A Full Guide On Tiktok Ads For Beginners In 2022/2023 - Simple Steps
A Full Guide On Tiktok Ads For Beginners In 2022/2023 - Simple Steps

From targeting, ad creation, insight reports, and ad management tools, TikTok Ads offers a powerful, yet easy-to-use platform to help businesses and brands advertise to millions of users across the globe.

While TikTok Ads aren’t as popular as Facebook or Instagram ads (yet!), they’re an incredible opportunity for brands looking to widen their reach. And now is the perfect time to start using TikTok ads — since not many brands and businesses have caught on to their potential.

Whether you’re a small business with a limited budget or you’re running a 10-day campaign, TikTok Ads offers a number of unique tools to help brands and businesses excel.

Similar to Instagram Ad Manager, TikTok’s advertising platform tools automate the process of creating, delivering, and optimizing your ads.

TikTok Ads currently has two budgeting options: daily or lifetime. With both options, your budget isn’t set in stone — you can adjust your budget anytime throughout your campaign.

You can also target your audience by gender, location, age, interests, and other unique variables.

And similar to Facebook and Instagram’s Ad Manager, you can also create “Custom Audiences” and “Lookalike Audiences” to reach new audiences that are similar to your existing ones.

What Is TikTok And Why Do People Like it?

1. Videos are short

Users of the app enjoy the quick delivery of comedy or information that TikTok provides. While dancing and lip sync videos are still popular on the app, creators and businesses of all interests and niches are using the app. These quick videos give us a lil’ serotonin boost and keep us scrolling.

2. It’s easy to discover new content and creators

Once the algorithm gets used to you, you’ll constantly see new, relevant content. You have two feed options; Following and For You.

The following shows you the latest posts and live videos from accounts that you follow.

The For You page shows you a mix of content from new accounts and creators.

3. Even small creators have videos that go viral

Because of how the algorithm on the For You page prioritizes new content, videos from very small creators can (and frequently do) go viral.

4. Communities are strong and supportive

While there are trolls on every platform, and they certainly exist on TikTok, most of the communities are:

  • welcoming to newcomers,
  • love new ideas, and
  • actively engage in comments sections and on live videos.

Once you land on whatever TikTok the algorithm puts you in, those folks are likely to embrace you and follow you. Make videos in parts to encourage more views, hone your one-line explanation of what you do, and ask for follows.

Why you should invest in TikTok Advertising?

Photo; later
Photo; later

Now that the misconceptions are clear let us convince you with a few more reasons why it is wise to invest in TikTok Advertising.

Reach diverse audiences on TikTok

While TikTok Ads aren’t as popular as Facebook or Instagram ads (yet!), they’re an incredible opportunity for companies to build brand awareness. And since not many businesses are on TikTok, it would be the perfect time for you to get started and become a pioneer.

Whether you’re a small business with a limited budget or you want to run a continuous campaign, TikTok Ads offer several unique tools to help brands and companies excel.

While there is an exceptionally terrific opportunity to advertise to the GenZ demographic on TikTok, if your company matches that demographic, you will still be able to reach countless age groups and other specific demographics by advertising on TikTok.

Increase brand exposure

The graphs below show an impressive user engagement rate, which is genuinely significant from a marketer’s point of view.

In addition, not only celebrities and influencers can drive trends. With TikTok, everyone can participate and become the trend makers. Making the video ads based on current trends would increase ad relevancy and the chance to show up on someone’s feed.

Contribute to video marketing efforts

Now you might wonder, can we do video marketing on Facebook or Instagram? It’s true. However, TikTok is only about videos, which provide better opportunities to connect with the audiences through sound.

Besides, a recent study shows the increasing trends of visual data and videos in marketing. Take a look at how YouTube grew over the past years or how Facebook and Instagram adapt to this trend by setting up new features for video hosting.

TikTok can be used both as a video content publisher and advertiser at the same time.

Stay ahead of the social media curve

TikTok will not just stop here! We predict that TikTok is going to grow even more from here. If you are still hesitant, now is the perfect time to get started!

Who should advertise on TikTok in 2022?

Anyone targeting a younger audience can and should advertise on TikTok.

But TikTok isn’t just for teens anymore. Here is TikTok’s core demographic information:

  • 25% of users in the US are aged 10-19 and 22.4% are aged 20-29. Only 11% of users are over 50 years old.
  • People in most demographics have a favorable opinion of TikTok, even if they aren’t active users
  • Women make up over 60% of monthly active users in the US.
  • TikTok is used all over the world and is currently one of the world’s most popular social media networking sites.

