TikTok is a popular social media platform and video-sharing app that has grown explosively in popularity over the last few years. Launched in 2016 by ByteDance, TikTok had over 1 billion monthly active users as of 2022. It allows users to create and share 15 second to 3 minute videos featuring music, comedy, dance, challenges, and more. Thanks to its addictive short-form video format and powerful recommendation algorithm, TikTok has become one of the fastest growing apps globally.
Young Demographic
The majority of TikTok users are teens and young adults, making it an excellent platform for targeting this coveted demographic. According to research, users between the ages of 16 and 24 make up TikTok user age demographics 2023, around 41.9% of TikTok’s user base in 2023. Additionally, over 60% of TikTok’s global audience is under 30 years old.
This young demographic is highly sought after by brands and advertisers. Teens and young adults tend to be trendsetters and early adopters of new products and services. Reaching this group on a platform like TikTok, where they are already highly engaged, can help drive brand awareness, interest, and sales.
High Engagement
TikTok’s shortform video format easily captures user attention and keeps them engaged. Recent studies show that TikTok had an average of 52.5 minutes time spent per user per day globally in 2020 [1], and this number is projected to grow to 82.5 minutes by 2024 [2]. For comparison, Instagram users spent only 30 minutes per day in 2020 [3]. TikTok’s engaging user experience leads to high levels of daily engagement, making it an effective platform to reach an attentive audience.
Viral Content
One of the key factors that makes TikTok such an effective advertising platform is its algorithm’s prioritization of viral content. TikTok’s “For You” page is tailored to each user, powered by an algorithm that determines which videos a user is most likely to enjoy and engage with. The algorithm favors videos that gain engagement quickly and begin trending with a particular hashtag or audio clip. This allows viral content like popular dance trends, memes, challenges, and more to spread rapidly on TikTok.How TikTok’s Algorithm Works for Brands (and How to Beat It) Brands can take advantage of this by participating in viral trends relevant to their target audience. Even creating simple videos using popular audios or hashtags can gain significant traction. TikTok makes it easy for branded content to go viral beyond just a brand’s own followers.
Influencer Marketing
TikTok provides brands access to an enormous network of influencers to potentially collaborate with for sponsored content. As of 2023, top TikTok influencers like Charli D’Amelio, Bella Poarch and Addison Rae have over 100 million followers each (source: https://taggbox.com/blog/tiktok-influencers/). These mega-influencers, along with the platform’s many mid-tier and micro-influencers, enable brands to tap into their engaged audiences and generate high levels of awareness. According to one report, the top 10 TikTok influencers earn anywhere from $35,000 to $100,000 per sponsored post (source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-influencers/). The variety of influencer tiers gives brands affordable options to reach niche audiences, making TikTok a prime platform for influencer marketing campaigns.
Ad Formats
One of the key benefits of TikTok advertising is the variety of built-in ad options available. As outlined in this Adapty article, TikTok offers several main ad formats:
- In-Feed Ads – These video ads play directly within a user’s main video feed, similar to promoted posts on other platforms.
- Branded Hashtag Challenges – Advertisers can create a branded hashtag for a challenge that encourages user participation.
- Branded Effects – Interactive branded lenses/filters/stickers that users can apply to their TikTok videos.
Additionally, TikTok provides branded takeovers, sponsors for LIVE streams, TopView ads, Brand Takeovers, and more, as outlined by Sprinklr here. This wide range caters to different campaign goals and provides flexibility.
Targeting
One of the best features of TikTok ads is the advanced targeting options available. You can target users by demographics like age, gender, and location. But TikTok also allows interest and behavior targeting to reach very specific audiences.
For interest targeting, you can choose interests like “cooking”, “fashion”, or “sports”. TikTok has an extensive list of interest categories to choose from. You can even target based on TikTok behaviors like what types of videos a user likes or comments on (Source).
Behavior options include things like “used gaming apps” or “purchased food delivery”. With so many advanced targeting options, you can reach a niche audience that is highly relevant for your brand.
Analytics
TikTok provides robust analytics and performance data for optimizing ad campaigns and measuring results. Advertisers can access analytics on impressions, clicks, conversions, views, reach, engagement, and more. Key metrics like click-through rate, cost per click, cost per impression, and return on ad spend help determine campaign effectiveness and ROI. TikTok’s analytics dashboard allows drilling down into detailed data on audiences, demographics, placements, and creative performance. This enables informed optimization decisions to improve targeting, creative assets, bidding, and budgets. As noted by Kubbco, “Paid ads on TikTok can be: In-feed ads, Brand takeovers, TopView ads, Branded effects, Branded lenses, Hashtag challenges. Whatever type of ad you choose, you have a separate analytics page to measure your campaign’s performance.”
Affordable
One of the main allures of using TikTok as an advertising platform is that it offers a lower cost per thousand impressions (CPM) than other social media platforms. According to reports, the average TikTok CPM is around $10, which is significantly less than platforms like Facebook and Instagram where CPMs can range from $20-30. As an example, one report noted that TikTok CPMs for some businesses have been as low as $5-6.
The lower CPMs on TikTok allow businesses to get more impressions and reach for their advertising budget. With the platform’s popularity continuing to grow, marketers can take advantage of the large audience and affordable pricing to efficiently promote their brand and products.
Conclusion
In conclusion, TikTok is an excellent platform for advertisers looking to reach younger demographics. Its huge user base spends significant time on the app daily, creating an ideal environment for brands. TikTok makes it easy for advertisers to publish engaging video ads and target users. The platform also provides robust analytics to measure campaign performance. With its popularity and high engagement, TikTok gives brands an opportunity to go viral and leverage influencer marketing. Overall, TikTok offers a unique way for brands to reach a coveted teenage and young adult audience in a cost-effective manner.
