How To Go Viral On TikTok and Explode Your Reach In 2025

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Going viral on TikTok can be an exciting concept. You watch as hundreds, thousands or millions of people watch your video, make a comment and share it with others. The challenge is to figure out how to go viral on TikTok in the first place, and that’s where these tips on creating a TikTok viral video can help. If you want to learn how to blow up on TikTok, this guide is for you.

What Is Considered Viral On TikTok?

The question to answer right away is: What does it mean to go viral on TikTok? You might think it’s millions of views on one video, but that definition is changing. Often, it means blowing up quickly and engaging followers in a way that is surprising. The important aspect to going viral is that it involves sudden, explosive success.

Companies that track viral success like Buffer suggest that the timeframe is the most important differentiator. Instead of a TikTok viral video gaining traction over weeks or months, it hits a nerve quickly. Total views should be over one million in 72 hours to qualify as a viral video. If you hit one million in an hour or two, you know you’ve captured attention. The algorithm is constantly watching comments, shares and other metrics to determine if a quick rise in views is a sign that your video is going viral. And then TikTok spurs further viral growth on the platform.

Strategies To Go TikTok Viral

Thankfully, there are a few important strategies to help you succeed when it comes to TikTok viral videos. Let’s set the record straight right away: The most critical key to success is that the video connects emotionally with people. Another factor has to do with understanding the TikTok algorithm and what works best.

An example of knowing the algorithm has to do with which days and times work best for posting a video in the first place. If you post at midnight on a Sunday, there’s less of a chance your video will go viral. If you crack the code and post a viral video on the best days like Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, there’s a good chance it will happen again if you follow the same formula. Going viral can help you reach your TikTok goals like increasing reach, growing your followers, increased engagement and brand recognition.

1. Capture The Emotion

Let’s start with the most important tip of all in learning how to go viral on TikTok: More than anything, you will have to connect on an emotional level. That’s critical because without the emotional connection, it’s rare for a video to go viral on TikTok. The video needs to say something new, vibrant and compelling.

Emotion helps a TikTok video go viral because it creates a human connection with the viewer. Imagine people scrolling through one video after another. Then, they see something that makes them feel — to laugh or cry. That’s the true secret to a viral video, that the viewer feels something deeply personal. Of course, finding that emotional connection can depend on the content you are posting, the trending topics of the day, and a multitude of other factors such as finding the right use of humor. It’s well worth the time to look into how viral videos have captured emotion and created the connection that leads to viral growth.

2. Focus On Trending Audio

You have likely noticed an important factor in other TikTok viral videos. In almost every case, there’s a trending song or audio clip playing in the background. Often, there’s no spoken word audio at all. As people flip through their feed, having a trending audio clip play captures their attention, helping the video go viral.

Figuring out which songs and clips will help a video go viral can be tough. It means being active on the platform and noticing which videos are blowing up the most. You can also use the TikTok search function, typing “trending songs” and clicking the Sound tab to see popular songs. It’s important to know that trending audio is one of the most critical factors in whether a video goes viral, so taking the time to investigate which songs are working the best, reviewing other viral videos that use compelling audio clips and then selecting those tracks for your content will help with viral success.

3. Create A Challenge

Whether it’s the water bottle challenge or some other viral sensation, creating a challenge can help a TikTok video go viral. The key is to invent something brand new or that connects to an existing challenge (but does not try to steal its thunder). A challenge can go viral because it creates a fear of missing out.

The best place to look for inspiration is the Explore tab in TikTok. Scan through that feed to see which videos are going viral and if they include a challenge of some kind. Often, the key to success here is to glance through other videos not just to copy or mirror what you see, but to find inspiration for a brand new idea that will catch the world by storm. Viral videos are often those that offer something new and don’t just repeat what else is out there. Meaning, you don’t want to create a video about a water bottle challenge. Find something novel instead.

4. Look For The Hashtags

It’s important not to underestimate the power of the hashtag when it comes to a TikTok viral video. Once again, this is all about knowing how the TikTok algorithm works and what makes a video go viral in the first place. A hashtag clues the TikTok algorithm into what is gaining the most traction.

You have to choose the hashtag wisely, however. Sprout Social is an aggregator in the social media landscape, helping people schedule TikTok posts. Time and again, a viral video explodes because it has captured the attention of the masses using a popular hashtag. The example Sprout Social uses is the #jellyfish hashtag, which has led to around 1 billion uses. An entire community popped up around that hashtag, and as you can imagine, that has created a massive viral sensation with users. A hashtag also helps, aside from the community development, in that it can help you attract influencers who jump on the bandwagon.

5. Appeal To The Curious

According to Sprout Social, about 49% of those searching on TikTok looking for videos want to learn something new. That’s a serious chunk of the viral video space, and something to capitalize on. It means if you appeal to the curious and those who want to learn, you can hit a nerve and go viral.

