TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users as of September 2022. TikTok reaches 17.9% of all internet users aged 18+. With its huge user base and engaging content, TikTok presents a major opportunity for brands looking to reach new audiences through advertising.
Some key benefits of TikTok advertising include:
- Highly targeted ads based on user demographics, interests, and behaviors
- Ample creative formats like short videos, images, and text
- Lower cost per impression compared to platforms like Facebook
- Younger demographic not easily reached on other platforms
The main TikTok ad formats are:
- In-Feed Video Ads – Appear in users’ For You feeds
- Brand Takeovers – Brief branded video when app is launched
- TopView Ads – Full-screen ads when app is launched
- Branded Hashtag Challenges – Invite users to create branded content
Determine Campaign Goals
When creating a TikTok ad campaign, the first step is determining your overall campaign goals and objectives. There are a few main options to choose from:
Brand awareness campaigns focus on getting your brand, product, or service in front of new audiences to increase visibility and recognition. These campaigns aim to drive top-of-mind brand awareness and are best for establishing your presence on TikTok.
Direct response campaigns are optimized for driving specific actions and conversions, like website clicks, app installs, contact form submissions, online sales, and more. These campaigns work well if you have a specific call-to-action you want users to complete.
Traffic campaigns are designed to drive users to your website, app, or other online presence. They help increase site visits and engagement. This is a good objective if your goal is to grow your overall web traffic.
Video views campaigns aim to maximize the number of views on your TikTok videos. This helps expand your reach and visibility. Video views campaigns are ideal for viral content you want to gain traction.
When setting up your ad campaign in TikTok Ads Manager, you’ll select one of these campaign objectives based on your goals. Assess whether brand awareness, direct response, traffic, or video views make the most sense for what you want to achieve. This will inform your audience targeting, ad creative, and metrics for success.
For example, see the TikTok Ads help article on choosing the right campaign objective.
Choose Ad Format
TikTok offers several ad formats to choose from, each with their own strengths for different campaign goals:
In-feed video ads
In-feed video ads appear between organic TikTok videos in a user’s For You feed. They are TikTok’s most popular ad unit and allow for up to 60 seconds of video. In-feed ads are best for promoting your brand, driving traffic, and generating conversions or installs. You can include a clickable CTA button.
According to Adjust, in-feed ads have the highest click-through and conversion rates of any TikTok ad format.
Brand takeovers
Brand takeovers display a full screen branded video when someone first opens the TikTok app. They provide impact and visibility, but are limited to 3-5 seconds max. Brand takeovers work well to launch campaigns and are ideal for brand awareness.
Takeovers can be purchased on a category exclusive basis. For example, you could own the “Food & Drink” category for a day.
TopView ads
TopView ads appear when a user first opens the TikTok app, above the For You feed. You get prominent screen real estate for up to 60 seconds of video. They are ideal for brand awareness and influencing first impressions.
According to Yellowhead, TopView has the highest view completion rate of any TikTok ad format.
Hashtag challenges
Hashtag challenges encourage user generated content and engagement around a branded hashtag. You promote the customized hashtag and invite users to participate in a challenge. TikTok then surfaces selected content under the branded hashtag.
Hashtag challenges build brand awareness and user affinity. They can go viral and expand your reach.
Target Your Audience
Knowing your target demographic is crucial for creating effective TikTok ads. TikTok has a very diverse user base, with around 49% female and 51% male users worldwide. The platform is particularly popular among younger audiences, with over 90% of users in Saudi Arabia under the age of 44 and 60% female and 40% male users in the US.
When setting up your ad campaign, you can target users by location, age, interests, and behaviors. Make sure your ad creative and copy is tailored to resonate with your target demographic. For example, brands targeting Gen Z may want to use influencers, viral trends, and innovative video formats in their ads.
Take time to research your audience and analyze your existing organic content to see which creatives perform best. Test different ad variations with targeted customer segments to determine the optimal targeting and messaging. Tailoring your ad to your audience will lead to better engagement and return on ad spend.
Set Your Budget
TikTok requires a minimum ad spend of $500 per campaign, though most experts recommend setting a budget between $1,000-$5,000 or more (source). The average TikTok ad CPM (cost per 1000 views) ranges from around $7 to $12 (source).
If your goal is awareness and views, a lower budget like $500-$1000 could be effective. But for conversions and sales, plan on investing more in the $2000-$5000+ range. The more competitive your niche, the larger your budget may need to be.
Set your daily budget lower than your campaign budget so you don’t spend it all at once. TikTok recommends starting with a daily budget that’s around 10-20% of your total budget.
Monitor and optimize as you go, increasing your budget if it’s performing well. Consider A/B testing different budget amounts to see what brings the best results.
