TikTok Stories: The Ultimate Guide to Posting

Posted on 18th Oct, 2024.

While many TikTok creators focus only on uploading videos to their profile, there's another way to interact with your TikTok community that can be just as effective and sometimes, even better. Stories. Stories on TikTok, like those on Instagram, appear on your profile so for a limit time, so they're useful for small life update or content that's not right for your permanent profile but you'd still like to share with your community.

Let's get into why stories are useful, when to use them, and how to get the most out of this TikTok feature.

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What Are TikTok Stories?

TikTok stories are short video clips that only show up on your profile for 24 hours. Rather than living on your posts section for your followers to see whenever, people can access your story by clicking on your profile picture or on your main feed tagged with the blue story symbol to differentiate it. Unlike traditional TikTok videos, which can be up to 60 minutes long when uploaded from an external source, stories can only be 15 seconds long. But, you can upload multiple story clips at once, so if you've got a longer story to tell, just run one clip on after the other. You don't have to post videos either - you can upload photos to your TikTok story.

The comments are also embedded in the stories themselves, so you and your community can better keep tabs on what everyone's saying about your content. Followers can see you've posted a story because a blue ring will appear around your profile picture.

Stories tend to appear on the FYP less frequently and they're much easier for your followers to find, so think of them as a space to post your more intimate and personal content - just what you want your followers to see.

Why Use TikTok Stories?

Never posted a TikTok story before? Here's why you should consider using them as part of your content strategy.

Use them as an experiment

Experimenting with content can feel scary, especially when that content stays on your profile for life. Posting stories offer an opportunity to experiment with what you post without fear that it doesn't fit into the rest of your content. You can delete it easily and it only stays on your profile for 24 hours anyway, so there's much more freedom to try new things than you'd get with regular posts.

Create a sense of community

As mentioned above, posting stories is a more intimate way to keep your community up to date with what you're doing. If you have a loyal set of followers and you want to give them a more insightful peek into your lifestyle, posting regular stories allows you to update them without ruining the flow of your main profile.

Stand out from the crowd

While many creators use stories, they're not as ubiquitous as posts to the main feed. That means if you start using stories, you'll be tapping into an underused part of the market, which can differentiate you from other brands or content creators. If you're giving a more intimate insight into your life, users might find it easier to connect with you and your content than others within your niche.

How to Upload TikTok Stories (& Tips on Using Them)

Following these steps to post a story to your TikTok profile:

Open the TikTok app and tap the Add Post+ button at the bottom.
Tap Story below the Record button. From here, you can select photo, text, or a video time limit.
Take a photo or record a video and add your text. Or, Tap Upload to add a photo or video that's already on your device.
If you've recorded a video with a time limit, tap the Continue button to finish.
If you've written text on the story, tap Done.
You can manage your post settings and add a sound, stickers, or a filter to your story Advanced editing tools are also available for video content.
Tap Your Story to post.

Tips for Uploading TikTok Stories

Want to get the most out of your TikTok stories? Here's some advice on how.

Pick your content well.

Not all content that you would have uploaded to your profile should make it to your story. Keep your story for daily updates and more intimate or personal content that gives followers an insight into your life. The content that makes it to your story doesn't have to be super polished, either - it can be more naturalistic. The story is where users will go for a more authentic insight into who you are and how you spend your time. Keep the ultra-edited stuff for the main feed, where it can garner more engagement.

Upload regularly.

If you make your stories a go-to destination by uploading regularly, your followers will check in to see the latest content you've posted. Because stories are more casual, you can upload content there more regularly, and your community can follow along as much or as little as they want to.

Use it as a chance to connect.

Followers can comment on your stories, giving you an opportunity to connect with and respond to them directly. Plus, given that stories are more casual, you can pose questions to your followers that elicit a response, which encourages direct interaction and boosts your engagement and profile views.

While stories should never overtake post uploads as your primary form of content, they're great for playing a supporting role in your content plan, and can make your community feel more intimate, helping your followers build a trusting relationship with you. Upload regularly and don't overthink it - stories are your chance to post unpolished content that feels authentic to you, in order to create your loyal community of followers.