It’s not a secret anymore. TikTok is one of the world’s fastest-growing, popular social networks thanks to its entertaining short videos that combine educational, entertaining, inspiring, and informative short-form content with popular music and sounds. TikTok is also unique in that you don’t have to share a perfect, put-together version of your life to be successful. The app highly rewards creators that are “authentic” and provide value through the content, message, and unique niche or value proposition. So whether you’re a model, photographer, chef, or carpenter, you can grow and create an engaging audience if you know how to use TikTok.
However, we know discovering and starting to create content on a new social media platform can be a little overwhelming. Therefore, we’ve created this guide that includes everything from planning and creating content, to actually posting and maintaining it. We will walk through all the do’s (and don’ts) to succeed on one of the most influential apps in the world. TikTok can connect you to millions of users around the globe and support your content, work, and creative passion — so why not give it a try?
Planning Your TikTok
Planning your TikTok account is incredibly important. You don’t want to just download the app and start posting videos hoping one goes viral. You want to develop a page that is built for longevity. To do that, you need to deliver consistent content around a message that people want to watch, and that delivers value.
So what kind of content delivers value? If you look at content that thrives on social media, it is typically (at least) one of these four types:
Educational
Whether it’s teaching viewers how to cook, color-grade, work out, or even woodwork, educational content is huge on TikTok. It is especially effective if you have a niche, interesting topic, or skillset you can teach people about.
Entertaining
Entertainment can fit in a broad range of topics. Generally, this content makes you smile, laugh, or feel good. It could be sharing music, comedy routines or funny skits, viral challenges or dances, or just “a day in the life” videos that grab your attention. These are typically based on the creator’s unique or intriguing routine, personality, or job.
Inspirational
Inspirational content is similar to entertaining content in that it makes people feel good, but it also can be deeply motivating and emotional. Typically, inspirational content is centered around a person’s journey to succeed, be better, or improve in a specific area(s) of their life. This content requires being transparent, honest, and even vulnerable with your audience. Inspirational content can also tie into educational content, teaching, and motivating through your own personal journey.
Informative
Informative content has become so reactive to news and world events that TikTok and other social media have now become a major source for news and information. Instead of turning on the TV, younger generations are turning to TikTok for updates on world-wide news. Whether that’s through livestreams at actual events or curated short videos, a lot of accounts are focusing on news-related content that keeps people informed of what’s going on.
So now that you understand the four main types of content that really succeed on TikTok, here are four straightforward questions that you can ask yourself to plan your TikTok and short video content for long-term success. This might take some time, but don’t overthink it.
- What am I most passionate about?
- What am I good at?
- Can consistently create content around this topic or niche on a weekly basis, for years to come?
- Is it a topic or niche people will care about or want to watch?
Here are some examples to inspire you:
- You can be passionate about coffee, and good at making coffee and espresso-based drinks. You can create a TikTok page around that topic and how that fits in your daily routine as a barista.
- You can be passionate about your career as a flight attendant and are great at storytelling. Focus on building a TikTok page centered around “a day in the life” videos or educational videos and tips on the travel and airline industry.
The beauty of TikTok is that authenticity is highly valued. No niche is “too niche.” If you created a topic that answers the four questions above — and fall under one of the four main types of social media content — you are on the right track to planning a successful TikTok account.
Creating Content
Now that you’ve planned a topic or niche around your TikTok account, it’s time to start creating content. Here are four things to keep in mind…
Don’t stress about having the best gear to get started
The best part about TikTok is you don’t need an expensive camera to get started. You just need a newer phone that can shoot 4K or 1080p. This is basically most smartphones on the market these days.
Now, does having a nice camera or audio equipment help? Absolutely. Is it necessary to get started? Absolutely not. Don’t let a lack of gear deter you from creating content or starting on TikTok. Just start creating and building your audience, and once you have traction and proof of concept, you can start investing in gear to improve your content quality.
Establish your content standard and style from the beginning
Establishing your content standard and style is important. This starts through two ways…
Through research – Find TikTok creators and accounts that you follow and love watching. Find TikTok creators who are really succeeding and study how they edit, create content, and connect with their audience. You can then build a style from what you love seeing, want to emulate, and what performs well.
Now, it’s important to not completely copy someone’s page. Create a style that is unique and truly you. Doing research will help inspire you to create the style of content you’re looking for.
Through honest evaluation – You may want to create high-quality, YouTube-level content on TikTok, but might not have the time or means to do so on a consistent basis. You might think you want to build your TikTok through constant live streaming, but might not be able to do both live streaming and video creation.
Posting consistently is crucial on every social media platform — especially TikTok. If you can’t maintain that content and quality standard every week, it’s best to reevaluate the content you plan to create.
Create content that can be repurposed on all short video platforms
While a lot of creators create and edit the content on TikTok, it’s highly recommended not to do this. Not only does it limit your ability to create, but you won’t be able to share to other platforms without limiting the shared video’s quality and/or having TikTok’s annoying watermarks on the video post-share.
To avoid this, download a video with that trending sound or song, then extract and use that audio in a video editing app on your phone or on a video editing software for your computer.
Check out Best Free Video Editing Apps if you’re looking for some good ones.
Then, once you’re done editing, simply go back to TikTok and select the saved sound so you can utilize the traction that sound may have in the algorithm. Working with these sounds or music clips outside of TikTok gives you full control over creating content that can be shared on other short video platforms, like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlights.
Short videos are the king of content right now. Almost every social media platform has adapted its app to share short videos at least 15-60 seconds long. Create your content with TikTok in mind, but edit it outside of the app so you can use it on multiple platforms and maximize your reach.
