It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions for TikTok users lately. The uncertainty of the platform’s future in the U.S. highlights the incredible work creators put into their presence on any platform. They spend hours connecting with fans and followers via comments and DMs and leaving comments on other creators’ work.
Statista estimated that global TikTok users hit around two billion in 2024 — a number expected to climb in 2025. That’s a huge opportunity paired with an equally big challenge: standing out on a crowded platform while growing an engaged audience. (Hint: big follower numbers don’t matter much if those followers don’t care about your content.)
Automation is the key to growing an engaged audience on social without losing your sanity (or the feeling in your fingers). Let the robots take on the repetitive tasks so you can focus on more of what you love: the big, juicy, creative work that keeps you posting.
Here’s why automation should be a keystone in your TikTok marketing plan and how to do it right.
The Role of Automation in TikTok Marketing
Automation is just one piece in an effective social media marketing plan, even if the only platform you’re focusing on is TikTok. We always recommend diversifying your presence, but picking one place to start or concentrate your efforts isn’t a bad idea either!
What is TikTok automation?
If you’ve ever scrolled your feed and saw a caption reading “comment ‘Hey Girl!’ to get my secret recipe DMed to you!”, you’ve witnessed automation in action. Responding to comments and DMs manually is time-consuming; it drains creative energy and shifts focus away from more significant tasks.
It’s a small, Sisyphean to-do; you’ll only get more comments and DMs as your audience grows. That’s great because your audience wants to connect with you! But if you let responding to everything eat up your day, you’ll burn out and, at the same time, run down to the end of your content queue.
Enter automation.
Setting up custom convos streamlines responding to FAQs and repetitive comments without sacrificing authenticity. The keyword here is “custom.” Any chatbot you build should have a regularly reviewed and refreshed set of answers in your style and tone. Audiences know you can’t spend 25 hours a day responding to their comments and messages, but they do want to know that you care enough to acknowledge their interactions.
Custom automation lets them feel immediately heard, directs them where they need to go, and opens the door for deeper conversation when called for. Automation done right — on TikTok or any other platform — is more efficient, increases engagement, and, most importantly, is scalable.
You can have the groundwork in place to hit the ground running should one of your Toks ever go viral.
Key Benefits of Automation
Automation lets you do more with the help of friendly, customized robots.
- Enhanced productivity: Letting the robots handle FAQs and other common comments and messages frees up your time for other crucial tasks.
- Improved engagement rates: Robots never get tired of answering the same questions and don’t have to sleep. Faster response times increase engagement rates.
- Scalability for growing brands and creators: There is simply no way to reply to every single comment once an account reaches a certain tipping point. Automation lets you stay connected without losing that personal touch.
Remember that the key is creating custom content that maps to your brand, energy, and voice. You’re likely to see a decrease in engagement if you have a fun, energetic brand and set up automation with stale, out-of-the-box responses you never update.
Audiences understand that you’re human and accept some impersonal interaction — especially from a big account — but they will absolutely reject any off-brand efforts they perceive as lazy.
The Impact of Automation on Engagement
If you’ve spent any time on social media as a professional or creator, you know that low engagement is a silent strategy killer. Automation boosts engagement by picking up the slack while you fulfill the tedious human needs of eating, sleeping, and touching grass.
According to Socialinsider, TikTok has the highest organic engagement rate of any major social platform, at 2.50%. Its algorithm prioritizes highly engaging content, leading to more likes, comments, and shares than on other platforms.
And that’s all with organic efforts before tapping into any automation.
Brands also tend to post less often on TikTok; twice a week rather than five times on Instagram. That indicates a focus on quality over quantity. Imagine the boost you can get from pairing a solid organic content strategy of high-quality content with automation so you never miss any interactions from fans and followers.
Faster response times keep fans and followers locked into your account, especially when those responses are personalized and fresh.
Best Practices for Implementing TikTok Automation
Automation isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it strategy on any platform, and definitely not on TikTok. The best results always come from blending technology with personality; your fans and followers are there in the first place because of the brand you’ve built.
Blend automation with personalization
Tap into automation for repeat questions (like FAQs), but tag a human into the conversation whenever necessary to solve a difficult problem or make a deeper connection. A good automation tool will lead fans and followers through different conversational flows with the right amount of branded flair and let you step in as needed.
Monitor performance and adjust strategies
Establish your baseline analytics before implementing automation, and then regularly monitor performance. Start with something simple, like keywords that trigger DMs, and see how your audience responds before testing more.
You can see which messages are resonating and what needs to be rewritten.
Stay compliant with TikTok’s policies
As outlined in another blog post about being a Meta Business Partner, that designation doesn’t mean using Manychat (or any other automation partner) gives you a Get Out of Automation Jail Free Card if you abuse a platform’s terms of service.
It’s up to you to avoid automation pitfalls that could violate TikTok guidelines.
Automation should always enhance your strategy, not replace all human interaction with your audience. And always remember who you’re talking to; while the general audience on TikTok skews younger, your specific audience on the platform may not. So don’t tweak all of your automated responses to sound like The Youths if that’s not what your audience wants from you.
Introducing Manychat’s TikTok Automation Capabilities
If you haven’t heard, great news: TikTok automation is here and about to change everything.
Manychat’s TikTok automation
Our Open Beta offers great options for your TikTok business account:
- Keyword automation: Whether you’re running a promo, handling FAQs, or offering an exclusive freebie to your TikTok audience, you can tell them to message a keyword (e.g., “GOAT”), and Manychat handles the rest.
- Message triggers: You never know where a conversation will take you, but trying to keep up manually is exhausting. Setting up automatic triggers to start conversations when you get a message is the answer you didn’t know you needed.
- Streamlined workflows: Manychat’s smart automation can help keep your TikTok messages under control — but that’s just for now.
We’re planning even more ways for you to grow an engaged audience on TikTok in the near future. Think: the ability to reply directly to comments, deploy clickable links in messages, and transform casual interactions into dedicated followers with even more smart automation options.
Keep an eye out for new features. 👀
Don’t Go Alone, Take Our Friendly Robots With You
Manually responding to every message you get is one of the fastest ways to guarantee social media burnout. Automation is your new best friend if you want to scale your TikTok marketing without losing your sanity.
Manychat makes automation easy, effective, and engaging. Try our Open Beta and see where it takes your TikTok business account.