You’ll learn how to use TikTok Spark Ads in this post to spread genuine user-generated content that advertises your company and goods.
Why should I advertise on TikTok?
Many social media marketers have expressed reluctance to use TikTok as a medium for their advertisements.
They disagree that the site is ready for advertisements. The platform, in their opinion, does not have the right demographics. They doubt their ability to produce the necessary content.
But we’ve heard those justifications before. 15 years ago, the same things were said about Facebook. Feeling a bit jaded yet?
Those justifications continue to be false. TikTok provides a surprisingly adaptable ad platform with a wide range of options for producing or finding content that benefits your business. It currently competes fiercely with social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others that provide sponsored advertising.
Why TikTok started to threaten other social media platforms
Contrary to what most people think, TikTok has actually existed for a longer time. Musical.ly, the app’s initial prototype, was made available in 2014. Since then, TikTok has undergone mergers and rebrandings, but the core concept has remained the same: brief, selfie-style films with an accompanying backing track.
The social media network has experienced exponential growth over the previous few years. TikTok has started concentrating on making money. To set up the TikTok advertising options, they have taken a lot of cues from various social media sites. The fundamentals will be familiar to you from Facebook Business Manager: campaigns arranged according to objectives, the creation of custom audiences, the use of pixels to monitor ad outcomes, etc.
It has been quite successful to combine cutting-edge content with well-established advertising techniques. Recently, TikTok overtook Google as the most popular website in the US for web traffic. In response to the competition, other social media platforms have shifted their focus to short-form video and invested hundreds of millions in creator funds. But for the time being, TikTok retains the advantage as a new, emerging platform.
Who is reached by TikTok marketing?
TikTok is typically thought of as an adolescent app. They are not mistaken. There is a tendency for TikTok users to be younger.
But that might be about to alter. The over-30s are currently the group on the TikTok platform that is growing the quickest. Even Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are utilizing the social network. Advertisers are still playing catch-up. TikTok marketing isn’t utilized by many brands. Brands that target older age groups will find this to be especially true. Therefore, right now is a great moment to start running TikTok advertising because there is less competition.
Campaigns on TikTok offer greater reach for less money…
Currently, TikTok ads are significantly less expensive than those on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Every social media marketer is aware of the skyrocketing costs of Facebook ads and the declining effectiveness of their targeting and return on investment.
A TikTok marketing campaign typically delivers a cost per lead that is around half that of Facebook. Your net sales figures on TikTok will appear healthier even though it doesn’t have greater conversion rates because to the drastically reduced cost of ad inventory.
TikTok will boost your social results even more if your Facebook advertising were successful. But a word of caution: TikTok and Facebook cannot both run the same content. For an effective TikTok marketing strategy, you’ll need distinct content and targeting strategies.
How to create a native ads strategy for TikTok
Although it isn’t particularly challenging to use, the TikTok app is considerably different from other social networks. It is solely concerned with short-form video. High production values are less necessary than the correct sound, and the TikTok algorithm’s method for surfacing posts also differs. Making the most interesting, relatable content is your aim rather than concentrating on gaining followers.
#1: TikTok video ads
You don’t need to get bogged down in the details of picking locations, times of day, and targeting settings because TikTok’s ad platform is quite smart. The automated suggestions typically function perfectly.
You should concentrate your efforts on producing content instead. Then discover which of your TikTok videos performs best by setting the algorithm to optimize for the lowest cost per view or cost per engagement.
The daily minimum for TikTok commercials is $20 per ad campaign. However, you can watch a lot of TikTok videos for $20. There might be several ad groups and numerous ads inside each campaign. A cost per view of roughly 1 to 5 cents is what you want. Look at the videos that perform best and try to figure out what makes them effective.
What kind of videos should you create?
On TikTok, you can upload videos that are up to three minutes long for your advertisements. The site has recently started experimenting with films that last up to an hour.
However, you don’t actually need to create content that long.
So that you may maintain a high video completion rate, keep your films to under 30 seconds. One of the main metrics TikTok employs to evaluate your material is this. You want viewers to stay engaged throughout.
Does that seem overly brief? Don’t stress over it. The key is to jam-pack each clip with information. Even great news for your video completion rate comes if viewers decide to keep watching the video in order to learn more from it.
On TikTok, the most popular videos are snappy, funny, and relatable. To engage your audience, use humor, popular sounds, and selfie-style camera angles.
Editing tools can be used to combine various clips or apply effects. Try to complete the majority of your edits on TikTok, though. Users are rewarded for in-app editing by the algorithm… but penalizes them for using recycled or foreign content.
How TikTok ads’ targeting works
Compared to the majority of other social marketing platforms, TikTok offers less accurate targeting. Prior to recently, you could only target a national audience.
However, it is not a problem. Why? because of how strong the TikTok discovery method is.
TikTok excels in delivering content that matches users’ interests. Additionally, it makes use of cutting-edge technology for backdrop recognition, including AI. This implies that if you add nearby landmarks in your films, more local viewers will see your content.
Therefore, you should concentrate on content rather than worry about geographical targeting or the best times to post. Produce and distribute videos that are pertinent to your business, sector, and audience. The rest will largely be handled for you by the TikTok algorithm.
What sort of advertising should you use?
On TikTok, there are numerous different ad types.
We’ll concentrate on the two most practical ad types for the time being: spark and lead advertisements.
