TikTok launched in 2016 and many of us didn’t pay it enough attention. A dancing app… how silly. Maybe because we millennials thought we had a monopoly on what’s trendy and were always ahead of the curve, and it turns out our radar sometimes fails us.
Today TikTok has more than 800 million monthly active users worldwide. (Dataportal, 2020).
Who are TikTok’s users and why are they so hooked?
TikTok seemed like a kids’ thing, but not so much. 41% of TikTok users are between 16 and 24, and the average user age keeps rising. And it’s estimated that in Spain the app is opened an average of 7 times a day. That many? Yes, and we’ll tell you why.
One of the keys to TikTok’s success is its format. Unlike other social networks, all you have to do is open the app and it shows you new, random content tailored to your taste. Without following anyone, without anyone’s @… just swiping.
And how does it know what hooks you? Through its algorithm. Talking about algorithms may sound like black magic, but TikTok’s algorithm simply looks at which videos you watch all the way through, share or swipe past… to always show you exactly what you want. And it rarely gets it wrong.
Another key to TikTok’s success is virality. One of the app’s smartest moves is letting you share videos with anyone, even if they don’t have the app. You can download the video and send it. It breaks down the ‘download the app’, ‘create an account’, ‘accept the privacy policy’ barrier… You’ll see a TikTok video on your Twitter and on your mom’s Whatsapp. That’s virality.
If you’ve read this far, it’s clear why TikTok is such a hit… But what about advertising your business? Is it worth it?
Advertising on TikTok: is it worth it?
Before you dive in, think about your customers, your audience. TikTok lets you reach a very specific age group: 66% of the app’s users are under 30. Although this is gradually broadening, right now you need to keep this figure in mind.
What kind of advertising works on TikTok?
If you’ve worked in digital marketing before, you’ll know other platforms like Google Ads, Whatsapp Business or Facebook Ads. Well, TikTok Ads is similar, but there’s one very important thing to keep in mind: your content must be tailored to TikTok.
This social network has a very distinctive language, and you need to master it for your advertising to work.
- Grab attention. People swipe very fast on TikTok. Grab their attention, say something useful, or they’ll skip right past you.
- Use influencers. TikTok also has its own ecosystem of influencers. Find the ones that best match your brand values.
- Run ads. But again, the language matters: be a true TikToker when creating your sponsored content.
How much does advertising on TikTok cost?
Because it has few advertisers, TikTok still has very high costs. A campaign should have a minimum of €20/day to start seeing results and impressions.
This can be a barrier for smaller advertisers without that budget, but as the app grows and gains a larger audience, CPCs will come down.
TikTok ad formats
OK, let’s recap. You’re interested in TikTok’s potential 16–24 audience, you have the minimum investment for your campaign, and creative ads in true TikToker style. What formats are available to launch a campaign?
Brand Takeover
Your ad appears full screen as soon as the app is opened. Only one brand per day per country can run it.
Users can go to a profile in the app or be redirected to a website, for example.
You gain a lot of visibility, but this ad format requires a very high investment.
In-Feed ads
These ads appear in the “For You” feed, so it’s very important that the content is genuinely high quality and users want to watch the whole video.
Users can interact with the video.
Hashtag Challenge
This is about creating a Challenge and encouraging users to take part. If users join your challenge, they share their own quality content on the app, make the campaign go viral and give your brand visibility.
Brand Lenses
Here filters are the star, much like on Snapchat or Instagram stories.
The idea is to create augmented reality filters for users to add to their content.
Creating a TikTok campaign
All clear? Let’s create a TikTok campaign.
- Go to TikTok for Business.
- You can access it through this link and create an account by clicking “Get started”. Follow the sign-up process and in two minutes you’ll have your advertiser account.
- Create your first campaign
- Now that you have your account, in Ads Manager go to the “Campaign” menu and then Create.
- Set up the campaign. Select the campaign objective.
- As on other platforms, you can choose whether your campaign targets reach, traffic, video views, conversions, app installs and, new to the platform, lead generation.
- Here you’ll also need to choose the campaign’s total or daily budget.
- Choose placements and audience.
- This is where you create your ad group. You can select placements, since TikTok Ads also lets you advertise on other apps such as Vigo Video (in India), Helo, Pangle or BuzzVideo.
- Under “Targeting” you can define your target audience by filtering by location, age, gender, languages, interests and devices.
- Budget control, campaign duration and ad group objectives.
We’re almost done.
- In the “Budget & Schedule” section you can set a specific budget for each ad group (remember we defined the campaign budget earlier).
- You can also set the dates you want the campaign to run. And if you want to define specific hours or days to show your ads, you can do that too.
- The pace at which the budget is spent: “Standard” or “Accelerate”, as in Social Ads.
- The campaign goal: conversion, click or impression.
Design your TikTok ad
TikTok offers the Video Creation Kit with templates and images so you can customize your ad.
You can create ads in horizontal, vertical and square formats and choose from more than 300 free music options. Remember, it’s important to create campaigns in the app’s language and tailor the content to what users expect to see.
Other useful tools for creating your ad include Automated Creative Optimization, which lets you upload several videos and images and combines them to create multiple ads. This lets you run A/B tests to see which performs best.
Or Landing Page Video, which captures images from a website you specify and combines them to create ads.
Your TikTok campaign is ready
You’re ready to start advertising on TikTok! To wrap up, 4 tips:
- Always use high-resolution images. Remember that some formats are full screen, where images are very visible.
- Stick to a single CTA to focus the user’s interest.
- Copy should be 80 characters. If you need more text, put it in the videos or images.
- And, as we’ve said, create creative content tailored to TikTok.
