How Many Views to Go Viral on TikTok

When you’re scrolling through TikTok, it’s easy to stumble upon videos with hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. It sparks the question: how many views does it actually take to go viral on TikTok? While some clips seem to blow up overnight, the truth is that virality isn’t random. There are specific engagement signals and platform behaviors that determine whether your content makes it onto the For You page.

In this guide, we’ll break down the typical view counts that define "viral" status, plus the factors that influence visibility. If you're looking to improve your content before posting, a clip creator tool can help you edit with precision, boosting your chances of hitting the algorithm sweet spot.

Benefits of Going Viral on TikTok
How Many Views to Go Viral on TikTok
11 Tips to Go Viral on TikTok
10 Viral TikTok Content Ideas
Create Viral Shorts In Seconds With Crayo

Benefits of Going Viral on TikTok

1. Cost-effective Content Creation

Creating engaging videos doesn’t require a large budget. Many viral hits have been made with just a smartphone. High-quality production isn’t always the key to virality. It’s about creativity, relatability, and timing. With minimal investment, businesses can create engaging content that reaches a wide audience on YouTube without the hefty price tag associated with traditional TV ads.

In addition to traditional videos, YouTube Shorts offers a new way for businesses to capture attention. With human attention spans getting shorter, these bite-sized videos are a great way to engage users quickly. The content creation features on YouTube Shorts allow businesses to showcase their products or services in 60 seconds or less, making it easier to create quick, relatable content that viewers are more likely to watch and share.

2. Brand Awareness Boost

Viral videos are an excellent way to spread brand awareness. A well-crafted video can help introduce your brand to millions of people within days. Whether it’s showcasing your products or services in a fun, relatable way or highlighting your company’s values, viral videos have the potential to make your brand a household name.

3. Increases Website Traffic and Leads

One of the major advantages of viral videos is the traffic they can drive to your website. If the video captures attention, viewers are likely to click on links, visit your site, and explore what your business has to offer. More traffic often means more leads, which could eventually convert into paying customers. Embedding a call-to-action in your video or linking it back to your site can work wonders for lead generation.

4. Shareable Content for Wider Reach

Viral videos thrive on their shareability. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube make it easy for users to share videos with their followers, leading to a wider reach. When people share your video, it becomes an organic promotion tool that extends your brand’s visibility to new audiences without additional advertising costs.

5. Improves Engagement and Interactivity

People love engaging with content that resonates with them, and viral videos are perfect for this. Whether through likes, comments, or shares, viewers interact with your brand in meaningful ways. This level of engagement helps build a connection with your audience and encourages them to continue engaging with your brand in the future.

6. Builds Trust and Credibility

When a video goes viral, it establishes credibility. People trust content that others are talking about and sharing. If thousands or even millions are watching your video, it sends a message that your brand is worth paying attention to. This kind of exposure can enhance your brand’s reputation and position it as a trusted authority in your industry.

7. Tailored for Specific Audiences

Unlike generic advertisements, viral videos are often designed to target specific audiences. Whether you are trying to reach young adults, parents, or professionals, a viral video can be crafted to appeal directly to your desired demographic. When done right, it can strike a chord with the right group and increase the likelihood of shares and engagement.

8. Provides Long-term Marketing Value

A viral video doesn’t just have a short-lived impact. The impressions, engagement, and traffic generated from a successful viral campaign can continue to benefit your business long after the initial buzz has faded. Some videos even enjoy a “second life” as they get rediscovered or shared again months or years later, continuing to drive awareness.

9. Promotes User-generated Content (UGC)

A viral video can inspire user-generated content, where fans of your brand create their own spin-offs, reactions, or discussions around your original content. This extends the life of your video and gives your brand more exposure through the eyes of others. UGC also adds authenticity, as potential customers tend to trust recommendations from their peers over branded advertising.

10. Strengthens Emotional Connection with Viewers

Viral videos often evoke strong emotions, whether it’s laughter, inspiration, or empathy. These emotions help viewers form a personal connection with your brand. This emotional link can lead to brand loyalty, as people are more likely to remember and choose a brand that resonates with them on a deeper level.

What Does It Mean to Go Viral on TikTok?

Going viral is the holy grail of social media. It’s that moment when your content explodes in visibility and engagement, seemingly overnight. But how many views does it take to go viral? The answer is complicated. Viral isn’t a number — it’s a pattern. On TikTok, even 100,000 views can be considered viral if engagement happens quickly. What matters is that your content captures attention and prompts interaction.