Create Your Ad Creative
When creating ad creative for TikTok, it’s important to optimize your videos for vertical viewing and utilize engaging visuals, music, captions, and hashtags that will resonate with your target audience. According to TikTok’s Creative Best Practices, vertical videos in either 9:16 or 4:5 aspect ratio tend to gain the most traction since TikTok is designed for portrait mode viewing.
Captions help convey your message to viewers, especially those who watch videos without sound. Include key product or campaign details in the captions to boost understanding. Use relevant hashtags in the captions as well so your content surfaces in searches. According to TikTok, using both long-tail niche hashtags and broadly-used hashtags can help expand your reach.
Music is integral to the TikTok experience. Consider using trending audios or background music that energizes your creative. Eye-catching transitions and visual effects also help creatives stand out. Experiment with TikTok’s creative tools when building your ads to make compelling videos tailored to the platform.
Write Your Ad Copy
The most effective TikTok ad copy tells a story and uses natural language that resonates with the audience. Avoid overly salesy or promotional language. Instead, focus on being creative, authentic, and even humorous.
For example, meal kit company HelloFresh created a TikTok ad that showed real customers happily cooking and enjoying their meal kits. The ad copy read “When HelloFresh shows up…grub time!” This plays off how users often document receiving packages. The natural voice connects with viewers.
Jewelry brand Smyth Jewelers also went for humor in their TikTok ad. It shows a woman reacting excitedly to receiving a jewelry gift. The copy reads “When bae gets it right.” This taps into relatable relationship content on TikTok.
The key is to tell a compelling brand story that engages viewers. Use conversational language and highlight emotions and experiences your audience can identify with. This helps the ad feel authentic and less promotional.
Refer to other top brand examples for inspiration. But always ensure the copy suits your brand identity and audience. With smart copywriting you can turn TikTok ads into stories worth watching and sharing.
Measure Results
Monitoring ad results for key metrics is critical for determining the success of your campaign and identifying opportunities for optimization. Here are some of the most important measurement metrics to track for TikTok ads:
Impressions and reach show how widely your ad is being seen. Impressions measure the total number of times your ad is displayed. Reach refers to the number of unique viewers who saw the ad at least once. High impression volume indicates your targeting and bid strategy is working to get your ad in front of your target audience.[1]
Clicks and click-through-rate (CTR) indicate how compelling your creative is to get people to engage further. CTR is calculated as clicks divided by impressions. Benchmark CTRs on TikTok tend to be higher than other platforms. Aim for CTRs above 0.5% initially.
Conversions and return on ad spend (ROAS) show how effectively your ads are driving your desired actions. Tie conversions to your campaign goals, like app installs, purchases, sign-ups, etc. ROAS equals conversion value divided by cost. Target ROAS should be based on your profit margins and goals.
Analyze metrics frequently and make ongoing optimizations to creatives, audiences, bidding, and placements to improve results. Mastering measurement is key to TikTok ad success.
Optimize Your Campaign
Once your TikTok ad campaign is live, it’s important to continuously optimize it for better performance. Here are some tips on how to optimize your TikTok ad campaign:
A/B test different versions of your ad creative and targeting to see what resonates best with your audience. Try testing different captions, visuals, video lengths, emojis, effects, etc. You can set up A/B split tests directly within the TikTok Ads Manager. For targeting, test different audiences, interests, devices, regions, gender, and age groups. Measure the results to determine what creative and targeting performs best. According to TikTok’s optimization checklist, testing at least 3 creatives is recommended to find a high-performing ad.(Source)
Closely monitor your campaign’s performance and adjust your daily budget up or down accordingly. If your campaign is exceeding your engagement or conversion goals, you may want to increase your budget to get more reach. But if your ads are falling flat, lower your budget and reassess your targeting and messaging. Setting auto-bidding enabled in the Ads Manager allows your bids to automatically optimize based on real-time performance. According to AdRoll, being flexible with your budget based on performance data is key for campaign success.(Source)
Conclusion
In summary, the key steps to creating a successful TikTok ad campaign are:
- Determine your campaign goals and objectives
- Select the right ad format based on your goals
- Identify and target your ideal audience
- Set a budget that aligns with your goals and audience size
- Create engaging ad creative optimized for the TikTok platform
- Write compelling ad copy that speaks to your audience
- Measure results and optimize based on performance
Here are some tips to ensure your TikTok ads are effective:
- Keep your ad copy short, catchy and relevant
- Use vibrant visuals and video that captures attention
- Leverage influencers to increase reach and engagement
- Test different audience segments, creatives and placements
- Analyze metrics like CTR, views and conversions to refine strategy
- Stay on top of latest TikTok ad trends and features
With strategic planning and optimization, TikTok ads can become a powerful channel for reaching and engaging your target audience.
