TikTok Slideshow Ideas: 15 Formats You Can Reuse Every Week

The most useful TikTok slideshow ideas are formats, not topics. A numbered list, a step-by-step how-to, a before and after or a myth-busting set can carry almost any subject your audience cares about. Below are 15 formats, each with a slide plan you can fill with your own topic.

This page is about what to post. For the posting steps, photo size and where TikTok's buttons cover your text, see how to make a TikTok slideshow. TikTok's help page on making a post, checked on 2026-10-30, allows up to 35 photos in one photo post.

Key Takeaways

• Choose the format first, then the topic. The format decides how many slides you need and what each one does.
• Every format below starts with a hook slide and ends with a clear last slide.
• One point per slide. If a slide needs a paragraph, split it or move the detail to the caption.
• Five to eight slides is a sensible start for list and tip posts, even though TikTok allows up to 35 photos.
• Keep two or three formats in rotation, and change the topic every time.

How Do You Use These Ideas?

Each idea below has three parts: what the format is, a slide plan, and the kind of topic it fits. The slide plans assume a hook on slide one, the content in the middle, and a closing slide at the end. Replace the example topics with questions your audience actually asks: comments, replies, support emails and searches are good sources. For topics, hooks and two worked examples in one field, such as fitness, food or real estate, see the slideshow ideas by niche.

A slide plan is also a check on the idea. If you cannot fill the middle slides with one real point each, the topic is too thin for that format. Try a smaller format, or pick a different topic.

The 15 Formats at a Glance

List Formats

1. The Numbered List

What it is: a set number of tips, tools or options on one theme. Slide plan: hook ("5 ways to..."), one numbered item per slide, then a closing slide that says which item to try first. Fits: any topic with several separate, equal-weight answers.

2. The Checklist

What it is: the things to have or do before a task. Slide plan: hook naming the task, one item per slide or three short items per slide, then a final slide that tells people to save the post for later. Fits: packing, setup, launch prep, a cleaning routine, a first-week plan.

3. The Starter Kit

What it is: the few things someone needs to begin. Slide plan: hook ("what you need to start..."), one item per slide with why it matters, then a slide on what to skip. Fits: new hobbies, new tools, a first apartment, a new job role. Show objects or illustrations instead of brand packaging if you are not making a sponsored post.

4. The Ranking

What it is: options ordered from worst to best, or grouped into tiers. Slide plan: hook naming what is ranked, one option per slide in rising order, best option last. Fits: methods, habits, snacks, study techniques. Putting the best option last gives people a reason to swipe to the end.

Teaching Formats

5. The Step-by-Step How-To

What it is: a process in order. Slide plan: hook naming the result, one step per slide with a number, then a slide showing the finished result. Fits: recipes, setups, small repairs, a workflow in an app. Steps are the format where order matters most, so check that a viewer could follow them without the caption.

6. Mistakes to Avoid

What it is: common errors and what to do instead. Slide plan: hook ("stop doing this when..."), one mistake per slide with the fix in a second line, then a summary slide. Fits: any skill where beginners repeat the same errors. Always pair the mistake with the fix, or the post only makes people feel bad.

7. Myth Versus Fact

What it is: a common belief, then what is actually true. Slide plan: hook naming the topic, one myth per slide with the fact below it, then a slide pointing to where the facts come from. Fits: health habits, money basics, plant care, platform rules. Only post facts you can source, and name the source on the last slide or in the caption.

8. The Formula

What it is: a repeatable recipe for something that is not food. Slide plan: hook naming the result, a slide listing the parts, one slide per part with an example, then a slide that puts it together. Fits: writing a hook, planning a week, building a workout, pricing a small service.

9. Questions You Keep Getting

What it is: short answers to the questions your audience asks most. Slide plan: hook ("answering your most asked questions about..."), one question and answer per slide, then a slide inviting the next question. Fits: any account with a comment section that repeats itself.

Comparison and Change Formats

10. Before and After

What it is: a change shown in two states. Slide plan: hook naming the change, the before, two to four slides on what changed, then the after. Fits: a room, a routine, a design, a piece of writing, a budget. Only show a real before and after. If the images are illustrations or AI-made, say so on the slide or in the caption.

11. This or That

What it is: two options compared side by side. Slide plan: hook naming the choice, one slide per comparison point, then a slide that says who should pick which. Fits: tools, methods, two ways to do the same task. A verdict that depends on the reader's situation is more useful than a single winner.

12. Expectation Versus Reality

What it is: what people expect from something, then what it is like. Slide plan: hook, alternating expectation and reality slides, then a slide with the one thing that helps. Fits: a first job, a new city, a product category, a hobby.

Story Formats

13. The Mini Story

What it is: a short story with a problem, a turn and an outcome. Slide plan: hook stating the problem, two or three slides on what happened, one slide on the turn, one on the outcome, then the lesson. Fits: a customer problem you solved, a lesson from your own work, a small experiment. Do not invent results; tell a story you can stand behind.

14. A Day or a Routine

What it is: a sequence through a day, a morning or a process. Slide plan: hook naming the routine, one slide per stage with a time of day or a step label, then a closing slide with the one habit that matters most. Fits: study days, work routines, care routines. This format also works without a face: photos of the desk, the kitchen or the view carry it, as in a faceless TikTok slideshow.

15. Notes From Something You Read or Learned

What it is: the ideas you took from a book, a course or a long article. Slide plan: hook naming the source and the payoff, one idea per slide in your own words, then a slide on the idea you are acting on. Fits: book notes, conference notes, lessons from a long video. Summarise in your own words rather than copying long passages, and credit the source.

How Do You Write the Hook for Any Format?

Every format above depends on slide one. A hook that names a specific result or a specific problem gives the viewer a reason to swipe. A vague hook, such as "some tips for you", gives them none.

The carousel hooks guide has patterns for first slides, and they apply to TikTok photo posts unchanged. Write the hook last if it helps: once the middle slides exist, the promise is easier to state.

How Do You Keep Formats in Rotation?

Pick two or three formats that suit your account and keep them. Viewers start to recognise them, and you spend your time on the topic instead of the structure. Change the topic every post, and change the format when a topic does not fit it.

A simple weekly plan could alternate a list, a how-to and a story. That is a starting rule, not a measured best practice; your own analytics will show which formats your audience saves and finishes.

How Do You Save a Format in Wavegrain?

In Wavegrain, a format is saved once and reused for each new topic. You make one with New format on the Formats page and keep it with Save format; the only ready-made starter is a Listicle. A saved format stores the slide count (3 to 10 slides), the roles of the slides (a Hook, Content slides and an optional CTA slide), and the text blocks on each slide. Each text block is either Fixed text, which repeats exactly, or AI writes this, with a Word length you choose. The CTA slide is a switch, End with a CTA slide, so a format can end on a content slide instead. Each role can draw its images from its own collection, so hook slides and content slides can look different.

You start a new slideshow from a saved format, give it a topic, and Wavegrain writes the slides in that structure. You can edit any slide, then export the set at the TikTok size of 1080x1920 as PNG files, or as a vertical MP4. An automation can also run a saved format on a schedule, and each run waits for your review and approval. Wavegrain can also send the slides to TikTok for you. An Inbox draft lands in your TikTok inbox, and you finish the post in the TikTok app, where you also choose who can see it. Post directly publishes from Wavegrain, but until TikTok approves Wavegrain's app in its Direct Post audit, TikTok's content sharing guidelines allow such a post only as private (Only me), from an account set to private (checked on 2026-10-30). For a public post, use the inbox draft, or upload the photos in the TikTok app yourself, as the TikTok slideshow guide describes.