Log in
Noticed you’re on an iOS device. Get our mobile app for effortless planning on the go.
Log in with planable.io
Noticed you’re on an Android device. Get our mobile app for effortless planning on the go.
Log in with planable.io
Planable is the best client-facing social media tool we’ve ever used and we’ve used a lot.
Email marketing is one of the oldest and best tricks in the communication playbook, and newsletters are an excellent tool for brand awareness, audience engagement, and lead nurturing. But newsletter planning is challenging. Coming up with and delivering fresh ideas...
Aug 15, 2024
Social media managers, you know the challenge: you have all this great TikTok content, but you’re struggling to get it out of its own corny corner. The good news? You can repurpose TikTok videos and extend the life of the content you work so hard to create.
By repurposing TikTok content I don’t mean simply publishing it on Instagram or YouTube Shorts with the watermark included. You’re better than that. The trick is to take a methodical approach.
While using a TikTok scheduler can help you optimize posting times and keep a consistent presence, it’s also key to find what makes your TikTok videos shine and reformat them while considering the nuances of other platforms.
Let me break it down for you — just like Wednesday did with those epic dance moves.
Repurposing TikTok videos should be a no-brainer for any social media manager or agency, especially when juggling multiple platforms and accounts.
Repurposing maximizes the value of your original content and broadens your reach across various platforms, ensuring a consistent and engaging presence while saving you time and effort in content creation. Here’s the gist of why you should repurpose TikTok videos:
Repurposing TikTok videos helps you get the most out of your video creation efforts by allowing you to share the same short-form video content across multiple platforms.
For instance, a TikTok video that explains a complex concept in a fun, engaging way can be tweaked for Instagram Reels, shared as a YouTube Short, and even posted on Facebook Stories. These platforms have great discoverability features enabling you to reach a broader, more diverse audience with a fraction of the effort.
Since TikTok tends to have a younger audience, adapting your videos for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube allows you to engage with different demographics.
As one TikTok user jokingly commented on a video explaining the difference between TikTok and Reels:
For example, you might adjust the video length and filter for Reels (which tend to be more polished), add end screens for YouTube Shorts (which help with discoverability), or use a different thumbnail for Facebook Stories (where standing out in the feed is crucial).
These small adaptations ensure your content performs well on each social media platform, connecting with a broader audience.
By adapting the same content to fit different formats and audiences, you ensure that your brand’s message, tone, and visual style remain consistent.
Repurposing videos makes it easier to gain awareness and trust, as your followers recognize your brand whether they see it on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. This cohesive presence across platforms enhances your overall brand image and strengthens your digital presence.
Trends often emerge and peak at different times on each social network. With a more youthful and dynamic creator community, TikTok tends to be the trendsetter among short-form video platforms, with Instagram and Shorts catching up later.
TikTok users often joke about Reels being behind on trends, but that only shows that trends do translate and that by repurposing TikTok videos, you ensure your content stays timely and engaging on each platform.
Repurposing TikTok videos is highly effective but it’s essential to know the differences between platforms both in terms of posting best practices and audience preferences.
Consider factors such as the recommended aspect ratio and how content styles perform differently across platforms. By understanding nuances, you can tailor your repurposed videos to maximize engagement and reach on each platform — and avoid being discarded by users for being a lazy creator.
TikTok and Instagram Reels are a match made in repurposing heaven. Both platforms thrive on short-form, engaging video content.
You can easily adapt your TikToks for Instagram Reels without major adjustments. Both use a 9:16 aspect ratio, perfect for seamless transfer. In terms of length, TikToks have a 10-minute limit, so you must shorten longer TikToks to fit the one-minute Instagram Reel limit.
While you don’t need to make many technical tweaks, keep in mind that audiences differ. TikToks are typically more playful and trend-driven, while Instagram leans towards a more polished, aspirational aesthetic.
Instagram offers an entire content ecosystem and various repurposing opportunities. You can reuse snippets from your TikToks for Instagram Stories (vertical format, 15 seconds) or feed posts (flexible aspect ratio, with captions and hashtags playing a bigger role).
