TikTok is so much more than viral dances or Gen Z memes. With over 1.5 billion users worldwide and 170 million in the US alone, TikTok has even surpassed Instagram in the American market. That makes it one of the most powerful platforms for shaping consumer behavior and driving brand loyalty.

For companies, this means TikTok is more than just another marketing channel. It’s a place where trends emerge, opinions spread, and purchase decisions are made in real time. But here’s the challenge: many businesses are still guessing what works for their audience. 

The brands that succeed on TikTok aren’t the ones shouting the loudest. They’re the ones listening the closest. By practicing social listening, companies can uncover what their audiences care about, track emerging trends, and launch campaigns before their competitors spot new trends.

In this article, we’ll explore why social listening matters on TikTok and explain five ways social listening can strengthen your TikTok marketing strategy.

Why social listening matters on TikTok?

TikTok is the social media platform where users discover new products: The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has turned into today’s version of “as seen on TV,” fueling global shopping trends and selling out products overnight. Bookstores now create dedicated #BookTok displays, and cosmetic retailers stock shelves with items that went viral on TikTok. 

If you aim to land on these coveted shelves and displays with your products, social listening is your compass in the chaos of fast-moving trends. TikTok’s community is dynamic, with new conversations and viral moments appearing overnight. Brands that can read the pulse early and act accordingly are the ones that gain visibility. 

Social listening goes deeper than surface-level social monitoring. It’s not just counting likes or views. Instead, it blends quantitative data with qualitative insights, giving you a complete picture of how people talk about your brand, your industry, and even your competitors.

By tuning into these conversations, you can understand what your audience actually needs and what their frustrations and expectations are. Armed with that knowledge, you can move past vanity metrics and create campaigns that resonate, build loyalty, and drive real business results. 

5 Ways to improve TikTok marketing with social listening: 

Analyze your competitors and benchmark their performance 

Checking in on what the competition is doing on TikTok can help you understand what works and what doesn’t in your industry. By tracking how often competitors post, which formats they use (storytelling, influencer collabs, carousels), and what actually drives engagement, you gain a clearer picture of which strategy your competitors are using. 

Pay attention to their hashtags, trending sounds, and even the conversations in their comment sections. These insights reveal not only what resonates but also where frustration lies, giving you opportunities to refine your own messaging.

Benchmarking against competitors shows whether you’re ahead of the curve or falling behind. And when you’re quick to respond to the content they publish, you can even turn their campaigns into opportunities for your own brand.

Example: Samsung 

When Apple launched its “Crush” campaign for the new iPad Pro, the idea was simple. A giant press crushed creative tools like guitars, paint cans, and cameras to symbolize how all of these could be compressed into one powerful device. But many artists and creators saw it differently: as a metaphor for technology crushing human creativity. The backlash was swift.

Samsung seized the moment with a clever response. In their “UnCrush” video, a musician picks up one of the crushed guitars from Apple’s ad and plays it using a Samsung tablet to read sheet music. Instead of replacing creativity, Samsung positioned its technology as a tool that supports it.

Understand your audience 

The volume of comments on TikTok can be overwhelming, and valuable insights can easily get lost in the noise. Social listening tools like Exolyt help businesses cut through that noise and understand how their audience perceives them. 

With sentiment analysis, you can quickly identify positive reactions worth amplifying and negative ones worth learning from. Criticism isn’t always an attack on your brand, but more often an opportunity to learn what your audience wants. If you use it in the right way, you can refine your product and clarify who your brand is for and who it isn’t. 

With social listening, you can even uncover audiences you didn’t even know you had: TikTok is divided into countless sub-communities, from #BeautyTok to #BookTok, and tracking where your brand is mentioned can reveal entirely new audiences you may not even be marketing to.

Example: Ryanair

Ryanair has built its entire TikTok presence around this principle. Instead of shying away from complaints about budget travel, they respond to them with sarcastic, cheeky responses that are more relatable to their budget buyers. The result? A clear brand voice that says, “Yes, we’re cheap, and that’s exactly what you signed up for.” By flipping negative feedback into humorous, relatable content, Ryanair turns criticism into viral moments and strengthens its identity in the crowded airline market. 

