How to Get Your TikTok Videos to the “For You” Page aka FYP

TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide.  TikTok has managed to reach over 1.5 billion total downloads and over 800 million active monthly users in just a few years.  So the question everyone is asking is how does TikTok’s algorithm work?  How do you get your TikTok videos to the “For You” page?  These questions sparked my curiosity when the first video I posted to TikTok received millions of views within 24 hours. 

@samsology##halloween♬ original sound – Samsology

The success of my TikTok video prompted me to dig a little deeper and find out how and why my TikTok video landed on the For You page (FYP) and received millions of views so quickly.

This is What I Found…

On June 18th 2020, TikTok released a press statement vaguely outlining how it recommends videos “For You” (FYP).  Simply put, TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) recommendation engine takes several factors into account, gives each factor different weight and recommends videos based on those factors.

Tiktok For You

What are TikTok’s “For You” page (FYP) factors?

  • User Interactions – These factors include likes, shares, comments, follows and views.  We believe these factors are the most heavily weighted factors in TikTok’s “For You” page recommendation engine.
  • Video Information – These factors include captions, sounds and hashtags.  Video information factors are most important for categorizing videos for search, however, they do hold weight in TikTok’s For You page recommendations.
  • Device & Account Settings – These factors include language preferences, country setting and device type.  TikTok says these factors hold less weight in their For You page recommendations relative to other factors because users don’t actively express these preferences.

Important Thinks to Note about TikTok’s For You page.

  • Everyone’s For You page is different – The For You page (FYP) is designed to be personalized based on the factors stated above, thus, everyone has unique For You pages curated for them based on their individual interactions, video information and account settings.
  • TikTok aims to diversify recommendations – TikTok states: “By offering different videos from time to time, the system is also able to get a better sense of what’s popular among a wider range of audiences to help provide other TikTok users a great experience, too. Our goal is to find balance between suggesting content that’s relevant to you while also helping you find content and creators that encourage you to explore experiences you might not otherwise see.”  TikTok also states: “One of the inherent challenges with recommendation engines is that they can inadvertently limit your experience – what is sometimes referred to as a “filter bubble.” By optimizing for personalization and relevance, there is a risk of presenting an increasingly homogenous stream of videos. This is a concern we take seriously as we maintain our recommendation system.”

My Best Guesses on How to Get Your TikTok Videos to the For You Page

These observations are based on analyzing user interactions on over 100 videos on my For You page.

  1. Your TikTok videos need to have a high ratio of likes to views.  I observed that all videos on my For You page had a minimum of 10% likes to views. In other words for every 10 people that watch your video, at least 1 or 2 need to hit the “like” button.
    1. My video (@samsology) that received 13.3 million views had approximately 1.8 million likes or 13.5% likes to views.
    2. Daniel Labelle’s (@daniel.labelle) video “If people did everything in a rush. Part 2 has a whopping 127 million views and 17.4 million likes or 13.7% likes to views.
  2. Your TikTok videos need to have a high ratio of comments to views. I observed that most videos on my For You page had a minimum of .05% comments to views. In other words for every 2000 people that watch the video 1 or 2 need to comment on the video.
    1. My video (@samsology) that received 13.3 million views had approximately 11,700 comments or .08% comments to views.
    2. Daniel Labelle’s (@daniel.labelle) video “If people did everything in a rush. Part 2 has a whopping 127 million views and 167,000 comments or .13% comment to views.
  3. Your TikTok videos need to have a high ratio of shares to views. I observed that most videos on my For You page (FYP) had about .1% shares to views.
    1. My video (@samsology) that received 13.3 million views had approximately 34,800 shares or .26% shares to views.
    2. Daniel Labelle’s (@daniel.labelle) video “If people did everything in a rush. Part 2 has a whopping 127 million views and 257,000 shares or .2% shares to views.
  4. Your TikTok videos need to have a high view percentage rate.  In other words, users need to watch your videos to the end or at least a high percentage of the total video length. This was not observed but is stated by TikTok as a “strong indicator”.

My Video:

@samsology##halloween♬ original sound – Samsology

Daniel Labelle’s Video:

@daniel.labelleIf people did everything in a rush. Part 2 @caleblabelle1♬ original sound – Daniel LaBelle

Conclusion:

If you want your TikTok videos to hit the “For You” page you need:

  1. 10%+ Likes to Views
  2. .05%+ Comments to Views
  3.  .05%+ Shares to Views
  4.  Strong View Percentage Rate

These metrics are best accomplished with creative, unique, funny or interesting content. Good Luck:)