The challenge is twofold. You have to find a topic that is interesting and trending right now, and you have to offer something new to those who are using the TikTok app. What that means in practice is avoiding the topics that have already been done and had their moment, such as how to change the oil in your car. It might be how to setup a wi-fi router or bake a seven-layer cake, but it has to be a novel and unique idea. To avoid duplicating other videos, do an extensive search for what’s already out there and has already gone viral.

6. Keep Trying For Success

Anything that is worth doing and finding success in requires hard work. You can’t expect every TikTok video to go viral. That’s why it’s so important to post consistently and follow all of the tips to help a TikTok video go viral. Be sure to schedule your TikTok videos to keep your feed full of videos that connect with your followers.

You might not think consistency is important when it comes to viral content on TikTok. After all, the goal here is to reach millions of views with one video. Flip that approach around, though. Consistent posting is important because, when you follow the tips and suggestions about creating viral content, you have a much higher chance of blowing up on TikTok if you post a lot of well-orchestrated, algorithm-friendly content. In other words, if you want to create a viral sensation, keep posting to learn and tweak your approach until you do.

7. Post High Quality Videos

It should go without saying that a poorly lit, low-quality TikTok video is less likely to go viral. You should know that this does not mean it should be professional. In fact, a more authentic video works the best, something that captures an emotional and engaging moment. Yet, it should still look clear and well-lit.

The reason this works is just human nature. We are all drawn to higher quality videos that have an arcing sunset in the background, a cool cloud formation or a smiling subject in the center of the frame. The importance of posting an authentic but high quality video cannot be overstated. Many of the best viral videos on TikTok may look like they were captured on a phone (and they likely were), but the reality is that viral videos are almost all clear and well-framed so you can see exactly what’s happening. This helps a video go viral because you don’t have to squint to see what is going on. By then, people have flipped to the next video.

8. Be Real

Other than the first tip related to capturing emotion, there is an underlying theme to many viral videos on TikTok. They do capture the emotion, and part of that is being honest and real. These days, TikTok is the place for seeing real life without the sheen of a professional corporate image.

That has not always been true, even on social media. Authenticity matters to the younger generation who gravitate to apps like TikTok. The reason is that they have grown up with too much misinformation, catastrophic events that were mishandled by the media and a general sense that being inauthentic is the same as lying. TikTok is all about sharing real life moments in an unfiltered (or at least non-professional way). Let that be a guiding principle to help you reach and capture a huge audience on TikTok.

Bottom Line

When the goal is to make a TikTok viral video, there’s some secret sauce that can help. Being authentic and capturing the emotion, making sure you choose hashtags and trending songs, posting consistently following the basic guidelines to go viral can all help you find a huge audience.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The curious thing about going viral with a TikTok video is that you often know it will experience massive success right away. You can just see it in the numbers. The rule of thumb is that you can expect a viral video to really hit the upper echelon of views (in the millions and beyond) in the first 72 hours. Yet, you can also watch for patterns even in the first few hours. Comments will go sky high, engagement will escalate quickly and you will see thousands of views even in the first hour. Overnight, you might see that trend continue as people all over the world find the video and start engaging with it.

You can improve your chances of experiencing that kind of overnight success if you follow the main tip for viral success, which is to tap into human emotion. Yet, it can be a simple video showing a puppy doing some crazy antics or your kids splattering spaghetti all over the floor. What sets an overnight success apart from the rest of the videos on TikTok is that you feel something strong when you watch the video. That also means other people will feel those same emotions and share the video constantly.

As mentioned earlier, a good guide for a TikTok viral video is when you hit one million views. That’s when you know you are onto something. It can take up to 72 hours for that to happen, or it can occur within a day or even less, but the basic guidelines here is that you’ll see several hundred thousand views initially. That’s because to even reach one million views and to be considered a viral video it has to take off right away.

You will see those first hundred thousand views within a day or so because after 72 hours, the chances of the video going viral becomes less and less. Outside of that window, it’s just less likely the video will catch on and you might see other content exploding that is newer, has more of an emotional connection,and captures authenticity in a way that makes your video less likely to take off and hit the million views mark.

The TikTok viral videos with the most views all have similar themes. They look authentic, they capture the emotion of the moment and they tend to use an audio clip that is recognizable and trending. One example of this is the most-viewed TikTok video ever that shows Zach King showing a Harry Potter-themed magic trick. The video debuted way back in 2019 but has amassed well over 2 billion views since then.

Another TikTok viral moment that resonated with people on an emotional level is Bella Poarch’s ‘M To The B’ viral video. Once again, the trending song and the authenticity of the video is what captured people the most. This viral sensation also happens to have the most likes of any TikTok video as well.

Forbes