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TikTok Ads - 7 tips for successful ads | Thorit

For some companies, TikTok and TikTok Ads are still a blank slate. While Meta and Instagram are used by many companies as social media and advertising platforms, TikTok offers new potential. You can easily reach a younger target group with TikTok Ads! Find out how to successfully advertise on the colorful and loud platform here.

 

The most important facts about TikTok Ads

TikTok has existed in its current form since 2018; the app was the result of a merger between the Douyin platform and lip-syncing via musical.ly. In the USA, TikTok was temporarily no longer in the AppStore because the then President Donald Trump had the app banned. Officially due to data collection by the Chinese parent company, unofficially the comedienne Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) may also have played her part, as she exposed the US President to ridicule with her lip-synced videos.

Globally, TikTok is now divided into several groups, but this division is purely legal and has no impact on the app or the regions in which it advertises. In Europe alone, TikTok has 100 million active users (as of September 2020), and in 2021 there was no social media app in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store that was downloaded more frequently.

More than two thirds of users are under 24. Users are also very active and the app has a more than respectable retention rate. As a rule, users in Germany open the app around 10 times a day and spend a total of around 50 minutes on TikTok. No wonder Instagram wants to undermine the business model with reels.
This gives you enough time and opportunity to place relevant TikTok ads for a young target group.

Successful TikTok Ads placement - 7 simple tips

1. the medium is the message

Each social media platform has its own customs and requirements. Facebook focuses on posts, images and comments, Twitter on retweets and Instagram on likes and interactions. TikTok offers space for short, entertaining videos.

Although you can produce content of up to three minutes in length, you should aim for 15-60 seconds. Your video should fit natively into your fans' feed: short, funny, accurate.

2. away from classic advertising

In the form of content marketing, you should not publish classic advertisements on TikTok.

Successful TikTok Ads are not classic advertisements, but TikToks with a branded message.

Stay relaxed and creative, let your imagination run wild and show how great and interesting your products are with movement and little stories.

3. Find the right tone

TikTok Ads and Story Marketing are actually not that different. If you have already worked a lot with Instagram Stories, you should find your way around immediately. Important difference: Unlike with Stories, most users watch TikToks with sound.

You can therefore also work with your message on an acoustic level, and you should underline important information with stickers in the image.

Example for TikTok Ads
Use trendy songs or melodies in your TikTok Ads. TikTok is mostly used with sound. (Image: thomashutter.com)

4. Collect likes and comments

The algorithm is merciless and often seems overwhelming, especially on TikTok. The app kicks in as soon as you open it and there is no pause between videos. Your TikTok ads will only achieve greater visibility if they are correctly linked and collect as many likes as quickly as possible.

TikTok prefers to present users with popular content, which is exactly why popularity is the trump card here. So look out for videos that immediately attract attention and are of high quality. TikTok offers many filters and editing functions and, used correctly, can create impressive videos - don't make any compromises here.

5. Build something

But of course you shouldn't just work from video to video, but think long-term. Your TikTok channel should be a fixed point of contact from which subscribers can expect new content. Strategically, you should not only focus on likes, but also on follows. This creates the basis for more interactions, but be sure to continue to pay attention to strong videos.

The number of followers alone does not guarantee viral success on TikTok.

6. Choose the right form of advertising

In principle, TikTok ads are not necessarily in-feed ads that you place on a paid basis. These short promotional videos are most comparable to story marketing, but don't limit yourself to that.

TikTok ad formats
TikTok offers various (paid) advertising options (Image: thomashutter.com)

Participate in hashtag challenges or rely on influencers from your industry and grow through a brand takeover as a collaboration with real TikTok professionals.

7. integration with the TikTok Pixel

Comparable to the Facebook Pixel, you should use a TikTok Pixel to target your ads even better. With a plugin or the Google Tag Manager, this is technically no problem at all.

If you already have a lot of experience with the Facebook Ads Manager, the standard mode on TikTok should be immediately familiar to you.
When creating your ads, make sure that you operate a little more broadly than you are perhaps used to from Facebook. The user base on TikTok is smaller than on Facebook, so if you place your ads too specifically, you will lose viewers across the board. So feel free to start with a larger audience, even if the ROI may be lower at first.

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TikTok Ads - similar and yet different

If you place ads on TikTok, you will quickly realize that the app has not reinvented the wheel. Rather, you can observe a linear development from Facebook to Instagram and Snapchat to TikTok in the form of content and users, and your ads should also fully serve them.