Identify trends — even before they emerge 

Most trends start on TikTok before they spread to other social platforms. And on TikTok, many elements can go viral: a single video, a catchy sound, or a hashtag. The app is built for virality more than any other major platform, which means if you want to succeed, you need to understand the trends that drive it. 

Staying on top of these patterns allows you to jump in as they emerge or even anticipate them before competitors notice. Social listening doesn’t just keep you relevant; it can also inspire product development.

Example: Sprite Tea 

A trend began on TikTok where users experimented by mixing Sprite with a tea bag to create their own unique drink. What started as playful user-generated content quickly gained traction across the platform.

According to A.P. Chaney, senior creative director at Sprite, an intern first researched the trend on TikTok. Seeing the momentum, Sprite capitalized on the idea and officially launched Sprite + Tea as a new product. A great example of how social listening can turn grassroots trends into market-ready products. 

Find influencers and UGC opportunities 

By tracking the right hashtags and keeping an eye on emerging trends, you can uncover creators who are already talking about your brand or are active in your niche. This opens the door to authentic user-generated content (UGC) that boosts awareness and builds loyalty. 

It’s also a smart way to identify influencers who could become valuable partners. With tools like Exolyt, you can even measure the performance of your influencer campaigns to see which ones are driving real impact.

Example: Urban Skin Rx

Urban Skin Rx wasn’t active on TikTok when one day, their sales were suddenly five times higher than on an average day. They checked their Instagram account — where they posted regularly — to see what might have caused it but found nothing. Later, they discovered that a micro-influencer with just 36,900 followers posted a video on TikTok showing her results with the company’s skincare product. The clip went viral, reaching over five million views in just 24 hours.

That single piece of content shifted the brand’s growth trajectory. After they decided to double down on TikTok as a platform, their sales grew 100% year over year, with half of that growth directly attributed to TikTok. Proof that UGC and micro-influencers can often deliver more impact than big-budget campaigns.

Refine your marketing and product based on audience feedback 

Your TikTok audience is a constant source of feedback and insight if you know how to listen. With sentiment analysis, you can spot recurring praises or criticisms that reveal what resonates and what doesn’t about your content. Negative reactions surface quickly on TikTok, giving you the chance to adjust messaging, experiment with new formats, or even tweak your product. 

The same applies to content formats: if your audience loves tutorials, unboxings, or behind-the-scenes clips, doubling down on those can help turn short-term spikes into long-term performance. And when complaints suddenly increase — e.g., because of a software bug — social listening ensures you’re the first to notice, helping you resolve issues before they turn into full-blown crises.

Example: Loewe

Marketing for luxury fashion has traditionally been built on exclusivity, control, and polished perfection. This is the opposite of what TikTok stands for with its fast-moving trends and focus on authenticity. Guided by audience behavior and feedback, fashion brand Loewe decided to let go of traditional marketing ideas and to embrace the “TikTok way” of relatable content that feels spontaneous rather than staged. 

While many TikTok users can’t afford a Loewe handbag, the brand plants seeds of aspiration by highlighting smaller items like candles or perfume. Their videos show real moments with Loewe products, not hyper-stylized campaigns. This content fits seamlessly into the platform, and the results prove it: Over 2.3 million users follow the brand, and their videos have more than 55 million likes. 

Check out some of the other benefits of social listening:

Use social listening to stay ahead on TikTok

The brands that are successful on TikTok aren’t just the ones with the flashiest videos, the biggest budgets, or the most celebrity influencers. It’s the ones that listen closely. By tracking competitor moves, understanding your audience, spotting trends before they peak, and uncovering authentic creator partnerships, you give your business a real edge. 

Social listening turns TikTok from a guessing game into a strategic growth channel. Use it to stay ahead of shifting conversations, refine your marketing in real time, and create campaigns that your competitors will try to catch up to.