Andre Kempe,

CEO,

Admiral Media,

Oct 18, 2022

TikTok Ads: The Complete Guide to TikTok Advertising and Its Benefits

TikTok’s history has two sections. Teenagers in the West grew up with Musical.ly, a social media platform centered on sharing music videos. Eastern youth liked Douyin (branded TikTok for the western world). In 2018, the applications were finalized. In a short amount of time, TikTok has become an industry powerhouse. Following the integration of Musical.ly and TikTok, the latter’s user base has skyrocketed. Byte Dance’s astute advertising contributed to this (who owns TikTok). They have been promoted everywhere young people hang out online, even on sites like Snapchat and YouTube that compete with it. In this article, we share a complete guide to TikTok Advertising and its benefits.

Growth of TikTok

The growth rate of TikTok users in 2021 was only 18.3% (to a total of 78.7 million), far lower than the staggering 87.1% reported in 2020. Following closely behind is Reddit, which added 14.4% more users than it lost in 2021. Like TikTok, its growth had slowed compared to 2020, when Reddit’s user base grew by 25.9%.  Among the top 10 fastest-growing US social media networks, only TikTok and Reddit grew by more than 10% in 2021.

Learn More: TikTok Growth Strategy 2023

LinkedIn is the third-fastest growing social media platform. An additional 4.2% of users joined the forum in 2021. This decreases two percentage points compared to the 6.2% increase in 2020—Instagram and Pinterest followers, with annualized growth rates of 3.7% and 3.1%, respectively. Snapchat is at number six on the list of the fastest-growing social networks, with a 2.6% rise in its user base. This growth rate makes it a potential platform for marketing and advertisement.

Benefits of TikTok Advertisement

In 2022, if you’re planning your social media strategy, this platform should be on your radar. It’s equally potent as any other “major” platform, with over one billion monthly active users and more than 173 million first-time installations across app stores in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone. In contrast to Facebook and Instagram, where your feed will mainly consist of content from people you already know and channels you already follow, TikTok will show you content from individuals you don’t know and tracks you don’t mind. TikTok favors emerging filmmakers. The  UI keeps users in the app longer than Facebook or Twitter.  The “Link in bio” feature is an ideal venue for advertising and promotion.

Although younger users have a strong presence, age distribution has become broader and the majority of users (61%) are over the age of 25 and thus are most likely employed and have disposable income. Almost 40% of users are 35 years or older. So, we can safely say that TikTok is for everyone, and its reputation as an “app for Gen Z or younger” now is totally unfounded. As of late, TikTok users may make use of ad space. Five ad formats, including in-feed advertising (like Instagram ads), appear. At the same time, you explore, Branded Takeovers (which pop up when a user opens the app), and Branded Effects (augmented reality filters, stickers, and lenses). These advertising channels have great potential for reaching TikTok’s massive user base, but the required minimum investment may be out of reach for small and medium-sized enterprises. Whether or not your company can afford TikTok commercials is essential before deciding how to market your brand on the platform.

TikTok marketing’s surprising brand benefits 

Once employed for lip-syncing, it’s now a popular advertising technique. It’s an in-demand advertising tool. Recent marketing data shows 689 million active monthly TikTok users worldwide. It’s a hard-to-reject app. TikTok has some surprising advantages for corporate marketing.

Popularity

Recent research shows that consumers spend 52 minutes a day on TikTok. If you want to reach numerous individuals, advertise on TikTok. The software quickly became one of the most downloaded apps. TikTok has 689 million monthly active users, which means most firms market on the site.

Local pros

TikTok’s multilingualism is an advantage. Many producers from diverse backgrounds develop localized community films. San Francisco-based social media agencies respect TikTok’s capacity to help multinational corporations target specific locations. Using local languages allows for regionalized advertising.

Interaction high

TikTok’s algorithms make recruiting and keeping a huge audience easy. If your content is interesting, you may not have any followers when you initially join TikTok. TikTo’s 90% daily users make it a good contender for engagement. Thus, the tool helps you market your business on TikTok. Free online video editing tools may help you make intriguing and creative videos. InVideo is a free application that makes professional-quality videos in minutes. It’s a cheap, easy-to-use resource for professionals and beginners. The user-friendly UI is edit-free. macOS, Windows, ChromeOS, and Linux are supported. More than 4,000 templates are accessible, so you may discover one you can modify. Users may modify videos with text, photos, and special effects for social networking.

Create a personal channel

TikTok’s branded channel functionality may be used for marketing, like YouTube’s. You may use a verified TikTok channel to share branded videos. Publish excellent, unique content. Using the app’s brand partnerships, you can swiftly broadcast your marketing videos.

Creative freedom

TikTok is home to many brilliant artists and amusing, lighthearted films. TikTok is a great platform for companies looking to make sales. Authentic and fascinating content is always in demand, so use it to reach your target group. It’s perfect for building trust and enduring connections with clients.