What Is the Target Demographic for Your Business?

If younger people are one of the primary audiences for your business, TikTok ads could be a worthwhile investment for you. With 66% of TikTok’s users younger than 30 (41% are ages 16–24), this isn’t the right platform for businesses that cater to older audiences.

To visualize this, a significant number of trending videos on TikTok relate to youth-oriented topics, such as school and homework.

However, it’s worth noting that while TikTok’s current audience is predominantly young, social networks do tend to be adopted by younger audiences first, and then make their mark on older demographics. So it might still be worthwhile to learn more about the platform to stay ahead of the curve, even if TikTok isn’t the right fit for your business at this stage.

A step-by-step guide to starting a Tiktok Ads Success Campaign

Step 1: Sign Up For A TikTok Business Manager Account

Photo: businesstech
Photo: businesstech

First, create a TikTok ad account.

Even if you already have a user account, this separate login is necessary to create ads.

When you sign up, you will need to provide some basic information about yourself and your business.

Once this is completed and your account is confirmed, you will be ready to start using the self-serve platform.

Step 2: Create Your First Campaign

Once the above formalities are out of the way, the fun can begin!

Create your first campaign giving it a descriptive name, and choose between the objective options you are presented.

Campaign objectives in TikTok are Awareness, Consideration, and Conversions.

As the names go, these are pretty self-explanatory.

Choose Awareness if you would like to drive as much reach and visibility to your brand as your budget allows, or narrow down your targeting

Choose Consideration if you want likes and to grow your followers for a higher engagement through website traffic, app install, or video views.

But if your marketing goal is mostly to drive conversions, choose the Corresponding campaign objective.

With the latter, you will need to ensure you have the TikTok pixel installed and configured to properly track and measure the success of your ads.

This is a necessary step, and very much the same as installing the Facebook pixel or any other tracking code on your website.

The TikTok algorithm will also use the pixel to optimize your campaign and help you achieve your goals.

For the campaign, budget options are either a daily budget or a lifetime budget.

Note that no matter which of these two options you choose, the minimum investment required to advertise on TikTok is $50.

Step 3: Create Your Ad Group(s) And Select Your Ad Placements

At this stage, you can choose to run your ads on one or multiple properties, including the suite of apps that are part of the TikTok network such as BuzzVideo and Pangle.

The easiest option to start with is auto-placement.

More advanced users can also choose fully manual and select the placements where they prefer to run the ads.

First-time and less experienced users can get started with auto-placement and let TikTok optimize and test different combinations based on the target objectives as the algorithm learns which options work best.

Leaning further on the automation, it is then possible to select the automated creative optimization.

Again similar to other platforms (think Google or Facebook, for example), TikTok lets users upload various assets and then build ad variations to test for finding the best performing combinations.

This is a great option for businesses lacking the resources for ad creation and testing, but possibly not for those who would rather keep more control and/or have strict brand guidelines to adhere to.

Audiences

For those familiar with Facebook Ads, ad group (the equivalent of Facebook ad sets) settings define the target audience(s), and the options are very much the same: Demographics (age and gender), location, device, behavior, and interest targeting.Some would argue that interests can be quite loose and broad and therefore not as precise (or refined) as what you have on Facebook, or that the list of interest categories to choose from is short and limited.

However, we are sure that as TikTok’s advertising will keep evolving; options will increase and provide more value.

Customer Lists

Using customer lists, it’s possible (and often advisable) to create lookalike audiences for prospecting campaigns, while leveraging website traffic and engagement to set up custom audiences. Having the TikTok pixel installed and working is required.

Like any other form of push advertising, the time and effort you put into carefully crafting laser-targeted audiences and effective ads will pay off with better and more rewarding results.

So let’s look at what the options are when it comes to the creative.

Step 4: Choosing the Right Ad Type and Building Effective Ads

Photo: Youtube
Photo: Youtube

TikTok offers a range of ad options, but not all are affordable to all advertisers; some are rather expensive and more suitable for larger brands.

In-feed Ads

These are the ads that will show within the feed on the user’s “For You Page” and natively integrate with it making them look more organic and less intrusive compared to some of the other formats.

Additionally, users can interact with these ads as they can like, share and leave comments.

Brand Takeover Ads

Suited for brands looking to make an impression and with a budget that allows it, this ad is visually effective and memorable.

A Brand Takeover ad will show as soon as the user opens the app and visits a category with a short full-screen video for three to five seconds.

TikTok only allows one takeover per day per user to maximize the impact.

As mentioned, this comes at a cost. You will have to budget a minimum of $50,000 for it.

