How to find your target audience on TikTok

One of the many things that makes TikTok a special and unique platform is its ability to connect people and brands. And if you’re wondering if your target audience is even on TikTok, the answer is probably YES! More than one billion people around the world now come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh or discover something new. TikTok is not only where more and more people are checking in each month, it’s also where they’re spending quality time that used to be spent with other media. We recently shared that 35% of users say they spend less time watching TV and other video content since they started using TikTok. That time is also more focused as 46% of users engage with TikTok without any other distraction (compared to 37% on competing platforms).*

We're honored to be a home for our immensely diverse community of families, small businesses and creators who transform into our favorite stars. Check out our tips below on how you find and connect with the audiences that matter most for your business.

Driving deeper connections with audiences

The ability to connect in a deeper way is why TikTok users feel their time on TikTok is “time well spent.” It’s a positive experience where they can connect to a community, a brand, an interest and entire subcultures within the platform.

Merely saying that people connect on TikTok, however, doesn’t accurately describe the connections that businesses are able to make on an emotional and subconscious level. We recently partnered with Neuro-Insight, a neuromarketing and neuroanalytics company that uses unique in-lab, privacy-safe brain-imaging technology, to measure how the brain responds to TikTok videos.**

The study revealed the combination of TikTok’s innovative content preference delivery and short-form sound-on video format appeal to consumers at a deeper emotional level. That connection means TikToks are more memorable than TV or other digital video ads and more engaging than other leading platforms. For businesses already on TikTok, the connections they’re making are driving real business results.

How to find your target audience

When looking for your audiences on TikTok, it’s important to stop thinking about “who” your audience is and to start thinking about “what” interests them. Connecting to groups or subcultures with common beliefs and ideas allows you to transcend categories like age, gender and location. These modern tribes have exploded across TikTok, drawn to the platform to celebrate their idiosyncrasies, share their passions with like-minded users, openly express themselves and discover new ways to stoke their enthusiasm. Brands who can tap into the power of a subculture tap into a level of brand affinity and purchasing behavior that can elevate them to cult status.

Explore and engage with your subcultures

Success for any business on TikTok starts with making a genuine connection and letting your various audiences spend quality time with your content (and you with theirs). Understanding the kind of content your audience is already engaging with is critical as it provides direction for how you can join the conversation.

Explore hashtags

One of the fastest ways to find subcultures that your brand wants to connect with and learn about the content that aligns with their beliefs is through hashtags. On TikTok, the Discovery page shares what hashtags are trending at that moment, but the real power of finding your subcultures is in the search bar at the top of the screen.

By typing in an interest or keyword in the search bar, you can immediately see what hashtags are being used in that conversation and how many views it’s getting. The more views, the more popular it is, but fewer views can also mean a more passionate and niche subculture that could be a potential brand opportunity.

Engage your audience

Once you’ve found your target audiences through searching relevant hashtags, it’s time to begin the conversation. Aside from creating original content, there are plenty of options that can increase your visibility as an active participant on TikTok. If you discover really great content from other creators, don’t be afraid to hop into their comments to share your appreciation for their posts. And don’t forget that conversations are a two-way street so keep an eye on what users are saying on your posts and don’t forget to reply there as well!

Finding your target audiences on TikTok is easier than you think and it can drive incredible value for your business as you establish a deeper, more authentic connection with them through organic engagement.To learn how to harness the power of your audience at scale, sign up for TikTok Ads Manager to learn more about the paid opportunities ready to help you grow!

*Source: TikTok Marketing Science global Time Well Spent study (global results) conducted by Kantar March 2021 (N=7,201) **Source: Neuro Insight report "TikTok: Successfully Advertise on the World's Hottest Content Platform", US, June 2021