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As social media sites continue to adapt to the ever-changing interests of their consumers, they often look to their competition to see what has been working well and how they can incorporate it into their design, even if it seems out of place within the primary use of the app. YouTube now has sections for community posts from popular channels, and Instagram has incorporated shorts into people’s feeds. It has even created separate interfaces for users to engage with videos directly, and X has continued to increase its character limit for posts.
While it may seem like these changes would take away from the apps, they often work to open up new avenues of communication and content. Each social media site has its own identity, and users have different expectations for each of these experiences, so even if it is now common for social media apps to have similar features, they tend to be used in different ways. The recent addition of users being able to post photos on TikTok offers new possibilities for the app, but could take some getting used to for people who are trying to figure out what works best for them on this platform. Here is some advice for creators to keep in mind when thinking about creating dynamic TikTok photo posts.
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Defining a TikTok Photo Post
There are two different ways we could define a TikTok photo post: a video made up of static pictures that change on its own or a carousel mechanic that requires people to swipe through a user’s post. Both of these are interesting ways to expand on the original format of the platform and they serve different purposes.
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Video Posts Incorporating Photos
Taking the video approach isn’t too different from normal posting as far as how users engage with the content. Usually, this looks like taking a collection of photos and setting them to music. Just like normal content on TikTok, the video will start once the users scroll up, and the video will loop after it ends. With this style, audiences can engage with content passively while still enjoying a fresh formatting style.
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Creators would choose this method of posting to keep up with current trends, but also to introduce a new style of content to their channel. It could be a nice change of pace as well because this format does not require creators to film themselves or do voice-overs to hold people’s attention. Topics do not have to be very in-depth, and creators can choose how long audiences are looking at each photo, so they can affect the mood of a clip based on how fast or slow the pictures change.
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Carousel Photo Posts
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The style of TikTok photo posts that differs more from the traditional posts is carousel posts. These are similar to Instagram, where a creator can upload individual photos in one post that their audience then swipes through themselves. This is a more dynamic approach to TikTok content because it involves more user interaction to consume all the given content. This means that an audience is more likely to engage with what they are seeing, and it is easier to tell what gains the most interest from followers. It makes a creator’s content stand out on the app because it snaps users out of a potential doom scroll and catches their eye.
The ultimate goal for making your content stand out among the others and gaining more followers while you go is to be different from the norm. Interestingly, a static image becomes more eye-catching than a video, but that’s just the case for the TikTok platform! The carousel effect is a great way to add new content, and some creators favor it because users who swipe through all the pictures will eventually switch onto the creator’s profile page, which has the potential of boosting the content or getting new followers to check out their other content.
How TikTok Photo Posts Compare to Instagram
This new photo feature functions very similarly to the traditional content on Instagram: It is a series of photos that users engage with by swiping through the collection before moving on to the next post. However, due to the unique identities of TikTok and Instagram, there is a lot of potential for similar functions to have a different feel based on whichever app you are using.
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TikTok has been a transition point in scrolling-based social media because it is not expected for followers to have known the people they follow before finding them on the app. While Instagram has adapted well into a space for influencers to create and grow their brand, its starting purpose revolved around sharing life with friends and loved ones. TikTok has existed solely in a space where people are not expected to know each other outside of the app.
The difference between the apps affects the content people produce, and it plays a role in making dynamic TikTok photos because creators have more of an expectation to entertain or have a purpose for the carousel photos. Where Instagram can use its carousel feature as a photo dump or collage of a specific event, TikTok photos have more pressure to have anyone who finds their way onto the post stay engaged to the end.
Swiping to the End of the Carousel
When you employ TikTok photos, the main goal is to get users to go through all the pictures because it is the equivalent of people watching an entire video. Whether a channel features lifestyle, hobby, comedy, or some other content altogether, creators must keep in mind their audience and align content to their theme, no matter the format they are using. Using TikTok photos can be a great benefit to a creator’s channel, but they should ask the question of how their channel benefits from this feature before using it.
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The main difference between TikTok photos and traditional posting is that users have more control over the pace at which they view a creator’s post, which is beneficial for a variety of reasons. Is there a lot of information that would make more sense if people didn’t have to pause a video to catch up? Are there small details in a picture that an audience would want to linger on? Would the content work well with cliffhanger-like elements on the first slide that will incentivize people to see what is next? There are so many ways you can engage with your audience through TikTok photos, but how that will work is entirely up to the creator’s imagination and how it aligns with the content.
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