TikTok users who are getting pretty good at content creation often get frustrated after a while.
They may have mastered the ins and outs of editing TikTok videos in the social media platform’s onboard editor, but after seeing posts from more popular content creators, they’re likely to wonder, “How did they do that? I can’t figure out how to put those effects into my vids!”
They’re right, but the problem has nothing to do with their abilities, experience, or creativity. Here’s the issue: they’re working with one hand tied behind their back.
The app’s editing suite makes it simple to produce TikTok content that’s entertaining and even relatively professional. There are advanced approaches and techniques, however, that aren’t available in any platform’s in-app editing suite. More robust tools and resources are needed to create videos that stand out from the millions of other TikTok posts uploaded daily.
What’s the secret? The best content seen on TikTok is created in CapCut.
What Is CapCut?
It wouldn’t be completely accurate to say that CapCut is a third-party editing app, because it’s owned by the same company that created and owns TikTok. It’s a separate app, though, designed to provide advanced editing features not built into TikTok.
Lots of other third-party apps can help you take videos to the next level, but one thing makes CapCut unique. Since CapCut and TikTok are co-owned, the editing app was designed to integrate seamlessly with the social media platform while providing tools not available in TikTok.
CapCut gives you access to much larger selections of effects, filters, animations, transitions, and stickers; you can (among things) remove background noise and unwanted video, automatically generate captions and scripts, and add fancy approaches like 3D zoom, split screen, and blur that make your videos stand out. There are thousands of video templates, too.
And when you’re done editing in CapCut, you just download the completed project to your phone, upload it into the TikTok editor, and post it as you usually would.
The CapCut app is a free download (although you might have to pay for some features), and it’s as user-friendly as the TikTok editor is. There’s a very small learning curve but very big payoffs when you use CapCut to create your TikTok content.
How Do You Use CapCut on TikTok?
First, of course, you download the CapCut app to your phone or device. It’s available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
If all of the video clips you want to use in your production are already stored on your phone, just upload them into CapCut and you’re ready to start editing. Otherwise, you can use your phone’s camera to record directly into CapCut just like you would on TikTok (with extra features like a teleprompter available). You can do screen recordings and record voiceovers in CapCut, too.
A great way to experiment in the editing app is to choose one of its many available templates, which can be filtered by length, style, aspect ratio, number of video clips to be used, and subject relevance. All you have to do is replace the sample clips in the template with your own material. After that, all of the editing features you’re familiar with are intuitive to find and use.
If you’d rather, though, you can “freestyle” your production the same way you do in TikTok, from rearranging and cropping your video to adding songs (you can easily add multiple sounds in CapCut), choosing filters and transitions, and adding transitions and other cool effects. You’ll be amazed at all of the new techniques and goodies you have to choose from.
Finally, hit the “Export” button at the top right of the screen, choose your preferred video resolution (up to 4K is available, but 1080p is best for TikTok), and whether you want to save the video without a CapCut watermark (recommended). It will be downloaded to your phone’s camera reel.
From there, just upload the finished video into TikTok’s editor, make any last-minute touchups or changes you want, and post your professional-looking content.
Not only is CapCut the best option for creating videos that stand out on TikTok users’ feeds, but its templates make it easier than ever to produce content that’s striking, engaging, and hassle-free. Give it a try!
About the Author
Peter Hasselworth is a contributor at iDigic, sharing valuable insights about Instagram growth and social media marketing strategies.