How to Schedule Posts on TikTok When You’re Drowning in Work

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You can’t be on TikTok all day, even if you’re a social media marketer.

After all, you have to research, create content, and publish on other social media platforms.

But what if your ideal audience is active on TikTok when you’re drowning in other tasks?

Then, your best way out may be to schedule posts on TikTok.

And in this guide, I’ll explain why it’s important, tools you can use, and best practices to maximize results.

Why schedule posts on TikTok?

If you’re still on the fence about scheduling TikTok posts, here are 4 reasons to start scheduling:

• Consistent publishing: If you need to publish content multiple times a week, you can create the content pieces at once and schedule them at different times. Scheduling TikTok posts ensures that posts can go live on your TikTok account at consistent intervals to engage your followers regularly and stay on their minds.
• Avoid distractions: TikTok is a distraction pit. Get in, and it may take another 30 minutes to get out. But if you schedule posts, you don’t have to fight the temptation to see one more video from your favorite creator.
• Collaborate with team members: If you work in a team, scheduling can get every collaborator involved. For example, you can communicate with team members while creating posts and send posts for approval. So, effective social media collaboration can become a reality with scheduling.
• Save time: With scheduling, you can set up TikTok videos for a week in less than an hour. This saves time that can go into other marketing activities.

To get these benefits, let’s explore the options to schedule posts on TikTok.

How to schedule posts on TikTok through the TikTok desktop site

TikTok allows you to schedule videos on its platform. 

But scheduling is only available on the desktop version and for creator accounts.

To use this option, visit TikTok Studio on desktop and click + Upload at the top right corner of the page.

On the next page, click the Select video button to upload your video.

After uploading a video, you can now enter your caption and select a cover. TikTok also shows post previews for feed, profile, and web.

There are also editing options to add finishing touches to your video.

Once you’re satisfied with your video, caption, and cover, select Schedule in the When to post section.

Then, select the time and date to publish your post. TikTok allows you to schedule posts for up to 10 days in advance.

After this, click the Schedule button.

To see your scheduled and published posts, click Posts at the left sidebar.

Unfortunately, TikTok provides no way to edit any part of your scheduled posts. So, if you want to change things, you have to delete the scheduled post and repeat the whole process.

That’s all you need to do when scheduling on your computer.

However, one workaround I found for scheduling on a smartphone is to visit TikTok in a browser and select desktop view. This is useful if you want to upload TikTok videos from your smartphone.

It worked on my phone, but I don’t know if it will work for iPhones and other Android phones.

That said, you’ll still face limitations if you schedule posts on TikTok Studio:

• You can’t edit the post.
• You can only schedule 10 days ahead.
• You can’t collaborate with team members.

If you need to do more while scheduling posts on TikTok, then social media schedulers can be the right path.

How to schedule posts on TikTok with social media schedulers

Social media schedulers let you schedule posts on TikTok and other social media platforms.

In addition, you can schedule far beyond 10 days in advance and collaborate with team members.

But to schedule posts with any tool, you have to connect your TikTok account to it. Then, you can take actions that will reflect on your profile.

Here are 3 tools that work excellently for TikTok:

Schedule TikTok posts with Vista Social

To schedule a TikTok post on Vista Social, click Create at the left sidebar or top right corner of your dashboard.

Doing this will trigger the post composer. First, select your TikTok account and other social media accounts you want to publish to.

Then, enter your caption and upload the video. If you need help with the caption, Vista Social has an AI assistant that can write captions based on your prompt.

If you’re creating the post for multiple social media networks, you can customize it for each network.

Once your post is ready, Vista Social provides 4 publishing options:

• Save draft
• Add to queue
• Schedule
• Publish now

Beyond scheduling, Vista Social lets you collaborate with team members. You can write comments in the post composer and create approval workflows.

It also has a mobile app if you want to schedule posts from your smartphone.

To learn more about its other features, read my Vista Social review.

Schedule TikTok posts with Later

Later is a great tool for content creators on Instagram and TikTok. 

This is because many of its features are tailored for creators.

To schedule a post, click Create Post. Doing this will bring up the post composer.

Then, click Add Media. Later lets you add posts from the media library, Google Drive, Dropbox, and your computer.

 Once you add media, you can edit it in the editor to fit TikTok’s requirements.

Then, write your captions. If you need help with it, Later has an AI caption generator that can write good captions.

Below the caption, you can set up your post’s privacy. 

Later also has a link in bio tool that allows you to direct people from TikTok to important website pages. For example, you can mirror your TikTok grid and link individual posts to web pages.