Remember, adapt the tone to match Instagram’s brand-conscious nature and focus on showcasing value and expertise over raw humor.
Notice how this creator subtly changes the style of the TikTok video (left) to match the Reel look and feel (right). This shows how well content repurposing can work in terms of reach, with the Reel achieving almost 10 times the number of views compared to the original video clip.
TikTok (left) vs IG reel (right) about ‘Acne vs KP’
Repurposing TikToks for Facebook can be a great strategy, but keep in mind some key aspects.
The basics: Facebook Stories videos are limited to 15 seconds, Reels videos are limited to 90 seconds, and feed posts can go up to 10 minutes. Both Reels and feed posts use a 9:16 aspect ratio, making them a good fit with TikTok videos.
The big difference between TikTok and Facebook is their demographics. Facebook audiences tend to be older and prefer content with more substance. While humor can work, consider adding captions or text overlays to explain your points clearly and make the videos watchable on mute.
Facebook users are more likely to engage with informative or community-driven content compared to the trendier style that thrives on TikTok, so you might want to tweak your video more than you would for Instagram.
However, don’t discard this strategy, as you can miss out on great results. Take this example of a TikTok user who reused a TikTok video with 3,000 views on Facebook and got 84,000 views. That’s the power of repurposing content.
Screenshot of repurposed TikTok videos to Facebook reels by Natalie Choprasert
For YouTube Shorts, maintain the vertical 9:16 aspect ratio and keep content under 60 seconds to match the platform’s short-form video format.
If your brand publishes long-form content, make sure that YouTube shorts are adapted to lead viewers to your more in-depth content.
Another idea is to repurpose TikTok videos for standard YouTube content. For example, you can compile multiple TikToks into a longer, horizontal-format video. Themed compilations or trend highlights can engage viewers accustomed to longer content on YouTube while still capitalizing on your existing TikTok material.
Here’s an example of a TikTok Dance Challenge compilation that gathered no less than 11 million views on YouTube.
TikTok Dance Challenge compilation on Youtube
Remember to pay special attention to thumbnails, as they are key to attracting viewers on YouTube.
If your brand or client already has a Twitter presence, you can spice it up with engaging in-feed videos or threaded content.
If possible, edit the video to adjust the aspect ratio to 16:9 for optimal viewing in Twitter feeds. For threaded content, break down longer TikTok videos into shorter segments or create a series of related clips.
Also consider creating short, snappy text Tweets based on your most popular TikTok videos, especially the ones that spark the most conversations, as the engagement factor is bound to travel across platforms.
Pinterest thrives on visually compelling content with clear calls to action.
Consider trimming your TikToks to capture the most visually striking moments and adding eye-catching text overlays. Adjust the aspect ratio to a taller format (ideally 2:3 or 9:16) to ensure a clean fit on Pinterest.
A beautiful, inspiring aesthetic is a must for a successful Pinterest presence, so focus on polished thumbnails and elegant, appealing short videos. Also repurpose how-to content on Pinterest, as that’s more likely to fit the audience’s preferences.
There are two ways you can go about repurposing TikTok videos into blog posts.
First, you can embed relevant TikTok clips in longer articles (natively from TikTok or through YouTube), whether to make a point or give an example. Adding engaging clips to a blog post is a great way to keep the content dynamic and create cross-promotion between channels.
Second, you can write blog posts based on successful TikToks. Take the main idea, add some context around it, and invite readers to share their thoughts. Think of TikTok as a testing ground for your ideas and the blog as a means to showcase expertise on topics you already know are highly engaging.
The best approach to repurposing short-form video content is to create it with repurposing in mind from the start.
Focus on including universal themes and adaptable formats in your content plan so you can streamline the process of adapting TikTok videos for various social media platforms. A TikTok content calendar would be helpful in this case.
As tempting as it may be, don’t repost the exact same content from TikTok to other platforms.
Downloading content from TikTok often includes a watermark, which can make it look unprofessional on other social networks and may raise users’ eyebrows. While tools like SnapTik help you get a watermark-free TikTok video, use them responsibly and only if you own the content.
