How To Reach a Global Audience on TikTok

With over 1 billion monthly active users on TikTok it’s no surprise that brands want to reach as many people as possible. Brands are rapidly innovating to extend their reach to more customers, boost engagement, and drive sales. With social entertainment at the forefront of these strategies, it’s only natural TikTok is the platform of choice.

TikTok has led to the creation of online communities being formed over shared virtual experiences. Brands are creating connections with customers that are deeper and more global than ever before. There are no exact steps to follow, but our TikTok marketing strategies along with the following tips, will get you on the right track regarding how to reach a global audience on TikTok.

It’s complicated, but not impossible. When getting started, TikTok promotes local content to you by default. It shows you the videos made in the language of your country by creators near you. As we know, marketers cannot depend solely on brand recognition to earn followers and gain reach in the way they do on other channels — only good content will find success in TikTok’s algorithm, which determines what content is shown on the For You page. 

TikTok prioritizes localization over Instagram and Facebook. A well-crafted localization strategy will enable you to reach a broader audience, be that a European audience or an Australian one. To enhance your localization efforts, it's crucial to monitor trends in each market you operate in and follow popular hashtags across channels. Ensuring these hashtags are tailored to each country will further bolster your strategy. The use of influencers can serve as an ideal link between your brand and the reach of your audience. Working with local micro-influencers will increase your presence in the country of your choice and increase your network in that area.

How Does TikTok Know Your Location?

Whether you’re on desktop or mobile, TikTok automatically collects information from you when you first create an account on the platform. This information includes your approximate location based on your drive or network, such as your SIM card and IP address. It’s how TikTok can serve localized content to users on their ‘FYP’ pages without them searching for it. TikTok can also collect GPS location information if you have ‘Location Services’ turned on in your settings. The purpose of the GPS feature is to allow you to add a location to your videos.

Because of the network information TikTok collects, using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to disguise your location after your account is set up often doesn’t work as a strategy to reach other countries or areas. A VPN can mask or encrypt your online location identity. Still, they are not fooled, because TikTok also has access to your location identifying information found in your SIM or IP address. A brand account should be set up with as little localization information as possible to help reach a broader global audience.

The best approach to make your TikTok reach other countries includes a few key strategies and best practices that will gradually change the algorithm of your profile to show your content globally.

 Best Practices for Reaching Other Countries on TikTok: 

1. A robust localization strategy is done by ensuring that your content is appropriate for both the culture and language of your target country, which can be done by embracing local language, a localized social handle and other factors in your bio and content that distinguish where you're from. Conversely, global success on TikTok relies on the ability to comprehend the visual content that you’re sharing universally.
2. Participating in popular TikTok hashtags in the region you are targeting and related to your content will help spread your content. 
3. Localized video descriptions and sounds relevant to the target audience and region. Popular, ‘viral’, sounds and trends are more likely to find a larger audience and be seen. 
4. Finding the best times to post on TikTok will take some trial and error, but we’ve broken down the tips to keep in mind when finding the best times to post on TikTok, including when posting globally.

Tips and Strategies for Reaching a Global Audience on TikTok: 

1. Partnering with local creators within the countries you’re looking to target who also have a global reach. Their location identities and following will naturally help push your branded content in these regions.

2. Research your target audience and understand which content resonates with them or trends in that specific area. This will help you create tailed content for that global demographic. 

3. Changing your SIM card to an international one and clearing the cache or reinstalling TikTok. Don’t forget to turn off ‘Location Services’ if it’s available in your region to stop the app from collecting GPS information.

Overall, in your efforts to reach a bigger audience on TikTok, remember that creating authentic content for your brand, ensuring your brand voice is genuine, and nurturing your community will always be a top priority. Authenticity is key to achieving success on TikTok and will only positively impact growing your reach to a global audience.

How Dash Hudson Can Help Grow Global Reach With TikTok Insights

Dash Hudson provides the most comprehensive TikTok insights at your fingertips. Our global brands optimize their social entertainment and marketing strategies on TikTok with our trending sound notifications, scheduling and publishing, community management, a shoppable Link-in-bio, and customizable reporting. Dash Hudson’s TikTok solutions drive growth, inform, and monetize your short-form video strategy to deepen engagement and discoverability. If you’re looking to succeed and scale on TikTok, look no further.

FAQs

Is TikTok location-based?

In short, yes. TikTok collects your approximate location based on your device or network information when you create your account, such as your SIM card and IP address. 

Does location affect TikTok video reach? 

TikTok’s algorithm places a heavy importance on where your content is posted from. 

How do you change location on TikTok?

While there’s no exact way to change the location setting in your TikTok account, you can change the location information TikTok uses to personalize your experiences on the platform, but this is only ‘off’ or ‘while using the app’ in the privacy settings. You can also change the default language settings, which can help you reach native-speaking audiences in other regions, but this isn’t guaranteed. TikTok will still have access to your network information.   

What does location not available mean on TikTok?

‘Not available’ on TikTok typically means your location settings aren’t on, and TikTok is unable to collect information based on your location to further feed customization — it’s worth noting that ‘Location Services’ aren’t always available in the US.