A Beginner’s Guide to TikTok
What is TikTok?
With over 1 billion active users, TikTok has taken the internet by storm. During the pandemic, everyone was stuck inside scrolling on social media which created the perfect environment for a short-form video content application to take off. It was so impactful on the digital space that it made it to our 2020 Wrap Up. If you’ve somehow missed all this, don’t worry–we’ll get you caught up! TikTok is a video-sharing application with content ranging from skits, education, news, fashion, cooking and so much more! TikTok has a powerful algorithm that learns what users like and shows them tailored content. It is now considered a highly valuable social media platform for businesses to grow their brand awareness and following. It can seem daunting to learn a new platform, but after we break it down for you you’ll see it can be easy and fun.
Creating Your Profile
First things first; you need an account. To browse videos on TikTok, you don’t need a profile set up, but you do need one to be able to post your own content. As Influencer Marketing Hub suggests, you can connect your existing Facebook, Gmail, or Twitter accounts or simply create a username and password with either a phone number or email address.
Next, you’ll want to edit your profile to include a picture, a sensible username, and a bio of 80 characters or less. You can also link your other social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter. You can adjust your privacy settings to be either public or private–We suggest having a public profile for your business. This way your content will show up for TikTok users who don’t already follow you therefore allowing you to grow.
How Does TikTok Work?
The first thing you should understand about TikTok is how the For You page works. The For You page will use TikTok’s algorithm to show you videos selected from a pool of global users that it thinks you will like. You can scroll through this page much like how you’d scroll through any social media feed. You can like videos, save them, or repost them. Reposts will show up on your profile under the repost section, and your followers can see this content that you found interesting, funny, or noteworthy to reshare.
The other page is the Following page which will show you a feed of videos from the accounts you follow or from suggested users who have mutual followers or potentially have a phone number you have saved in your contacts.
Making TikTok Content
As a business, it can be hard to make the time for social media. We get it, so we’ve laid out some simple steps that will make your life easier when it comes to TikTok.
Choose Inspo Videos
- Picking the topics or the styles of videos that you want to make will help you get a sense of direction. These could be trends, skits, photo collages, educational style videos, etcetera. We recommend utilizing the save feature on TikTok and saving all inspo videos you like for future reference.
- Sound like songs, clips from movies and TV shows, or funny phrases trend on TikTok and will boost your content if you use them. Choosing a trending sound is important, so utilize the trending sounds section on TikTok to find a good one or simply save a sound that you see repeatedly used in viral videos.
Editing
- Once you have some ideas of videos you’d like to make, it’s time to film and edit! TikTok makes it easy to do this right inside the app itself.
- You can choose to create a video that’s either 15 seconds, 60 seconds, or 3 minutes long. Within TikTok, you can also adjust the timing of the sound and the video footage, edit and cut the footage as needed, and add filters.
- If you want to create a video that uses a template such as a photo collage or a meme-style video, we recommend using CapCut to edit your TikToks.
Content Batching
- Content batching is a great way to organize the content you want to create ahead of time. This way when it comes time to post, your videos are ready and waiting for you. If you choose to film and edit your video(s) within TikTok, you can save it as a draft to be posted later. Follow our content batching guide to learn how to plan out your content and alleviate some stress!
Post It!
- Now you have the tools to come up with content, plan it out, and edit it…all that’s left to do is post it! Don’t forget to use best practices like hashtagging, adding a location, and creating a good caption.
Conclusion
When a social media platform like TikTok has a massive user base, it presents an opportunity for you to grow your business. Learning a new application can be overwhelming and confusing, but if you break it down, it can be fun and easy to make a profile, come up with content, and share it with your followers!