Create two weeks worth of videos before starting
Once you’ve done your research and determined your style and content quality standards, be sure to create at least one video for each day of the week, for two weeks straight. Some TikTok experts will say to post more than once a day. This can be too overwhelming for some people, especially if content creation is not their full-time job yet. This may not be part of your content style if you focus more on quality over quantity.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Setting a standard of posting every day is really intimidating, and it is. Although, if you’re serious about growing your platform, this is the way to do it in the beginning. Once you have a large enough following you can start scheduling and spacing out your content.
This reality check is part of the “honest evaluation” I mentioned above. For many, it’s just not feasible to create this much content all the time. It’s easy to get burned out quickly or lose motivation.
That is why this planning and evaluation is so important . You have to create and create consistently to be successful on TikTok — and most social media platforms in general.
Starting Your TikTok
So now, that you’ve done your planning your TikTok and creating content around that plan, it’s time to start! Here are two important things to focus on when starting:
Your Page and Profile
It’s important to be sure your page is set up for success before posting the content you’ve created. This includes having a strong profile pic that shows you or your page’s name and branding. You should also include a quick bio summary that tells a viewer who you are and what your page is about. Make sure both your Instagram and YouTube channels linked, if you have them. This is so people can easily explore your content on other platforms.
Be sure to also explore and set all of your profile, content, and privacy settings. Be familiar with everything TikTok offers to protect you as a creator.
Unfortunately, there are follower size and age limitations to certain tools, like livestreaming and in-bio links to websites or link landing pages. Currently, you will need over 10,000 followers to switch to a creator account. This gives you access to TikTok’s robust creator and content tools. This is all the more reason to get started growing your account.
Posting
As stated above, once you have video content to post daily for two weeks straight, it’s time to start posting your content. These first two weeks are incredibly important as the algorithm will categorize your page based on the content you share. In turn, it will share it with people who like that type of content. The algorithm will also determine if your content has value, based on your content and how well it performs.
Here are five quick tips to optimize your success in the first two weeks…
- Be consistent around your posting times for the first two weeks. Whether it’s morning, afternoon, or night, be consistent in your posting times so your audience knows when to look for new content.
- Don’t take any content down too early. TikTok videos have a much longer lifespan than other platforms. Taking content down too quickly can negatively affect your page on TikTok’s algorithm. Some videos can take a week or so before they start to trend and go viral. Be patient and give your content a chance.
- Don’t start posting during a week that is focused on a serious event or news story. If there is a divisive or serious event that has happened, don’t post your content that week. Content around those topics tend to get favoritism in the algorithm. This can limit your content’s reach.
- Don’t overdo it with the hashtags. Unlike Instagram, TikTok hashtags hold far less weight and have far less bearing on if a video goes viral or not. There are even videos with zero hashtags that see millions of views. When using hashtags, it’s best to only focus on 2-3 hashtags that directly relate to your video topic, or are related to a trending challenge or sound. Be selective. Don’t overdo it or it could actually negatively impact your algorithm performance.
- Don’t overthink the caption. You only can write 300 characters in a TikTok caption, so don’t overthink and spend too much time on your caption. Longer captions also stick out farther and can cut off important text or moments in the lower half of your video.
Maintaining Your Content
After two weeks of posting, you’ve hopefully seen some videos perform well. However, the real work begins after two weeks. Here are three things you can do to maintain your content and continue to grow.
Evaluate and Recreate
After two weeks, you’ll most likely know what videos worked and what videos didn’t. Continue to focus on the content that your audience liked and was the highest performing. Spend less time focusing on the content that was low performing.
Engage with Your Followers
It’s called social media for a reason — be social. Once you start to grow with your audience, engage with them! Respond to comments and when you reach 1,000 followers, think about integrating some live video streamings into your content. Your followers can ask you questions and really interact with you on a more personal level. Now, with the addition of TikTok Stories, you can share quick life moments with your followers.
Stay Relevant
Make sure to take the time on the app to see what songs, sounds, hashtags, challenges, or videos are really performing and trending. If you can integrate any of those into your upcoming content, do it. Those videos are not only authentic to your page but relevant to the algorithm. That is the combination that performs highest on TikTok.
What Not to Do When Starting on TikTok
Now that we’ve walked through everything you need to start growing on TikTok, here are some quick things not to do.
Don’t do anything that goes against TikTok’s Community Guidelines
This is by far the most important thing not to do. TikTok does its best to keep its community safe, so it enforces a very strict set of Community Guidelines that do change at times.
It’s important to read, understand, and stay up to date with these guidelines, so you don’t post any content or participate in any behavior that TikTok deems as inappropriate. This can lead to your account getting flagged, temporarily suspended, and even banned or deleted.
Don’t buy fake followers, likes, or other engagement stats
This goes for all social media platforms, including TikTok. Fake followers and engagement stats do nothing but negatively affect your account. It increases the possibility of getting banned or suspended by TikTok. Let your content do the work for you and don’t try to fake your success. It won’t get you anywhere.
Don’t let negative comments or internet trolls bring you down
Yes, it’s going to happen. You can’t hide from it. You are going to have haters, especially when your videos perform well and go viral. Do yourself a favor and don’t let them bother you.
Also, don’t waste your time responding. If it’s a super nasty comment, just block them. At the end of the day, even the bad comments help boost your algorithm ranking.
Conclusion
We hope this guide to use and succeed on TikTok will be incredibly useful in helping you navigate and grow on one of the most popular and influential social media platforms in the world.
For other articles and blog posts that discuss the useful gear for creating video content, visit the Adorama 42West blog. If you’re looking to upgrade your video and audio gear, to take your video content to the next level, visit Adorama.com.
Check out 5 Ways to Use Your Smartphone to Make Creative Content for inspiration.
