Free TikTok Followers: Practical Tips to Grow Your Following
Let’s be honest: the path to growing a TikTok following can be a steep climb. If you’ve been posting consistently but can’t seem to grow, you’re not alone. The truth is, there are many yet-to-be-discovered accounts on TikTok.
How do you escape from this group? If you’ve searched for ways to grow your TikTok account, you’ve probably come across sketchy websites promising unbelievable results like “10,000 followers in 30 minutes.” But, while they may be tempting, they’re not your best option. Sure, they might get you to your target number, but they’ll not give you actual followers. You’ll have bots following you instead — the last thing you want if you’re trying to build your account or even stay on TikTok.
Luckily, there are legitimate ways to get authentic free TikTok followers. They may not get you to 50k followers in minutes, but they’ll help you grow a consistently engaged audience and make the TikTok algorithm your best friend.
In this guide, we look at how to get followers without spending a dime on ads or resorting to bot followers.
Is There Really Such a Thing as Free TikTok Followers?
Yes. In fact, most TikTok creators have free followers.
Free followers are basically people who find you organically. They follow you not because they see you in ads, but because they come across your account on their For You Pages and like your content.
If you’ve been on TikTok for some time, you already know that getting such followers can be challenging. This is why some creators turn to follower generators.
However, they’re not worth it. TikTok’s system is smarter than people realize. It can detect bot followers and engagement, resulting in penalties such as limited visibility on the FYP or, worse, account suspension.
Avoid any website or third-party app that promises out-of-this-world results in a few minutes, as it can jeopardize what you’ve already worked for.
Legitimate Ways to Gain Free TikTok Followers
How can you grow your TikTok following without breaking the bank or risking your account? Here are our top tried-and-tested legit tips:
1. Optimize Your Bio
This is one of the most powerful yet most overlooked ways to get free followers. Your bio is the first thing TikTok users see when they visit your account. Given that many people make decisions based on first impressions, it can determine whether they’ll stick around.
To get people to follow you, make sure your bio highlights your value proposition. Do you tell funny life stories? Give simple hacks to get through everyday life? Help people deal with specific pain points, like marketing campaigns not delivering desired returns? Give a concise description of what your audience stands to gain from following you to showcase your value.
Also, be sure you maintain the tone of your content. You don’t want people coming to your page expecting a funny vibe, only to get an overly serious bio. It can be confusing and may drive away potential followers.
2. Choose a Niche
Contrary to some beliefs, being a jack-of-all-trades isn’t the best strategy, especially on TikTok. It can make it difficult for TikTok’s algorithm to categorize your content, as well as confuse your audience. This could result in limited recommendations in users’ FYPs and fewer followers.
Rather than discuss every topic under the sun, find something your target audience is interested in or that you’re good at and stick with it. If you’re running a company TikTok account, focus on content that aligns with your brand.
Choosing a niche attracts an audience that’s likely to want more of your content. It also helps the TikTok algorithm categorize your videos appropriately, boosting visibility in targeted audiences’ FYPs.
3. Choose Your Posting Time Well
Posting timing matters more than some people realize. If you post when your target audience is active on TikTok, your chances of registering immediate engagement are high. Conversely, if you post when they’re offline, your engagement will likely be low.
What does engagement have to do with getting free followers? A lot. Like many social media algorithms, TikTok’s system analyzes audience engagement when determining content value. The higher your engagement, the more valuable the algorithm perceives your content, and the more it recommends it to users’ FYPs. Greater visibility results in more interest in your account and, consequently, more followers.
To identify your ideal posting time, log in to your account, open TikTok Studio, and tap the View all link. Then go to Followers and scroll down to Most active times to see when your audience is online.
If you’re new to TikTok and don’t have enough followers for reliable analytics, post anytime between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday. These timeframes have the highest engagement rates and, as such, would be great starting points. However, remember to keep an eye on your analytics and adjust your posting strategy based on your own data.
4. Create Engaging High-Value Videos
Many TikTok users discover accounts to follow when scrolling their FYPs. So, your videos are one of the biggest determinants of whether you’ll gain new followers.
If you create valuable, interesting videos, people will want to see more of your content. This will result in them visiting your page, and following you if they’re impressed by your bio and other videos.
Engaging, high-value videos also boost viewer retention (video completion). This is a positive signal to the TikTok algorithm and can therefore broaden your reach.
So, how exactly do you create videos that get you free followers? Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Share valuable content — you could help viewers solve a problem, entertain them, educate them, or even motivate them.
- Hook your audience within the first few seconds with an interesting fact, question, or compelling visual.
- Ensure good lighting and clear audio.
- Keep your videos as short as possible.
5. Join Challenges
Challenges are a big deal on TikTok. They can boost your visibility on FYPs and in search results (since TikTok’s algorithm tends to prioritize trending content), getting more eyes on your account. This could increase your followers without spending on ads.
If your account is still small, start with other creators’ challenges to benefit from their popularity. For example, if you’re a beauty influencer, look for challenges larger creators have started or participated in and join them.
