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TikTok Tips For Writers
In this post, Writers Write looks at how TikTok can be useful for authors.
About TikTok
TikTok is a video-based social media platform, founded in September 2016.
Users can stream (or upload) their content, which is then shared with others. Viral content and various ‘challenges’ have made TikTok famous, especially for brands and influencers.
Countries, including the United States, have placed TikTok under the spotlight for security and user privacy concerns.
TikTok can be a great way to widen your audience.
Writers like Sarah J. Maas and Colleen Hoover have become some of TikTok’s most popular authors. Here’s how you could be the next big author on TikTok.
Creating A TikTok Account
Create a TikTok account online, or by downloading the app.
Choose a username, enter your email address, and pick a secure password. For linked accounts, click login via Facebook or Google to use your existing name-and-password combination.
An email will be sent to Confirm Your Account, and from there, you can get to your profile.
TikTok Tips For Writers
- Master TIkTok’s Trends Page
The Discover page is for new content, trends, and categories.
Watch this page for changing trends, or just scroll through to see what made it to the page today. As a creator, this is where people can find your content.
Trends can change daily. What was yesterday’s popular thing isn’t always tomorrow’s new fad. Google Trends can also help to show a view of what keywords users are looking for right now.
Authors can use trends to inspire their own content.
If people are talking about Anne Rice’s Interview With A Vampire, and you have something to say, post it. That’s using trends to help your content go further.
- Posting Your Thoughts
TikTok is a melting pot of thoughts: debates, discussions, facts, challenges, or weird accidents (and cool things). It almost like going to Wikipedia, and clicking on the Random Article button.
What do writers post about?
Anything, it’s your channel!
Following TikTok community guidelines is important: don’t skip out on reading their terms.
Content is something you’ve recorded, that someone else wants to see, know about, or share. Record things that are interesting, relevant, or useful to an audience.
Do you want to know who else can’t stand Jane Austen’s writing? Ask on TikTok, and let replies come through.
- How To Be Unique (Like Everyone Else)
Following trends is not the same as copying one.
The guitarist Buckethead wears a bucket on stage, and that’s his thing. He claims to be inspired by, amongst other things, the Halloween movie series.
He’s following (or contributing to) a trend here. Not copying it.
Writers should remember this for their own, original content. Always know what the trends are, but also know why you are unique within these trends and tags.
- Hashing the Hashtags
Hashtags are a special kind of identification, which search engines and users can apply to find specific content. Tags require the #character, and you will soon see that some tags are more popular than others.
A video about Julia Child’s book could be tagged with: #frenchcooking and #breakfastrecipes.
Don’t use too many tags in single posts. This will rank them down, and not higher up.
Also make sure that your tag is clearly readable, and doesn’t obscure any meaning when spaces are removed.
- Describe Your Content
When uploading to TikTok, users can add a description, next to the tags for the video.
Describe content in clear, concise language. Spellcheck at least once, and don’t ramble on when you could omit unnecessary words.
‘This is a video of a cat.’ isn’t very descriptive.
‘Watch cat running up tree at hyperspeed!’ might get more clicks.
‘See cat go’ can also work, it’s about being creative, and sometimes changing tags and descriptions until it takes off.
- Share Content Cross-Platform
TikTok content isn’t just for TikTok, but sometimes makes it to other sites, too.
YouTube and Facebook also contain some TikTok content. Sometimes it’s uploaded by the original creator, while it could also make it into a video montage.
Cross-platform content is good marketing.
If I wanted to listen to Måneskin’s Timezone, it’s on YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, and YouTube music. Cross-platform hits always count, and introduce you to a new audience.
- Talk To People
Social networks are meant to be social ones. Interact a little!
Comment on other creators, reply when someone takes the time to comment on yours. It’s courtesy, but it also helps to increase your social media ranking.
It’s a good way, outside of posting content, to get your name out there. Always talk about relevant topics, and don’t just drop links, nonsense, or your own stuff: that’s called spam.
The Last Word
In this post, Writers Write looked at how TikTok is useful for writers. We hope that you found this post useful to grow your social media networking knowledge!
By Alex J. Coyne. Alex is a writer, proofreader, and regular card player. His features about cards, bridge, and card playing have appeared in Great Bridge Links, Gifts for Card Players, Bridge Canada Magazine, and Caribbean Compass. Get in touch at alexcoyneofficial.com.
If you enjoyed this, read other posts by Alex:
- 5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Arthur Hailey
- Dialect Writing Tips For Fiction
- Writing Graphic Novels & Comic Strips
- 6 Bits Of Writing Advice From Mickey Spillane
- Writing The AI Character
- Writing Courtroom Fiction
- 5 Bits Of Writing Advice From James Joyce
- 6. Bits Of Writing Advice From Judy Blume
- Can Artificial Intelligence Write?
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Posted on: 19th April 2023
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