Here are 5 things that new TikTok creators should know to help their content perform better on the platform.
If you’re thinking of using TikTok, you should be interested in learning about what makes your content stand out, making it travel far and wide across the platform. Questions like what to post, when to post, and how to connect with viewers, are important ones, and they are being asked a lot.
That’s why TikTok put together a short list of tips and tricks, that answer these questions for you – and help you take advantage of TikTok’s potential.
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Make Videos that “Stand out”
Let’s look at the basics. What makes a video “captivating”? Well, if it tells a story, you’re halfway there. A video needs to draw the viewer in and “spark conversation.” So, how is this done?
Video format: It’s best to use vertical videos on TikTok as they perform best on the platform.
Video length: Although TikTok is a short-video sharing platform, videos that are longer than five seconds perform best.
Video captions: Captions add context, and give people more information about the content of a video. A great caption can be just as captivating as the content itself, so use it wisely.
Creative effects, voice effects, and sounds: TikTok offers many different creative options – freeze-framing, voice-overing, dueting with a friend, and more – that help your videos come to life. When creating your video, you’ll find creative effects on the record video page at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Measure the Performance of your Videos
In order to view your video analytics, you will need to switch to a Pro account. Once you’ve done that, you can use TikTok’s tools to gauge audience interests and gain a better understanding of content performance and engagement.
You will be able to review weekly and monthly views of your data, follower growth, and trending videos. It’s one thing to have the tools – it’s another to read the numbers right. But it’s very important to know which metrics you need to concentrate on.
Look at the big picture: As there are many factors that actually determine which content is recommended in the For You feed, you should know that no one engagement metric is actually more important. You should, however, take note of any high-level trends in your analytics to determine how audiences are engaging with your content and your account. It is not advisable to focus on a single metric such as likes or comments.
Measure the performance of new videos: “For You” feed recommendations mostly draw videos that have been posted within the last 90 days. Newly uploaded videos will generally see a peak in engagement very soon after they’ve been published. If, however, viewers continue to interact with your video, it will continue to be recommended. Video performance will extend over a few days, so if you don’t initially see a satisfactory performance, let your video generate its full performance results, rather than taking it down.
Keep viewers interested: Watch time is one of the factors that determines whether a video gets recommended, therefore, it’s important to capture viewers’ attention early on, and keep it throughout. TikTok’s recommendation system “takes watch time as a signal that users are enjoying your content – keeping this in mind as you create will help you make videos that are deeply engaging from beginning to end and, as a result, positioned for strong performance.”
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Connect with the Right Audiences
After posting a few videos and tracking their viewer engagement, you will be able to get a better idea of which content your audiences love. Once you figure this out, you can decide what people want they want more of.
To make it more likely that your videos will be seen by and will connect with the right audiences, take the following into consideration:
Hashtags: It’s a good idea to add relevant hashtags to your captions. This way they are more likely to be found by the right audiences. However, using more hashtags won’t guarantee a broader reach. You have limited space in your captions, so only add those hashtags that are the most relevant – best representing what your video is about.
Music and sounds: Adding audio to your videos will help them stand out, and help your content connects with viewers. Those users could save your original sound and use it in their next video – and perhaps even turn it into a trend – or find your content on the Sounds search page. Adding sounds helps “make your videos more discoverable and shareable.”
Experimenting with content: The number of videos you post won’t impact how your content is recommended in the “For You” feed. Also, views will vary from video to video, so you should rather experiment, “get creative, and post different kinds of content to see what resonates.”
Don’t Overdo it with #ForYou and #FYP
Hashtags like #FYP, #ForYou, and #ForYouPage actually work just like all other hashtags, therefore, using them in your caption won’t necessarily help you get on someone’s For You feed.
Instead, TikTok recommends using the caption to add more context and relevance to your video You could also tag another creator or join in on trending hashtags.
Remember that Anyone can be a Creator
It’s become abundantly clear that pretty much anyone can be a creator on TikTok. You too have the potential. All you have to do is be creative, consistent, observant, and patient.