TikTok and Advertising: What You Need To Know
Marketing

TikTok and Advertising: What You Need To Know

TikTok and Advertising: What You Need To Know

As it continues to skyrocket in popularity, TikTok has become a facet in businesses’ marketing plans and strategy. In fact, as of the end of 2019, over 800 million monthly active users are viewing and generating content on the social network. And it shows no signs of stopping.

As marketing professionals descend onto the platform and try to navigate how it can best benefit businesses, advertising on TikTok has   also grown. And recently, TikTok has introduced a formal advertising space on its platform to capitalize on that interest. If you’re exploring the idea of advertising on TikTok, read on for all you need to know.

An overview of TikTok

TikTok is a video sharing social network and the first major social channel to originate in China. Due to its massive worldwide growth, TikTok users constitute a gigantic and diverse audience of creators, hobbyists, and everyday people sharing their lives. Content can start off small and skyrocket in a matter of hours, spreading across the Internet at the speed of memes. 

The profile of the average TikTok user is pretty young, typically under the age of 30, but there’s strong evidence that older users are migrating to TikTok, as well. With content available for everyone from teens to pensioners, there’s a reason TikTok is literally everywhere you look right now: because literally everyone is using it.

The app was the most downloaded app between 2018 and 2019, with 80 million downloads in the US alone in 2018. 

Users and their demographics

As mentioned, TikTok is home to a diverse range of users, all creating content on a daily basis. Most users are young, with just over 40% being between the ages of 16 and 24. Users also tend to be female, particularly young women and teenage girls. 

What’s interesting, however, is when you look at the other demographics using TikTok, because they are there. In May 2019, an estimated 24.5% of TikTok users were aged 25 to 34 and a hefty 13% were in their late 50s to early 60s.

Starting advertising on TikTok

One of the first ways to get advertising on TikTok is to begin with a profile that shares relevant, good content. This will allow you to build your audience and get acclimated with the platform. TikTok is home to dozens of different genres, hashtags, and daily trends, all with unique voices and exciting new content coming out literally every day. To be “good” at TikTok, you need to be on top of all these trends. And, to do that, you have to use the app consistently, every day, 

It’s important to keep in mind that users on TikTok are most into exciting, sociable content, not necessarily brand-focused videos or commercials. People are more savvy than ever and they’ll smell blood in the water if you try to sell them in a lame or overly salesy kind of way.

Also Read: A Guide To Using TikTok For Marketing Your Business

Influencers

With so much going on, the quickest way to get a huge following of people to listen to you is to leverage someone else’s following. One of the traditional ways of marketing on TikTok is pursuing partnerships with influencers. The social network is a great platform for influencer marketing, and there are many users who have large followers. 

Influencers have come to dominate marketing on every corner of the Internet, and TikTok is no exception.

Creating ad campaigns on TikTok

TikTok structures outlines its advertising in a few parts, from campaigns to ad groups. The ad campaigns are similar to most, consisting of a series of ads. The social network also requires advertisers to set objectives for each campaign. 

As far as straightforward marketing goes, this puts you on the same level as dozens of other big names and will get you in front of TikTok users almost instantly.

About ad groups

Ad groups on TikTok are a combination of ads that have the same target audience, bids, and placement. Ad groups can include multiple ads, and campaigns can have multiple ad groups.  Ad groups are great for targeting different groups of users. You can also set the placement details for ad groups, and TikTok offers two placement methods, automatic and select.

Ad budgets

TikTok allows brands to set specific ad budgets, and the network will adjust your ad bids in order to keep you from exceeding your budgets. You can also choose the pacing and scheduling of your ads, whether it’s over a day or as soon as possible.

What to keep in mind is this: experimentation is key when it comes to marketing on any new platform. Set your budget, create your ads in month one, and see where you get. With the right tweaks and some work, you’ll be where you need to be within a month or two.

Targeting TikTok users

TikTok ads are great because you can define the ad group’s target audience. You can build your target audience by selecting based on genders, ages, locations, languages, interests, and more. It’s crucial to have a keen understanding of your target consumer before you set your audience on TikTok. 

Find out who you’re marketing to, separate from TikTok, then track them down on TikTok and never let them go.

Optimization and bidding 

Like other social media platforms, there are limited ad slots available for businesses. Each potential advertiser bids for a spot in front of the eyes of users. Advertisers can set a goal for optimization, whether it’s for clicks, impressions, or conversions. 

The key here, as always, is to experiment. Optimization is a learning process and it takes time, but the hard work pays off if you’re selective about your ads, learn from your mistakes, and take steps to improve with every ad.

Creating the ads

Once you’ve got your campaign and budget in place, the next step is to create the ads themselves. You can start by adding your creative work and uploading it into the app. You’ll also be able to preview the ad before it goes live and add a call to action. It’s also a good idea to set a tracking pixel so you can garner data and record conversions.

TikTok and Advertising: Now You Know

Once you have mastered all of the elements of TikTok marketing, the next step is to get out there and create consistent, drool-worthy ad content and hook the entire Internet! Simple enough, right? With such a robust platform and so many opportunities to make a real impact, we know you’ll find your place in the TikTok halls of marketing greatness.

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