You know, your brand loves it, you’ve wasted hours scrolling through it. With over one billion active users, tiktok has changed the social media game. And with brands on tiktok proving its value as a business tool, it’s here to stay. If you want to keep your content consistent and your to-do list short, it’s time to create a tiktok schedule.
known as a short-form video app, tiktok is a powerful place to engage your audience, considering that consumers find short-form video 2.5 times more engaging than long-form video . but the rise of another platform puts new pressures on social media professionals; According to the sprout social index™, bandwidth is one of the top challenges for social media teams this year.
creating a tiktok schedule makes it easier to keep your audience engaged with regular content and helps you stand out without social media burnout.
let’s explore scheduling best practices and two ways to schedule tiktok posts in advance: natively through the platform or with sprout social.
how to schedule tiktok posts in the app
much to the joy of social media managers, tiktok launched its video scheduler in spring 2021 for creator and business accounts.
This function allows you to schedule content from 15 minutes to a maximum of 10 days in advance.
this is how you can schedule tiktok content natively:
- Step 1: Log in to tiktok in a web browser: The scheduler is only available on desktop, so keep your computer handy. log in and click the “+ upload” button in the top right corner.
- Step 2: Upload and prepare your post: In the “upload video” window, you can do everything you normally do before posting. add captions, tiktok hashtags, mentions, choose a cover image, run a copyright check, and choose your settings.
- step 3: schedule tiktok posts: once a video is scheduled, you cannot edit it. so take the time to do a full configuration and typo check before hitting “program”. when you’re ready, click the switch next to “schedule video” so it turns green. Two boxes will appear where you can set your post date and time. the default time zone is your computer’s, so double check your settings.
- step 4: do a quick double check: errors occur. Ditch Murphy’s Law and make sure your content is scheduled at the right time. find scheduled posts in the “drafts” section of your profile.
- create an attractive caption
- including any mentions and hashtags you want to use; these become interactive once your video is posted
- choose how your audience can interact with your video: will you allow comments? duets? points?
- save it or set it as draft: still have revisions pending? Do you want to keep it as a backup post or a calendar placeholder? saving your content as a draft is a great way to free up more editing time.
- automatic scheduling with queue: ready to post but don’t have a time in mind? the sprout queue will choose the best time to post based on audience activity within the time window you set.
- submit for approval: it always helps to have a second editing eye on your posts. when you set up an approval workflow, the “schedule” button will change to a “submit” button and you can send your post to the approver for review.
- Publish immediately: Are you ready to publish right now? select this to send your publication out into the world immediately.
- tap the three lines icon at the top right of your profile view
- touch business package
- touch analysis
- tap followers at the top of the screen
- scroll down to follower activity to identify the days of the week and times your audience is most active
source: tiktok
once you click “schedule”, sit back and relax – your tiktok posting schedule has been officially created.
You will receive an automatic notification when your post is published, as long as you have enabled notifications.
how to schedule tiktok posts using sprout social
tiktok scheduler is great for a quick set it and forget it post. but most likely tiktok is one of the many channels you manage.
using a dedicated social posting tool like sprout social allows you to see and schedule all your posts in one place.
tiktok was one of our most requested features. and we’ve made it easy to schedule posts, with no limit to how soon or how far into the future you can post your content.
follow these simple step-by-step instructions to create your tiktok schedule using sprout.
step 1: log in to sprout in your web browser and create your post
begin by logging into sprout social in your favorite web browser on your desktop.
To create a post, tap the blue notepad and pencil icon in the top right corner. or click “post” on the left and click on the day you want to post.
pro tip: according to the sprout social index™, most content consumers believe that posting 1-2 times a day is the sweet spot for brands.
To avoid excessive posting or double posting, schedule in the weekly or monthly calendar view. this gives you a high-level view of your upcoming posts across all platforms to avoid over-scheduling on any given day or time frame.
step 2: select the correct tiktok account
agencies, social media managers and creators can balance multiple tiktok accounts.
with sprout, you can manage multiple identifiers in one place.
once you’re in the new post window, select the dropdown in the compose box and choose the account you want to post to.
If you’d like to reuse your short form video on platforms beyond tiktok, select your twitter handles, facebook pages and more in that same dropdown.
step 3: upload your video content and prepare your post
time for the fun part. upload the video you want to use. then, in the compose window, polish and prepare your post as follows:
in this step, you can also use the unique features of sprout to keep your campaigns and team processes organized.
