Finding trending content on TikTok without automation requires manually browsing hashtags, analyzing engagement on individual videos, or using TikTok’s Creative Center to explore trending tags and analytics across different regions. But even then, determining which trends are truly relevant for your brand - and gathering enough reliable data - can be challenging: TikTok’s Creative Center shows only surface-level metrics, making it difficult to compare engagement across regions, track how fast a trend is growing, or extract consistent data on hashtags and creators over time.
Luckily, there’s a better way: With Apify scrapers, you can automate the entire process of discovering and collecting trend data, hashtags, and engagement metrics without any coding skills.
Apify scrapers are called Actors and are designed to perform specific tasks. Every Actor follows the same lifecycle - accepting inputs, running in the cloud, and delivering results that can be easily exported. Each one includes configurable input fields (like keywords, hashtags, or URLs), allowing you to tailor it to your exact data needs. Actors integrate easily into your existing workflow, and with $5 in free monthly credit, you can start testing TikTok data automation right away. Here’s how.
How to find TikTok trends for your industry
We’ll use Apify data collection tools to discover and enrich TikTok hashtags and trending content. Here’s a quick workflow breakdown:
- Step 1: Go to TikTok Scraper and sign up for free
- Step 2: Set up an Actor-to-Actor integration
- Step 3: Configure the scraper and run it
- Step 4 (optional): Schedule automated runs and notifications
- Step 5 (optional): Get more out of your data with TikTok Hashtag Scraper
Step 1: Go to TikTok Scraper and sign up for free
Head to Tik Tok Scraper on Apify Store, the world's largest marketplace for automation and data collection tools. Click the Try for free button to create a free Apify account and set up your scraper. You can easily sign up with your GitHub or email account from any provider. Once you’re in, you’ll access Apify Console, a workspace to run and manage web automation tasks.
After signing up, you’ll receive a $5 monthly credit. TikTok Scraper uses a pay-per-event pricing model, so you’re charged only for specific events, not for using the platform itself. For example, 1,000 results without add-ons cost just $3.70 + $0.006 flat fee, deducted directly from your monthly credit.
Step 2: Set up an Actor-to-Actor integration
Actor integrations enable you to connect your Actors with other Actors or tasks. To automate our data collection, we’ll set up a simple workflow between TikTok Scraper and Google Sheets Import & Export directly in the Apify platform. That way, once we trigger our data collection, the output will be automatically saved in Google Drive.
Click on the Integrations tab and start typing Google Sheets in the search bar. Select Google Sheets Import & Export to proceed.
Now let’s configure the integration. First, we need to give it a name (in this example, we’ll go with Beauty trends) and connect our Google account, so that the Actor has access to Google Drive and can modify a Google Sheets file once the data is ready. Since we want the data to be sent to the spreadsheet once the scraper finishes running, we’ll select Run succeeded as our starting point.
We can also choose a Google Sheet for the Actor to use as the endpoint of our data flow - click Select file from Google Drive to do this. To read more about the Actor’s operational modes, have a look at the Google Sheets Import & Export readme.
Finally, toggle the Deduplication by equality so that with every new scraping round, the spreadsheet gets updated with new data, deleting the duplicates. Click Save.
You can check your setup at any time by clicking the Integrations menu on the left:
Step 3: Configure the scraper and run it
Head to the Input tab. To identify trends relevant to your industry, you can use the Search queries field and leave other ones empty. In this example, we want to identify beauty trends among TikTok users, so we’ll use beauty care. Click Start to execute your run.
Once the run finishes, the scraper will automatically send data to the Google Sheet for further processing - plus, the data will be updated with each new run. You can also download results directly as an Excel, HTML, XML, JSON, or CSV document.
Your hashtag list is now ready for trend analysis.
Step 4 (optional): Schedule automated runs and notifications
If you want to regularly discover new trends in your industry, you can schedule the scraper to run automatically and collect data without manual input. To do this, create a task and a schedule in Apify Console.
First, make sure your scraper is properly configured, then click the Create task button in the top-right corner.
Give your task a name and save it.
Now, you can easily schedule the task by accessing Schedules in the left-hand navigation and clicking the Create a schedule button:
We’ve already saved our task, so now it’s time to add it to the schedule. Click Add task at the bottom to customize your schedule, then choose how often you want the scraper to run - weekly, monthly, or on any day that works best for you.
