TikTok users can now spice up their videos with custom thumbnails

A custom thumbnail option is now available for TikTok users who want the videos they post to stand out more on their account pages.

While thumbnails don't show up when users are scrolling through their For You Page (FYP), if a user does click on your profile, having custom images replace stills of a specific moment in your videos could prompt a visitor to watch more clips -- and, ideally, follow your content.

Adding a custom thumbnail image is simple. Once you've edited your video to your liking and are at the final stage where you can add a caption and hashtags, once you go in to edit the video thumbnail, there is now an option to upload an image.

While there isn't a took within the TikTok app itself to create imges, you should be able to use your image editing and creation app of choice to quickly make something eye-catching that really stands out. TikTok video dimensions are 1080x1920, which is the size of a typical modern smartphone screen.

As long as the custom thumbnail image you want to use is accessible from your phone, you should be able to use it on your videos without issue.

There are a lot of tips out there for growing a loyal following on TikTok, such as choosing and catering to a specific target audience and participating in trends. Custom thumbnails alone won't necessarily get you new followers automatically. But the same way many Instagram users subscribe to the grid aesthetic theory of attracting followers once they're on your page, it's possible creating a nice-looking TikTok profile page could yield a similar effect.

When creating custom TikTok video thumbnails, similar rules apply to YouTube's thumbnail image game: Bright, clear images, large text, and faces are more likely to perform well than images of objects or poor-quality images.