Moreover, directly reposting TikTok videos can lead to copyright issues, particularly if the video includes music from TikTok’s library. This music is licensed for use within TikTok’s ecosystem and may not be cleared for use on platforms like YouTube or Instagram, potentially resulting in your content being flagged or removed for copyright infringement.
To avoid these pitfalls, adapt videos for each platform by adjusting aspect ratios, editing out copyrighted music, and ensuring the content fits the stylistic norms and audience expectations of each specific platform.
Don’t let repurposing TikTok videos be an afterthought. Instead, plan your video content in advance with a strategy for repurposing on different platforms.
When creating TikTok videos, envision how they can be adapted for Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and other platforms.
A well-structured social media calendar is essential for mapping out this strategy. It ensures that each piece of content is tailored to the target audience of each platform. Using tools like Planable’s calendar view makes this process even more efficient.
Social media content calendar in Planable
Planable offers color-coded labels and filters, allowing you to organize and visualize your content and campaigns effortlessly. This helps you maintain a cohesive brand presence and ensure that your content is timely and relevant.
By planning in advance and using a scheduling tool as your sidekick, you streamline your content workflow and optimize resources.
Agency workflow in Planable
Organizing your video files in one place is essential for efficiently repurposing older content when it becomes relevant again. By using a centralized storage solution, rather than storing files on local devices, you ensure that all your media files are easily accessible and that everyone on the team has access to the latest versions.
Planable’s media library offers an excellent solution for this need. It provides a centralized space to store images, GIFs, and video files, allowing you to quickly locate and repurpose older content as trends resurface or new opportunities arise.
Media library for images and videos in Planable
This centralized system also helps you collaborate better with your team or third parties, such as agencies or freelancers.
With Planable, you can keep your content organized, save storage space on your device, and streamline the content repurposing process.
Fine-tuning your video content for each platform is crucial for maximizing engagement and effectiveness.
Each platform offers native editing features, but they vary greatly in complexity. What’s more, editing on each social network at a time makes the whole process cumbersome and ineffective.
To better meet each platform’s varying requirements, use a tool like Planable’s built-in video editor. This editor allows you to tweak and adjust the video format, including aspect ratio, trimming, cropping, and adding filters.
Editing a vertical video in Planable
You can easily customize your content while ensuring you maintain brand consistency.
Bonus: streamline collaboration by getting feedback and approvals in one place before scheduling the content for each platform.
Optimizing your post copy is essential when you repurpose video content from TikTok to other platforms.
Each social media network has unique preferences and algorithms for captions and hashtags. For example, Instagram favors multiple hashtags for discoverability, while Twitter favors brevity and selective hashtag use. You must tailor your captions to match these nuances to get the most engagement and visibility.
Instagram caption generator in Planable
Planable AI is a valuable tool for this process. It helps you generate fresh, platform-specific captions whenever you’re struggling with ideas or just want to save time. Leverage AI to get the most out of repurposed content without multiplying the tasks on your to-do list.
Scheduling your posts is a must in 2024. With all the advanced tools at our disposal, social media management should no longer be a tedious task but a fun, creative activity.
Planable’s robust scheduling capabilities make social media management seamless. The platform supports all kinds of social media content, including TikTok posts, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more, so repurposing content is a breeze.
Planable’s social media management features
With Planable, you effortlessly organize and automate your social media activity, ensuring that each piece of content goes live at the optimal moment. This helps you take a strategic approach to content creation, focusing on creativity and big ideas rather than sweating over logging into each platform and remembering what goes where and when.
Planning is your BFF when it comes to repurposing TikTok videos. Make repurposing part of your content approval workflow and leverage scheduling tools to save time (and finally learn that dance routine before the trend fades out).
Planable helps you adapt TikTok video clips seamlessly for various platforms. Sign up for free to try it out for your next 50 killer social media posts.
Sabina is a freelance writer with 15+ years of experience in the MarCom industry. Her to-do list includes helping people write better and businesses sell more through content. She is the host of Zest, a podcast that brings writing within listeners’ reach.
Create
Approve
Plan
Schedule
Collaborate
Analyze
