How to Create your Own Custom Audio on TikTok

Brands all over the world are adopting TikTok as part of their advertising strategies. Since TikTok allows users to use each other’s sounds, creating a catchy sound that ties in with your brand and uploading it to the app can improve the results of your marketing campaigns. Below, we’ll provide tips on how to create a custom audio for your brand on TikTok and how to tie that audio into your campaign effectively.

Tips for Creating your Brand’s Custom Audio

TikTok users are constantly using audio from different creators in their videos. This means if your brand can create an audio that TikTok users like, your sound -- and your marketing campaign -- could see increased engagement. Use the tips below to make your audio more effective: 

1. Brand the Audio to your Campaign 

Create a sound that ties directly in with your brand and the products you’re promoting in order to make your promotion stand out.

Ole Henriksen recently did this with a new product launch when they partnered with Statusphere to create a TikTok influencer campaign for their new Lemonade Smoothing Scrub. Beauty and skincare influencers showed off the product while using the campaign hashtag #YourMainSqueeze and the TikTok audio Ole Henriksen created to promote the product. The song featured lyrics like “Squeeze it, scrub it, glow & get it … It’s all about that Lemonade.” 

Making sure the audio correlates with your brand/products can create an immediate association between the sound and the product being promoted. It’ll get stuck in the consumer’s head and remind them of your product. 

2. Getting Users to Create TikToks with Your Sound

Your TikTok audio can be used to build brand awareness, engagement, sales and drive user-generated content -- but only if it actually gets used. There are many ways to get TikTokers using your brand’s sound, from popularizing the sound with the help of influencers and hashtag campaigns, to creating TikTok ads. The method (or methods) you use will all depend on the budget you have to work with and on the type of engagement you want to achieve. 

Creating TikTok ads that feature your brand’s sound can help your ad be seen by a large audience, but can be expensive to run. 

On the other hand, you can create a high level of engagement from your specific target audience by partnering up with influencers in your niche to post about your products using your custom audio. This can be an incredibly effective tactic, as TikTok influencer content has been known to drive sales and studies show when referred by a friend, consumers were 4 times more likely to make a purchase. 

No matter which method you use to get more eyes and ears on your campaign audio, you’ll need to create a sound that is shareable, catchy and fun if you want it to drive user-generated content. So, be sure your sound is: 

• Informative, but fast - the maximum TikTok length is 60 seconds. 
• Shareable and loopable - this can help encourage user-generated content and allow a wider audience to hear your sound.
• Entertaining - if you want users to re-watch your content, share it and use your audio the audio you create needs to stand out. It may benefit you to hire a professional for this step. 

How to Create a TikTok Sound

Now that you have a plan in mind to make your brand’s audio effective, it’s time to create it! Here’s a rundown of how to create your sound on TikTok so that other users can include it in their videos:

Step 1: Record and Create your Audio

Once you’ve decided on what your sound will be and how it will be branded to your campaign, it’s time to record. Depending on your budget and the elaborateness of your sound, you can either record it as a video using your phone, or create it in a composing software. In either case, you’ll need to convert the file into a video before uploading it to TikTok, since the app doesn’t allow you to upload audio files. If you’ve already created an audio file, there are plenty of apps that can help you convert it into an mp4. 

Step 2: Upload your Sound as a Private Video

Now that you have your sound ready in video format, it’s time to upload it. Tap the “+” icon to create a TikTok and then click “Upload” in the bottom right corner of your screen. Select the video file of your sound and then hit “Next.” Adjust your volume, and hit “Next” again. Before you hit “Post,” be sure to change the “Who can watch this video” option from “Everyone” to “Private.” Once you’ve changed your video’s privacy setting, hit “Post.”

Step 3: Use Your Custom Audio on Your Final Video

Once you have your brand’s TikTok video and any other campaign assets ready to publish, you can access your sound by clicking the lock icon, located above the videos on your profile page. This icon will take you to your private videos. From here, you can select the video of your sound and click the spinning icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your video -- this is your audio (it should have music notes surrounding it). Hint: you can also click this icon later to see all of the videos that have used your sound. Next, click the “Use this Sound” button. This will allow you to add your sound to any new TikTok video you decide to record or upload from your Camera Roll. 

Step 4: Add Finishing Touches and Post

Once you’ve created your campaign video and added your audio to it, along with any corresponding campaign hashtags or filters, you’re ready to Post it to your page. Remember to make sure “Who can watch this video” is set to “Everyone” so that others will be able to view your TikTok and use your campaign’s sound. Since your TikTok will be the first video using this sound, you will be credited with an “Original” tag. 

If you want your TikTok campaign to successfully generate user-generated content and drive engagement, Statusphere can help. We can connect your brand with TikTok influencers in your niche and get them creating quality TikToks that incorporate your campaign’s sound, products, hashtags and more. Click here to speak with one of our influencer marketing specialists about how we can power your next TikTok campaign with influencer marketing.