When you grow your following, start your own challenges and encourage creators to use branded hashtags when they participate. This allows you to tap into their audiences, potentially bringing more traffic to your account.
6. Use Trending Sounds
As with challenges, trending sounds boost your visibility on TikTok. The platform’s algorithm pushes content that uses popular sounds, meaning you’ll appear on more FYPs.
Trending sounds can also make you more relatable to your target audience, giving them the nudge they need to follow you.
To find trending sounds, scroll through your feed and pay attention to what creators in your niche are using. Alternatively, search for “viral sounds” or “trending sounds” on your TikTok search bar for recommendations.
7. Engage With Your Audience
Engagement is your best friend on TikTok. The more engagement your videos get, the more TikTok recommends them to users, boosting your account’s visibility.
One of the best ways to increase engagement (from both your current followers and non-followers who see your videos on their FYPs) is to interact with them. Like their comments, reply to them, like other creators’ posts, and repost their content (if it aligns with your brand). Doing so encourages more people to not only follow you but also to engage with your account, sending positive signals to TikTok.
8. Take Advantage of TikTok SEO
Yes, you read that right. Search engine optimization isn’t just for search engines like Google.
With TikTok increasingly becoming the go-to search tool for Gen Z users, effective SEO can help you grow your following. It improves your ranking on search results, increasing your visibility and account traffic.
To leverage TikTok SEO:
- Find popular terms and phrases (keywords) that your audience uses when searching for information related to your brand or niche.
- Use the keywords in your video and on-screen text.
- Include the phrases in your captions and hashtags.
However, be careful not to go overboard. Only use keywords that align with your content. For example, if you create a video on digital marketing, use terms like “social media,” “marketing,” and “conversions.”
Don’t include unrelated terms just to appear in more searches. This might confuse viewers and leave a bad impression of your account.
9. Cross-Promote Your Account
Use other platforms to direct traffic to your TikTok account. For example, if you have a website, add your TikTok link to your “social media channels” section. Similarly, if you already have a following on YouTube and Instagram, add your link to video descriptions and Stories.
This way, people who visit your website and other social media accounts can follow you on TikTok even if they don’t see your videos in their FYPs.
10. Collaborate With Other Creators
Many TikTok creators grow by working together. So, don’t be afraid to reach out.
Find creators in your niche and:
- Contact them for content partnerships (unpaid). Be sure to highlight what all of you stand to gain from working together.
- Stitch their videos.
- Invite them to your TikTok LIVEs.
- Duet their videos.
Collaborations help you tap into other creators’ audiences, which can lead to more followers. Of course, you have to offer some value to get people to follow you: showcase your skills, be engaging, and highlight your uniqueness.
11. Post Consistently
Posting consistently is one of the most reliable ways to gain free TikTok followers. With millions of videos uploaded every day, accounts that post regularly are far more likely to stay visible on the For You Page. TikTok itself recommends posting one to four times per day to maintain reach and engagement.
This becomes much harder when you manage multiple TikTok accounts. Posting several times a day across many accounts quickly turns into a time-consuming task, and logging into all of them from one device also increases the risk of account issues.
This is where a cloud phone platform like GeeLark becomes useful. GeeLark lets you manage each TikTok account on its own cloud phone, so every account stays isolated and safe. Once your accounts are properly separated, you can schedule and publish content across all of them consistently, without posting manually or worrying about account linking.
To automate TikTok posting with GeeLark:
- Set up cloud phone profiles. To do this, sign up for GeeLark, log in to your dashboard, go to New Profile, and complete all required fields.
- Tap Applications, then Basic applications, and download TikTok.
- Install the app and log in like you would on your normal device.
- Click Automation to open the GeeLark Marketplace.
- Search for the TikTok video posting template.
- Select your cloud phone profile(s).
- Upload your videos to GeeLark.
- Add video details like your preferred sound, captions, and tags.
- Pick your optimal posting day and time.
- Tap Confirm publication once everything is set.
12. Warm Up Your Account
If you’re new to TikTok, start by warming up your account. This process involves gradually increasing your activity on the platform. It builds trust with the TikTok algorithm, which could see your content appearing on more FYPs.
As with posting, you don’t have to warm up TikTok accounts manually — GeeLark can help. GeeLark’s warm up tool mimics natural user behavior by watching videos, liking them, and following other accounts, all while pacing itself. So, you don’t have to worry about raising any bot flags.
To warm up your account(s) with GeeLark, search for the TikTok AI account warmup template, select the cloud phone profiles for your accounts, and follow the template’s guidelines.
Get Free TikTok Followers Today
You don’t have to buy TikTok followers to grow on the platform. In fact, buying is too risky, as it can lead to shadowbans and, eventually, permanent bans.
Get free followers by optimizing your bio, improving your content, engaging with other creators, posting consistently, and warming up new accounts.
GeeLark can streamline video posting and account warm ups. It has AI-powered auto-posting and warm up features, allowing you to publish content consistently and gradually build your TikTok activity without having to handle the tasks yourself.
