Views serve as a crucial metric for gauging a video’s reach. Even if a viewer doesn’t interact by liking, commenting, or sharing the video, their mere viewing contributes to its count, indicating engagement. TikTok’s algorithm significantly emphasizes the number of views, influencing the app to showcase the video to a broader audience as the view count increases.
What do shares indicate?
A share is a more potent form of engagement than a passive view because it requires users to go out of their way to share the video. When someone shares your TikTok, they expose it to their network, which leads to a ripple effect of new viewers. Shared videos have the potential to go viral as they get reposted across the Internet.
Views for visibility, shares for engagement
If we think about views and shares on a spectrum of engagement, views are at the base level, and shares are a step up. Views are essential for getting your content seen by a broad audience in the first place. TikTok’s algorithm picks up on videos that are getting a lot of views and pushes that content out to more people’s For You pages. More views lead to more potential engagement overall.
However, views alone don’t necessarily mean your content resonated with people it could have autoplay based on the viewer’s watch history. Shares, conversely, are a more precise indicator that your content genuinely connected with someone on a deeper level. They felt compelled to pass it on. So, while views help with general visibility, shares are better for driving meaningful engagement. When your video gets shared a lot, that’s a signal to TikTok that it’s quality content worth recommending to even more people. Plus, shares expose your video to fresh audiences on other platforms, not just within the TikTok app. find this more directly from the source.
Optimizing for both views and shares
- Hook viewers instantly
You must stop scrollers within 1-3 seconds of your video to get the view. Start with an intriguing visual, a punchy statement or question, or jump right into the action. Please give them a reason to keep watching past the 3-second view mark.
- Provide value
Your video needs to offer something valuable and shareable to get the share. Think entertaining, inspiring, informative, or emotionally resonant content. Give viewers something they’ll want to show others – a laugh, a hack, or an “aha!” moment.
- Include a call-to-action
Prompt viewers to share by actually telling them to share! Use text overlays or verbally encourage them to “share this with a friend who needs to see it.” Sometimes, people need that direct invitation to engage.
- Leverage trending sounds and hashtags
Using popular sounds and hashtags can help your video appear in more people’s feeds, leading to more views. Participating in viral trends also makes your video more likely to be shared as part of that trend.
- Post at optimal times
Pay attention to when your audience is most active on the app and post at those high-traffic times for maximum initial exposure, which snowballs into more views and shares.
Look at your videos with the highest view counts and share counts. Lean into the content themes and styles already resonating with your audience.
