TikTok Creators are a demanding bunch. Instead of caving to the pressure, though, TikTok isn’t letting go of their status as Social Media’s Next Big Thing Maker. Through 2020 and early 2021, TikTok brought us:

• Q&A
• Live streaming
• Live shopping – not to brag, but MagicLinks is also a TikTok live shopping innovator
• TikTok tipping via Coins & Icons
• A Creator Collective partnership with IPG Mediabrands

Today, let’s break down the three newest TikTok creator features for Spring 2021: TikTok Playlists, TikTok Captions, and TikTok Music Visualizer.

TikTok Captions

Captions might not strike TikTok creators as innovative – closed captioning has been around since 1973! We assure you, though, TikTok captions are huge news, because accessibility is a major concern across social media networks.

Everyone deserves to be able to participate in social media, full stop. TikTok has already launched these accessibility features:

• Text-to-speech for users with visual impairments
• Photosensitivity filters, so that users with epilepsy or migraines can skip photosensitive content
• Creator warnings that notify creators before they upload a video with photosensitive content that could trigger epilepsy
• The option to replace animated video thumbnails with static images

Auto-generated TikTok captions are being rolled out in phases. The feature only includes American English & Japanese at present, and then other languages will be added over time. TikTok is, in fact, working with accessibility nonprofits like The Deaf Collective to increase usability for all.

Here’s how to use TikTok Captions:

1. Select auto-captions in the editing page after you’ve uploaded or recorded a video. This will auto-transcribe & display text in your videos
2. If desired, you can edit caption text once it’s been generated (we’ve all seen auto-caption fails!)

Viewers can turn captions off by:

1. Opening the Share panel on a video
2. Tapping the Captions button
3. Switching Captions to “off”

TikTok Playlists

Organizing your TikTok creator content into playlists is a key component of your brand. Why? Playlists & highlights reels allow fans to discover more of the kinds of your content they love. Try using Playlists to create themed collections, i.e. tutorials, or longer-form series.

Here’s how to create TikTok Creator Playlists:

1. Navigate to your profile
2. Tap “Sort videos into Playlists”, located above the video library in your profile
3. Name your TikTok Playlist
4. Select the videos you want included, and tap “save”
5. Your TikTok Playlist will show in your bio

Eventually, TikTok Playlists will eventually be enabled on all Creator & Business accounts. It’s important to note, however, that:

• Only public videos can be added to Playlists
• Videos can only appear on one Playlist at a time

TikTok Music Visualizer

(Let me just fangirl for a moment, here: OMG THIS IS SO COOL!!! Thanks, I needed that.)

Last week, TikTok launched amazing new VR music effects. TikTok Music Visualizer is the platform’s first ever music creative effect. In brief, TikTokkers can now instantly create animations . It’s all done with real-time beat tracking with ANY song in the TikTok Sounds Library.

Music Visualizer is a set of interactive tools, appearing on screen while you record. Use it to custom-craft videos that stand out from everything on fans’ #FYPs. Check it out below!