- Spark ads are excellent for expanding your audience, utilizing user-generated content, and building brand exposure.
- Lead ads are excellent at turning views into leads and sales.
Both types function extremely differently. We’ll discover that you might not even need to develop content for some advertisements.
#2 TikTok spark ads are used in
Spark ads resemble Facebook’s “boosted posts” in certain ways. You choose a video that is performing well and spend money on advertising it to reach more people.
These advertisements are unique because you can do this with any video.
Even if it comes from a TikTok profile that has nothing to do with your brand or if you have only set up a TikTok ad account and don’t actually have a TikTok profile.
Because of this, spark ads are a fantastic option for brands of all sizes. Small businesses can experience anxiety when creating content. Large organizations and agencies can find it challenging to work on a project as small-scale as a short-form movie. However, with spark advertisements, you are not required to provide any content unless you like to.
Spark ads, according to TikTok, now make up 70% of total platform advertising expenditures. This ad type is used by brands because it works well and requires less effort to reach a larger audience.
How are Spark ads operated?
You need the other person’s permission to use their content to create a spark ad.
This is how it works:
- You speak with the creator and ask for their consent to boost their content.
- They must then enable the Ad Authorization checkbox in their privacy settings in order to opt into spark adverts.
- The creator can then develop a special code specifically for the concerned video once that’s live.
- The post is imported into TikTok Ads Manager using the code, where you can configure ad spending and decide whether to include a call to action.
A post will have a small “Sponsored” tag at the bottom of the screen once it has been promoted with spark advertisements. Nothing else about the original organic content will change.
Selecting videos for Spark ads
You may find information to utilize in spark advertising in a variety of ways.
Social awareness
Find key phrases that are pertinent to your brand and sector, then reach out to people with material that is pertinent. You can also search for creators who mention you using TikTok’s statistics.
TikTok marketplace for creators
The goal of TikTok’s search engine is to link businesses and creators. However, the creators on the market place tend to charge more and cater to an older clientele. Every brand won’t be a good fit for this.
Make original content.
Spark ads can also be used to promote videos on your own TikTok account. Use spark advertisements to expand your audience if you’re just getting started and to determine which videos work the best. When you’re more established, you may be pickier and just promote the videos that have had the greatest organic success.
Watch out for the following qualities in videos submitted by other TikTok users…
Immediate hook
Does the video immediately grab your attention? It probably won’t work as an advertisement if it doesn’t immediately catch the viewer’s eye.
Keep it short
Keep in mind that you want to keep your video completion rate high. The most successful clips are those that are under 30 seconds.
Original Style. The entire objective of spark ads is that they don’t appear to be advertisements. Not high production values, but real organic content, is what you’re after.
Many artists will be eager to collaborate with you. Spark ads imply that their content is also given more attention. Freebies or gift cards might be used as further inducements. Be cautious of authors who demand excessive prices, though. Real clients or staff members with modest audiences will frequently have a greater influence than pricey influencers.
How to use videos for Spark ads and edit them
Because the material for Spark ads has already been developed, little tweaking is needed. Additionally, since your target audience produced the video, the targeting is already taken care of. Nothing is more specific than that.
You must, however, exercise caution when it comes to copyright. A post with background music protected by copyright won’t be eligible for boosts.
Thankfully, TikTok gives you the choice to turn off the audio. You can use music from TikTok’s free collection of advertisement sounds in place of the copyrighted music. Alternately, open the post’s sound settings and adjust the volume of the original audio while lowering the music.
Once your post is prepared to go live… What do you want to achieve?
For top-of-funnel marketing, spark ads typically work well. They work well for brand recognition and word-of-mouth marketing, but less well for sales. The number of views and video completion rate are the indicators you should pay the most attention to.
When you use spark ads to boost a post, you do have the choice to include a call to action and a link to the landing page. This may be effective for online stores. However, lead ads will be a more effective conversion technique if you’re only interested in lead creation or work with a B2B organization.
#3: Making use of TikTok lead ads
Again, the majority of social media marketers will be familiar with Facebook lead ads. Lead ads on TikTok function similarly, except they only feature a brief amount of short-form video to persuade visitors to click.
How Do TikTok Lead Ads Operate?
A link appears at the conclusion of a TikTok lead advertisement. Users that tap it are directed to a form that has already been pre-filled with the personal information they have already given TikTok. After that, you may extract that data and begin lead nurturing in your CRM.
On TikTok, your cost per lead will probably be between $3 and $4. Even if it is substantially greater than the average cost per view, it is still a good source of leads for businesses offering professional services.
How to make videos for lead ads on TikTok
In a lead ad video, your main task is to convince viewers that the ad is pertinent to them. If the offer is location-based, mention the place in the video and give viewers visual cues.
If the offer has a deadline, underline it with voice and print.
You may convey a tale that resonates with your target audience with even a brief video clip. Show them your abilities and what working with you will be like.
A chiropractor, for instance, might compile clips of the initial consultation, the adjustment, and the outcomes. A subscription box service may demonstrate the home unpacking, delivery, and packing procedures.
After that, you may direct folks to a lead form and urge them to try out what they’ve just seen.
Now to you
TikTok provides a variety of affordable and widely accessible ad choices. TikTok can be intimidating to some social media marketers, but it couldn’t be simpler to make ads, especially because you don’t even have to develop your own video!
