How to Add Text to TikTok Videos | Full Guide With Top Tips (2024)

TikTok now has more Gen Z users than Instagram, experts predict the app’s Gen Z cohort to surpass Snapchat too.

By adding text to your TikTok videos, you reach a larger online audience. Adding text to your videos keeps your content professional and engaging, but it also make your content more accessible. 

Wondering how to add text to TikTok videos and what tips and tricks you should keep in mind? Here is your Riverside guide to everything you need to know. 

Why should you add text to your TikTok videos?

There are so many ways that text can help you improve your TikTok video content! These are just a few of the key benefits to keep in mind. 

Catch the eye

Producing high-quality, professional video content is critical if you want to grow your TikTok presence and appeal to a wider audience. 

By adding text to your videos, you can create effective, eye-catching content that appeals to your market and showcases your skills as a creator. This can help you gain recognition and respect that improves your brand’s reputation and encourages more people to keep watching the videos you share.

Improve accessibility

Research shows that 70 to 80% of TikTok users consume content without sound, which makes text all the more important. 

When you add text to your video content, you can improve accessibility for people who are hard of hearing or who prefer to watch videos with sound switched off. Text subtitles or descriptors can provide clarity that makes it easier for a wider audience to enjoy the materials you create.  

Provide context

Similarly, on-screen text materials can play an important role in providing the additional context audiences need to enjoy your content. 

Adding text to TikTok clips allows you to explain important information that could help users better understand what you’re trying to communicate in your video. This can help you ensure that your video achieves the impact you’re aiming for. 

Work with the algorithm

The TikTok algorithm relies on text, audio, and other information to inform category and display decisions, which could impact your video’s discoverability. 

By adding text to your TikTok videos, you can give the app extra insight into the kind of content you create and the audience who is most likely to enjoy it. This can make it easier for in-app SEO (search engine optimization) algorithms to display your content to the right people, boosting your reach and engagement. 

How to add text to TikTok videos directly in the app: Step-by-step

Adding text to videos directly within the TikTok app is easy! Follow these simple steps to get started. 

Step 1: Launch the TikTok app, and select the + icon at the bottom of your screen.

Step 2: Use TikTok’s built-in tools to either film or upload a new video project.

Step 3: On the following screen, use the describe your video text box to add a keyword-rich main title for your clip. 

Step 4: Select the Aa icon fourth from the top in the right-side menu bar to add additional text. 

Step 5: Use the keyboard to type your desired text, and use the scrolling menus above your keyboard to select your desired text color and font. 

Step 6: Press Done, then Next to proceed to the final project screen. Here, you can select your video's thumbnail and add a caption, including hashtags.

Step 7: When your video is ready, hit Post to share it.

How to edit your TikTok video text 

The above steps can help you edit and revise your TikTok video’s onscreen text throughout the pre-posting process. Once you’ve added text materials, you can tap on any block of text again to edit it and/or correct any errors. Follow these steps! 

Step 1: Access your video via the TikTok editor. 

Step 2: Tap on the text block you want to alter, and choose Edit from the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Use the keypad to apply any text changes before finalizing.

It’s important to note that once your TikTok video is live, your on-screen text is no longer editable. This is part of what makes it so important to carefully review your content, including any text elements, for accuracy before posting. 

How to customize the text in your TikTok clips

TikTok also offers tools and features that make it possible to customize other elements of your text! Follow these tips and tricks. 

Duration

Editing the duration of your text changes the length of time your text shows throughout your video. This can allow you to share more written information by displaying text blocks at different times. This approach can help you communicate effectively while keeping your video fast-based and visually engaging. 

To edit a text block’s duration, follow these steps. 

Step 1: Launch the TikTok app, and follow the steps above to start your project and add your first text block. 

Step 2: Next, tap on the text box for which you want to edit the duration, and choose “Set duration” from the dropdown menu that appears. 

Step 3: Use the slider bar at the bottom of your screen to edit the length of time your text appears on screen, adjusting by dragging the sides of the slider. 

Step 4: When you’re happy with the duration you have set for your text block, select the check icon at the bottom right corner of your screen. 

Text to speech

You can also edit TikTok video text using the text-to-speech feature. This feature allows you to set written materials to be read aloud by an automated narrator so that your text also appears in the audio of your video project. 

Here’s how it works!

Step 1: Launch the TikTok app, and follow the steps above to start your project, and add your first text block. 

Step 2: Next, tap on the text box you want to edit, and choose Text-to-speech from the dropdown menu that appears. 

