How Do Trends Start on TikTok: 8 Strategies to Find Them

From viral dances and challenges to comedic skits and creative hacks, TikTok trends capture the attention of millions of users worldwide. It seems that no one can live on social media without following these trends. Many creators wonder: how do trends start on TikTok?

Knowing the birthplace of trends can help you find them easier and quicker and stay on top of the game. That’s why we have listed the top strategies to find what’s trending on TikTok now in this article.

If you’re also wondering how you get 1000 TikTok followers to go live, here is a good place to start.

Why do TikTok creators should know what’s trending on this platform? Do trends have any impact on your content? Definitely, it has.

  • TikTok Trends can help your content go viral. TikTok users like to see how different creators do a trend. Therefore, they search for trends and watch other videos. If you want them to find you, it’s essential for you to know how do trends start on TikTok to increase the chance for your video to go viral. Furthermore, trends can help you get more comments on TikTok.
  • TikTok trends raise awareness and inspire action on social issues. Using trends is the best strategy to raise awareness on different topics, whether it’s climate change, mental health, or any other subject. For example, we can mention the #BlackLivesMatter trending hashtag that was used more than 44 million times over different platforms.
  • Trends build connections between TikTok users. TikTok trends are often based on common themes, challenges, or jokes that users can relate to and participate in.
blacklivesmatter TikTok trending hashtag page

We usually find trends when they have become popular. It’s usually unclear for most users that how do trends start on TikTok. Here are some ideas: 

1- Current Events

First, you should know that trends may not always be the same in all countries. That’s why current events are important. You should be aware of what’s happening now in your country and around the world because current events are one of the reasons some trends start.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic was a worldwide event. So, everyone could build a video related to this topic to raise awareness about what to do or not to do during this phase. On the other hand, New Year or national days might be different in some countries.

Depending on your target audience, find a suitable event to participate in, whether it’s a popular series, an international day like Valentine’s, or the new lunar year.

Note: Don’t forget to follow celebrities and their events, such as the annual Oscars or Grammy Awards. They are almost popular events all around the world.

2- TikTok Challenges

One of the popular subjects that go viral on TikTok is the challenges. People, especially millennials, love participating in different challenges and having fun. That’s why challenges are among the first subjects that trend.

Challenges should be easy to trend. It can be a dancing movement, lip-syncing with a popular song, or recreating a famous scene from a newly-released movie.

3- Influencers

As their names indicate, they are here to influence new trends. Influencers are among the first people to start a trend on TikTok. Since they have a large following and fan base, they can easily spread a subject or trend.

Generally, influencers’ content is more likely to receive higher engagement and go viral. That’s why most brands collaborate with influencers to create videos around trending subjects. Accordingly, following top influencers can help you find how do trends start on TikTok

4- Brands Advertising

Brands sometimes create a contest and ask their followers to participate. This type of advertising also starts a trend on TikTok because more and more people are joining the contest and creating videos based on that subject.

Brands may ask followers to use a certain hashtag on their posts or create a video using specific music. Therefore, they can impact trends, too. 

5- New Released Music

You should know that music is everything on TikTok. When a new song is released and becomes popular in your country or worldwide, you should know that it’s going to be the next trend on TikTok. So, checking out music streaming websites or apps, like Spotify, can help you stay updated with new releases and popular songs.

infographic on how do TikTok trends start

Now that we know how do trends start on TikTok, let’s check out some methods to find what’s trending on TikTok now.

1- Check Out TikTok Creative Center

Knowing the importance of trends, TikTok has provided a platform for its creators to give them insights and information about different trends on this platform. You can create an account on TikTok Creative Center or log in with your TikTok username and password.

On this platform, you can find what’s trending on TikTok now. However, the downside of this method is that TikTok Creative Center is mostly focused on your location. So you will have minimum information about the trends in other countries.

You can find trends on the following tabs:

  • Creators– See who are top creators. You can select a period, such as the last 7 or 30 days, to discover creators with the most views and engagement on TikTok. Their content can inspire you about new trends.
  • Songs– It’s essential to use the trending songs in your videos. Check out the Trending Songs tab to see which songs are mostly used on TikTok videos.
  • Videos– You can see the popular videos in your region for inspiration.  
  • Hashtags– The most important thing to find is the “Trending Hashtags.” You can find the related tab on TikTok Creative Center, which can give you a full report and analytics about how special hashtags perform now.
TikTok Trends on TikTok Creative Center

2- Follow Top Creators

As you can see, TikTok Creative Center is very useful for discovering what’s trending now in your country. But, you may find it challenging to see the trends in other countries or worldwide. That’s when following top creators can help.

Find influencers and TikTok creators in other countries and follow them on TikTok. Since they are among the first people joining a challenge or creating trends, you can get notified about worldwide trends faster, so you can create content that has a chance to go viral in other regions.

3- Check Out “For You” Tab

The “For You Page” is one of the best places to find what’s trending in your favorite niche. However, in this case, you should be more active on TikTok because this tab selects the videos based on the topics you have already interacted with.