Unlimited power brokers

TikTok’s ability to make videos viral without an audience assures access to influential users. If you’re a company promoting your brand on TikTok, you may collaborate with an influencer that shares your style. 86% of marketers use influencer marketing to increase brand awareness and revenue. In a huge database, it’s not simple to locate what you need. The TikTok Creator Marketplace is an analytics platform. The tool helps firms locate suitable influencers for effective brand and product promotion collaborations. This tool shows influencers’ demographics, audience size, and engagement rate.

Content reusability

A TikTok video lasts no more than a minute, so people may customize and show their creativity. Adapting them for social media is easy. Imagine emailing a TikTok video. This may attract your customers’ attention and make them anticipate your emails. You may post TikTok videos on other platforms to grow your online following. Presentations, onboarding films, and online usage are possible. Maintain brand consistency across channels.

Affordable

Companies are hesitant about whether to advertise on TikTok. They don’t want to manage a marketing effort. Success may be achieved without a large financial investment, which is promising. TikTok’s low entry barrier and ability to help new enterprises extend their organic reach make it a tempting product launch alternative. TikTok is great for startups with little funding. Any company can use the low-cost program to market its products.

Find fresh ideas

Several disciplines may be joined. Here, freedom is unrestricted. Anything can inspire creativity, and that’s its best feature. You may use it to advertise yourself. You never know when a TikTok video may inspire you, so follow a range of producers.

TikTok Ad’s biggest benefit 

TikTok Ads monetize the TikTok platform. Companies may market products and services on a similar platform. Since TikTok ads are new, you have few competitors. Our app will increase ad views and clicks. This is an excellent spot to launch a new product or service. TikTok advertising has several advantages for businesses. If you’re not advertising on TikTok, you should start.

 

Ad Categories on TikTok

Several different advertising strategies are available on TikTok. Consequently, you may choose the method most likely to convey your intended message to the intended audience successfully. With the TikTok advertising platform, you may run the following kinds of advertisements:

Direct video feed

In this case, we’re talking about the advertisements that populate the “For You” tab of TikTok alongside users’ native news feeds.

Adoption of a dominating brand

For a brief period (only a few seconds), your advertisement will be the only thing on the screen. After that, a video commercial plays automatically in the background.

Promote commercials

TikTok introduced this kind of ad in 2021. It lets businesses pay for trending organic content related to their products.

Advertisements that use visuals

TikTok allows advertisers to insert still images into videos shared on the platform’s news feed.

Commercials in the form of videos

Full-screen videos between five and sixty seconds in length will display in a user’s “For You” stream as advertisements. 

Pangle ads

In some areas, advertisers may use Pangle’s video platform to reach TikTok users with video, native, and banner advertising.

Commercial carousels

This kind of ad shows up in the TikTok news feed and can have as many as ten different pictures. 

Check Our Tiktok Ads Agency

Steps to start advertising on TikTok

Now that you know what kinds of TikTok advertising are, let’s look at how to create them using your ad account.

1. Sign up for TikTok ads now

We’ll need some fundamentals about you and your company when you join up. If you already have an account, you’ll need this one also to place advertising. Before using the self-service portal, complete this step. Kindly fill in your name, email, and password. The next step is to input the verification code delivered to your inbox.

A verification code delivered to your phone is required if you want to sign up using your phone number. Select “Sign Up” if you accept the conditions and continue. Choose a billing country/region and decide if this account is for personal or professional use. Proceed by clicking the “Next” button. After your company’s name is approved, log in to your dashboard to create the first account.

2. Generate and set up the TikTok Pixel

Next, embed the TikTok Pixel, which records user activity on your site (such as how they discovered it, what device they’re using, and where they are) and transmits that data to TikTok. Set up a “Web Event” in your TikTok Ads Manager after choosing either “Standard Mode” or “Developer Mode” to begin the process of creating your Pixel. Before releasing your Pixel, double-check your cookie consent settings. The next step is to add the Pixel code to the top of your page by downloading or copying it. Set up a “Web Event” in your Ads Manager after choosing either “Standard Mode” or “Developer Mode” to begin the process of creating your Pixel. Before releasing your Pixel, double-check your cookie consent settings. The next step is to add the Pixel code to the top of your page by downloading or copying it.

3. Start an Ad campaign

Make a new advertising effort by going to the Campaigns menu and selecting the Create button. You’ll be able to decide whether you want to boost site visits, sales, or app downloads using this feature. Ad campaigns aim to increase brand recognition, interest, and purchases. 

Awareness

If you want to broaden your brand’s exposure as much as possible within your advertising budget in a specific demographic,

Consideration

If you want more people to visit your website, download your app, or watch your videos, you need to get more followers.

Corresponding

However, select the corresponding campaign aim if boosting sales is your primary marketing purpose.

