How to use TikTok as a Travel Blogger

Like much of the rest of the world I’ve recently joined TikTok and what started off as confusion quickly turned into an addiction!  Not only that but soon enough I started making me own, really just to test out how on earth these kids make everything look so cool!  TikTok is actually really user-friendly once you crack the surface, as many of the cool editing techniques are already built into the app, it can even edit your videos to match music making your content look cooler without much effort.  Recently a lot of brands have been jumping on the bandwagon and with it a lot of bloggers/Instagrammers trying to work out how to cash in on this current trend (at the time of writing this TikTok has over 1.5 billion downloads and over 800 million active users in 150 different countries). So how do you get the best use of TikTok as a travel blogger? Here are a couple of ideas of what is hitting it big on the popular app:

Daily travel diaries with voice-overs

These are pretty prevalent on the app and are an easy option if you are trying to use TikTok as a travel blogger. I’ve actually just uploaded my first one from Venice which you can see below.  These are the closest to the Youtube travel vlogs you maybe be more familiar with but just shortened and more snappy.  Keep it personal and interesting and it should do well.  Here is my own first attempt and a couple of my favourites:

@kariss182

Day 1 of visit Venice during the Corona Virus outbreak #venice #italy #travel #coronavirus #traveldiary #europe #travelblogger #tiktoktravel #fyp

♬ original sound – Kariss

Cultural differences

You know those videos that have likely popped up everywhere in your Youtube recommendations that are some variation of the following: American tries English snacks, Italian tries Spanish popular candy bars, Mexican tries Japanese candy? These style of videos are really popular and TikTok has it’s won versions, the most popular of which is likely the American trying Weatherspoons:

@malinthemountains

Wetherspoons if you are seeing this please come to America #uktravel

♬ original sound – Mallory Bartow

So while you are travelling see if you can see any local attractions that are unique to the area or anything that can easily compare between cultures a video like this is sure to be a hit

The ‘wow’ shot

These are the quickest, easiest and often some of the most popular content on the app. Find a place that is really stunning to view (basically anywhere really Instagram worthy) and do a ‘reveal’ shot with a suitable backing track.

https://www.tiktok.com/@happyhomebodies/video/6801604363182689541

Another popular form of this is the water shot, where you pour some water on the ground in front of said scene, then flip your phone upsidedown filming the shot in the reflection, like in the following:

@triggersanj

Use water to create a reflection. #foryou #towerbridge #london #photographer

♬ Opaul – Freddie Dredd

Photography tips and tricks

This doesn’t have to be professional advice, in fact, the more low tech the better. People love seeing little tricks they can do with their iPhones to make cool content. The video above with water is one example but there are so many others. I tried a similar thing with just a pair of sunglasses and it’s my most viewed Tiktik so far and it took only seconds to do:

@kariss182

The sky looks so turquoise woth these #venice #traveldiaries #travel #photographytricks #tiktoktravel #photographytips #fyp

♬ –

High energy Travel Advice

There have become so popular on the app they have almost become a cliche. You will recognise these as they usually start outside a room, usually a bathroom, and the person will run in and give a tip or piece of advice into the bathroom mirror. So far this hasn’t been used much for travel tips so there is definitely a gap waiting to be filled here. The most popular person in this genre is the user Jayus who has a whole series like this:

@onlyjayus

Psychology Tricks 🧠 #fyp #foryou #psycology #psycologyfacts #funfacts #facts #lifehacks #hacks

♬ original sound – Bella Rose

‘Secret’ locations

Another popular travel category is showing the audience around ‘secret’ locations in just about anywhere. From what I have seen these don’t have to be too secret, just something cool which you can easily get across visually in a short video. There are plenty of videos like this about London, here is one such one that went viral:

@aa.vision

London secret location 👀 Make sure you watch until the end to see the cool shot from there 📸 #todayilearned #foyou #fyp #viral #secretlocation

♬ Dancin (KRONO Remix) – Aaron Smith

I tried my own version of this exploring the colourful island of Burano in Venice:

@kariss182

Exploring Venice’s hidden colourful island #burano #venice #italy #tiktoktravel #colourfulhouses #traveltips #intatravel #secretlocations #foryoupage

♬ original sound – Kariss

So there are just a few ideas of how you can use TikTok as a travel blogger. The platform can be as simple or as complicated as you like it and a lot of the edits are a lot easier then you think thanks to the user-friendly nature of the app, so pick up your phone and just have a go! Oh, and if you’re on the app why not give me a follow!

Are there any other subjects like this you want me to cover? Let me know