Step 3: Choose the voice option you want to use to read your text aloud. At the bottom of the screen, choose whether to apply this voice to all on-screen text or just the selected text box. 

Step 4: When you’re happy with your choice, select Done at the top right of your screen before proceeding to captions and share your video.

Adding captions to your TikTok videos

These text-adding steps are ideal if you want to add a written element to your video file. But what if you simply want to add subtitles that visually represent the audio in your project? Follow these steps to get started!

Step 1: Launch the TikTok app, and follow the relevant steps to start your project, either capturing it in the app or uploading a video file. 

Step 2: On the right side of your screen, you’ll find an icon menu. Press the down arrow to expand this menu. 

Step 3: From the side menu, choose “Captions”. Wait for your captions to automatically process. 

Step 4: Review your captions at the bottom of your screen, checking for accuracy and clarity. If needed, use the pen icon to edit captions.

Step 5: Next, press the A icon at the top of the caption menu, and use the scrolling menus to apply your desired text color and font. 

Step 6: Press “Save” when you're happy to proceed to the next step in finalizing your video. 

Read more: How to Add Captions on TikTok: 3 Easy TikTok Caption Methods

Creating highly-accurate TikTok captions with Riverside

Looking for a more accurate way to create TikTok captions? Riverside can help! 

Riverside uses the latest AI technology to provide highly accurate transcriptions, automatically after recording.

You can download these transcriptions as is, or you can easily burn these as video captions into your video. You can change the font of your captions, as well as their color and size, just like you would in TikTok. 

To finish everything off, polish your video with the text-based editor. You can use these same Ai transcriptions to trim your video as easily as deleting some text. Then customize your layout, and you’re ready to post on social media.

You can also use Riverside’s Magic Clips feature to automatically produce short-from, TikTok-compatible videos from your long-form recordings! You can either mark specific points to turn to clips while recording, or leave everything to AI. Magic Clips uses AI to identify key moments in your recordings and transforms them into short, shareable clips ideal for TikTok,.

Other Riverside key features include:

• Professional-quality video recording with up to 4K resolution
• Up to 48kHZ sound quality for clear audio and accurate transcriptions
• Separate tracks available for up to 8 call participants
• Highly accurate AI transcription compatible with over 100 languages
• Magic Clips tool, helping to repurpose long-form video for short-form distribution
• Text-based editor that allows you to edit your videos as easily as going through a text transcript.

Start experiencing all these benefits with Riverside! Learn more, or sign up to start creating your own TikTok videos.

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Bonus: Top tips for adding text to TikTok videos:

When adding text to TikTok videos, you should consider a few things to ensure you can consistently achieve the best possible results for your content. 

Make it relevant

Above all, you must make your text content relevant to the videos you produce. Simply adding text is not enough to give your content extra impact. 

You need to be thoughtful and strategic about the kind of text materials you include. Text information that appears on the screen should be highly relevant to your audience and the message your video is trying to convey. 

Prioritize accuracy

Accuracy is an important part of demonstrating your professionalism as a TikTok video creator, so it should be a production priority. 

Before you share a TikTok video that includes text elements, carefully review the text you’ve written. Evaluate the way in which it communicates, and check for errors, as well as ensuring it appears in a clear font and color for the right duration.

Use clear keywords

Keywords can be powerful in helping you broaden your scope and reach a wider audience of engaged TikTok users. 

When adding text to videos on TikTok, think about the common keywords your ideal audience is likely to be searching for on the app. Identify opportunities to seamlessly and authentically incorporate these keywords in your written content.

Serve your audience

Your audience should inform all of the decisions you make as a TikTok creator, and text decisions are non exception. 

Before you add text to your latest TikTok video, think about what your target audience is looking for. Add text and text features (like duration settings or text-to-speech narration) that are most likely to engage your followers. 

FAQs on how to add text to TikTok clips

Still unsure about how to add text to TikTok videos? Here are our answers to a few frequently asked questions!

How do you add text to TikTok at different times?

Fortunately, TikTok’s built-in text-editing tools make it easy for even novice users to control text elements. Using the duration tool, You can control when your text appears and how long it stays on the screen by using the duration tool. This is available as part of a dropdown menu when you select an existing text box within the video editor.

How do you add text effects to TikTok video?

There are also some great text effects available via TikTok! Most commonly, creators choose to change text colors and fonts to align with video and branding requirements. You can adjust these elements within the video editor by selecting the text box you want to edit. You can also try a separate app for adding text to your videos. These may have different and more interesting effects than TikTok.

Are you interested in trying out a studio-quality recording and transcription software tool? Get started today by creating your first Riverside project!

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