Earlier this year, our social media manager, Mitra, published a TikTok to the Buffer account that went viral, with over two million views and more than 100,000 likes at last count. This kind of virality is rare, and we haven’t seen anything similar since then.
@bufferapp Mid day Target runs are worth the risk #CapCut #targetrunsarethebest #remotework #remoteworklife #wfh #wfhproblems #workfromhome #targettok #targetrunsbelike #targetruns
♬ original sound - Buffer
In an ideal world, every TikTok you create will go viral. It would certainly be great to get the word out about Buffer — but that’s not how the world works. We’re not defeatists, though – the nature of social media means that consistency often yields better results than virality. And we’ve been consistent.
Thanks to careful analysis of which elements of our viral TikTok contributed to its success, we’ve been able to boost our metrics since then. We attribute much of this understanding to TikTok analytics.
In this guide, we’ll go through everything you need to know about TikTok analytics — from what metrics and insights are available to how to get all of them for free to what you can do with them to boost your growth on TikTok.
What is TikTok analytics?
TikTok analytics is a set of data and metrics that provide insights into how your content performs on the platform.
They allow you to understand who your audience is, what content they engage with, and when they are most active. This information is crucial as it can help you make data-driven decisions to create your best content, increase engagement, and grow your audience.
How to access your TikTok analytics
Here’s how to access your TikTok analytics.
On mobile
Open the app and navigate to your TikTok profile (in the bottom right-hand corner).
Click the icon in the top right corner, click Creator Tools, then select “Analytics.”
On desktop
Visit tiktok.com/analytics – you should be presented with the page below.
Note that you can only access your analytics this way if you’re logged in to your TikTok account.
Otherwise, you'll have to log in, then hover over your profile image and select "Business Suite".
4 TikTok insights and metrics to monitor
There are many metrics to track your follower count, likes, comments, and shares. But TikTok analytics go deeper: they allow you to measure weekly and monthly growth, video performance by playtime, information about follower activity on your videos, and more.
You’ll see a different overview depending on whether you have a Creator or a Business account and whether you’re logged into your TikTok account on mobile or desktop. However, the information is fundamentally the same. Within your analytics, you'll typically see four sections: Overview, Content, Followers, and LIVE.
Here are the metrics to monitor in your TikTok analytics dashboard.
Overview
On the Overview tab, you can see the number and growth rate of:
- Likes, comments, and shares of your content
- Videos you’ve shared
- Followers you’ve gained
Digging deeper into the available metrics, in the Overview tab, you can see over a 7, 28, or 60 period or a custom date range your:
- Video views: This is how many views your videos have received in the selected period.
- Profile views: This shows the number of profile views over a certain period, which can help you identify the type of content driving people to your profile.
The wide options for date ranges are great for seeing the impact of a viral video on your content performance.
Content
Next is the Content tab, which shows more specific information about your published TikTok content. You’ll see views for the last nine videos you posted in the last seven days. Note that content metrics are only available for the previous 7 days.
You’ll also get a quick look at whether you posted the same, more or less content than the previous 7 days. The "Trending videos" section shows the top nine of your videos with the fastest growth in views over the past 7 days.
- Average watch time: This is the average time people spent watching your video. You can compare this to the average length of your videos overall to understand if you need longer or shorter videos.
- Total play time: This is the total watch time of all the users who came across your video.
- Video views by section: See how people discover your video, whether from your profile or if it appeared on their For You feed.
- Video views by demographics: You can also get insight into the gender, ages, and locations of your video viewers.
Followers
Here, you can view detailed insights about your followers. Understanding your follower demographics and how they engage with your content can help you develop and deliver better content.
- Total followers: You can see the total number of accounts that follow you in a figure and bar graph.
- Net followers: The number of new followers minus those that unfollowed over a selected period.
- Gender: A chart sorting the percentage of your followers by gender.
- Age demographics: A breakdown of your followers by age group.
- Top countries and cities: This section highlights the top five countries and cities your followers are in.
- Most active times: You can see the times your followers are most likely to view your content using this graph.
This is a valuable part of your TikTok analytics as you can schedule your TikTok content in advance.
TikTok LIVE analytics
The TikTok LIVE tab directs you to the LIVE Center.
If you’ve hosted any live videos in the past 7 or 28 days, you’ll be able to see:
- Total views: The number of viewers for your live videos.
- Total time: The time you’ve spent hosting live videos.
- New followers: TikTok users who began following you during a Live session.
- Top viewer count: The highest number of live video viewers at one specific time.
- Unique viewers: Viewers who watched your live video at least once (even if a viewer replays it, they are counted only once).
- Diamonds: Virtual gifts that users may send you – great way to monetize your TikTok content.
- Viewer ranking: This shows which of your viewers have shared the most gifts and watched most of your Live sessions.
How to use your TikTok analytics in your content strategy
Now that you know where to find your TikTok analytics, what next? Understanding analytics isn't just about looking at good, upward numbers; it's about taking that information and tailoring your content better. Here are some tips to make the most of your TikTok analytics:
- Identify your key metrics: The Analytics tab on TikTok is packed with information and can easily get lost in the data. Focus on the metrics that align with your content goals. Here are some essential metrics to monitor:
- Total views: Understand the reach of your content.
- Total engagement: Measure likes, comments, and shares.
- Video watch rate: Analyze how long viewers are watching your videos. Is there a drop-off point on your longer content? You may want to make shorter videos.
- Engagement rate by views: Evaluate how engaging your content is relative to the number of views.
- Engagement and viewership journeys: Track how your content spreads across the platform.
- Follower growth: Monitor the growth of your follower base.
- Top posts: Identify your most successful content.
- Best posting times: Discover when your audience is most active.
- Experiment with your posting schedule: Use the insights from your analytics to find the best days and times to post. Also, consider special occasions or trending topics that might influence your posting schedule. If there’s a trend that you can capitalize on immediately, don’t wait to post that!
- Experiment with TikTok features: Don't be afraid to try new things like TikTok LIVE, carousel posts, or a collaboration with another creator through duets and stitches. Analyze the performance to see what resonates.
Apply what resonates with you and your audience from all these recommendations. Consider creating more if a particular type of content performs well and you feel okay with the topic or format. If it performs well, but you don’t like it enough to keep trying, then let it go. Keep an eye on the movement of your analytics and make tweaks as you grow.
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Check out TikTok’s Creative Center for even more insights into what’s trending on the platform in your niche.
Make authentic content regardless of the numbers
Unless you are working to grow your account on behalf of someone else, analytics should be an addition to your content strategy, not the whole strategy. The TikTok algorithm controls the distribution of your content more than you do, so you can only do so much tweaking.
So while analytics can help you understand content performance, it shouldn't dictate your entire creative process. If you find yourself leaning into the type of content that contributed to that virality over your content pillars, you might lose the potential to connect with your real audience.
It’s best to consider the bigger picture, lean lightly on analytics, and use them as a source of insight rather than strategy.
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