TopView Ads

Similar to a Brand Takeover ad, TopView ads will also show at the top of the user feed and are the first video users see when they open the app.

They also show on full-screen. However, they can be up to 60 seconds long.

According to TikTok, TopView ads boost brand awareness and trigger interactions, with 72% of users saying they prefer TopView.

Hashtag Challenge

Branded hashtag challenges are ad formats that promote awareness and engagement, and encourage users to create content aligned with the brand’s products, services, and values.

Hashtag ads are shown at the top of the discovery page and lead to a landing page on TikTok showcasing a collection of other videos from the challenge.

Branded Effects

Similar to other platforms, TikTok Branded Effects allow brands to create their very own stickers, lenses, and general effects that users can share and engage with the business using TikTok’s AR.

Branded Effects can last up to 10 days.

Spark Ads

Spark ads are a native format that leverages existing posts and turns them into ads.

Brands can use their own organic posts, or posts made by creators, and all views, comments, shares, likes, and follows are attributed to the organic post.

Search Ads

As of the previous week, TikTok has started testing search ads – video ads with a ‘sponsored’ label displayed within the users’ search results.

Once you start running ads in search results, you may retrieve the search terms for the ads that converted and utilize those terms with high click-through rates as titles for your best-performing TikToks, to add value to your video advertisements.

While it is unclear if search ads are only for managed accounts, we do know this is an excellent opportunity to get in front of your target audience with high purchase intent.

Tips to Succeed in TikTok Ads

Photo: takesomerisk
Photo: takesomerisk

1. Create with Vertical Video in mind

TikTok is a vertical platform in nature and to maximize user and brand experience, all your video assets should look as native as possible, fitting with the ad specs. Even though square videos are accepted to upload and advertise, a 9:16 video has much more chances of having better performance.

2. Start with a high impact visual or an effective hook

Have always in mind that users can easily and quickly swipe up to the next video unless you catch their attention to keep watching it. Something shocking, eye-catching at the beginning of the video or a minimum “script” that causes suspense on the audience to keep watching your videos, might boost the engagement and so, the performance.

3. Think with the music

TikTok is a musical platform (Musical.ly on its birth) and all TikTok videos automatically play with sound on. Matching your videos with the beats and drums of the music/sounds will make your ads being more enjoyable and engaging, catching the attention of the users. (Hint, seek for popular songs/sounds on the GEO you’re advertising on).

4. Be concise, keep videos short

The freshness and speed of the content at TikTok (one of its best characteristics by the way), make the users may not finish watching your entire videos (something you face in other channels, for sure). Ensure to include all the critical information about your product, app, or game within the caption. You have up to 60 seconds, but we recommend between 10 to 25 seconds.

5. Lean on Trends

Either a trending music, effect, dance or challenge, if you can adapt your message to any of them, generally this content outperforms other assets. What are the users watching? What are the hot new challenges? What’s the top favorite dance of last week? Deep dive into the platform, find out which are the brand new trends (or ask your TikTok Marketing Partner), and use them in your favor!

6. User-generated content dominates!

As I mentioned at the beginning, TikTok has challenged all companies and marketers on the creative production side and how we have to communicate our products, apps, games, added values, features, etc. Your traditional brand book, color palette, and tone need to adapt to this new way of communication and, consequently, to your marketing strategy. Using traditional ads (top performers in other channels), might not work in TikTok.

This content is not something planned and produced only at a studio; you need to deep dive into the platform, scroll, analyze behaviors, and think as a TikToker. And the edition here has to be as native from TikTok as possible.

Misunderstandings about TikTok

TikTok is only for young adults

TikTok has hit the nail on the head when it comes to engaging with young adults worldwide. According to a recent study, 60% of TikTok users are under 30 years old.

But even though the app is still overwhelmingly more popular among teenagers, the latest figures show a shift away from this trend. The number of adults joining the platform grows six times after a year. TikTok starts to partner with celebrities and influencers to target people from the older generation.

TikTok is a complicated platform and takes a lot of time to fully understand how it works

Indeed, no. TikTok provides all the tools needed to bring your marketing campaigns to the next level. From targeting, ad creation, insight reports, and ad management tools, TikTok offers a powerful yet simple platform to help businesses build their brand awareness among millions of users across the globe.

If you are already familiar with Facebook Business & Ads Manager, you will surely get on board quickly with TikTok.

There are not many themes on TikTok

There is something for everyone on TikTok. Whether your companies operate in Saas, technology, design, e-commerce, hospitality industry, or you want to increase visibility for your products and services, there is a place for you on TikTok.

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