Alright, so TikTok’s been changing crazy fast lately, right? I got curious about what actually works for 2024 trends after my cat videos totally flopped last month. Here’s how I tackled it.
First Step: Figuring Out The Game
I grabbed my phone and just doom-scrolled TikTok for like two hours straight. Skipped breakfast for this. Noticed three big things jumping out:
- Every trending sound had people doing daily stuff – like brushing teeth or burning toast
- Super short hooks – anything after 3 seconds got skipped
- Weirdly specific niches – saw one about organizing fridge condiments blow up
My Awkward Experiment Phase
Tried making eight different videos Tuesday morning. Filmed my coffee routine three times – first take looked like a hostage video. Seriously, why do I blink so much? Changed strategy:
Swiped trending sounds first, picked one with 200k+ videos. Recorded me “accidentally” putting salt in coffee instead of sugar. Took 12 tries to make it look natural. Posted at 11am exactly when my analytics said my followers are online.
Checked every 30 minutes like a maniac. After two hours? Only 37 views. Almost threw my phone. Then around 3pm… boom. Notifications blew up. That video hit 50k views by dinner. Comments were all “OMG I’D CRY” or “DID IT TASTE BAD??” – pure engagement gold.
What Actually Worked
Kept testing all week. Found these tricks that matter now:
- Use sounds that are rising, not peaking – found them through FYP deep dives
- Jump cuts every 1.5 seconds – literally edited out my breathing pauses
- Text overlays with emojis ALWAYS – my “SALT?! ☠️” text got 3x more shares
Made six more videos using this formula. Five hit over 10k views. The dud was when I tried using a filter that made my kitchen look purple – apparently nobody cares about purple kitchens.
Showed these to my neighbor’s college kid who runs TikTok accounts for money. He just shrugged and said “Obviously, everyone knows to steal niche ideas from Reddit.” Well damn, guess I’m old.
Final takeaway? 2024 trends work when they look like accidents. Perfect videos die. My coffee disaster got 20 new followers. My carefully lit baking tutorial? Seven views. Probably all my cousins.
