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The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Ads

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The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Ads

Since its launch in 2018, TikTok has seen more growth than any other social media platform could have wished for. With 2.6 billion downloads, and 175 million of those between January to March 2022, TikTok’s momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Not only is TikTok used by the masses, it has also changed how we interact with social media in general. It only takes a glance at other social media platforms to see its impact, cough cough Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts

Not only has short-form 9:16 video content taken over as a result of TikTok’s success, but it has spurred on a rise in more authentic content, trending sounds and everyday people becoming famous for doing something as simple as guessing a paint colour. It’s no doubt TikTok has created a whole new world of social media. Making it a no-brainer for businesses to build highly engaged audiences, reach new potential customers and advertise in different ways. 

TikTok started testing its advertising capability in 2020, but only launched personalized advertising in June 2022. So there’s no time like the present for brands and businesses of all industries to tap into TikTok’s audience and capitalize from it! In this ultimate guide to TikTok Ads, we explain everything you need to know to get the most out of TikTok advertising, whether you’re just getting started or are looking for new ideas.

The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Ads

Should You Advertise on TikTok?

 

Who are TikTok Users? 

It’s true that TikTok is largely used by Gen Z, with ages 10-19 making up 25% of users. BUT, according to research in the US and UK by Statista in 2021: 

  • 22.4% of users are age 20-29 
  • 21.7% of users are 30-39 
  • 20.3% of users are age 40-49 and, 
  • 11% of users are 50+
TikTok Age Demographics

(Image source: Marketerhire)

Now, I’m not sure about you but that is more evenly balanced than we expected! So out of 2.6 billion users, if your target audience fits the age range of 30-39, you can still reach a large portion of your potential customers through TikTok. One of the best things about TikTok for businesses is that your audience is going to be on there in some way, shape or form. And if you can find your niche and really tap into it through great content, you’re on the road to success.

When it comes to your industry and whether TikTok is a good platform to showcase your products or services, there’s evidence to prove its impact on every kind of industry, even the most unlikely. For example, Apex Motion Control, a food machinery supplier that makes equipment robots for food, pharmaceutical and production companies, they barely have a following on any other social media platform, but have found their audience niche on TikTok. Whether most of their 75k following are in the market for production robots is questionable, but those who do work in the industry, and their customers are more likely to find them from their account. As a bonus, they also get regular questions about vacancies, so TikTok is helping them market the products and recruit!

@apexmotion Our engineer specifically asked us to "set this video to inappropriate fast hip-hop" and linked Edamame's music vid #bakerbot #muffins #howitsmade ♬ edamame - bbno$

For TikTok ads it’s much the same. In fact, TikTok for Business has a whole section on their website dedicated to Success Stories from ads in all kinds of industries. From finance, to home furnishings, to gaming and even migraine medicine! Regardless of your product, TikTok Ad case studies show that results can be found for many different campaign objectives. Just take this example from Malaysian home furnishings company MR.DIY, who used TikTok ads to boost IRL sales in-store.

TikTok Ads Guide

When we say TikTok advertising can be a good fit for any company, it really can, but only with the right content and tactics. If you’re not sure about it for your business, we’d recommend starting out with an organic TikTok content strategy to test what works, before deciding to move to ads. 

For companies in Gaming, FMCG, Entertainment, Fashion, Beauty and Sports, and most brands out there, TikTok Ads is a no brainer, and actually a necessity to stay relevant with audiences. Such as this In-Feed ad from Fendi who wanted to build a community on TikTok.

(Click to play) Source: TikTok Business Manager

Other than the opportunity for community building, what are the benefits of advertising on TikTok? Let’s get into it. 

Benefits of TikTok Advertising

Users are Highly Engaged 

The average TikTok user spends over 30 minutes on the app. Unlike some other social media networks, TikTok users are highly engaged and active, meaning they’re more likely to interact with ads. In fact, where on other platforms users complain about ads, 72% of users find TikTok ads inspiring. Sprout Social claims “TikTok users are generally receptive to new and inspirational videos from both brands and creators…TikTok users also feel closer to brands they see on the platform.”

