How to Publish a TikTok Story

Tiktok is hotter than ever and more and more brands are finding that TikTok can deliver new customers that their current marketing is not reaching. Often the ROAS using TikTok actually beats other platforms. A popular question then for many marketer is should we be using TikTok Stories?

Firstly, what are TikTok Stories?

TikTok Stories are TikTok videos that show up in TikTok video feeds but disappear after 24 hours. They can be accessed by tapping a TikTok user's profile picture when a Story is available and the profile image has a light blue circle around it.

If you are in the U.S. or another country where the feature is now available, creating a story is very similar to creating standard TikTok content.

Next, follow these 3 easy steps

1. Open TikTok's post tool.

First, you go to your profile and press the turquoise plus (+) on your profile picture, or go to your feed and press the Post button. You can also find a post button in the center of TikTok's bottom navigation.

2. Make your content.

Create a video, or upload or take a picture. Then add any background music, text, or effects as you would with any TikTok video

3. Determine if your content is a Story or TikTok.

When you're done recording or selecting a photo, you'll see two options: Post to Story and Next. Tapping Post to Story will automatically send it to your Story and For You feeds of other users.

One thing worth noting is that if you post a photo to your story, you'll want to select a piece of music to go with it. Otherwise, TikTok will choose music automatically. In my case, this image was posted to my first test Story with an auto-selected Bruno Mars song.

If you tap "Next," and don't post the content to your Story, you'll be sent to the last page you usually see before posting a permanent TikTok, which allows you to add a description to TikToks while also adding privacy and sharing preferences.

Because Stories are ephemeral, it seems that TikTok doesn't allow you to add a description, hashtags, or privacy settings when you publish, which is important to keep in mind if your brand requires extra settings on your content.

Should You Leverage Stories?

The jury is still out on whether Stories will become a hit on TikTok. From a simple swipe through my feed, it was pretty hard to find people who were actively using them already. However, this feature is still very new and could grow in use as more people become aware of it.

Additionally, when accounts do use Stories, it essentially feels like a temporarily published TikTok video. It's also not clear yet if posting a series of videos to your Story will be as effective as posting permanent TikTok videos with a "Part 2" link in the comments.

Because of the engagement of Stories compared to linking permanent TikTok content together, some TikTok users might be more interested in growing their following and evergreen views with more permanent content.

Aside from lower usage, one thing that could also hold TikTok Stories back is the features barriers to discoverability on the platform. However, while it might not be as easy to find Stories right now because it is still in the pilot phase, this could change if the app fully embraces them with a Stories page or search features as Instagram has.

At this point, Stories shouldn't be the reason your brand decides to go on TikTok. You'll ultimately want to look at its entire assortment of features, audience, and consumer behavior to determine if your brand is a good fit.

However, if you already have a TikTok following and have time for light experimentation, posting a light-lift, on-brand test story likely won't hurt your following. It's possible that unconfirmed TikTok algorithms might even give you a boost.  

Multiple high-performing TikTokers I follow say they expect to see TikTok Stories get a discoverability lift in various TikTok feeds as the algorithm might favor or push content that leverages new features. While TikTok hasn't spoken about this at length or publicly, here's some example of advice from a user with over 350,000 followers.

Wrap-up

VideoFresh is helping more and more of its clients to produce TikTok video content. To schedule a call to discuss how VideoFresh can help you create effective TikTok content, contact us today!