Adding a task and customizing a schedule
Click Enable, and your schedule will be up and running. It will automatically start the scraper at your chosen time and send the results to Google Drive, thanks to the integration we set up earlier.
To enable notifications (and receive an email whenever the scraper runs), open your schedule in the Schedules tab and click Enable notifications. No further setup is needed.
Step 5 (optional): Get more out of your data with TikTok Hashtag Scraper
Once you have a list of hashtags, you might want to analyze trends further with TikTok Hashtag Scraper.
With this tool, you will be able to get all TikToks posted with chosen hashtags along with caption, video URL, number of plays, hearts, comments, shares, country of creation, timestamp, paid or non-paid status, video- and music-related metadata, as well as creator information. Click Try for free to enrich your TikTok data.
Copy all your relevant hashtags from your Google Sheet…
…and add them to the scraper’s input by choosing Bulk edit.
Paste the hashtags and click Set. Don’t worry if your input includes empty fields - they’ll be automatically removed during scraping. Make sure to remove generic hashtags (i.e. #usa or #diy) to avoid scraping irrelevant data.
Using hashtags as the input for TikTok Hashtag Scraper
Click Save & Start to run the scraper. Once the tool finishes running, you can get your data in the chosen format.
That’s it! You now have not only a list of relevant hashtags but also TikTok content and creator information - all ready for sentiment analysis, social listening experiments, trend analysis, and viral campaign insights.
How to increase your visibility on TikTok?
Start by spotting and joining trends early. Tools like Apify’s TikTok Scraper can help you identify emerging hashtags, sounds, and content styles before they peak. Optimize your videos for the TikTok algorithm by capturing attention within the first two seconds, using relevant keywords in captions and on-screen text, and creating content that encourages watch time and engagement.
Collaborate with micro-influencers or creators who align with your brand to reach highly engaged niche audiences through authentic storytelling.
Be consistent - posting three to five times per week, experimenting with different content formats, and analyzing performance regularly will keep your brand active in users’ feeds.
Finally, engage directly with your community through comments, Duets, and Stitches, and use scraped or analytical data to understand what resonates most with your audience.
Finding the right TikTok topics
Identifying and processing TikTok topics and trends requires creativity, but TikTok strategies need data. Scrapers give you real-time insights into what’s trending, what’s engaging, and what your audience actually wants.
Good TikTok content aligns with what’s already working on the platform - but connects it to your niche. Some consistently strong themes include:
- Behind-the-scenes content: Showing how your product is made, packed, or tested.
- Tips, hacks, and tutorials: Short, actionable advice that builds trust.
- Before-and-after transformations: Perfect for beauty, fitness, home, or creative industries.
- Customer stories and user-generated content.
- Trends and challenges: Jumping on viral sounds or hashtags, but adapting them to your brand.
Scrapers let you take the guesswork out of picking topics - you can identify trending hashtags and sounds, scrape videos or accounts to see what formats, hooks, and captions perform best.
Start optimizing your TikTok strategy with Apify
Manual exploration of trends and hashtags can only go so far; automation with Apify scrapers transforms this process into a scalable, data-centric workflow.
By integrating TikTok Scraper with tools like Google Sheets or other data platforms, businesses can continuously collect, analyze, and refine trend data in real time. This not only streamlines content discovery but also provides measurable inputs for sentiment analysis, social listening, and campaign optimization.
FAQ
What content works best on TikTok for business?
The best TikTok content for business combines creativity with data. Focus on showing your brand’s personality (showing the human side of your business), teaching or entertaining your audience, and joining relevant trends. A mix of authenticity and strategy is what drives lasting visibility, engagement, and conversions on TikTok.
Can I export the data to platforms other than Google Sheets?
Yes, you can download your results directly from Apify in CSV, JSON, or Excel format or integrate the scraper with other platforms. TikTok Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to integrations that include Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, n8n, and more. You can also connect to virtually any other cloud or local service using a RESTful API.
How much data can I scrape with the $5 monthly free credit?
Apify’s $5 monthly free credit gets you over 1,300 results for free. TikTok Scraper is paid per event, which means you are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Using advanced filters or scraping a specific country includes an extra cost.
