Insights From TikTok Creator Doggo Sounds: How To Use The TikTok Algorithm To Your Advantage

We recently caught up with the Italian TikTok creator Alberto aka Doggo Sounds to discuss his rise on the platform, his love of music, and to gain his insights into what it takes to grow an impressive audience on TikTok.

Alberto’s videos cover a range of topics from trends in music such as “Is rock the next big thing?” to “Why the music industry is man driven” and a host of other fascinating takes.

Alberto also drops some knowledge at the end of the interview on the best techniques for training the TikTok algorithm to find your community.

1. How would you describe Doggo Sounds and what were your main goals when you started out?

I started Doggo Sounds as a way to study new social media like TikTok. I didn’t really have a precise goal in mind when starting it out, except learning the dynamics of TikTok, reverse engineering the virality formula of TikTok hits, and having fun along the way!

@doggosounds

Who’s bad? #bad #michaeljackson #michaeljacksonbad #michaeljacksonlean #michaeljacksonmoves

♬ Bad (2012 Remaster) – Michael Jackson

2. How has TikTok been beneficial for you? How did you initially discover the platform and realise that you could really grow on it?

I discovered TikTok while studying for my Music Business Management MA. Many guest speakers and professors from my course spoke about the relevancy of new media, especially TikTok, for the music industry. Considering my aim of eventually working in the music industry, I thought it would’ve been helpful getting familiar with this platform – as well as being quite interested in social media and communication too of course.

TikTok has been beneficial from many different perspectives: by working as a TikTok creator, I gained unique and rare knowledge about communication and establishing a digital presence – something that I see many artists and industry professionals struggle with. I also created a reason to be consistently up to date, to study and research the music industry trends and marketing strategies and I have the possibility to meet other people passionate about music, as well as industry professionals with which I’m currently working.

3. What are the main things people have to keep in mind when doing a TikTok video?

Provide value. Users are bombarded with new information every single day, and their brains need to find shortcuts to skim through all that and keep what’s relevant for them. As a consequence, every time somebody stumbles upon your video, they’re subconsciously searching for that minimal little detail that would make them drop you, to pursue their daily quest in finding something valuable. From this point of view, users are the harshest judges. So, when posting, stop thinking like a creator looking for an audience, and start thinking like a user looking for value. If it popped up on your feed, would you watch your own content until the end?

4.Are there any different trends in your metrics that you notice when you post in Italian vs English?

My Italian videos seem to reach a wider audience than my international content. My guess on the why is that it’s because my format is still quite new in Italy and I couldn’t find anybody else doing something similar to what I’m doing before me, meaning that the TikTok algorithm will push more of my content to users interested in the music business. On the other hand, I’ve found other English-speaking creators who make educational/factual content related to the music industry – some of which are honestly amazing – meaning that my videos will be pushed less to make space for their videos too.

@doggosounds

Hope it doesn’t get removed #lilnasx #lilnas #montero #lilnasmontero #lilnasxmontero #satanshoes #satanshoe #musicmarketingtips

♬ MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X

5. How can aspiring creators train the TikTok algorithm and use it to their advantage?

Engage with the type of content that you find the most similar to what you’re going to post. This involves topic, language, format, and basically everything. Watch until the end, like, share, and comment videos from the creators that you find the most similar to your profile, and the TikTok algorithm will learn to associate you to an audience similar to theirs.

Follow Doggo Sounds on Tiktok here or find him on Instagram here.