For example, set up a message approval workflow to streamline team collaboration and communication.
Is your post part of a larger content campaign? select a campaign to keep everything organized.
and internally tagging your content makes it easy to categorize posts based on business objectives, post topics, and more.
combined, these features help keep tiktok content and campaigns organized and visible to you and your team.
step 4: choose the best time to post
Identifying the best time to post is important, but it can also seem like a mystery.
Scheduling tiktok posts through sprout takes the guesswork out. The optimal posting times dropdown identifies the best posting times for you to engage with the largest portion of your audience.
step 5: schedule tiktok posts or save them for later
once you and your team feel good about your release, you have a few options as to how you schedule:
step 4: double check your scheduled content
it’s all too easy to think you’ve scheduled a post for noon, only to realize it’s posted at midnight.
while tiktok video scheduler doesn’t let you edit scheduled posts before they go live, sprout does. please take some time to do a quick typo and weather check.
Scheduling ahead gives you plenty of room to edit while leaving more time in your schedule to spend on high-level goals like improving your strategy.
tips to create your tiktok agenda
You’re almost ready to start coding. As you fill your calendar with content, it’s important to think about how your tiktok schedule fits into your broader social strategy.
with 39% of marketers predicting the app will be one of the most heavily used platforms this year, honing your team and your content strategy as you post is key if you want to keep up to date.
here are some tips and best practices to keep in mind.
maintain a unified and shared content calendar
managing multiple platforms and publications can result in a lot of moving parts and silos.
Keep a content calendar to see your scheduled posts across all your social platforms in one central place. this keeps you organized, helps you keep track of whether you’re over- or under-posting, and creates an easy-to-share resource for your team.
create your own calendar or use the sprout social media calendar as an all-in-one calendar and content scheduler.
track your best posting times
according to tiktok, recency is a factor in determining which videos appear on the coveted page for you, one of the best places to get discovered and grow on the platform.
Posting when your audience is most active on the app is crucial.
We already mentioned that sprout identifies when to schedule posts for maximum engagement opportunities.
use this while posting. then go one step further and track your posting times. Do any of your peak hours surprise you? What times and days of posting can you experiment with?
You can also do this on tiktok. to identify when your tiktok audience is most active on the app:
your best times to post may be odd blocks of time outside of business hours, all the more reason to schedule your content ahead of time.
set up a smooth approval process for you and your team
Whether you’re a solo social media manager or part of a team, having another set of eyes is always helpful.
defining a structured review process for your tiktok content, and all your content, can help maintain quality control and limit the number of cooks in the kitchen.
sprout makes it easy by providing you with built-in and customizable message approval workflows. Create and select different workflows for specific publications or platforms to easily streamline your approval and collaboration process.
measure the success of your profile and posts
Measuring and tracking your tiktok marketing strategy, posts, and posting times is crucial if you want to turn creative content into meaningful business insights, on tiktok and beyond.
Check out tiktok analytics regularly to see what you’re doing right and where you need to improve. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try until you find out what works for you.
with sprout, analyze the performance of your tiktok profile and content, on its own and in comparison to your other social profiles. use cross-network reports like profile and post performance to turn the most important metrics into insights that can drive your strategy and create a deeper connection with your audience.
To make truly informed decisions and optimize your strategy, you need to analyze your tiktok’s performance over time, not just over days or weeks.
while tiktok only offers 60 days of data, sprout does not limit your tiktok data once you have connected your platform. which means you can analyze the growth and success of your profile quarter after quarter, year after year.
engage with your audience often
once your posts are live, remember to regularly engage with your audience in tiktok comments.
After all, it’s called “social” networking for a reason. interacting with your audience strengthens your connection to them and shows that you are listening.
interacting with your audience is crucial on all platforms. streamline this process by using a tool like sprout’s smart inbox to keep up with comments on tiktok, twitter and more, all in one place.
lighten the load and schedule your tiktok posts now
scheduling your tiktok content in advance ensures your content and post are “always on” while also allowing you to go offline and log out.
you are well equipped to create your tiktok schedule; now all you need is to start and breathe easy.
If you’re ready to streamline your tiktok coding process and overall social strategy, then you’re ready for sprout social. try sprout free for 30 days to see how you can drive better insights for your social strategy and business.
