Tik Tok Promotion: The Secret of Tik Tok’s Recommendation Algorithm!

Algorithms are an indispensable evaluation mechanism for any platform, and this mechanism is equally effective for content producers and content consumers.

Baidu has its own algorithm, WeChat has its own algorithm, and Toutiao has its own algorithm. Algorithm is an indispensable mechanism for any platform. Today I would like to share the algorithm mechanism of Tik Tok.

1. Popular Science

What is an algorithm?

To put it simply, an algorithm is a set of evaluation mechanisms. This mechanism is effective for all users of the platform, whether they are content producers (people who shoot videos) or content consumers (people who watch videos). In many cases, we are both producers and consumers.

Every action we take on the platform is like a clear instruction, and the platform judges our nature based on these instructions. And we are divided into high-quality users, silent users, lost users, recoverable users, etc.;

In addition, it will also determine whether we are a marketing account and whether we have any illegal operations. If it is the platform, our account will be put in a small black room; on the contrary, if it is judged that we are a high-quality user, the platform will give us certain support.

What is the use of algorithms?

The greatest use of algorithms for platforms is to manage user data on their own platforms, and to improve platform functions based on a series of user feedback behaviors, thereby improving user experience and allowing the platform to attract and retain more users, ultimately allowing the platform to form a virtuous and recyclable ecosystem.

What are the benefits of algorithms?

The benefits of algorithms to content producers : Since we want to attract fans on other people’s turf, we must understand their rules. Just like pursuing a girl, you have to understand her likes and dislikes, only then will you have a chance to find a way into her heart.

What's more, it is much easier to understand the platform than to understand girls! As long as we are aware of the platform's recommendation mechanism, we can consciously design our own behavior to guide the platform to determine that we are high-quality users and allocate us more, more accurate traffic and higher permissions.

The benefits of algorithms to content consumers : When you browse a lot of a certain type of content on Taobao, Douyin or Toutiao, do you feel that many of the recommended content are what you like and are more interested in reading the next time you open the app? In fact, the platform improves user experience in order to retain you.

It will analyze your interests based on your behavior, then label you and recommend content from content producers with similar labels to you. You are then people in the same pool.

In short, the recommendation algorithm will match us with what we want. Match content producers with accurate users and match content consumers with content of interest.

After understanding what the algorithm is and its importance, the first thing to do when attracting traffic to any platform is to understand the platform's algorithm first, rather than blindly attracting traffic, which will only make the platform judge you as a marketing account and then block you.

2. Audit

Tik Tok is a decentralized platform, which means that any account has the opportunity to have millions or even tens of millions of followers. Even if we don't have any traffic, as long as our content is popular, more and more people will pay attention to it.

When we publish a video, the platform will conduct an audit, which mainly checks whether our work violates any regulations. For example, whether there are advertisements, watermarks or logos, whether the content is indecent or bloody, etc. If there is content prohibited by the platform, our video will be rejected or restricted (only you can see the content you posted).

If there are no violations, the platform will approve us. This is when the content will officially appear in front of the user.

3. Intelligent Distribution

Our newly released video platform will give a certain amount of initial recommendation traffic based on the weight of our account. The initial recommendation will be distributed first to nearby people and fans who follow us, and then intelligently distributed in combination with user tags and content tags.

4. Overlay Recommendations

When the platform distributes our works to the initial traffic, the platform will judge whether our content is popular based on the feedback from the initial traffic. If it is popular, the platform will distribute our works to more traffic, otherwise it will no longer distribute traffic to us.

The important feedback indicators here are: playback volume (completion rate) > likes > comments > reposts .

The first recommendation will give about 200-500 traffic depending on the weight of the account. If the recommended work has good feedback on the above data (10% likes, several comments, 60% completion rate, etc.), the platform will determine that our content is more popular and will give a second recommendation.

The second time, the platform will probably recommend around 1,000 to 5,000 traffic; if the feedback from the second recommendation is good, the platform will recommend it for the third time, and the third time will be tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of traffic, and so on. If the feedback is still good, the platform will use big data algorithms combined with manual review mechanisms to measure whether your content can become popular.

Generally speaking, within one hour after a video is released, if the video playback volume reaches more than 5,000, and the number of likes is higher than 100, and the number of comments is higher than 10, it will basically be recommended to the next level.

Someone asked before that their videos have always been unpopular, but why they suddenly became popular again because of a video that received good feedback?

One thing to note here: TikTok will dig up graves .

Digging up old videos means that even if the feedback on your previously released videos is not very good, but suddenly a new video gets very good feedback and users like it very much, the platform will think that your video is popular with users and will support you. Users who like your videos will often go to your homepage to watch other videos. The more they click and watch, the platform will think that your other videos are also very popular, so it will still recommend your old videos.

On the contrary, even if your videos have good feedback and a lot of traffic in the early stage, as long as there is one video that violates the rules, your account will be downgraded and its traffic will be restricted or blocked. Therefore, don’t be complacent just because you have a lot of fans. You should always be prepared for danger and the key is to maintain your account at all times.

5. Traffic Pool

Douyin has low-level traffic pool, medium-level traffic pool and high-level traffic pool . Accounts with different weights will be assigned to different traffic pools and will receive different exposures.

The amount assigned depends on the popularity of the content.