Opportunities for Global Reach

TikTok’s popularity doesn’t stop at the US or Europe, it has taken over globally, dominating social media in 75 languages in 150 countries. With the right content tailored to your audience, the reach you can achieve is unrivaled. Especially for companies looking to expand into new markets or launching new products.

Accounts don’t need to amass huge followings to produce results, for organic and paid posts. There are people out there with millions of views on their videos who only have a couple hundred followers. This is great for brands building brand awareness and inevitably turning viewers into followers and brand advocates.

TikTok’s Unique Algorithm 

The reason TikTok users are more engaged and accounts can find reach without a large following is because of the algorithm. On other platforms, users are shown content and ads based on who they already follow. On the flip side, TikTok’s For You page shows you content based on your individual behavior. Meaning users are recommended content based on what they’ve watched to the end, engaged with (like, comment, share, save), or what they’ve posted themselves. Users therefore see more of what they actually want to see, including ads that they’re more likely to engage with.

Ad Targeting Capabilities

Ad targeting can be based on location, interest and behavior. And because of their unique AI-based algorithm, ad targeting is more specific to the person’s interests and behavior, instead of their assumed behavior based on who they follow. This gives brands much more scope for reaching their desired audience, or could provide interesting insights into new audiences that engage, who they weren’t expecting to. 

Top Tip: TikTok for business targeting information is extremely comprehensive and we recommend that all companies who are considering advertising on TikTok to read it.

The Level of Tracking Metrics 

TikTok for business lets you track the most metrics out of any other social media platform. Metrics aren’t just the usual impressions, click throughs etc. there are specific metrics tailored to every advertising goal. And lots of them! Meaning you can really deep dive into ad performance and better understand user behavior to truly find what makes your audience tick.

Check out TikTok’s list of metrics here. 

Where TikTok fits into the Marketing Funnel

Social media fits into different stages of the marketing funnel depending on the company. For some, it’s purely to build brand awareness, credibility and trust. To get the company name in front of the target audience so people know who your company is and why it exists.

On the other hand, for companies like Ecommerce brands and retailers, social media isn’t just for top-of-funnel brand or product awareness, but is vital for middle or even bottom-of-funnel conversions. Especially as social networks consistently increase Shopping features, and impulse buying is so common.

The same goes for TikTok. However, arguably TikTok users are more inspired to purchase on the platform. TikTok has the potential to drive rapid growth for some companies and can be included in every stage of the marketing funnel. And we’re not just talking about big brands. One of the nice things about TikTok is how small brands are championed on the app. Because brand accounts don’t need thousands of followers to get seen, with the right content, small businesses are thriving in a way which wouldn’t have been possible without it. 

TikTok users want to see authentic content, and seeing someone show a BTS of how they package a product, create clothes designs or make homemade candles, resonates with TikTok’s audience who want to help small businesses.

For businesses with larger ad budgets, ads are integrated so subtly that while users know they’re ads, they don’t seem to find them annoying and click away like they do on other platforms. Another reason for this is that TikTok avidly encourages businesses to build communities. For example through their #SmallWins campaign featuring small businesses from across the platform and educating them on how to grow further using TikTok.

TikTok Advertising Guide

 

TikTok Ad Formats and How Best to Use Them

 

In-feed video

Ads that appear in the For You page of TikTok users. They look like normal TikToks but after 9 seconds a CTA appears, like in the below example. Users can engage with them as they would a normal TikTok video by liking, commenting, saving etc.

An example of an in-feed ad, where after a few seconds a “shop now” CTA appears:

TikTok Ad Example
TikTok Ad Example

 

Brand Takeover Ads

These ads appear when a user first opens the app. They take over the full screen but more like a traditional ad rather than looking like an organic TikTok post. They usually last 3-5 seconds and then turn into an in-feed ad. These are more suited for companies who want to relay their message using a more traditional content style. And like a more traditional ad, they aren’t cheap – companies must have a minimum budget of $55,000. With the ad only lasting a couple of seconds and needing such a budget for it, these are best suited to brands who want to advertise on TikTok how they would, for example, a TV ad.


