How To Use TikTok Stories

In March 2022, TikTok launched stories. Similar to stories on Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, they last 24 hours. TikTok stories also appear on the for you page, and users can view whether they follow you or not.  

As a business, we constantly look for the best features to help our marketing campaigns and engage with our audience better. Social media stories have become a workable and gainful feature for that distinction.

So, if you are yet to tap into what TikTok stories offer, this post will show you how to start using it.  

How to make TikTok stories

1. Update your app: You need to update your app if you don’t have the stories features yet. Since it is a relatively new addition, some users are yet to have it on their app. 
2. Look out for the icon: Once the app is updated, go to your profile, and search for a blue circle with a + sign beside your profile picture.

3. Click on the + sign: start recording immediately, and use the filters, sounds, text, etc., afterward. Making stories on Tiktok is fun because you can use all the filters and features, just like making a regular TikTok video. 

After making the video and editing it to your satisfaction, your following prompt will be to post the video, but I will say, hold off with the posting, and here’s why you should.

How to use TikTok stories for better reach and visibility 

TikTok stories can help you get massive visibility for your brand, and I will show you the steps I use. 

1. Make the video and record the screen. After recording your video, and editing it, create a screen record of the video and post it. 
2. To make a screen record, hover to the video’s right corner and click it.

3. You will find bracket [ ] in the upper right corner, click it, and screen record the video.
4. Stop the recording where you wish and post it as your story. This video won’t have the TikTok watermark, which is the goal.

Keep a keen watch over the analytics. 

On Tiktok, you can view the people who have seen your story and interacted with it and reply to their comments. So, after posting, I always watch to see how the story performs. How did users engage with it? Did the story garner a lot of engagement after 24 hours? If yes, then it will work well for other platforms. 

I would then repurpose the video, publish it in my TikTok feeds, and send it to my Youtube, Instagram reels, and Facebook; it will also garner more engagement. Now, you just killed two birds with a stone, which is always a brilliant move for busy business owners like us. 

Does this mean only videos with high performance should be repurposed for reels? Not precisely, but this strategy gives a quick idea of how a new idea will work in 24 hours instead of waiting for 3 to 5 days. You get insight into what sounds to use, the filters to incorporate, and everything you need to improve your story. 

TikTok stories help build trust and authenticity. 

TikTok stories, like videos, are great ways of communicating and building relationships with your audience. You can share your day-to-day life, aspirations, challenges, new plans, and everything you want to share with stories. 

Unlike other social media platforms, Tiktok stories show comments that viewers leave, which means transparency and building a community become easy. 

If you are new to Tiktok stories and would love some ideas on the kind of content to push on the 24-hourly wheel, here are some content ideas.

• Questions and Answers are always a super engaging and intelligent way to community building. I do that often, and you should give it a try as well.
• Life milestones: I occasionally make content around events in my life, both sad and happy ones. One of the perks of the TikTok app is how easily it connects businesses with customers and helps create closer relationships.
• Tips and tricks: My daily content is around tips that have helped my business, and I generously share them daily.
• Announcement of a new trend: Trend alert is my favorite content; I ensure that my followers do not miss every trend on Tiktok.

Ready to use stories to grow your business on TikTok? Follow the tips in this piece for a great start.