In the post composer, you can add a link for your link in bio.

Later suggests the best time to post, so you can schedule post to those times and track performance.

Once your post is good to go, you can either schedule it or save as a draft.

Later also has a mobile app that allows you to schedule posts on your smartphone.

To learn more about what Later offers, read my full Later review.

Schedule TikTok posts with ContentStudio

To schedule a TikTok post on ContentStudio, hover on Compose and select Social Post from the dropdown options.

Doing this will bring up the post composer. Select your TikTok account and other social media networks you want to schedule to.

Then, upload your video and write captions. If you need help, you can use the AI caption generator to write captions.

If you want to schedule to multiple social media networks, you can edit your post for each network.

Beyond that, there are unique settings for each social media platform. So, for TikTok, you can allow comment, duet, and stitch.

Once you’re done with your posts, ContentStudio provides 4 scheduling options:

• Publish
• Schedule
• Send post for approval
• Save as draft

Apart from the calendar view in ContentStudio Planner, you also get a TikTok grid view. This helps you plan your grid even with scheduled content.

Then, there’s a mobile app to schedule TikTok posts from your smartphone.

If you work with team members, ContentStudio has features to ensure smooth collaboration with them.

To learn more about its other features, read my ContentStudio review. 

If you want to explore more tools, check out my list of the best social media management tools.

TikTok scheduling best practices

Create great TikTok posts

If you want your scheduled posts to achieve their goals when they go live, you have to create great posts.

A great post includes:

• Good video with a clear message
• Captivating captions
• Relevant hashtags
• Attractive thumbnail/cover

A combination of these gives your post the best chance to reach and engage your ideal audience.

Another reason to create great posts is that you won’t be on TikTok when your posts go live. So, you want to ensure it’s error-free.

For example, I use CapCut to edit my videos to ensure they’re in the best shape. I also check the captions to edit incorrect words.

You can use CapCut or any other editing tool that works for you.

With great content, you give your TikTok posts the best chance of engagement and reaching goals.

Create a TikTok content calendar

A TikTok content calendar provides an overview of your posts for a month or week.

With the calendar, you can plan content ideas that align with your goals and when to publish them. It also ensures consistent publishing on TikTok.

To create a TikTok content calendar, you have to list your content goals and content ideas that align with those goals.

You can read my TikTok content calendar guide and use the free template to plan your content.

Schedule at the best time to post

If your ideal audience is off TikTok when your posts go live, your content will lack the initial push that can make it go viral.

Scheduling your posts at the best time means you can get more eyeballs to your content.

You can follow 2 approaches to determine the best time to post on TikTok.

First, dive into your TikTok analytics. 

Click on the 3 lines at the top right corner of your TikTok profile and select Creator tools from the options.

Then, select Analytics and go to the Followers tab.

You’ll see your followers’ most active times.

The second approach works if you use a social media management tool to schedule posts on TikTok.

Some tools suggest the best time to post, and you can follow their suggestions.

Engage with replies

When TikTok users reply to your scheduled posts, they expect responses.

And if they feel neglected, they may stop engaging with your posts.

So, you should never schedule posts and ignore commenters once the posts go live.

Depending on how big your following is, you can set a time daily or every few days to reply to comments on your posts.

Know when to pause schedule

We can schedule into the future, but we can’t totally predict the future.

If a flood engulfs the location where your ideal audience lives, you don’t want your scheduled posts about product discounts to go live.

Many of your ideal customers will probably be hurting and expecting empathy from your brand.

So, be agile with your schedule and pause it when necessary.

Track your metrics

Are your scheduled posts on TikTok successful?

The only way to answer that question is to track metrics. These are metrics aligned with your goals.

For example, if your goal is to gain more followers, then an increase in followers is the metric to track. If it’s brand awareness, you can consider the number of views and shares.

You can also compare the metrics of your scheduled posts versus posts published directly on TikTok.

This is to ensure you’re getting good results from scheduled posts.

Luckily, you can track some of these metrics on TikTok.

Visit the Analytics section I mentioned earlier to find metrics about your content and followers.

If you use a social media management tool, you can also find metrics on it. 

However, not all tools provide TikTok analytics. So, find out if your tool provides it.

Conclusion

So, this is all the information you need to schedule posts on TikTok.

Are you ready to publish content consistently on TikTok without neglecting your other marketing activities?

Do you want to publish content when your audience is active on TikTok?

Use this guide to build an efficient scheduling process.

Then, start scheduling posts on TikTok today and track your results.