Using TikTok with Buffer
With a 6.92% average engagement rate and a daily 52-minute user average, TikTok is an incredibly powerful platform. Prescheduling your TikTok posts via Buffer will help you publish posts to this popular platform at a consistent rate (did we mention that TikTok has over 1 billion active users?!).
In this article:
- Connecting and refreshing your TikTok
- Converting your TikTok account to a Business account
- Scheduling TikTok posts
- Video specifications for TikTok
- Engaging with TikTok posts
- TikTok analytics
- TikTok error library
These features are available for TikTok
| Publishing | Analytics | Engagement |
| ✓ |
Connecting and refreshing your TikTok
You can connect multiple TikTok Business accounts to Buffer. To see a step-by-step guide and troubleshooting steps, check out the article: Connect your channels to Buffer. If your connected TikTok account requires a refresh, check out the article Refreshing a channel in Buffer.
If your TikTok account is not yet a Business account, you will need to convert it to a Business account before connecting. See below.
Converting your TikTok account to a Business account
Buffer supports TikTok Business accounts. Below are the steps to get you the right TikTok account set up so that you can connect your account to Buffer.
- Open your TikTok mobile app and login to the TikTok account you'd like to connect to Buffer. *Conversion to a business account can't be completed via the TikTok web app just yet.
- Tap Profile.
- Tap the menu (three lines or dots) at the top of the screen, then Settings and Privacy.
- Tap Account.
- Tap Switch to Business Account.
- Tap Next.
- Choose your business category and save.
Scheduling TikTok posts
Check out the table below to see which features are available while scheduling posts for TikTok.
Looking for the best time to schedule your TikTok posts? Check out our guide: The Best Time to Post on TikTok.
| Features & good-to-knows | Notes |
| Scheduling posts (web) | Check out our step-by-step guide to scheduling posts on any social channel or peruse TikTok-specific details below. |
| Scheduling posts (mobile) | Need help scheduling posts to TikTok on the Buffer mobile app? Check out our guide to scheduling posts on the Buffer mobile app. |
| Tagging / mentions | To tag / mention another TikTok account, type in the exact handle. Once published to TikTok, the account you mentioned will become hyperlinked. Learn more about adding mentions (tags) in posts here. |
| Hashtags | While your hashtags won't hyperlink in the composer, they'll hyperlink once published to TikTok. Learn more about how hashtags work in Buffer here. |
| Daily posting limit | 25 posts per 24 hours. Learn more about Daily posting limits here. |
| Character limit | 2200 characters per post. Learn more about character limits for each social network here. |
Video specifications for TikTok
TikTok supports videos only, and TikTok posts cannot be created without a video attached.
| Videos | |
| Number allowed per post | 1 |
| Video length | Between 3 seconds and 10 minutes |
| File size | 1GB or less, and must have a minimum height and width each of 360px |
| Dimensions / Aspect ratio | Minimum height and width of 360 pixels |
| File types supported | MOV, MP4, or WEBM |
| Custom thumbnail supported | The frame you select within Buffer's composer will be used as the video's thumbnail when viewing your TikTok profile. |
| Optimal number of frames | Between 23 FPS and 60 FPS |
| Autoplay in the feed | Yes |
| Giphy and Canva integration | No |
| Alt text | It is not possible to add alt text to TikTok videos via Buffer. Learn more about adding alt text to your images here. |
📝 Notes
- Currently, there isn’t a way to use TikTok audio, text, or effects with Buffer. Instead, feel free to create your post in TikTok, save it as a draft, and then upload it to Buffer. Here are the steps: How to Save TikTok Drafts to Your Phone
- The "Promote" feature in TikTok does not work on posts sent through Buffer. To promote your posts, you would need to publish the post natively through TikTok.
Engaging with TikTok posts
Buffer's engagement features are only available for Facebook and Instagram.
TikTok analytics
We offer basic post analytics for TikTok in the Sent Posts tab within the Publishing area of Buffer. To view these stats, head to the Publishing tab and then the Sent tab.
📝 A quick note: TikTok views are only counted if the viewer is logged in and viewing via their mobile app. Views on the web or while not logged in aren't counted.
TikTok advanced analytics are unavailable within our platform due to limitations with TikTok's API. We understand the importance of these metrics and are keeping a close eye on TikTok in case this ever changes, and we're able to provide support for this. If it helps, you can keep an eye on our public roadmap for updates!
TikTok error library
We don't currently have an error library for TikTok. Feel free email our Customer Advocates at hello@buffer.com for help with posting or anything else!
📝 Do you have a TikTok feature suggestion? We’d love for you to submit or upvote it here on our feature suggestions board.