While TikTok seems to be the hub for young Millennials and Gen Zers, that doesn’t mean your business should discount this platform.
The home of viral sensations and short video memes, brands can also have a great presence on TikTok and reach younger demographics with fun content.
However, as it goes with any social media platform, you need to have clear insight into whether your efforts are paying off or not. Which is exactly why you need to know how to access and understand TikTok analytics.
How to access TikTok analytics
When Instagram first launched built-in analytics on their platform, you could only access them by switching over to an Instagram business profile.
TikTok’s process works much the same way, where brand users and influencers have to switch over to a TikTok Pro account. Pro doesn’t mean this is a premium or paid account–it’s just a way to gain access to more features like TikTok analytics.
How to switch to a TikTok Pro account
Here’s a quick step-by-step on how to easily switch over to a TikTok Pro account.
- Tap on your TikTok profile.
- Click the three dots icon in the top right corner to access the Settings and privacy area.
- Tap Manage account.
- Tap Switch to Pro Account.
- Select whether you’re a Creator or Business.
- Choose a category.
How to get to your TikTok analytics
Once you’ve switched over to a TikTok Pro account, the next step is to head over to your newfound analytics tab. You can access this from both mobile and desktop.
To get to your analytics on desktop, simply hover over your profile photo and click View Analytics.
On mobile, the workflow is a bit more complicated. Head back to your Settings and privacy menu by tapping the three dots in the top right corner, only this time you should see an option called Business. Tap that, then tap Analytics to be taken to your TikTok analytics dashboard.
Your guide to TikTok analytics
Now that you’ve gained access to your TikTok analytics, we need to understand what we’re looking at and what insights you can measure right inside TikTok’s app.
Overview
The first tab in your TikTok analytics will be the overview that gives you a brief insight into your overall analytics, like your TikTok likes, followers and more.
Video views
This area shows you a bar graph of how many views your videos have gotten in the last 7 days. You can also opt to view this information for the last 28 days to get an even bigger view on your growth or fluctuation.
Followers
This section tells you how many TikTok followers you have as well as what your growth has looked like over the past 7 or 28 days.
Profile views
This section shows you how many profile views you’ve gotten over the last 7 or 28 days, which can be a great indicator of what types of content is getting people to click over to your profile the most.
Content
The next tab in your analytics is the content tab, showing you more specific information about the actual TikToks you’re sharing, including your most viewed video on TikTok.
Video posts
This is where you’ll see views at a glance for the last 9 videos that you posted in the last 7 days. You’ll also get a glimpse into whether you stayed on par with your post frequency from the previous period, or if you posted more or less content.
Trending videos
This section showcases your videos that have gotten the most views within the last 7 days so you can check out your consistently popular content.
You can also tap on a specific video to see more specific analytics.
Here, you’re able to see the number of likes, comments and shares your video got, as well as the total number of views and total amount of time people have spent watching your TikTok.
Traffic source types
In this section, you’re able to see how people happened to find your video, whether it was from your profile or it popped up in their For You feed.
Audience territories
This section gives you insight on how many different people your video reached and where they’re from so you can see which regions your content is most popular in.
Followers
Speaking of your audience, the third tab in your TikTok analytics is all about your followers. Seeing exact followers on TikTok and in-depth information about their demographics is always helpful to ensure your content is resonating with your target audience.
Followers
This area tells you your total number of followers and how many you’ve lost or gained over the last 7 days.
Gender
A basic pie chart showcases the percentage of your followers that identify as male or female. Make sure this matches up with your target demographics or you may need to rethink your content strategy.
Top territories
In this section, you’ll see the top territories or regions around the world in which your followers are located.
Follower activity
Here, you can get an idea of the most popular times and days that your audience is online. Using this information strategically can help you determine the best times to post on TikTok to reach the most followers.
Pay attention to the tallest bars in the graph to see when the most of your followers are online, then base your TikTok posting schedule around that.
Videos your followers watched
This section gives you a sneak peek into the videos your followers have also viewed. This is a great way to refine your TikTok video strategy because it helps you to further understand the types of TikToks your followers are consuming.
You can then utilize some of the common themes you’re seeing here to ensure your content will also resonate with your followers and generate more and more views. It can also be a great way to simply gain inspiration for your next post.
Sounds your followers listened to
TikTok videos are based on different sound clips, so it’s great to have some insight on the sound clips your followers are listening to and enjoying.
Be sure to save the sound clips that are most relevant to your brand so that you can use them to create even more content. Since you know these are already sound clips that your followers are enjoying, they’ll likely be even more excited about your TikTok.
Measure your social media performance
Now that you know how to navigate TikTok’s analytics dashboard, it’s time to make sure you’re keeping an eye on the rest of your social media platforms as well. It can be challenging and time-consuming to combine data from multiple native analytics reports across every social platform. That’s where you can use a tool like Sprout Social’s analytics to keep data on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube all in one place when it comes time for reporting.
Viral video continues to rise in popularity and redefine trends. Keep up with what consumers most want out of social content by downloading the Sprout Social Index.
