Short-video guides
34 guides for creators on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Each one answers a single question, shows a worked example you can recompute, cites the platform's own help pages, and says what it cannot tell you.
Updated
Growing on TikTok
Start here with a new or small account. TikTok lists the viewer’s interactions as its heaviest For You signal and does not list follower count, so these guides are about the video, the schedule and the search phrase rather than the account.
- Go Viral With No FollowersWhy follower count is not on TikTok’s For You list, and the seven things that shape a new account’s first viewers.
- How Often to Post on TikTokWhat 11.4 million posts say about posting more, why the median post does not improve, and a weekly plan you can sustain.
- Best Time to Post on TikTokWhat 7.1 million posts say about timing, why your own Follower activity beats any chart, and how to test three slots.
- How Long Should a TikTok Be?Pick a length from what the video has to say, the watch-time share it can hold, and the one-minute rule for Creator Rewards.
- TikTok SEO: Rank in TikTok SearchWhere TikTok reads keywords from, how to find them with Creator Search Insights, and where to place each one in a video.
- TikTok CaptionsThe two things TikTok calls captions: the text under a post, with formulas and a free builder, and on-video captions, with how to turn on and edit them.
- TikTok Creator Rewards ProgramThe eligibility rules TikTok publishes, what a qualified view is, and a calculator for rewards from your own RPM.
When TikTok views stall
Diagnose before changing anything. One guide reads the symptoms, one checks whether the account itself is restricted, and one explains where each number in TikTok Analytics lives and why it can lag by two days.
- Why Is My TikTok Not Getting Views?A symptom-by-symptom diagnosis: zero views, stuck under 300, views without engagement, a sudden drop.
- TikTok Shadowban: How to CheckWhat TikTok calls a shadowban, the two places to check (Account check and the ineligible notice), and how to appeal.
- TikTok Analytics ExplainedWhere TikTok Analytics lives on phone and desktop, why it says No data, and which numbers to read for each question.
Hooks for a specific kind of video
Product videos must show the product by the second second; a song promo has two hooks, the opening line and the clip of the song. Both get their own written examples.
- TikTok Hooks for ProductsOpening lines for product, TikTok Shop and UGC videos, grouped by what the first frame shows, and the claims to keep out of them.
- TikTok Hooks for MusiciansWhich 15 seconds of a song to post, opening lines for artists and bands, and how the clip start time decides what other creators use.
YouTube Shorts
What YouTube actually says about how Shorts are recommended comes first. Since 31 March 2025 a Shorts view counts the moment playback starts, and since 24 August 2026 every YouTube view does, so the diagnosis reads engaged views instead. The checklist covers what YouTube recommends for an opening, the hashtag guide covers YouTube’s tag rules, and the ideas page applies them to what to film.
- YouTube Shorts AlgorithmWhat YouTube says its recommendation system uses, where Shorts get shown, how views and engaged views are counted, and what YouTube does not publish.
- YouTube Shorts MonetizationHow YouTube Shorts pay: the Creator Pool, the 45% share, how music changes the pool but not your allocation, eligibility, and a calculator on YouTube’s own example.
- YouTube Shorts Not Getting Views?Read views, engaged views and viewed vs swiped away together to find whether a Short failed the feed, the hook or the middle.
- How to Go Viral on YouTube ShortsWhat YouTube says about Shorts openings, how to cut a Short from a long video, and the numbers to compare after posting.
- YouTube Shorts HooksOpenings for YouTube Shorts built on the three YouTube itself recommends, a question, a surprising fact or a striking moment, with examples by niche.
- YouTube Shorts Script TemplateShorts beat sheets built around one hook and one pointer, worked scripts, and a free planner that times your lines against each beat.
- YouTube Shorts HashtagsWhere hashtags go on a YouTube Short, how many YouTube shows and ignores, the rules that get a Short removed, and how to pick three.
- YouTube Shorts IdeasShorts ideas built the way YouTube suggests: one pointer per Short, previews of longer videos, and searchable titles, with a first line for each.
Instagram Reels
Instagram names watch time, likes per reach and sends per reach, and makes watermarked or reposted Reels less visible. One guide diagnoses a Reel that stopped at your followers, one is the checklist before posting, one is an idea bank, one covers the five-hashtag limit, one tests timing, and one runs trial reels as a test.
- Instagram Reels Not Getting Views?Why a Reel reaches followers but not strangers: account status, originality, the three signals Instagram names, and the fixes for each.
- How to Go Viral on Instagram ReelsThe Reels signals Instagram names, the originality rules that cap reach, and a pre-posting checklist built from both.
- Instagram Reels HooksOpening lines and first frames for Instagram Reels, sorted by type, written for watch time and sends, with what Instagram shows less.
- Instagram Reels Script TemplateBeat sheets for Reels with a word budget per beat, worked scripts, and a free planner that times your own lines before you record.
- Instagram Reels IdeasReel ideas sorted by why a viewer would send them, each with a first line, plus the originality rules that decide whether a Reel is recommended.
- Instagram Reels HashtagsInstagram’s five-hashtag limit for Reels, what its ranking explainer says hashtags do and do not do, and how to choose five that describe the Reel.
- Instagram Reels MonetizationHow Instagram pays for Reels: no per-view rate, Gifts at $0.01 a Star from 500 followers, Subscriptions from 10,000, invitation-only bonuses, and a Gifts calculator.
- Best Time to Post ReelsWhat 9.6 million Instagram posts say about timing, why the Reels window is softer than it looks, and a two-week test that settles it for your account.
- Instagram Trial ReelsHow trial reels work, why they get fewer views than a normal Reel, and how to run one as a clean test of a hook.
How the feeds work
What the For You page is and how to steer it, how TikTok’s recommender systems make their prediction and label AI videos, then what each platform publishes about its feed, side by side.
- TikTok FYP ExplainedWhat the For You page is, why it changes, how to reset or steer it, and what decides whether your own videos reach it.
- Does TikTok Use AI?How TikTok’s recommender systems predict what to show, when AI videos must be labelled, whether the label costs reach, and whether AI videos can earn.
- How Views Are CountedWhat counts as a view on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, which numbers count replays, and which view number each platform pays or compares on.
- Video Editing Tips for Short VideosEditing tips for TikTok, Reels and Shorts that follow what the platforms publish, plus how to edit in the Shorts camera and in Instagram’s Edits app.
- TikTok vs Reels vs ShortsWhat TikTok, Instagram and YouTube each publish about their short-video feeds, side by side, and how to cut one clip for all three.
Tools and calculators
The pages behind each app feature, with the free calculators and tools that run in the browser.