How to Make TikTok Covers That Encourage Engagement

Much like Instagram Reels, you can make TikTok cover images or thumbnails for your video. TikTok cover images not only offer more insight and video context but also encourage engagement. In this blog post, we will break down TikTok cover images best practices to maximize your video engagement. Let’s get started!

What Are TikTok Cover Images

TikTok cover images are the thumbnails that users first see. For example if a new follower stumbles upon your TikTok account and profile and they’re scrolling through your videos without clicking into one first, they’ll be able to gather context about it before watching. This extra context for the video will encourage users to either watch or scroll through to find the video they want to watch.

It’s great for brands who provide a lot of education with their TikTok videos.

How to Make TikTok Covers

Much like Instagram Reels, you can make TikTok cover images when you’re uploading and editing a TikTok on the mobile app.  You’ll pick the thumbnail or clip in the video that everyone will see when they first land on your video. Then you can pick from a variety of TikTok covers. PLANOLY Pro-Tip: It’s best to pick and stick to one to keep it consistent when you start creating more. This makes your profile look more put together.

How to Create Your Own TikTok Covers

If you want to create your own TikTok cover images without using TikTok’s native covers, you can use Canva. You can click through the design elements in the left-hand menu to customize your design with text and graphics. Once your masterpiece is complete, export to your camera roll and then select the image when you reach the “Add From Camera Roll” step above. Or you can make the process even easier with our PLANOLY/Canva integration. Just log into the web version of PLANOLY, click “Add to Grid”, then follow the pop-up to log into your Canva account. Select your design then click “Save to PLANOLY”, and you’re all set!

Designing your own cover images is a nice way to keep your video content consistent across multiple platforms without using a lot of time customizing your video content between multiple platforms. However, even though it looks nice it might hurt your engagement in the long run. TikTok like Instagram prioritizes users who embrace all their features and editing tools. Making your cover images, you’ll risk the chance of getting picked up by the For You Page. Also, since TikTok is more lofi, easy to make content using in-app features like their own cover images goes better with the app’s video content aesthetic.

‍