An example of this is this Reddit advert, which clearly isn’t a normal TikTok video and takes up the full screen when you open the app. Towards the end of the ad it displays a CTA and looks like it’s part of the normal feed.

Reddit TikTok Ad

 

Spark Ads

This is TikTok’s answer to native ads and allows companies to sponsor organic content relating to their brand. This can be from their own TikTok account or another creator with their consent. This is a great way to leverage UGC (user generated content) on TikTok. For example, if someone organically posts a video recommending or testing a product, brands can sponsor the video.

Spark ads are good for companies that want to create an authentic experience through subtle sponsored content. TikTok claims that ad performance is high in this format as users prefer ads with an organic feel. They can also increase the performance of the original organic post. Win-win!

Here is an example of a Spark Ad. This post was originally posted on @sianeastwills’s account and then used as an Ad by Damson Madder.

Damson Madder TikTok ad
Damson Madder TikTok Ad Example

TopView Ads

Work much like brand takeover ads by fitting the full screen and appearing when a user opens the app, but they can be up to 60 seconds long. 

Branded Hashtag Challenges

This is one of the most engaging ad formats, brands create their own hashtag challenges encouraging users to take part. Under the hashtag you can see content from the brand and other creators completing the challenge. The challenge usually relates to the product the brand is promoting, and brands often sponsor TikTok influencers to get involved so that their followers do too. 

As the hashtag is promoted by the brand, it is pushed in the Discovery page as a trending hashtag and therefore more users use it even when they aren’t doing the challenge. Meaning more awareness for the brand.

For example, the #PrimarkSummerUp challenge, shown here, the videos labeled ‘Featured’ have been sponsored by the brand, but there are thousands of other organic videos under the hashtag.

Primark TikTok Ad Hashtag Challenge

These ads are a great way to encourage a variety of engagement with users and to generate awareness or engagement with a new product launch. 

Branded AR Ads

Similar to Snapchat, brands can create AR experiences to get users to interact with their ad. Companies can create branded effects, stickers, filters and lenses. These can also be gamified.

To help companies make branded effects and AR experiences, TikTok also launched their own effect builder, Effect House.

TikTok Effect House

Search Ads

TikTok is fast becoming a search engine, similar to how people use YouTube. TikTok can see this trend growing, with tweets like this going viral:

As TikTok user Simon Caine points out, Search on TikTok feels more authentic and therefore so do their Search Ads. Which creates a massive opportunity for brands wanting to reach their audience more authentically. We’re intrigued to see where this goes, and while this is great for businesses, we hope it doesn’t ruin the TikTok platform at the same time!

For example when I search “skincare routine” into TikTok’s search bar, there’s a list of organic AND paid results that appear. The circled video is a paid Search ad

TikTok Search Ads

Pangle Ads 

TikTok Ads Manager also gives you the option to place ads on more than just the app. This is mainly done through Pangle. Pangle is essentially TikTok’s answer to third party apps, placing ads on various different video formats. This isn’t currently available in all countries but according to TikTok’s Success Stories, a lot of brands are achieving positive results through Pangle Ads. Learn more about Pangle Ads.

News Feed App

Similarly, News Feed App Ads are those placed on TikTok’s other third party apps, such as BuzzVideo, TopBuzz and NewsRepulic. On the TikTok app advertisers can only use video format. Whereas on Pangle and News Feed App placements they can use image, carousels and video.

Now we’ve got to grips with the basics, how do you actually create an ad campaign? Keep reading as we explain. 

How to Create a TikTok Ad Campaign

Creating TikTok ads is fairly easy, especially if you’ve used other paid social media platforms. Like other platforms there are options to set up ad campaigns or boost organic content. We’d recommend following these steps to get set up correctly regardless of your goal.