Next, give your campaign a name and choose a minimum budget for the whole campaign. You need to install and set up the TikTok pixel for the second option to track your ads’ performance. Installing a tracking code on your website is essential and functions similarly to the Facebook pixel. The algorithm will also use the Pixel to improve the performance of your campaign and get you closer to your goals.  You may choose between a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign. 

To reach the most people quickly, create a lifetime budget. On the other hand, if you allocate a certain amount of money every day, you may slowly and persistently get your message out to your intended demographic.

4. Creating a TikTok ad group

When creating an ad group, you may choose its placements, audiences, target audiences, campaign budget, optimization objectives, timeline, and bids. Before making an ad group, choose placements.

Determine where ads will appear

TikTok gives you the choice of hand-picking where your ads appear or letting the platform decide for you. Automatic placements allow TikTok to choose where to display your ad. Using this automated method, you may make your advertising campaign work better in more than one place.

Choose where your ads will appear on TikTok Ads

When using TikTok’s advertising platform, you can either select “automatic placement” and let the platform’s algorithm decide where to put your ad, or select the location manually. Japanese marketers may use the block list (Pangle) function. If you don’t want your advertisements to appear in specific locations, this is the tool you can utilize. For further information, check out the Block List article.

Select the artwork you like best

Automated creative optimization will automatically generate your best-performing creative asset combinations. Some of the innovative materials for this campaign are photos, videos that explain things, and ad copy.

Advertising Targeting on TikTok

The next step is to choose who you want to see your ad. TikTok has two distinct audience options: custom audience and lookalike audience. You may narrow your potential customer base by age, gender, location, and even mobile device type with TikTok’s ad-targeting features. Age, gender, hobbies, OS, location, language, habit, device cost, and mobile carrier are all factors.

Targeting in TikTok Ads

Custom audience targeting on TikTok uses customer files (CSV, TXT, or ZIP files) and audiences already engaged with the app. User activities include interacting with your advertisements (clicks, purchases, etc.), seeing your ads (impressions), and using your apps (signup, activation, and so on) (e.g., viewing content, button clicks, purchases, form submissions, etc.). Like Facebook Custom Audiences, TikTok Custom Audiences lets you reach out to users who have already shown interest in your brand on the platform. Website visits, fresh leads, app users, engaged users, and customer records may create a target audience. What’s interesting is that Leads Bridge makes it possible to connect TikTok custom audiences to other apps, automating the process of managing data.

Determine costs and timelines

This is where you will outline how much money will be spent on the advertisement. As can be shown below, you may choose from several distinct paths. TikTok Ads lets you take control of your campaign from start to finish. The next step is to decide how much money will be spent on the advertisement. A daily or lifetime budget is possible. Scheduled ad timings will be followed. Ads may be planned or run endlessly. Using the day-parting feature, you may divide a day into any number of segments, from half an hour to 24 hours.

Get the bidding and maximum setup

Here is where you can configure your ad’s bidding process and optimization settings, and add connections to monitoring services, so you can keep tabs on its success.

Get your TikTok Ads bidding and optimization set up

First, you may choose your optimization’s ultimate purpose. “Conversion,” “click,” and “reach” are the three main categories. To begin, choose a target audience for your campaign. A second choice is the ability to charge for a specific event. When you select an optimization goal, the TikTok platform automatically sets up the billing event. If you pick “reach,” your ad expenses will be computed by CPM (cost per mile). Click here to learn more about TikTok’s ad manager and the many bidding techniques you may use. You may choose how the system handles conversion event optimization. The clever optimization feature, when enabled, may significantly increase conversion rates. With the bid strategy’s “standard bid” setting, you may better manage your cost per result. This way, you can be certain that your delivery process will have an average price per result within the range you originally quoted.

Using the bidding feature, you may decide how much you will spend on each click, per conversion, or per thousand impressions. The TikTok system will use your ad bid specifications to serve your ads. Standard delivery distributes advertising funds evenly throughout the campaign. “Accelerate delivery” will quickly exhaust the marketing budget.

Read More: How much do TikTok ads cost?

Takeaway

Now that we have a cursory overview of the TikTok ad types, let’s discuss what it takes to create a friendly and successful commercial. As we’ve seen, TikTok is a unique social media platform; creators and distributors must keep that in mind while working with the platform. First, the TikTok community is kind and encouraging. This is perhaps because most of its users are members of a younger generation with a deep appreciation for genuine materials.  Users in this demographic want to interact with actual companies that reflect their beliefs. So, the ad content must be natural and helpful to TikTok users.

You’ll be ahead of the game in TikTok advertising with this primer on the platform’s fundamentals and a list of best practices and suggestions. Advertising on TikTok may differ from advertising on other social media sites. After learning TikTok advertising’s ins and outs, you may be pleased with your company’s outcomes. Focus on being as clear and straightforward as possible so that the app’s active and diverse users can quickly understand what you’re saying. 

For more information, hidden tricks and features, as well as real numbers on TikTok advertising, download our TikTok Handbook here – it’s free. 

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