Why are trending sounds important and what are the main ones in September?

What is a sound on TikTok?

I’ll take a hunch and assume we all know what a sound is, but on TikTok, it can be 1 of 3 different categories.

Firstly, you have actual songs created by your favourite artists and more. You can find them through TikTok’s Sound Library and more than likely you would have initially heard the tune either on the radio if it’s just been released or on a music streaming service like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or Deezer etc.

Secondly, you have sounds – now sounds are different as they don’t have to be a released song by an artist but in fact, they can come in many different forms. If you take a look at our TikTok we used a popular sound that you wouldn’t find in the charts, however can be used as special effects to make a video more dramatic.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNoh6uuD/

Lastly, we have an original sound, which is usually created by you or another creator. This could be in the form of a monologue to overlay on your video or if you’re combining multiple sounds with your own background sound.

What makes a trending sound on TikTok?

You will normally know if a sound is trending on TikTok if you find yourself continuously seeing videos using that sound while you’re mindlessly scrolling on the app.

Creators can come together and either build upon the sound with their voice overlaying it or totally reinvent it. If you have the chance to be the first to recreate the sound in your own way there’s a high chance you will succeed on the platform.

As you can see below, the newly released song by Sam Smith, Unholy, 81.5k TikToks has already been made using that song. Some of the videos’ reach can be as high as 2.5 million views, which for the music artist is insane brand awareness for the new song and exposure for himself as a brand. It is seen to be a popular new marketing channel for music artists to use for new song releases and you can see why!

Why is sound important on the app?

According to a study by Kantar, 88% of TikTok users have expressed their view that sound is critical to the overall experience on the app. If you’re thinking about jumping on TikTok either for your business or personal use, then it will be valuable for you to build out your account using sound, as this can be an effective avenue to build your brand’s presence on the app. Once you have an established audience, you will be able to either create your own sound or not have to use one at all!

However, with the increasing awareness of those that find it hard to hear or unable to, there has been an emphasis placed on using captions to overlay your video on TikTok. This then allows a user to understand your TikTok without the need for sound, but this can only be applicable to those that are using speech in their video.

How sound can help build a brand identity on TikTok

As we have all seen, brands are hopping onto the app and are finding that they are able to reach new and existing customers a lot easier by participating in trends.  Research revealed by Kantar has suggested that TikTok can impact every stage of a customer’s journey. Therefore, you have multiple opportunities to grab your customer’s attention, and sound on can give you that edge over your competitors!

You can use sound to strategically add another level to your brand where more users are able to resonate with your brand unlike before. By using trends or film sound clips, you can talk about how your product/service can help a user’s pain points. Or you can show off what it means to work for your business – trends like ‘Day in the life of…’ and ‘Come to work with me’ were effective for this.

What are the top trending sounds currently?

Below are the top 6 trending sounds overall for the past week on Tokboard (data was taken on the 30th of September).

Image credited to https://tokboard.com/

However, on TikTok Creative Center you will find that the top 4 popular sounds on the 29th of September are completely different to Tokboard. This just highlights how fast sounds can become viral and then decrease in popularity at a significant rate.

Image credited to https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/inspiration/popular/music/pc/en?from=001115

How to find trending sounds on the TikTok app

You’re probably wondering by now how on earth you go about finding trending sounds on the social media channel, well there’s a few ways you can find ou this data. 

The first is to go directly to the source, TikTok! Make your way to your ‘For You Page’, take a look at a few videos, and note down the sound that they’re using. Are you finding some commonalities? Are users using the same sound but reinventing it? 

Another approach is to click + on the bottom of your screen (as if you were going to create a tiktok) and then click on sounds. Take a look at the sounds TikTok is recommending to you right now and try searching up playlists like ‘TikTok Viral’ and ‘Trending Sounds’ to see what other sounds it suggests.

Stay up to date with trending sounds

Alternatively, if you would like to keep up with trending sounds as you may not have access to the app nearby, you can use the below websites to find all this data for you. 

Tokboard is amongst the popular sites marketers have been using to keep up to date with trends. What’s great is that the platform allows you to see the weekly and monthly views so you can contrast and compare. You can do this by clicking the sounds drop-bar to select which view you would like to use. 

TikTok’s Creative Center is also another great source. You can see a ranked list of the most popular songs on TikTok right now within the selected region. In addition to this, they also share data on the top creators, hashtags and trending TikToks. 

So they have 2 views: Popular and Breakout. What this means is that you’re able to see of course the most popular sounds (quite obvious I know),  but they also give you insight into a curated list of songs that are gaining significant use within the time and region you have selected.

You can find the popular view through this link here. 

You can find the Breakout view through this link here. 

Do you want to get started?

Are you looking to get ahead of your competitors and jump on the app, or are you struggling with how to take your business further on TikTok? Get in touch with our paid social team and we can help you plan out the perfect strategy to fit your business!