7 ways to make your videos TikTok-friendly

TikTok is more than just a video app. Brands and businesses that find success on TikTok engage with their customers, and the broader TikTok community, in authentic and meaningful ways. That genuine sense of engagement and conversation comes across in the videos those brands share. Customers are also quick to recognize videos that don’t have that “TikTok feel” or assets that have been repurposed from other platforms and campaigns. We’ve pulled together seven tips for transforming your videos for TikTok.

Tip #1: Go full-screen

TikTok provides—and its community expects—an immersive, full-screen experience. Whenever possible, avoid videos outside of the full 9:16 portrait mode aspect ratio. Square videos, or letterboxed landscape assets won’t see the same engagement or performance as full-screen portrait. Videos that utilize the full 9:16 space on TikTok see a lift in impressions versus videos that don’t.

If you’re looking to repurpose some of your existing video assets, we can help! Check out TikTok’s suite of creative tools that can help format your videos to succeed on TikTok.

Tip #2: Make some noise

TikTok is an audio-on experience; sound is and has always been essential to the TikTok platform. That can mean all sorts of audio, including music, voice-over, or even a mix of both. Your selection of audio and its rhythm, style, mood or even speaking cadence will impact how your brand is perceived by the TikTok community. Align your audio with the brand message and image you want to convey.

Looking for great audio for that next TikTok ad? Check out our royalty-free music Commercial Audio Library directly in the TikTok app. You can also take advantage of creating your own unique sound, whether it's a beat, or a soothing ASMR video.

@crewsupplyco uses distinctive ASMR sounds to accentuate their products and created a powerful and memorable TikTok ad.

Tip #3: Keep it short and sweet

Don’t beat around the bush with your TikTok videos. Deliver your message and entice your community to take the next step. In the end, the length of your videos should align with the message you’re delivering, but don’t take up extra space. In-Feed videos can be anywhere from 5-60 seconds in length, but shorter videos perform better on TikTok. 1 in 4 top-performing videos have a duration between 21 and 34 seconds and see, on average, a 1.6x lift in impressions.³

Tip #4: Lo-fi works best

Don’t worry about blowing your whole budget on a big production. All you need to create a great TikTok video is a mobile phone with a video camera. Our set of creative tools and built-in offerings and effects can help take your TikTok to the next level. Lo-fi doesn’t mean low quality—the overwhelming majority of top-performing videos on TikTok have a minimum resolution of 720p or higher.

A lo-fi approach to your video production can also be a great way to forge a deeper connection with your customers. A recent study by Flamingo found that 56% of users and 67% of creators on TikTok felt closer to brands they see on TikTok than those not on the platform, especially when they publish human, unpolished content.¹

Tip #5: Show & tell

Delivering your message in a clear and concise manner is paramount for a successful TikTok campaign, and that means finding ways to communicate your ideas clearly through a variety of means that all align with the native TikTok experience.

👉 Address users directly on camera. TikTok is an engagement-based video platform and brands that treat their content as a conversation with their customers see more success.

👉 Include voice over (either spoken or using speech-to-text). Audio-on is essential to TikTok. Drive success by taking advantage of audio to support and communicate your message.

👉 Overlay concise and informative text. Text on screen isn’t just for audio-free environments. Seeing the same messaging appear on screen that aligns with your audio helps reinforce those ideas and forges a deeper connection with your customers.

👉 Make your video accessible with closed captions. Not everyone will have full access to audio all the time, and closed captioning helps ensure your message is received in all situations.

Tip #6: Use trends to spark creativity

Brands that find success on TikTok stay in tune with what’s happening within the TikTok community. Keep in touch with the conversation by checking out what's trending on TikTok. The Trend Discovery tool is great place to spot what’s hot on TikTok this week, month, or year—you might even find some inspiration for future ad creatives!

Participating and embracing the language of TikTok has its benefits. Flamingo’s recent study also showed that 61% of users on TikTok like brands better when they create or participate in TikTok trends.¹

Tip #7: Collaborate with creators

Word of mouth is powerful on TikTok, and partnering with established creators is a great way to engage with your community in an authentic, impactful way. Creators know the community and language of TikTok and collaborating with the right one can make your branded content stand out. Walnut Unlimited’s recent US Holiday Shopping Behavior study showed that 33% of Gen Z users in the study purchased a product reviewed by a TikTok creator.²

The TikTok Creator Marketplace features thousands of creators at a range of price points. You can filter by content topic, follower count, location, and more to find the perfect match for your brand or business.

This isn’t a checklist of to-dos to cross off for each video you create. These helpful tips are meant to serve as a directional guide for helping your business find its home—and its voice—on TikTok. Get started by exploring our creative solutions to make your videos pop, or take a stroll through the Creator Marketplace. If you’re brand new to TikTok, start by signing up for a TikTok Ads Manager account today.

Sources

1. Understanding TikTok's Impact on Culture. Custom research conducted by Flamingo, March 2021

2.  TikTok Marketing Science US, Holiday Shopping Behavior Custom Research, conducted by Walnut Unlimited, October 2020

3.  Decision Tree Model-based Ads Creative Performance Research, May – July 2021