TikTok for you tab

Since these videos are selected based on their likes and views, this tab can give you good inspiration about the subjects to create videos with more chance of going viral.

4- Use the TikTok Commercial Music Library

You know that music is an inseparable part of TikTok content creation. Apart from checking out the trending songs on TikTok Creative Center, you can discover more songs on TikTok Commercial Music Library, which collects a playlist of songs that are mostly used on TikTok videos.

TikTok Commercial Music Tab on TikTok Creative Center

The TikTok Commercial Music Library is a global music library of over 1 million songs, making it easier for brands and creators to find music to soundtrack their content on TikTok.

5- Explore Keyword Insights on TikTok

Another feature of TikTok Creative Center is the ability to find which keywords are mostly used on TikTok. This part is different from hashtags. These keywords can help you write better captions that catch the audience’s attention.

You can find this section under the Inspiration menu on TikTok Creative Center. Then, you can select a specific region or industry to find keywords more aligned with your business or niche.

Keyword Insight on TikTok Creator Center

Knowing which categories are more popular on TikTok can lead to finding how do trends start on TikTok. Based on the latest research done by Statista, the categories of Entertainment and Dance are among the most popular on TikTok.

This research was done based on hashtag views, showing the Entertainment category has more than 443 million hashtag views. Therefore, that’s where you can find most of the trends.

statistics about popular categories on TikTok
*Source: Statista

The other thing you can learn from this research is to create content related to one of the popular categories or their trending hashtags. Therefore, you can increase your chance of getting more views on your video.

Trends are not just for TikTok. Although most of them start from this platform, you can still find trends on other social media platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube.

  • Instagram Reels: Most creators share their content on multiple platforms. You can find trends on Instagram Reels. The videos shared on Reels are similar to short videos on TikTok. Therefore, you can get ideas about creating such videos for your TikTok account.
  • YouTube Shorts: Another place to compare with TikTok videos is the YouTube Short. Creating short videos became popular after the release of TikTok. Therefore, YouTube also added a section to its platform. You can find most TikTok trends in YouTube Short.

Consequently, if you are more active on those platforms, you can find trends there and share your content on Tiktok.

8- Use Apps and AI Tools

So far, most techniques to find TikTok trends have been related to the TikTok Creator Center. Although it’s the best place to discover trends, you can still use some apps or websites to find trending hashtags or videos. Let’s review some of them.

TrendTok Analytics & Tracker

If you want to use AI in social media, TrendTok Analytics and Tracker is one of the best AI tools you can use to discover and predict new viral TikTok trends within your location or niche or through your favorite TikTok creators.

The app is free to download, but you need to buy it to use its options and features. However, you can buy it for only one week. So, if you don’t find it useful, there is no need to make huge payments on the monthly or annual subscription.

Trendtock application for iPhone

AllHashtags.com

As the name shows, this website can help you discover hashtags. However, it’s not just about TikTok hashtags; you can find top hashtags on different platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and more.

allhashtag.com website homepage

This website is free to use but has no application to download on your mobile. Still, it is helpful to generate hashtags for your content or find trending hashtags on TikTok.

Let’s see some of the top trends on TikTok and how they are born.

Wednesday Dance

Whether you have seen the Wednesday series or not, you definitely have seen the dancing challenge with its popular music on different social media platforms.

The Wednesday Dance challenge has become one of the most popular and trending challenges on TikTok, with over 1.8 billion views as of November 2021.

After the Wednesday TV show, the sped-up version of Lady Gaga’s song “Bloody Mary” became popular due to the dancing scene.

Then, TikTok creators used the theme, the black clothes and braided hair, with the song to recreate the dancing scene with the same movements. Many users took part in this dancing challenge; some also used the CapCut template to add more effects to their videos to get more engagement.

TikTok Wednesday Dance Trend

The Old Filter Trend on TikTok

This challenge demonstrated how eager many people are to see their future appearance. The old trend on TikTok is a viral challenge involving using FaceApp to transform your appearance into an older version of yourself and then comparing it with your current look.

TikTok Old Filter Trend

As you can see, this trend started when the FaceApp released this filter. Do you remember the name of this application before this release? But now, many users know the app or even have it on their mobile phones. That’s how trends work for businesses.

Bottom Line

Trends on TikTok often start when a user or group of users create and share a novel or engaging piece of content. Knowing how do trends start on TikTok can help you become one of the first creators to participate in a challenge, which can help you grow on TikTok and gain more likes, views, and comments.

FAQs

The best way to see trending hashtags on TikTok is using the TikTok Creative Center. This platform can give you a report about what’s happening on TikTok, which hashtags are on fire, which videos had more views in the last week, and more information that can help you with content creation.

However, there are also some apps and websites that can help you generate hashtags for your posts.

Generally, you can find out what’s trending on TikTok by following top creators because they are among the first users who join a challenge or use trending songs. Furthermore, TikTok Creative Center can also give you great information about what songs are being mostly used on TikTok videos.

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