The feedback data of the above five works (including playback completion rate) is very important. Based on these five parameters, the platform will assign you to the corresponding traffic pool. It can be said to be a direct factor that affects whether your account can be successful. If the number of views of the works released for a week is below 100, it will be regarded as a low-level account or a useless account, and the platform will rarely recommend it; the account whose number of views of the works released for a week hovers around 300 is the lowest weight account and will only be assigned to the low-level traffic pool. If the number of views does not exceed 300 after a month, it will also be regarded as a zombie account.

If the number of views continues to exceed thousands, it means that the account is about to become a popular account. It can easily become popular just by taking advantage of the popularity.

If the traffic of an account does not increase, abandon that account and apply for a new one to play with, because no matter what you do, it is very likely to be the same.

The above is about the TikTok algorithm. Once we understand the algorithm, we can opportunistically guide TikTok to label us as high-quality users, thereby increasing the account weight and allocating more traffic to us.

6. Taboo

1. Videos containing hard advertisements, logos, watermarks, alcohol, tobacco, tattoos, political references, slander and insults to others, revealing clothing, vulgar and indecent content, pornography, frequent private messages to fans, plagiarism, impersonation of Douyin official personnel, and videos containing pornography, gambling, drugs, bloody weapons (knives, guns, etc.) may not be approved.

If Douyin detects any violation, you will be punished:

(1) Limit traffic and block popular content. This is mainly due to too many advertisements and frequent plagiarism.

(2) Block certain functions or restrict the use of certain functions. This is mainly because TikTok detects that you are using certain functions to frequently send advertisements, such as sending private messages to others.

(3) Delete the video and block the account for several days. This is mainly because the content is vulgar or highly controversial.

(4) Put into a small dark room and permanently ban the account. Serious or repeated violations will result in your account being blocked.

1. Use the simulator to log in to your account frequently.

(1) Frequently switching accounts

(2) More than a dozen accounts under the same IP

7. Account Optimization

1. Maintain the account in the early stage to increase its weight.

As mentioned above, the platform has an algorithm system to detect whether our account is a marketing account; if it is, the account will be directly blocked. Even if there is no advertising and the videos released with a brand new account will not get any traffic support, because you have not done anything in the early stage. The platform cannot determine what field your account is in and cannot label you, so the system will not make many recommendations.

When we just registered an account, the first thing we did was to maintain it. This is true no matter what platform you use. Maintaining an account is nothing more than simulating manual operations, such as watching videos every day (one by one), following others, liking, commenting and forwarding other people's content, and watching live broadcasts for at least half an hour every day (you can also open the live broadcast and leave it on your phone without watching it).

The account should be maintained for at least 3 days, preferably a week. When you pay attention to others, you can pay attention to your peers. After the account has been maintained for about 3 days, we can bind the mobile phone and then complete the account information one by one.

There are two types of accounts:

(1) Self-use account: An account registered by a user using his/her mobile phone number. This type of account is given a higher weight if it is actually used and is active.

(2) Third-party account: An account logged in using a third-party platform such as QQ, WeChat, or Weibo, which is not registered with a mobile phone and is not bound to a mobile phone.

1. Update daily later, stay active. Better content every day can enable the system to detect that you are an active and high-quality account, so the platform will not downgrade your rights.

8. Content Optimization

1. Vertical . If you are making beauty videos, don’t post videos that are not related to beauty, so that the system can’t accurately identify what field your account is in and give you the wrong label or no label. This will cause your account weight to not increase, resulting in less and inaccurate traffic.

2. Original . It’s best not to plagiarize. In fact, copying other people’s videos is more troublesome than shooting a video yourself, and copying videos is becoming less and less fun.

3. Take advantage of hot topics and popular music . When you have nothing to do, take part in more hot topics and use popular music for better results. Lao Wang doesn't tell you to just jump on the hottest topic. Instead, find a topic that is related to your field and is also very popular!

4. 7-15 seconds . If the video is too short, it won’t show anything and won’t be watchable; if it is too long, it will affect the completion rate, so it is best to control the length of the video in the early stages to 7-15 seconds.

5. Shoot in vertical mode . The product Tik Tok is designed with vertical screen as the main feature, and users are accustomed to watching videos in vertical screen, so the playback rate of vertical screen is higher than that of horizontal screen.

6. Participate in challenges . Especially the challenges initiated by the official, its purpose is to guide users to post such videos, so they will be given certain support.

7. The content of the photo should be high-definition and not blurry . When shooting, buy a mobile phone stand to maintain stability, and buy a fill light to make the videos you shoot bright and concise. These things can be bought on Taobao for less than a hundred yuan.

9. Release Optimization

1. Released from 12:00 to 2:00 and 6:00 to 11:00. Many people are taking a break during these time periods, and many people are just browsing TikTok, so posts during these time periods are easily seen. It should be noted that it is best to publish 10 minutes in advance because the platform will have a review time, which can be as fast as one or two minutes or as slow as more than ten minutes.
2. Publish in places with dense crowds. Do you remember Lao Wang said that Douyin has a mechanism that prioritizes recommendations to people nearby?
3. Actively guide likes, comments and shares.
4. A text description of the video. The description can appear in the form of questions, etc. to guide viewers to like, comment and forward.
5. @TikTok Assistant. I won’t explain this in detail, as I have talked about it a lot before.
6. Participate in the topic. Just like playing topics on Weibo, it can increase exposure to a certain extent.
7. Cover. If the cover is well done, others will be more eager to read it.

The above is the simple algorithm and optimization suggestions of Tik Tok. I hope it will be helpful to you!

Source: Digging pond