How To Use TikTok As a Creator To Gain Success in 2024

From comedians to car mechanics, beauty vloggers to artists, there is room for all kinds of creators on TikTok! 

As long as there’s an audience for your content niche, and as long as you can provide the content they’re looking for, there’s no reason you can’t become a TikTok creator yourself. 

There’s plenty of reasons to do it, too! Aside from expressing yourself and touching thousands, even millions of people’s lives, you can also earn money with your videos. Some creators have even quit their 9-5’s to focus on TikTok as their full-time gig!

If any of those sound like amazing goals, then what are you waiting for? Let us guide you on how to use TikTok as a creator in eight simple, actionable steps. 

8 Steps To Using TikTok As a Creator

You’re finally on your way to becoming a TikTok creator! Now, create a game plan for achieving success on the platform using these eight steps.

Step #1: Create a Personal Account

Every TikTok creator starts in the same place: creating an account.

This step is important, though, because there are two types of accounts you can create on TikTok: a business account and a personal account. 

Since you’re looking to become a content creator and influencer, and aren’t representing a specific brand or company, we recommend you open a personal account. This will give you access to Creator Tools, a category of features that includes:

Later on, as you meet the thresholds for different levels of monetization, you’ll be able to earn money through your personal account, as well. (Don’t worry, we’ll cover those money-making methods later in the guide.)

Once you download TikTok to your smartphone, open it and tap the Sign-up button. From there, you’ll need to provide your date of birth, an email address or phone number that the app can verify your identity with, and a password. 

After providing your personal details and confirming your email address or phone number, choose a TikTok username and a nickname. Think of the first one as your account handle and the second one as the name you want people to call you on the app. 

Try to think of a username and nickname that’s unique and expresses your personality, but also don’t stress too much about it because you can always change both of them later. 

Finally, select the content categories that you’re interested in viewing, so that the TikTok algorithm knows what kind of videos to start sending to your For You Page (FYP; AKA the timeline where you can view other people’s TikTok videos).

Step #2: Choose a Content Niche

Now that you have your personal account set up, it’s time to decide what content niche (or niches) you want your TikTok profile to be known for. 

As we alluded to at the beginning of the article, there are endless possibilities for the kinds of content you can create. To give you an idea, here are some broad categories that can be broken down into even smaller sub-niches.

And that list is just the tip of the iceberg! 

Whatever you create content about, make sure it’s something you’re well-versed or, at the very least, are deeply interested in. It should also be something that has an audience. With an audience, you’ll have a tough time collecting enough engagement to meet your monetization goals. 

One final note about choosing a content niche (and this should go without saying) is, your videos should not require you to harm other people or encourage users to harm others or themselves. Read up on TikTok’s Community Guidelines, so that you know what type of content is appropriate for the platform.

Step #3: Create Content

Now for the fun part: creating your content!

You really don’t need much to get started with this step. You just need a smartphone with a good camera (like an iPhone, an S-series Samsung, or a Google Pixel), a wearable microphone that plugs into your phone, and good lighting. 

As you get more experienced, you may decide to upgrade to a more professional filming setup. You may even want to build your own studio! But in this early stage, focus more on creating than having the latest and greatest equipment. 

You have so many options in the TikTok app alone to help you bring your videos to life. You can:

One thing to keep in mind while creating content for TikTok is the length of your videos. Using the TikTok app, you can record videos that are anywhere from 15 seconds to three minutes long. But you can go up to 10 minutes in length if you pre-record the video using the Camera app on your phone.

Lastly with regard to content creation, we want to mention the caption on each video. Here is where you can include hashtags that will help your videos get discovered in search results. Limit yourself to using 3-5 relevant hashtags and no more, else you’ll risk looking like a spam account.

Once you have your videos and your hashtags planned, begin posting them. TikTok recommends you post 1-4 times every day. That’s a lot of videos! So, plan ahead and schedule them out. That way, you’re not overwhelmed and falling behind. 

Step #4: Grow Your Follower Count To 1K

Your next goal is to grow your follower count to 1000 followers. This is the first monetization threshold you need to meet, and it will allow you to start accepting live streaming subscriptions and monetary gifts from your fans.

Here are Some Strategies to Help You Grow Your First 1000 TikTok Followers:

Step #5: Monetize Your Content With LIVE Subscriptions and Gifts

After you reach 1K followers on TikTok, you can finally start earning money with your content.

TikTok gives you two methods of making money at this stage: LIVE Subscriptions and Gifts. Here’s how they work. 

Step #6: Grow Your Follower Count To 10K and Views To 100K

Did you think 1K followers was enough? Oh, no. You’re just barely getting started! Your next goal is the big 10K.

During this phase, you’re going to want to ramp up your efforts at growing your account and marketing your content. Because not only do you need to reach 10,000 followers, but you also need to generate 100,000 authentic views on your content in a period of 30 days. 

That may sound like a lot to achieve. And it is. It’s going to take every strategy you’ve got up your sleeve – buying real followers, posting new content every day, cross-promotion, etc. – to get it done. 

But it will be worth it for the financial rewards you’ll reap after you exceed this threshold.

Step #7: Join Creator Fund and Creator Marketplace

So, you’ve made it to 10K followers and have received 100K authentic views on your TikTok videos in the last 30 days. Now, at last, it’s time to level up your monetization by joining the Creator Fund and the Creator Marketplace.

Let’s start with the Creator Fund. This is a program that TikTok launched in 2020 as a way for creators to be able to start treating their account as a source of serious money. Creators who are eligible for this program will get paid anywhere from $0.02-$0.04 per 1000 views. 

If we multiply that rate by 100,000 views every 30 days, that’s about $2000-$4000 a month. Not a bad takeaway!

What about the Creator Marketplace? This is where the big money starts coming in. Here, you’ll connect with brands who may want to sponsor one or more of your posts – AKA pay you to promote their product or service in your videos. 

Now you see why reaching 10K followers and 100K views is so important! With that accomplishment under your belt, you’re looking at a monthly income of thousands of dollars every month!

That is, as long as you don’t forget to perform the final step of this guide.

Step #8: Keep Growing!

Getting fully monetized is a wonderful achievement, but it’s not the end of your journey. In reality, it’s only the beginning. 

From here, you must use every lesson and strategy you’ve learned in the last seven steps to keep growing and scaling your account. Most of the time, though, your goal will be to sustain the levels of engagement you’ve already reached. That alone requires hard, constant work.

But it will all pay off! As long as you keep growing, keep striving, and keep creating, you’ll always be reaching new heights of fame and fortune on TikTok.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

TikTok is the perfect medium for people who love sharing their passion and genius for a subject, industry, or activity with the world. Use this article as your step-by-step guide to launching your own many-storied (and profitable) career as a TikTok creator!