17 Ways to Discover TikTok Trends & Ideas for Viral Content

Love it or hate it, social media is all about what’s “in” and popular. So, it’s no wonder that as TikTok has grown so have TikTok trends.

TikTok trends are traits within TikTok videos that make them appeal to a large audience. TikTok trends often start from videos that have gone viral by trying out a creative format or an ear-catching audio clip.

When you follow what’s trending, your TikTok videos are more likely to drive views and engagement—which is the name of the game when trying to grow your business on TikTok. However, with over 625 million TikTok videos being viewed every minute, you can imagine how rapidly TikTok trends change.

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How do you find what’s trending on TikTok? And, more importantly, how do you keep up with TikTok trends over time? Uncover the answers with the following TikTok trend discovery tips and ideas made to help you create relevant and unique TikTok videos for your business.

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TikTok trend examples

Let’s first review a few quick TikTok trend examples. That way, you know what to look out for when doing your own TikTok trend discovery. However, just keep in mind that TikTok trends usually get played out over a few months. While these TikTok trend examples can be helpful reference points, they probably aren’t trending anymore.

Bird’s eye view trend

The first TikTok trend example you may recognize is the “bird’s eye” view trend that rose in popularity towards the end of 2023. Three main characteristics turned this style of TikTok into a trend:

• The camera angle. The premise of this TikTok trend is to tape your phone to your ceiling for an equally unique and challenging camera angle.
• The song. This TikTok trend example uses a clip from a TikTok song, called Surround Sound by rapper JID, which was popular at the time of the TikTok trend.
• The edits. To go along with the beat of the song, the point of the trend is to cut between looking serious and having fun.

Watch an example TikTok that follows this trend here.

Bad idea trend

The “bad idea” trend became popular during the summer of 2023. It’s an example of a TikTok trend that uses two of the same themes throughout:

• The song. The point of this TikTok trend is to use a popular clip from the song bad idea right? By Olivia Rodrigo.
• The plot. All videos that follow this TikTok trend show the creator doing something that requires a big or meaningful decision. This is supposed to match Rodrigo’s contemplation in her song as the lyrics go “Seeing you tonight, it’s a bad idea right?”

Watch an example of this TikTok trend here.

I got married in Italy trend

This last TikTok trend example has a pretty clever concept and it’s too funny not to include. It plays off an audio clip of one of Kim Kardashian’s confessional cam bits from her family’s Hulu show The Kardashians. “I got married in Italy” TikToks are meant to joke about others copying you, as Kim called out her sister for copying her wedding in the clip.

Watch this TikTok trend example in action here.

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How to do TikTok trend discovery using TikTok Creative Center and more

To help businesses and creators know what’s trending on TikTok, the platform has a few options within the app. Plus, TikTok offers a library full of video ideas, tips, and inspiration called the TikTok Creative Center. Here are some of the top ways you can do TikTok trend discovery using resources TikTok provides—including TikTok Creative Center:

1. Check out top creators

In the Trends section of TikTok Creative Center, you can find videos from top TikTok creators and influencers when you select the Creators tab. Not only can this help you find TikTok trends by seeing what patterns top creators are following, but it can also uncover potential influencers for your brand to work with.

2. Look at the trending TikTok videos tab

In the Videos tab of TikTok Creative Center Trends, you can see what videos are trending on TikTok regardless of whether it’s from a highly followed creator or not. This is a great place to source viral videos your business could mimic, duet, or stitch.

3. Review popular hashtags

In the TikTok Creative Center, under Trends, the Hashtags tab allows you to track trending TikTok hashtags related to your industry. You could also use the search bar to find hashtags related to keywords your business may be targeting.

4. Find popular songs

The final part of the Trends section of TikTok Creative Center is the Songs tab. Here, you can discover trending TikTok audio clips and songs to use in your videos. It’s broken out into two sections.

The popular section can help you find the most frequently used songs within your selected timeframe, and you can filter out for those approved for business use. The breakout section includes both songs and user-generated audio clips that are rising in popularity—which can help you get ahead of TikTok trends.

5. Use the TikTok Commercial Music Library

In addition to the Trends section within Creative Center, you can use the TikTok Commercial Music Library (found in the Creative Tools section) for trend discovery. The Commercial Music Library holds all pre-cleared music for both organic TikTok content and TikTok Ads. There are tons of ways you can filter and sort your results to find trending songs that best fit your content.

Alternatively, check out the Playlist tab to find a viral TikTok music playlist. Plus, find tons of other playlists of new songs, songs popular in video games or memes, sounds for businesses, and more.

6. Read up on TikTok trend perspectives

To make TikTok trend discovery even easier, the TikTok Creative Center also includes a Trends section which includes Trend Perspectives. The purpose of Trends Perspectives is to educate TikTok marketers and advertisers on TikTok audience behaviors. With this resource, you can predict how TikTok trends in your industry may grow and evolve.