1. Create a TikTok Ads Manager account

If you haven’t already, click here to create an account. This is different to a TikTok Business account and can take up to 24 hours to get verified, so we recommend doing this well before your planned campaign start date.

2. Choose Your Objective 

From the side bar select ‘Campaign’, then ‘Create new.’

How to make a TikTok ad

(You also have the option to ‘Use existing’ if the account has already run ads in the past, but for the purpose of this guide we’ll explain how to create a new campaign from scratch.)

This opens up a section called Advertising Objective, where you select your objective for the campaign. Much like Google Ads or other paid social channels, the options are: 

Awareness

  • Reach 

Consideration 

  • Traffic 
  • App Installs 
  • Video Views 
  • Lead Generation 
  • Community Interaction

Conversion

  • Conversions 
  • Catalog Sales (available on some accounts)
  • Shop Purchases (available on some accounts)
How to make a tiktok ad

3. Set a Campaign Name and Budget

TikTok automatically creates a name based on your objective. In the below image we selected Reach and it produced this campaign name. We wouldn’t recommend moving forward with this though, we’d advise setting up your own naming conventions and data taxonomy (easily done in a platform like Mediatool), and using the name populated by your own tracking parameters.

Learn about setting naming conventions in Mediatool so that TikTok Ad data seamlessly tracks into your reporting dashboards, alongside your other paid social channels.

At this stage, TikTok also gives you the option to create split tests in your ad groups which you can toggle on and off.

How to make a tiktok ad

Another option you can select is setting the campaign budget. Do this if you want to set a budget at campaign level. If you don’t want to, you can switch the toggle off and set it at ad group level instead. 

For budgets, there are three options: 

  • ​No Limit: There will be no limits on your ad delivery at the campaign level, and spend will be determined by the budget you choose at ad group level.
  • ​Daily Or Lifetime Budget: Choose a daily budget or a total budget for the campaign. Much like on LinkedIn Campaign Manager. 

For campaigns with conversion and app install objectives, there are Campaign Budget Optimization options available. To enable this, your campaigns need to be set up in a specific way – TikTok explains all here.

 

4. Create an Ad Group and Select Placements 

 

Once you’ve finished setting a budget, you’ll be taken to the Ad Group section, where much like other paid social platforms you choose: 

  • Placements
  • Targeting
  • Creative type
  • Budgets and schedule
  • Bidding method
How to create a tiktok ad

TikTok will automatically select ‘TikTok’ as the automatic placements, but for some users advanced settings include those seen below.

how to create a tiktok ad

Image source: TikTok Business Manager 

Note: In this section you can also select Automated Creative Optimization which works like dynamic ads, automatically rotating your creatives and copy to see what performs best. You may decide to turn this on, but sometimes messaging is unclear if specific creatives and copy that work well together are separated.

5. Select your Ad Targeting 

Again, like on other ad platforms you can select a range of targeting based on your target audience and how they interact with TikTok.

Creating Custom and Lookalike Audiences

If your account hasn’t set up audiences before, click the button in the below example, and create a new one. 

how to make a tiktok ad

This is also where you can upload lists for lookalike audiences and retargeting. But for those who are new to TikTok Ads or want to get the full effect of what TikTok’s targeting capabilities could offer your company, we’d recommend creating a new audience and monitoring performance. You can always upload lists at a later date, or split test TikTok’s targeting options.

how to create tiktok ads

This opens TikTok’s audience manager, where you can select from the drop down menu the kind of audience you want to create. There are then six kinds of audiences you can create. Depending on which you select, there are a range of fields to fill out. In this example,we  choose Website Traffic which uses the TikTok pixel to find the best audience.

TikTok ad targeting

Your new audience list will then appear in the Audience Manager, ready for you to go back and include or exclude it in your ad group from the drop down box.

tiktok ads guide

 

Demographics, Interests & Behavior

Select demographics criteria for your audience, and like other platforms you are provided with an audience summary on the right hand side.

