TikTok for your business. What good practice looks like now.

For a business video, TikTok best practice comes down to four things you settle before posting and one figure you check afterwards. Make the video vertical and short. Say what it's about straight away. Keep the caption tidy. Then look at how many viewers stayed to the end. Each of these has a specific rule, set out below in the order you'd meet them when making a video.

These rules are current good practice as of October 2026, from the sources listed at the end. Our view is to spend most of your effort on the opening and the pace. Treat the shape, the length and the hashtags as housekeeping: they're quick to get right and easy to check.

What shape and length should a business video be?

Business videos on TikTok work best short. In practice that comes down to two numbers.

The first is the frame: 9:16. That's a phone held upright. If your footage was shot wide, reframe it before you post, so the person or product still sits clearly in the tall frame. It's easier to plan for this at the filming stage. Hold the phone upright from the start, keep the subject near the centre, and leave a little room at the top and bottom for on-screen text.

The second is the running time, which should be 20 to 170 seconds. Twenty seconds is enough for one clear point, such as a single tip or one before-and-after. The upper end is just under three minutes, which gives room for a short demonstration or a walk-through. It's a recommendation, not a TikTok limit: TikTok accepts much longer videos. Treat it as a working range.

Pick the length from the content. Write down the one thing the viewer should take away, then ask how long it honestly takes to show. If the answer is 40 seconds, make a 40-second video. Being allowed up to 170 seconds is permission, and nothing more. Keep that written takeaway: you'll use it again when you review results.

How should the opening go?

Two things happen together in the first line of the video. You say your keyword, and the same word or phrase appears on screen as you say it.

Your keyword is the plain phrase that describes what the video is about, in the words a viewer would use for their own question. Take a hypothetical heating engineer whose keyword is "boiler service". The video opens with them saying "Here's what happens in a boiler service", with "boiler service" written on screen. The spoken line and the text say the same thing, so a viewer watching with the sound off still sees what the video is about.

After that, get to the point fast. Skip the long greeting and the "so today I wanted to talk about". Start with the thing itself. For the heating engineer, that's the boiler cover coming off.

Aim for something changing on screen every few seconds. That can be a cut to a new shot, a closer angle on the product, a line of on-screen text or a hand moving into frame. None of it needs special equipment. A phone, a second angle and some typed text will do.

A practical way to work: write the first line before you write anything else. If you can't say what the video is about in one spoken sentence containing your keyword, the video isn't ready to film. Once that line is right, sketch the shots on paper with a rough time against each. Any long stretch where the screen stays the same shows up straight away, and you can plan a cut or a caption into it before you film. Add up the times and you'll see whether the plan fits between 20 and 170 seconds before anyone presses record.

How do you know if a video worked?

A useful aim is for most viewers to stay to the end. It's the one thing you check after posting rather than before.

Put into numbers, it looks like this. Of 100 people who start your video, about 70 are still watching when it finishes and about 30 have left somewhere along the way. If far more than 30 in every 100 are leaving, the video isn't meeting the benchmark.

It's a rule of thumb, not a TikTok target, and harder to reach on longer videos. Use it as a target to work towards.

It's most useful kept as a record. After each post, note the completion figure next to what you changed from the last video: a different first line, or more frequent changes on screen. If a video falls short, compare its running time with the takeaway you wrote down. Where it runs longer than that point needs, trim the next one and compare the result. Over a few videos, the record shows which openings and lengths hold your viewers, based on your own figures.

What goes in the caption?

The keyword comes first in the caption too, using the same words as the first line and the on-screen text. For the heating engineer, the caption starts with "Boiler service", ahead of any greeting or question.

Hashtags come after the words. Use 3 to 5 hashtags specific to the subject.

What's clear is the count. If you find yourself adding a sixth tag, take one out; if you have only two, the caption is short of the range.

A finished caption for the heating engineer, then, opens with "Boiler service", follows with a short line about the video, and ends with between 3 and 5 hashtags. That's the whole job.

How should a team sign videos off?

Each section above turns into a yes-or-no question, which makes it easy to use as a sign-off step. Is it 9:16? Is it between 20 and 170 seconds? Is the keyword in the first spoken line and on screen? Does something change every few seconds? Does the caption open with the keyword and carry 3 to 5 hashtags? A video that passes every question is ready to post. A video that fails one goes back for that fix before anyone spends time on music or polish. The order matters: a finished video in the wrong shape still has to be reframed, and that work is wasted if it happens last.

For agencies managing several client accounts, keep the questions with each client's brief, alongside that client's keywords. The person approving each video answers them before it goes out. Ticking every box doesn't post anything: a person still watches the video and decides.

For member organisations and trade bodies posting on behalf of members, the same questions give everyone one standard, whoever filmed the video. A member who sends in wide footage or a long introduction gets a clear, specific reason for the change, with the source behind it. That keeps the conversation about the rule and away from anyone's taste.

The completion figure fits into the same routine. Whoever approves the video can also note its result a few days later, so the next brief starts from what the last video showed.

See how the Desk turns source facts into video scripts and social posts in your voice, held for your approval.