Studio 20 Recommendations for Launching a TikTok Account

1. Just Launch

No one nails TikTok on their first video (or ten). Once you've read through this style guide, brainstorm some approaches and delivery techniques that could work for you and try them out. You don't need to spend week or months strategizing videos. It's good to have an arsenal of videos ready, but be prepared to adjust as you go.

2. Try to be an original

Rather than emulate what has worked for other newsrooms that are already on TikTok, such as ABC News, Vice, BBC and the Washington Post, aim for an original approach that fits well with your style of journalism, and makes sense for this platform, with all its strengths, weaknesses, and quirks.

3. Start with a blended feed

By “blended” we mean a few carefully chosen TikTok creators, native to the platform, who agree to share their expertise and create content for you, as well as a few staffers who feel comfortable posting to TikTok when they feel inspired to do so. Pay your freelancers. Using both your journalists and platform natives would help distinguish your approach as something different— an original, as we said in Recommendation Two.

Using both your journalists and platform natives would help distinguish your approach.

4. Learn from trial and error

One key finding from our research is that it takes time to learn what works on TikTok, and there is no alternative to trying things, seeing what response you get, learning from that response, and then revising your approach. One reason we recommend contracting with a small group of TikTok creators is that they can help with this learning process— and perhaps speed it up. Either way, you should expect that youd TikTok will evolve quickly. It will probably be quite different a few months after launching.

5. Stick to a handful of subjects at first

Identify which of your beats are already trending on TikTok. Cast a wide net with your content, you don't know what will stick. Limiting yourselves — initially — to a few key subjects that play to your strengths could increase your chances to succeed early.

6. Create your own style guide

We recommend that you create and maintain an in-house style guide and user’s manual for TikTok.

• The style guide explains to staff and outside contributors what you use the platform for;

• It lays out any rules or guidelines that editors may want to set for the channel, including what you don’t do;

• The guide describes what is different about TikTok compared to other social media tools, including what does and does not “work” there;

• The guide instructs newcomers in how to get started in making content for your TikTok (remember, it's not a one-size-fits-all platform).

This site is a "how-to" create your own style guide. We hope this will help guide your thinking and motivate you to go forward and create your own.

7. Pay two kinds of contributors

TikTok creators would contribute in one of two ways: creating effective content for your work, or — the other way — sharing their knowledge of the platform and advising you on what works. Thus freelance contributors are either paid to produce material for the feed, or paid to teach something they know how to do. Or both.

8. Divide responsibilities between desks

We recommend that responsibility for your TikTok channel be divided between the Video team and the Social team. The Video team would assign, edit, and approve for publication any original TikTok videos. The Social team would decide when they are posted and monitor the reactions. The Social team would also produce its own TikToks to engage audiences, highlight your journalism, and announce new work, as it does now for other social media platforms. The video team would “own” the relationship with the network of TikTok creators that we recommend. The Social team would own the account.

To not try would be to leave these different forms of growth on the table

9. Consider the cost of not trying

Don't fall behind for fear of trying. Succeeding on TikTok could mean a whole new audience, more readers for your journalism, more young people who consider themselves fans of your work— and possibly more story tips and newsworthy video coming in. To not try would be to leave these different forms of growth on the table. There is a cost to that. Conversely, the cost to get started on TikTok — and see what happens — is not large.