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Social Media Marketing
Do “For You Page” Hashtags Truly Work on TikTok?
30
Nov
Nov
You’ve probably seen your favorite TikTok creators tossing around hashtags like #fyp #foryou and #fyp シ. But here’s the thing: just because everyone is doing something doesn’t mean it actually works.
The superficial purpose of these tags is to mark content as being worthy of the “for you” page. But what is unclear is whether the TikTok algorithm actually takes this impulse into account. (After all: who of us likes to be told what to do?)
So! We decided to find out once and for all if these types of hashtags actually help you on the For you side, or if it’s spam hashtags like # follow4follow on Instagram, which at best do nothing and at worst work against your content.
Let the big experiment begin!
Hypothesis: “for you” hashtags don’t necessarily help you get to the for you page
TikTok is a common sight out there in the wild west: hashtags asking the algorithm to put a video on the For You Page.
I get it. After all, the For You page is where stars are born. Who doesn’t want their content to be featured here?
There are many variations on the blatant grasping of prospects. #FYP, #ForYou, #ForYouPage and so on. Most YouTubers who enjoy this tactic are happy to add a handful to increase their chances of getting an inclusion.
Bad rabbits in Jericho don’t care, it’s no longer beach weather. #foryoupage #fyp #fyp #fypage #fyp シ ゚ viral #to you
But know how the TikTok algorithm works, It seems unlikely that those tags would ever result in a flare-up.
Yes, hashtags are part of TikTok’s secret referral recipe, but the platform uses hashtags to find new videos “based on the content you are looking for”.
So if there’s someone out there looking for juicy #fyp videos specifically, TikTok might help them – but it’s more likely that people’s interests are a little more specific.
#foryoupage #fyp #fyp #fypage #fyp シ ゚ viral #to you
That being said, I’ve been wrong once before and I intend to be wrong again! (It builds character.) We’re not going to make any assumptions here. We will test these tags in real time.
methodology
I decided to post a handful of TikTok videos with no hashtags and let them sit for a week to see how they fared with views and engagement.
Then my plan was to remove them from my account and post the exact same content as new videos with as many hashtags as possible related to the page for you.
Additionally, to keep the comparison clean, I haven’t added any other potentially audience-skewing hashtags. I’ve also written subtitles in a few cases, but I’ve always repeated the subtitles for both tagged and untagged versions of the video, just in case that had an impact.
For timing reasons, I posted all of the untagged videos one by one and waited six days to count the results. I did the same with the tagged videos the following week.
A simple study! An ethical study! And one where I was finally able to share a slow motion clip of sumo wrestlers that I shot in 2017. Isn’t the science amazing ?!
Results
TLDR: I didn’t get any calls from the #fyp hashtags.
Here’s the full comparison of how my videos performed without hashtags and with #fyp-related hashtags.
VIDEO CONTENT VIEWS: NO HASHTAG VIEWS: HASHTAG VERSION Cake Fail33 Slo-mo Sumo Reported because of community violation, RUDE159 Calming Water Views153148 Guard Dogs32 Bad Bunnies135147
As I suspected, tagging videos with #fyp, #foryoupage, and other similar hashtags didn’t increase my views at all. Sure, there was one case where I got maybe 10 more views for a video with a #fyp hashtag … but there were also cases where I got a handful more views with no hashtags. The difference is so negligible that I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from it.
All in all, Using #fyp and related hashtags didn’t get me more hits. Those kinds of tags didn’t get me either more likes or followers (and to be honest, I’m a little pissed off, nobody wanted a duet).
On the plus side, tagging my videos with #fyp didn’t seem to hurt my videos … but I think if I was worried about reaching the full potential of every single character in my limited subtitle space, I would think twice about using it this generic kind of hashtags in the future. Every letter I put there devours valuable digital real estate that I could have used for more specific tags like #sumobutts or #cutedogs that might get me the attention of a new audience.
What do the results mean?
As always, there’s no real magic bullet to becoming a TikTok star other than trying (gulp) to create great content. (We know, we know: where’s the fun in it?) Just like you can’t buy followers or likes, you can’t trick them TikTok algorithm with a superpowered hashtag.
Of course, trying out the #fyp lifestyle wasn’t a total waste of time. The results of this great experiment helped clarify some of the core principles of successful hashtaggery.
Use hashtags that actually reflect your content
to go to the For You page, better follow the steps to create great, engaging content that has hashtags that are actually relevant to your video. That way, TikTok actually understands what you’re creating and brings your posts in front of the people who care.
Use hashtags that users may be looking for
The reality is, nobody opens the TikTok Discover page and starts typing “#fyp” to see what they find. If you really want a random selection of content, just go to the For You page itself.
Instead, the search function is used by people searching for specific words and content. “Psychic witch investors” for example. Put your SEO hat on and start thinking about the best way to help TikTok users find your amazing videos with keywords that real people would use.
If you’re getting a lot of views, then you are probably signaling the popularity of your video to the TikTok algorithm, making it more likely that you will appear on someone’s For You page.
Use a mix of hashtags
Putting all of your hashtag eggs in one hashtag basket will flop if your strategy isn’t right. (Or … crack? That egg metaphor was broken from the get-go.) Cramming so many #fyp-adjacent hashtags into your caption when that genre of tags is a failure won’t help. Like I said, it won’t hurt to include a #foryoupage tag, but you’ll likely get better results if you combine it with a variety of other topics.
And as we recommend in our guide to TikTok hashtags, it is wise to combine extremely popular tags with niche tags in an attempt to reach both high visibility and highly targeted audiences.
Think about it: the For You page is customized to suit each user’s interests and preferences. Make sure you use hashtags to let the algorithm know what your video addresses are of interest. The more information it has, the more likely it is to be given to the right people.
Keep these guidelines in mind and you will be sure to see your content as headlines on the For You page in the near future. But while you’re waiting for your enthusiastic audience of new fans to find you, be sure to check out some of our others daring social media experiments?