TikTok ad targeting

There is a wide range of interests and user behavior to choose from. In our opinion this is more detailed than other paid social platforms and is key to why so many companies are finding success through TikTok Advertising. With the ability to target users based on how they’ve interacted with other videos, hashtags and creators, you can directly target specific user personas.

Type or select interests and behaviors from the drop down box to add them to your ad targeting. Note that the drop down menus have secondary drop down options, so don’t forget to be specific about your preferences.

tiktok ads targeting

There is a wide range of interests and user behavior to choose from. In our opinion this is more detailed than other paid social platforms and is key to why so many companies are finding success through TikTok Advertising. With the ability to target users based on how they’ve interacted with other videos, hashtags and creators, you can directly target specific user personas.

Type or select interests and behaviors from the drop down box to add them to your ad targeting. Note that the drop down menus have secondary drop down options, so don’t forget to be specific about your preferences.

tiktok ads targeting

Device 

Next, select device options if applicable. This again is more detailed than other networks, with the option to even select the price of the device the person is using! 🤯

6. Choose an Ad Group Budget and Schedule

Whether you’ve allocated a budget at campaign level or not, you can now set a specific daily or lifetime budget and schedule for the ad group. You have the option to run ads continuously or to specific start and end dates.

7. Bidding and Optimization

Optimization Goal and Frequency Cap

Depending on the objective you chose at the beginning, you may be able to choose an optimization goal or this may be chosen for you. In our example, because we chose Reach, it is automatically optimized for that.

Frequency cap refers to the number of times your ad can be seen by the same user within a certain time period. To avoid ad fatigue it’s best practice to keep the frequency low so users don’t keep seeing the same ad and find it annoying.

tiktok ads bidding

Bid strategy

The three bid strategies TikTok offers are: 

  • Bid Cap: Maximum amount per click (CPC), per view (CPV), or per 1,000 impressions (CPM)
  • Cost Cap: An average cost per result for optimized CPM. The cost will fluctuate above and below the bid amount but should average out to the set bid.
  • Lowest Cost: Uses the ad group budget to generate the maximum number of results possible at the lowest cost per result.

Note: you might not see all options available depending on your chosen campaign objective.

If you need more clarification, TikTok explains in detail what these bidding strategies mean. 

Next, under ‘Advanced Settings’ you may be able to choose between Standard and Accelerated. As you can see we don’t have this option because of the objective, but it simply means TikTok will spend your budget faster. 

💡This could be good for brands who are new to TikTok and want to accelerate growth or those who are advertising for a new product launch.

8. Create your Ad(s)

Within each ad group you can create up to 20 ads. 

If you want to create a Spark Ad (boosting original UGC content), this is where you can set that up and choose which account the ad is shown from. But for now we’ll explain how to set up a non-Spark ad on TikTok. 

Identity

First, give your ad a name and make your ad ‘identity’ the same as your company account. Have you ever been scrolling TikTok and came across an ad with this megaphone logo? There are actually loads of them out there! And it’s because the company hasn’t uploaded their own logo and name when creating the ad.

how to make tiktok ads

Input your identity information like logo and account name. 

💡For large brands with multiple local or product-specific TikTok accounts, this is helpful as you can create ads for subsidiaries from the master account and edit the handle and logo accordingly. 

Ad content

First, select your ad format. As you can see here, because we chose only ‘TikTok’ in the ad group set up we can only choose ‘Single video’. On TikTok itself you can only use videos or Spark ads. But, if you selected News Feed or Pangle you can choose image and video.

Moving forward with video format. You can upload your own ad creative, pre-upload it to the ad library and select it from there, or create your own. 

This opens up TikTok’s editor where you can turn images into video, edit videos, add music and subtitles, or use their templates. TikTok really makes it easy, with hundreds of video templates to choose from based on your industry, country and length of video.

💡Note that videos must be between 5 – 60 seconds to be used in an ad. 

creating tiktok ads

Once you’ve created or uploaded your video and added text, you can see a preview of your ad like this. There is also the option to add multiple other interactive elements to your ads such as question box stickers. 

