The TikTok Experiments, Vol. 6: Posting Only CapCut Templates for a Week

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This year, I’ve been running a series of TikTok experiments in an effort to learn more about the enigmatic TikTok algorithm. My goal is to assess which tactics help you reach and engage more viewers. I’ve learned a lot from my past experiments! In May, I decided to experiment with sharing only CapCut templates for a week to see how that would impact my content’s performance. If you’re not familiar with CapCut templates, here’s my handy explainer. The results of this experiment surprised me: CapCut templates were even more effective than I anticipated! Here’s what I learned from this experiment.

Why CapCut templates?

Over the past few months, I’ve seen CapCut templates all over my TikTok FYP. At first, I found them annoying. Especially when it was a brand’s social media manager standing in a boat with text saying “me explaining that I’ll get way more views doing this than that other video we had planned.” Sigh. Boring! But I gradually started to see the appeal of CapCut templates.

CapCut templates, like trending audios, create a familiar joke format that viewers can get on board with quickly. They also typically feature figures from pop culture who are easily recognizable. Michael Scott, Ron Swanson, and the Rock? No one will scroll away from them! Once I started experimenting with CapCut, I realized the videos are relatively easy to make. I decided to hop on some trends and see if creating relatable content with these templates would help my videos perform better. 

What kinds of videos did you create using CapCut templates?

I shared 14 videos during the week of the experiment, posting once in the morning and once in the evening. Here are some of the buckets my content fell into:

  • Mental health – I shared several videos on mental health topics, such as ADHD (paired with a Mrs. Doubtfire CapCut template) and family dynamics (featuring a Jennifer Aniston CapCut template).

  • Dogs – My dogs are always easy content! I made videos about my dog wanting treats and looking cute (with a template featuring the Rock). 

  • Pop culture – This included videos about anime (paired with a Pedro Pascal CapCut template) and bands of the mid-2000s (using a Michael Scott CapCut template).

  • Freelancing – Just one video on this topic, about prospective clients, using a CapCut template featuring Ron Swanson. 

my video featuring the rock & my dogs

Which CapCut templates did the best?

This experiment went far better than some of my last few experiments! The most popular video was one about shopping and used a Jennifer Aniston CapCut template; it received 2,700 views and was shared 30 times. It received the first 2,200 views all in under 24 hours! Often, my videos are much slower growers than that. The Jennifer Aniston template now has over 100,000 uses (it was a bit lower at the time of the experiment in early May). 

Other popular videos included:

  • The “Oh my god I almost died” CapCut template, which currently has 135,000 uses. My video was about falling down the stairs and nearly having a mental breakdown as a result. It received 350 views and 10 shares.

  • The Michael Scott with speakers CapCut template, which now has over one million uses, worked well for me, resulting in 364 views and 10 shares. I paired it with a generic photo of a bachelorette party and copy about blasting Hellogoodbye and hoping it helps you make friends. 

  • An Eminem rapping CapCut template with 16,000 uses (relatively low compared to the previous two examples) received 493 views and 10 shares! I paired it with copy about feeling overstimulated at a bar while trying to learn a new board game. 

  • Lastly, a Pedro Pascal CapCut template where he says “oh I don’t know, upwards of 10x a day?” received 468 views and 7 shares. I paired this with text about my ADHD hyperfocus preventing me from remembering to use the bathroom, which I think was relatable for many of my fellow ADHDers! This CapCut template was also relatively small at the time, with 19,000 uses.

On an average week, most of my videos receive about 200-300 views. During this experiment, my videos receive around 300-500 views. I was happy to see an increase in my average number of views! In past experiments, I’ve only had one or two high performing videos to mention, and this time I had five, which also shows how effective these CapCut templates can be. 

Additionally, it’s important to note that the number of uses for a template isn’t the be-all, end-all factor for determining how the video will perform. Templates with 16k and 19k uses received more views than templates with 1M uses and 135k uses. At a certain point, a template may become oversaturated and no longer be worth using. 

Should I use CapCut templates on TikTok more often?

For me, it’s a yes!

As usual, this all depends on your goals. I did not see a big surge in followers from sharing CapCut templates for a week. In fact, I gained only 3 new followers. It’s low effort, relatable content, but it doesn’t necessarily convert to followers. So why is it a yes from me? Let’s look at the stats:

  • Likes up 17% – 1,038 the week of the experiment; 888 likes the week prior and 1,506 the week after. Often after these experiments conclude, I find they continue to gain traction, so the effects are long-term and keep compounding. 

  • Shares up 287% – This stat shocked me! Shares are so important in the algorithm, so increasing shares this much was a huge win. For reference, I received 89 shares the week of the experiment; the week prior, I received 23 shares and the week after I received 64 shares.

  • 12k unique video views – This is compared to 14k the week before and 18k the week after; I suspect the 18k is due to that growing effect after the experiment concludes.

  • 15k video views – Compared to 18k the week prior and 22k the week after. Again, the videos continue to have a positive impact.

  • Comments and profile views were both down, though not terribly significantly. A caveat is that the week prior to the experiment, I had a large surge in profile views, which I believe was a fluke and not close to baseline for me.

my video about adhd problems, featuring a pedro pascal capcut template

If your goal is solely to gain followers, CapCut templates may not be the tactic for it. However, as with all things social media, your strategy should be a mix of diverse tactics to work in sync and help you achieve your goals. The fact that my shares increased 287% the week of the experiment is a good enough reason for me to continue incorporating CapCut templates into my TikTok strategy! 

My newest hypothesis about the TikTok algorithm is that the three most important factors are: video completion rate, engagement (especially comments), and shares. Increasing shares is definitely crucial to your success on TikTok! Plus, CapCut templates are usually relatively short (around 6 seconds), so they may improve your video completion rate as well. 

Lastly, CapCut templates are easy to use and a great type of content to lean on when you may not be up to making more time/labor-intensive videos. I’m going to keep an eye out for CapCut templates as they start to trend and aim to hop on them more quickly! 

What other TikTok experiments would you like to see me try in the future? I’m considering either trending audios only or 2-3 minute videos only. Let me know if either of those is of interest!

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