over time, the popularity of dance challenges and other viral trends ensures that there will always be popular tunes on TikTok. Keep your eye on the current trending songs at Tokboard.
48. Behind-the-scenes videos often get noticed on TikTok. The platform’s informal vibe lends itself to giving your audience a glimpse into how you spend your days or how your business operates. Not sure how to create behind the scenes content that attracts attention? Check out these successful TikTok users who have perfected the art of behind-the-scenes content, or browse videos tagged #BehindTheScenes to view the latest.
49. The key to capitalizing on TikTok trends is to know when a trend has peaked. Getting in on the action too late means you might be perceived as lame or behind the curve. Instead, you want to ride the wave of popularity as a trend starts to catch on. Of course, you can always try your hand at starting the next big TikTok trend.
50. Hashtags will remain essential on TikTok. InVideo studied more than 650 videos from more than 300 brands to discover what works on TikTok. They found that 87.3% of TikTok videos have at least one hashtag.
Ready to tap into the latest TikTok trends to gain brand recognition? Start growing your TikTok audience today by installing the TikTok follow button on your blog or website. It takes just minutes to install and is free to use. Plus, by allowing your visitors to follow you on TikTok with a single click, it’s an effortless way to gain valuable TikTok followers.
