TikTok Memes: Guide + Examples
TikTok has taken the world by storm, with its explosive social power reaching well beyond the platform, influencing the global music charts, taking over other platforms such as Twitter, and even “trolling” world leaders.
As more become TikTok users, it’s now increasingly important to understand the trends that are coming out of this fastest-growing social media platform.
If you ever wondered how to get TikTok famous, in this article, we’re going to explore what Tok memes are, how to find them, and how to make your own.
What is a TikTok meme?
A Tiktok meme is a concept that spreads rapidly from person to person on the Tiktok platform, often for humorous purposes. A Tiktok meme could be a funny video, a dance, a challenge, or another element with viral sensation.
When it comes to internet memes, TikTok certainly wasn’t the first platform and if you’re old enough to remember Vine, you’ll know how their viral content spread to all corners of the internet, being reposted across Twitter and Instagram and inspiring trends that are still prevalent more than three years after it shut down.
With the Vine shut down, it was only ever going to be a matter of time before a new player entered the scene and took over the short-form video content market, which is exactly what TikTok has done.
After merging with Musical.ly in 2018, the platform exploded with users and quickly rose to be the fastest growing social media community.
One thing that helped to supercharge their growth are the viral TikTok memes they’re known for, which they used to convert a large portion of their viewers into meme creators who share their watermarked content with followers across competing for social apps.
Their insanely devoted users have created such a strong subculture around the app and its most popular TikTokers that they now have millions of creative brains coming up with high-quality viral content, also known as memes, every single day.
This is also a great way for TikTok users to be noticed that can be mixed nicely with some smart TikTok automation.
Where can I find good TikToks?
TikTok uses some of the most intelligent algorithms out of all its social media competitors, with advanced machine learning technology that helps to match you with content you may be interested in, even if you’ve never seen those specific creators before.
This power has been key to the growth of the application, with many TikTok users spending hours every day scrolling through a feed of new content the platform thinks you’ll be interested in.
While this is a great way to find enjoyable videos to watch, with the TikTok algorithm getting more and more accurate over time as it learns from content you engage with, the “For Your Page” content tailored to users - not necessarily the most popular content on the app.
To see that, users can click on a TikTok hashtag or enter a search term and the app will display a feed of matching videos sorted by the number of likes and views. This is a great way to find the most popular trends, as well as the formats of clips that work best for them.
Another great way for users to find popular trends on the TikTok platform is by following the biggest creators, who upload a number of videos every day, jumping on popular trends and topics.
They’re experts at the game and know better than anyone else what types of content is going to appeal to their target audience.
How do you make a TikTok meme?
When it comes to creating your own meme, there are three key parts of the process that users need to focus on.
The first is knowing what you’re actually going to make, the second is filming and editing it, and finally, you need to know how to post the finished product so that it has the best chance of success.
Deciding what meme to create
As users start producing video content on the TikTok app, they can either hop on a current trend, or try to make up their own entirely from scratch.
This could be dance challenges, a clip from a video game, or anything that you’re passionate about.
Copying an idea or concept that you’ve seen elsewhere is a great way to gain popularity, as you already know people are interested in the concept and it has the potential to work well.
However, the market is likely already very saturated with those ideas and you’ll be competing against hundreds of other video creators making it very hard to stand out.
If you decide to make something completely unique, you’re able to showcase your personality and creativity through your content.
This is a great way to share some fun videos with your friends and family, as well as differentiate yourself from other creators.
That being said, the algorithm is often very hit and miss when it comes to fresh content, making it less likely you’ll gain enough traction to start going viral.
As mentioned above, following popular people in niches you’re passionate about is a powerful way to find ideas for new posts.
Many trends are centered around parts of music videos and songs, and the TikTok platform has a great discoverability tool and there are 3rd party tools to find TikTok influencers that enable you to see other things creators have made with a specific sound.
Creating the meme
They recently released a detailed explanation of how the TikTok algorithm recommends videos to people, which highlights some of the strongest signals it uses to determine whether the videos are high quality.
One of the strongest signals they look for is whether people watch your videos all the way through.
This means that you need to hook your viewers into your content right away, which is sometimes a tricky task given how short their attention spans can be.
To do this, you need to really perfect your editing.
If you’re using multiple clips and any effects, make sure to get the timing, framing, and lighting perfect before you publish.
It’s a good idea to start having a play around with all of their editing features and posting trials as private to get feedback from your friends.
If you’re recording an idea that has multiple parts, it is also a good idea to take multiple recordings and then pick the best clip afterward.
Another key indicator is whether a viewer shared your TikTok videos and followed the creator after watching. One great tactic to increase this metric is by splitting it into multiple parts. By building up suspense and asking the viewer to “come back for more.”
This makes them want to know what happens next - hopefully resulting in them following you so they can easily find more content. You can think of this as a value proposition. What is the value proposition that your account offers?
Once you’ve finished editing the final version, it’s helpful to get feedback from others. It’s often easy to miss small mistakes when you’re caught up in the process of creating something new that you’re likely to be very excited about.
Posting the meme
Now that you know your meme and have the final product checked and ready to go, it’s time to actually post it on TikTok the world to see.
As with all social media platforms, it’s often the case that the timing and strategy behind posting a video is more important than the content itself.
Some other signals the platform looks at to see if the video would be relevant for a user is whether the language and country match that of the creator.
Having a deep dive into your account’s analytics can tell you where your followers are located, allowing you to post at a time that they’re likely to be online (optimally 6-9pm in the evening).
If you have a following on another platform already, don’t be afraid to leverage it.
Sharing your videos as soon as you’ve posted them and asking your followers to engage can give it a massive boost.
The algorithm works by initially showing your post to a small subset of TikTok users, which it uses to watch how positively they engage with the videos before they decide to share them with a wider set of users.
Getting an initial wave of likes, comments, and shares can help increase the views on your videos on TikTok.
Examples of TikTok memes
Now that you know how to find and create your own meme, we thought it’d be a good idea to share with you some of the most popular trends, dance trends, and video formats.
Drake - Tootsie Slide meme
When Drake released his song, Tootsie Slide with a music video filmed inside his mansion, it quickly blew up on the Tik Tok platform with users creating their own dances, which have racked up a combined 170m views under the hashtag #tootsieslide.
Put A Finger Down
The “Put A Finger Down” TikTok challenge has presented itself in a few different ways, but it is generally where people record themselves reacting to a sound with a number of statements.
For each statement that applies to them, they put a finger down. For instance, “Put a finger down if you’ve ever cheated on a school test.”
President Of The Company
Originally an audio clip from the hit TV show “Undercover Boss,” this trend is where people tell work-related stories over a pre-recorded voiceover saying, “I am actually President of the company.”
We must admit, these have definitely been making us laugh recently.
TikTok Memes: Final Thoughts
With over two billion users on TikTok, there are new trends appearing all the time.
As a user, there is no shortage of inspiration to help you come up with ideas for your next piece of content.
The ”For You Page” in the TikTok app is like an endless stream of inspiration, giving you a good steer on all of the latest popular trends.
We hope that you enjoyed finding out more about this topic and we encourage you to put more effort into producing quality memes on TikTok!
Another great way to start is to go live on TikTok.
Karen is a senior technical writer and copywriter at Hypegrowth. Her area of expertize are social media apps and new media.