7. Research successful TikTok creative strategies

Discover which TikTok trends have been successful in the past using the Creative Strategies page under Creative Center’s Education tab. This is where you can find TikTok marketing case studies, creative tips, and quick TikTok tutorials.

8. Use the TikTok Ads library and Top Ads Dashboard

The TikTok Ads library can be a secret weapon for businesses looking to do TikTok trend discovery since it allows you to research TikTok ads from competitors. If you’re familiar with the Facebook ads library, know that the TikTok ads library functions in the same way where it’s meant to provide transparency for users and help businesses source video inspiration.

Currently, the TikTok Ads library only pulls data from ads running in Europe. That said, if you’re based outside of Europe, you can still use it to get a general understanding of how different types of TikTok Ads are trending for similar businesses in your industry.

Alternatively, you can head to the Top Ads Dashboard within the Inspiration section of the TikTok Creative Center to see the highest-performing ads within your chosen criteria for any region.

9. Find hot keywords with Keyword Insights

Also within the Inspiration section of Creative Center is the Keyword Insights tool. With this resource, you can explore trending keywords to ensure your TikTok video scripts and captions are hitting all the right buzzwords for your business to connect with your target market.

This can be key (no pun intended) to your TikTok trend discovery because you can see which keywords have had the biggest jumps in popularity along with related videos that could inspire your own. Just be sure to get an idea of the core terms you want to target using other keyword research tools first.

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10. Discover trending TikTok products

If competitive analysis is something your business needs to prioritize during your TikTok trend discovery process, the Top Products section of the Inspiration tab within Creative Center should be your go-to tool. It provides you with information on trending products within a chosen category.

From there, you could measure your videos’ performance metrics against averages within your industry and see trending TikTok content for those products.

11. Browse your own TikTok FYP

The best resource for TikTok trend discovery? Your own TikTok FYP! The TikTok For You Page (FYP) serves up content related to other accounts and videos you’ve already interacted with. Try to be active on your own TikTok account and get into the mind of your ideal customer. Once you start seeing relevant content on your TikTok FYP, you can get a feel for which types of TikTok trends are favored most by your audience.

12. Use the TikTok trend discovery page

Finally, since TikTok content is so heavily reliant on what’s trending, there’s a dedicated TikTok trend discovery page right from within the platform. Any user can browse through this portion of the app to see videos related to the biggest TikTok trends.

6 more ways to do TikTok trend discovery (beyond the TikTok Creative Center)

While the TikTok app and TikTok Creative Center will likely be your primary sources for TikTok trend discovery, you’ll want a well-rounded look at what’s hot in your industry. Try to keep an open mind and consider other ways TikTok trends rise in popularity using these ideas below.

1. Look at YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are short-form videos on YouTube that are comparable to TikTok videos in length, styling, and format. Because of this, brands typically have some crossover between their TikTok and YouTube Shorts content. So, if you scroll through popular YouTube Shorts, you’ll also likely be able to discover new TikTok trends.

2. See what’s trending on Instagram Reels

Like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels are another opportunity to find trending short-form videos similar to TikToks. You’ll likely find many of the same concepts trending on both Instagram Reels and TikTok. In fact, it’s not uncommon for viral TikToks to be reposted to Reels!

3. Refer to your historical performance

The best way to discover which TikTok trends may or may not work for your business is through trial and error. As you get started on TikTok, find a few TikTok trends to start testing out. As you continue to market and advertise on TikTok over time, benchmark your progress.

Over time, you can look back at your historical performance using your TikTok analytics and make data-backed conclusions for how new TikTok trends may evolve based on your past videos that were more or less successful.

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4. Use your marketing planning calendar

You can predict what might be trending on TikTok based on upcoming events throughout the year. Use a marketing planning calendar like the example below to prep your content according to what’s relevant to your audience during any given month or season.

5. Try Google video search

You can discover more TikTok trends using Google video search. Google video search ranks videos based on indicators such as popularity and relevancy to your search query—making it a great option to get TikTok trend ideas from top sources like YouTube, TikTok, and industry websites.

Using TikTok trend discovery to your advantage

There are tons of ways to do TikTok trend discovery for your business. Taking even just a few minutes to understand TikTok trends can make your content planning a breeze.

However, if you don’t have time to stay on top of TikTok trends, that’s okay too! See how our solutions can help your business capitalize on social media trends on TikTok and beyond.

Here is how to do TikTok trend discovery using the TikTok Creative Center:

1. Check out top creators
2. Look at the trending TikTok videos tab
3. Review popular hashtags
4. Read up on TikTok trend perspectives
5. Find popular songs
6. Use the TikTok commercial music library
7. Research successful TikTok creative strategies
8. Use the TikTok Ads library
9. Find hot keywords with keyword insights
10. Discover trending TikTok products
11. Browse your own TikTok FYP
12. Use the TikTok trend discover page

More ways to do TikTok trend discovery (beyond the TikTok Creative Center):

1. Look at YouTube Shorts
2. See what’s trending on Instagram Reels
3. Refer to your historical performance
4. Use your marketing planning calendar
5. Try Google video search