Landing page and tracking

Either select your own landing page link, or TikTok Instant Page. There are multiple choices for CTAs and how you want those to appear, for example: whether they are dynamic and TikTok chooses for you or not.

tiktok ads guide

And finally, there’s optional tracking support available if you need it. Although, we would recommend creating tracking links such as UTMs in your campaign plans, such as those you can create in Mediatool. This way, your links are kept in the same place and any team member can edit and view without having to delve into TikTok’s Ad Manager.

Once you’ve set everything up how you’d like and are happy with the preview, click ‘Submit’. TikTok will review your ad and let you know when it’s good to go live, or if there are any issues that need to be resolved.

ultimate guide to tiktok ads

Over on the right hand side of this page you’ll see an Add list. Here is where you can copy, or delete ads you’ve created, and add any extra ads within the same ad group.

Tracking TikTok Ad Performance

That’s it – you’ve created your first TikTok ad! Congrats 🎉

It’s now time to track your results. There are a few different ways to track performance. 

1. TikTok Ads Manager

TikTok Ads Manager

TikTok Ads Manager has a whole host of tools to help you manage your ads and review results. The easy-to-use dashboard gives you detailed results data and lets you customize it to the data that matters the most to you.

In the dashboard you can: 

  • Check Today’s Spends and account balance
  • See ad group status (including campaigns that are out of budget and underperforming, so you can optimize or pause them)
  • Review trends and performance data from different audience segments and placements

In the menu you’ll also see ‘Campaign’. Under Campaign you can: 

  • View detailed data on each campaign
  • Filter to see the campaign and metrics you want
  • Customize audience analysis to suit your needs
  • Find results data for metrics such as cost, impressions, clicks, conversions, CTR, CPC, CPM and more.

You can also create your own reports under the ‘Reporting’ tab in the top menu. 

 

2. TikTok Attribution Manager

TikTok Attribution Manager

Image Source: TikTok

TikTok recently added to their campaign measurement capabilities with the launch of their Attribution Manager. TikTok is aware that there are a lot of different types of companies advertising on their platform, and that companies with different objectives and customer journeys need different attribution windows. For this reason this new update gives flexible and customizable attribution options to help advertisers better understand their performance. 

This is still being rolled out and can be set up under ‘Assets’ in the main menu.  To get started, select ‘Events’ from the drop down menu, choose App or Web Events and fill in the required fields. 

how to set up TikTok Ads attribution window

 

3. Mediatool

Mediatool is a campaign management platform for brands and agencies. Marketers and advertisers use it to plan campaigns, measure data, build reports and learn from performance to improve future campaigns.

Simply integrate your paid social channels – including TikTok Ads Manager – to track individual TikTok campaigns or to measure performance alongside your other channels! 

Where TikTok Ads Manager gives you specific detail into your results, Mediatool gives you a top level overview that puts your data into perspective next to your other channels. 

From allocating budgets, setting up tracking links, to creating customizable reports, managing TikTok Ads is easy in Mediatool. To see how it works, book a platform tour with a member of the team.

How much does TikTok Advertising cost? 

This depends on the budget you set, but there are minimum spend allowances:

  • For overall campaigns there is a minimum total ad spend of $500
  • The daily minimum spend at campaign level is $50
  • The daily minimum spend at ad group level is $20

There are some caveats to this, depending on the ad format. For example: 

  • Brand Takeover: has a minimum spend of $50,000 per day. In return, TikTok will guarantee five million impressions.
  • In-Feed Ads: Costs $10 per impression and you have to pay for a minimum of 600 impressions upfront.
  • Branded Hashtag Challenge: there’s a reason these perform so well but there’s also a reason they’re mainly used by brands with a lot of budget, as they cost $150,000 per week.

 

Tips for Successful TikTok Advertising

 

TikTok advertising can catapult brands in a way that legacy paid social platforms might not. This is due to the way that TikTok integrates ads into the For You page, how they’re tailored to very specific audiences and how engaged users are. But TikTok ads also need to be different to those you use on other networks.