The Engagement Factor for Viral TikTok Content

What separates content that goes viral from that which doesn’t? Engagement. TikTok’s algorithm for the For You Page (FYP) prioritizes videos that generate likes, shares, comments, and watch time. If your content triggers rapid engagement, it will be pushed to more viewers. That’s why it’s crucial to hook your audience in the first few seconds. The best way to do that? Create content that evokes an emotional response, whether it’s laughter, nostalgia or inspiration.

The Views Threshold for Viral TikTok Success

So how many views does it take to go viral on TikTok? According to social media marketing experts and industry observations, videos reaching 1 million views within three days or 3 to 5 million views in a week often get labeled as “viral.” However, TikTok hasn’t officially defined these metrics, and viral thresholds can vary significantly across platforms and individual accounts.

The Role of TikTok’s Algorithm in Virality

Understanding TikTok’s algorithm is key to maximizing your chances of going viral. The FYP serves as TikTok’s powerful content discovery system. The FYP algorithm analyzes viewer interactions to determine which videos deserve wider distribution, each like, comment, share, and watch-through signals, to TikTok. Engagement is the secret sauce here. It’s not just about views; likes, shares, and comments dictate whether the algorithm continues pushing your video to a broader audience. Short, emotionally impactful content like a hilarious skit, a relatable anecdote, or a visually stunning moment can often trigger this snowball effect.

TikTok Virality: Timing Is Everything

When it comes to going viral on TikTok, timing is everything. You want to post when your target audience is most active on the platform to maximize initial views and engagement. This increases the likelihood of your video being picked up by the algorithm and pushed to the FYP. Use TikTok analytics to determine when your followers are online, and test different posting times to see what works best.

The Fleeting Nature of TikTok Viral Fame

One of the biggest challenges of achieving viral success on TikTok is that it often fades quickly. You need a strategy to capture and maintain your audience’s attention long-term. Most viral creators lose momentum because they lack a permanent content home. This is where a dedicated website becomes crucial. With WordPress and Bluehost hosting solutions, you can create a central hub for your content. Your website showcases viral videos, provides exclusive content, and helps build lasting audience connections. A stable online presence helps you build on each viral moment and grow your audience consistently.

11 Tips to Go Viral on TikTok

1. Use Crayo AI to Create Shorts Fast

Crayo AI is the quickest way to make short videos. Generate unlimited clips simultaneously. Crayo even auto-generates captions, effects, backgrounds, and music. Take advantage of a golden opportunity to earn easy money with the TikTok creator fund program. Go from ideas to shorts in seconds:

Write an outline/prompt.
Customize the style (select a background video, voice narrator, and music from Crayo’s free templates).
Finish and export!

Go viral, make money, and create clips in seconds with Crayo. Try Crayo’s free clip creator tool today—simply click the ‘Try Now’ button on our homepage to get started. No account needed! Go from prompt to viral shorts in minutes with Crayo.

2. Capture Attention with a Compelling Hook

Your video must stop the scroll. The only way to halt scrolling is with an A+ hook—the sentence or phrase that starts your video. If you’re just using trending sounds, your “hook” is the text or visual that pauses a watcher in their tracks.

An example of a mind-blowing hook is a video that’s garnered over 16.3M views by Mila Jaye, where she says, “Cancel me, call me fake, block me, bully me in the comments, I truly do not care, but…” The video instantly captures your attention with the shock value of what Mila is saying. Using copywriting formulas can help you write more captivating hooks. Also, pay attention while scrolling your own For You page. Which videos are stopping you from scrolling? What did they do to capture your attention? Observation alone can inspire many creative hooks.

3. Use Jump Cuts to Keep Viewers Engaged

The TikTok algorithm favors short videos in part because they cater to short attention spans. However, keeping viewers engaged for the entire duration of your video is more important than length. Jump cuts help with this, creating a fast-paced viewing experience that holds audience interest. You don’t need to spend hours editing your videos. Try simple methods like shooting from multiple angles or pairing long segments with quick cuts. Armen Adamjan is a great example of a creator who uses jump cuts masterfully.

