With over 1 billion active monthly users, advertising on TikTok presents businesses with a tremendous opportunity to reach and connect with new, largely untapped audiences. TikTok has been growing in popularity, especially among Gen Zers – yet, it’s primarily eCommerce brands that have embraced this marketing powerhouse. In fact, from the 5000 eCommerce brands surveyed in a recent study, stores spent 60% more on TikTok advertising in Q2, for a total of $46.9 million.
TikTok is the first non-Meta app (or as I like to say Facebook) to have 3 billion downloads globally in merely a few years. Not only does this platform hold the highest social media market share, but due to the algorithm being highly individualised, users spend an average of 1.5 hours every day scrolling on TikTok! This is huge for local businesses. Not only do users spend more time on TikTok – they are highly engaged throughout.
Are TikTok ads right for my business?
If you’re in the B2B or lead generation space and decide to engage an agency to advertise your business on TikTok – they can set the campaign objective as Lead Generation. This serves up ads to users via a form that is quick and easy to use. Here they can opt-in and give you some of their info such as their name, email and number. For example, a lawyer could run lead generation ads to offer a free resource on TikTok. This resource could be free legal advice around a particular issue, where TikTok users have to simply leave their information and this will trigger an email with the free resource to go directly to them. This is a great way to offer value – while generating leads that are interested in your specific product or service!
For direct-to-consumer brands, TikTok conversion ads ask users to take an action on your website. The future is bright for eCommerce brands using TikTok ads. TikTok Shopping, for example is a new pilot programme, currently available in select markets and regions. TikTok and Shopify are now teaming up in Australia to help Shopify businesses grow their e-commerce functions to TikTok, enabling them to construct and deliver campaigns specifically targeted towards its engaged community.
So, if you’re thinking about using TikTok ads for your business, there are a few really important things to keep in mind. First, TikTok is a visual platform, so your ads need to follow the current trends, audio and use features native to the platform. There needs to be a hook and a call to action in your ads. For in-feed ads, they need to be filmed in portrait and have to be creative and eye-catching. If you don’t want to invest in the creative for your ads, don’t expect amazing, low cost results….because it’s just not going to happen. We’ve written an article on how businesses use our result-proven tips to take full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Secondly, if you are deliberating whether you feel the platform is a good choice for your brand, simply stop what you’re doing and take a breath. Remove all emotion and stigma towards TikTok and base your decision-making completely on the CPM, CPC (cost per click) and ROI (return on investment). TikTok ads are a marketing powerhouse – focus on the numbers and jump on before your niche is completely saturated (B2B businesses and non-Direct To Consumer brands, I am talking to you).
TikTok ads, cost vs benefits
I think most people are pretty surprised that TikTok ads for local businesses are a (relatively) low-cost, high-visibility tactic for promoting your brand to a wider audience. They can be extremely effective in driving awareness and interest in your product and/or service – so if you don’t play in the e-commerce space, do not rule them out!
Believe it or not, for a standard in-feed ad, TikTok is more affordable than Facebook Ads with an average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of only $6.06, as opposed to Facebook’s $12.57. Imagine cutting down your social media marketing costs to a highly engaged bunch of users who are using the app for longer than most..seems silly to rule out, right?
The cost of TikTok advertising varies and largely depends on your objectives, target audience, ad format, and other factors. The ad budget that you set should be in line with these objectives. As a business owner, digital marketing is constantly evolving and it’s great to always be on the lookout for new ways to reach your target audience. TikTok offers a unique and untapped opportunity to reach a new generation of consumers and believe it or not, a pretty affordable way to promote your business to a new demographic.
Advertising formats on TikTok
There are a few ways you can get your message across using TikTok ads. Ads are short, extremely creative videos that appear in users’ TikTok feeds. TikTok offers a heap of video ad formats, including:
- In-Feed Video Ads – TikTok’s In-Feed format enables advertisers to embed a video ad that auto-plays amongst a user’s feed. It’s best practice for these ads to be short sharp and shiny, at 15 seconds long (even though up to 60 seconds is allowed). Sound-on and full-screen ads are ideal – using the same feel as organic posts so users feel the content is native.
- TopView – TopView ads work by capturing user attention and appearing at the top of the feed when first opening TikTok. In this format, video can be up to 60-seconds long, providing an immersive experience with no other competing ads or content.
- Brand Takeover – Brand Takeover ads are full-screen, high-impact, short and snappy ads. They can be either a 3-second image or a 3-5 second video, and allow brands to direct traffic to both internal and external landing pages.
- Branded Hashtag Challenge – these ads are designed to fit in with TikTok’s unique user-generated-content (UGC) aesthetic while encouraging the co-creation of content. There are three main types of video ads for this campaign: in-feed video ads, a featured banner on the Discover page, and the Hashtag Challenge page which acts as a central hub for all challenge-related videos.
- Branded Effects – With Branded Effects, brands can add a touch of fun to their campaigns with shareable branded stickers, filters, and effects that users can use in their own videos. These effects can be used on their own or integrated into your Branded Hashtag Challenge for an even more engaging experience.
Pro-tip: The creative including audio, is actually the most important part of TikTok ads. A really clever video ad that follows current trends, uses TikTok features and aesthetics so the user doesn’t automatically scroll past your ad – is the most important aspect of its performance.
Some businesses previously deemed TikTok as a passing fad or an irrelevant platform that would soon be forgotten, but it seems it is here to stay…providing a powerful advertising platform for local businesses.
Our social media experts at KOA Digital will guide you with how TikTok and your business could be the next big thing, contact us now and don’t miss out on this spell.