For example, in research conducted by Databox, they found that these were the most important factors to success on TikTok:

how to make human-centric marketing campaigns

In our opinion, there are a few other key elements to success on TikTok: 

 

1. Ad Creatives Need to Feel Authentic 

Like we said, advertising on TikTok works so well because they’re seamlessly integrated into the user experience. This is the reason Spark ads generate results as they start off as organic content that companies can leverage as an ad.

So, when planning your ad creatives, don’t forget that the less polished, the better. If your ad looks like it was made by an average user, EVEN better! Highly produced videos with scripted speech aren’t likely to perform as well. So strip it back, think outside of the box and get creative about how you can really talk to your audience without “appearing” like a “serious company who does business.” 👀

All jokes aside, this is a great chance to try something new with your content. Make creatives that seem like they belong on TikTok and you’ll be flying.

2. Include People 

On the same thread, TikTok users don’t care about seeing your logo or fancy design. Instead, include people in your ads, real life reviews, user generated content (UGC), other TikTok users, behind the scenes and influencers.

Even how users respond to influencers is different on TikTok. Regular people are becoming TikTok creators accidentally and trends are started by those who have less than 100 followers. People want to connect with people on the app and therefore the more real faces you can show, the better your ad will perform.

3. Engage, Engage, Engage!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, when people interact with your brand online and it’s a one way relationship, that’s an audience. But, when people interact, brands engage back and it becomes a conversation, that is a community. 

It’s the same on TikTok. Engage regularly, make ads that relate to what people ask or comment. For example if you post an organic video about your new face cream and receive comments asking what it smells like, which skin type is it better for, can it be paired with other skin products, etc. – use these queries and answer them in your ad!

TikTok allows you to include interactive elements in your ad creatives. Whether it be a poll or Q&A box, use them to your advantage to form real connections with your community.

4. Get Familiar with Organic TikTok

Focusing on quality organic content is crucial to understanding what kind of ads will work best. It’s also important to have an account that responds to comments about the product or service you advertise.

Behavior and trends are different to other platforms and it’s very fast moving. We’ve seen it where brands have hopped on a trend from TikTok and posted it to Instagram and their Instagram audience have been confused as they don’t understand the context of the trend. Or in most cases, social media managers wait for sign off and by the time they get approval the trends have moved on. 

The environment is very different and part of the reason social media users have flocked to TikTok. Using the app yourself is the best way to understand how to attract audiences.

5. Use TikTok Creative Center for Content Ideas

TikTok’s Creative Center is a free resource that tells you what’s performing well right now, and in recent weeks on the app. From what hashtags to use, sounds that are on the rise, to the top performing ads, the Creative Center is a gold mine! 

No other social media platform offers this kind of insight into what content works, every marketer posting content – organic and paid – to TikTok should spend time reviewing it before publishing anything live.

TikTok Creative Center

 

6. Get Ad Inspiration from TikTok’s Success Stories 

 

TikTok really does want to help companies succeed, and it doesn’t stop at the Creative Center. Success Stories is a whole library of ads that have produced positive results for different companies. TikTok created this resource to help companies learn from others who achieved great results with advertising.

Within the Success Stories, TikTok goes into detail about the objective, strategy, creatives, and results. Including how those results impacted their wider marketing goals. There are stories from companies large and small, from every industry! Simply filter to search for inspiration for your own campaigns, or to give weight to your ad strategy suggestions internally. 

 

Improve TikTok Advertising Performance with Mediatool

 

Whether TikTok Advertising is new for your business or not, it’s ever-evolving and can be a learning curve for the most experienced marketers. To succeed with TikTok ads, you need to consistently measure, review and learn from your campaigns, to better-inform future ones. Especially if you’re spending the big bucks!

This is where Mediatool comes in. Monitor performance regularly, spot opportunities for improvement and compare to your other platforms, to find your community and benefit from your piece of the TikTok pie.  

Find out more about our TikTok Ads integration, or speak to a member of the team to see what all the fuss is about. 

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