4. Use Trends to Boost Your Reach

There are three ways to use trends on TikTok:

a. Find the latest TikTok trends and put your own spin on them. These are platform-wide trends that everyone is doing. You can put your own spin on them by customizing them to your niche. These trends also often extend to other social media channels. An example: the Wes Anderson trend.
b. Use trending sounds in the background of your videos. These are popular audio clips or trending music. Sometimes, these trending sounds are also accompanied by unique TikTok trends.
c. Create videos on niche-specific trends: These are the emerging trends in your industry. Conversations about them might be less popular on TikTok as a platform, but they are fresh & trending topics in your niche. Keep up-to-date on TikTok trends, trending sounds, and industry trends. This will help you find content ideas and increase the chances of a video going viral. TikTok often pushes trending content on its platform and uses trending sounds.

5. Analyze Viral Content in Your Niche

The TikTok algorithm is a master at studying user preferences and giving viewers exactly what they need. But thankfully, many videos that go viral are often like siblings—they share certain traits. Search for a term or keyword your audience might use to discover content like yours. What are the commonalities between the videos with the most engagement?

For example:

Are many of them dance videos with text above? If yes, create entertaining content. Are many of them personal and/or vulnerable? If yes, create behind-the-scenes content that keeps your audience engaged.

Are many of them using trending sounds? If yes, it might be a good idea to find trending music & popular audio clips and use them in your own videos. For instance, let’s say you’re a food creator. When I searched for “cooking tips” on TikTok, I found all videos with over a million views: Use their own audio.

Share one or more fundamental cooking principles. ‘Show’ how to implement the tip and/or hack step-by-step. These insights can help me understand my audience’s behavior and create content they need. If you combine these with conclusions from the Creator Search Insights dashboard and your own TikTok analytics, you’re much more likely to hit the jackpot of a viral content idea.

Are you practicing competitive analysis and finding which videos of your competitors are going viral? Use TikTok’s “Popular” tab in any TikTok account to instantly find anyone’s best-performing videos. Again, analyze patterns here and try to find commonalities.

Are all the videos following specific storytelling techniques? Is all the viral content funny videos? Are all of them using trending sounds? Tracing these patterns will help you understand the key factors that make a video go viral.

6. Keep It Short (Unless Necessary)

The TikTok algorithm monitors your average watch time. The more you post videos that get watched till the end, the more TikTok favors you over other creators. And the shorter your video, the higher your chances of improving your watch time. Creating content that’s short and straightforward will require you to put on the video editor’s hat. Go in with a red pen and cut any clip that doesn’t need to be there.

7. Encourage Engagement with a Strong CTA

Once the love comes, it just keeps on coming. At the end of your video, encourage your audience to comment and/or share your content. This way, when your video performs well, you create an excellent feedback loop to keep more people coming.

For example, Gigi Grombacher created a response video (that got over 2.3M views) about a popular message she gets from her community and asked for their help in the caption. This call to action prompts her followers and a wider audience to participate and chime in via the comments— increasing the engagement on her post. If you post controversial takes or speak about current trends, comments might roll in just because people want to continue the conversation. Whatever you share, think of a strong ending that nudges your audience to engage with you.

8. Add Context to Viral TikTok Videos

TikTok content has a way of feeding off of each other. If a video in your niche is already going viral on the social platform, stitch your own video with it. Using the same hook will help retain TikTok users who have already seen the video on their feed. It can also be a positive signal to the TikTok algorithm when you add to the conversation.

Note: Don’t use random TikTok trends for this approach. Only stitch videos that fit in your social media niche. Try a unique method like Nicole's, or add your own thoughts on a hot conversation topic. Whatever you choose, the video’s topic should fit with the TikTok community you already have. You don’t want to go viral on a random video that has nothing to do with your niche.

9. Take a Stance on a Controversial Topic

If you have the right marketing sources in your back pocket and if you practice active social listening, you’ll know what’s trending in your industry. Use these insights to create videos around controversial topics and share your opinion. This is similar to the previous method, where you stitch with a video that’s already viral. But instead of relying on the TikTok algorithm to show you a video that’s viral on the topic that you have a strong opinion on, you’re taking a more proactive approach.

Suppose the world is buzzing with conversation on a controversial topic. In that case, it will generate more reach on TikTok—even if you can’t find videos that are already viral on the subject matter.

Note: Don’t be contrarian just to be contrarian. Yes, you will gain virality if you say something controversial, but if you don’t truly believe in what you’re saying, you’ll not build an authentic personal brand. And your TikTok community will lose trust in your content.

