How to Make a Series on TikTok

Creating a series has long been a reliable addition to any growth strategy on TikTok, but an official Series feature didn’t exist until earlier this month. But, like so many tech updates in the digital marketing world, TikTok’s new Series feature isn’t what you might expect.

In this article, we’ll talk about how to create a playlist series on TikTok, plus we’ll discuss the new Series feature and whether or not it will be a helpful addition to your TikTok strategy.

What is a TikTok Series?

Until recently, a series on TikTok was an informal collection of related videos. Typically, these series could be accessed on a creator's profile through a playlist — a specific profile section where creators can store related videos in a single location for easy access.

(For clarity, throughout this article, I’ll refer to the official TikTok Series feature as a Series and the traditional series as a playlist series.)

Planning and creating a playlist series on TikTok has always been a great strategy for building an audience on the platform. You post a high-value, shorter video and include a CTA that directs anyone who watched the video to the end to similar content on your page. This increases your profile engagement and watch time, and also boosts your chances of gaining a new follower. 

TikTok’s new Series feature is quite different from this. It is an exciting new way for creators to monetize their TikTok profile by creating valuable content and placing it behind a paywall. TikTok users will be able to purchase premium content directly through the creator’s profile. 

The type of videos available in an official TikTok Series will be different than the existing content on the app. A Series can contain up to 80 videos, and each video can be as long as 20 minutes.

Right now, only certain creators are able to create a Series, but since this update aligns with a lot of other recent algorithm changes that favor long-form content, it’s likely that it will soon be available to more creator profiles. 

Should You Make a TikTok Playlist or Series?

Whether you should create a TikTok playlist series or official Series depends on your goals within the platform.

Suppose you are a content creator and your primary business objective is to monetize your content. In that case, a Series is a great strategy, especially if you already have a substantial following. A Series can be a good way to deliver premium, valuable content to people who have already discovered your content. 

It’s still too soon to tell (since the Series feature was announced only a few days before the time of writing this) but Series probably won’t be an ideal strategy for building a new audience, since this content won’t be in the For You Feed (FYF) and it will be behind a paywall.

So, if your primary goal on TikTok is to attract people to your product or services, then an informal playlist series is a better idea.

How to Make a TikTok Playlist Series

Making a playlist series on TikTok involves a bit of planning. It should go something like this:

• Pick a topic: if you already know what kind of content you want to create, then you can skip this section. If not, try doing a bit of keyword research on a tool like SEMrush or Answerthepublic. Discover what your audience wants to know, then create a collection of videos that each answer their most common questions.

• Develop your cluster: once you have a topic, think about which questions you will answer. These should be questions that 1) your audience wants answers to, and 2) you are qualified or capable of answering. 

• Build a structure: now take that list of questions or subtopics and organize the information in a logical order. This is step is less important since the FYF will not necessarily send your videos in the chronological order in which you post them, so don’t waste too much time here. Just imagine your viewer watching them and then publish them to your playlist in the ideal order.

• Batch create: if you’ve planned correctly, the best way to ensure your playlist series is to create the videos in a batch and release them on a schedule. For more information, check out this blog on batch creation.

Grow on TikTok With Hire a Writer

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The team at Hire a Writer has experience helping brands grow on social media, and we’d love to talk more about how we can help you find and build your audience. Contact us to chat more about how we can support you.

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