10. Offer Unique and Valuable Tips

Creating viral content is often about sharing extraordinary, unique, and yet surprisingly simple tips within your niche. For example, beauty creator Lena made a video about a last-minute Halloween makeup hack that got over 28.9M views.

It’s timely: Halloween is right around the corner. People are already searching for last-minute tips similar to the ones Lena shared. It’s quick and simple: The short video length combined with the easy-to-do hack makes Lena’s TikTok content extremely useful and actionable. A great way to find content ideas for this category is by using TikTok’s creator search insights tool and your TikTok analytics.

TikTok’s creator search insights can help you pinpoint content gaps in your audience’s feed. Your analytics can help you determine which content topics are a hit amongst your TikTok community. Combine the valuable insights you derive from these sources to find emerging trends and areas where you can offer easy-to-implement tips in your niche.

11. Infuse Your Personality into Your Videos

Sorry to be cliché, but your biggest power is that no one is you. Are you funny, quirky, silly in real life? Bring that energy into your TikTok presence. Creating videos that put your personality front and center will not only increase your chances of going viral but also make you much more memorable.

10 Viral TikTok Content Ideas

1. Before & After Transformations

Capture any type of change in a quick, satisfying format. This could be:

Room makeovers or organization
Outfit changes or styling
Skill improvements over time
Art or craft projects
Fitness progress

Why it works: Dramatic changes engage viewers from start to finish.

2. "Day in My Life" (DIML) Content

Document your daily routine with quick cuts and trending audio. Focus on:

Morning or evening routines
Work day highlights
Weekend activities
Unique aspects of your lifestyle

Pro tip: Add text overlays explaining what you're doing to keep viewers engaged even without sound.

3. Quick Tips & Life Hacks

Share valuable advice in 15-30 seconds:

Organization hacks
Time-saving tips
Money-saving strategies
Productivity tricks
Problem-solving shortcuts

Why it works: Educational content performs well because people save and share useful information.

4. Trending Audio Challenges

Jump on popular sounds and trends by:

Using trending songs creatively
Participating in viral challenges
Adding your unique spin to popular formats
Creating content that matches the audio's mood

Key strategy: Act fast when you spot a trending audio - timing is crucial for viral potential.

5. Behind-the-Scenes Content

Show the process behind your work or life:

How do you create content
Your workspace setup
Preparation for events or projects
Failed attempts or bloopers
The "real" side of your niche

Why it works: Authenticity builds connection, and people love seeing what happens "behind the curtain."

6. Storytime Videos

Share interesting, relatable, or dramatic personal stories:

Funny or embarrassing moments
Life lessons learned
Surprising encounters
Career or relationship experiences
Plot twist stories

Format tip: Start with a hook like "You won't believe what happened to me..." and use text overlays for key details.

7. Quick Tutorials & How-Tos

Teach something valuable in under 60 seconds:

Simple recipes or cooking tips
Basic skills in your expertise area
Tech tips and tricks
Beauty or fashion techniques
DIY projects

Success factor: Keep it simple and actionable - viewers should feel they can recreate what you've shown.

8. "Things I Wish I Knew" Lists

Share wisdom or advice in list format:

"Things I wish I knew at 20"
"Mistakes I made as a beginner"
"What I wish someone told me about..."
Industry insights or lessons learned.

Why it works: This format combines storytelling with valuable advice, making it both entertaining and useful.

9. Trend Reactions & Duets

Engage with existing viral content by:

Reacting to popular videos
Creating duets with trending creators
Adding your perspective to viral topics
Responding to questions or challenges

Strategy: Add genuine value or a unique perspective rather than just copying what others are doing.

10. "A Day as a [Your Role]" Content

Show what it's really like to do what you do:

Student life content
Specific job or career insights
Parenting moments
Creative process documentation
Entrepreneurship journey

Pro tip: Focus on the unique or surprising aspects that people might not expect about your role or lifestyle.

Create Viral Shorts In Seconds With Crayo

Crayo AI streamlines the process of making short videos, whether for TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. Its easy-to-use platform generates unlimited shorts instantly, featuring auto-made captions, effects, music, and more. Just outline your idea, choose your style, and export. Crayo helps you go viral and earn from the TikTok Creator Fund. Try the free tool today—no account needed.