Over the last 3 years, TikTok has exploded onto the marketing scene as a way to reach millions of people through creative video content. Brands have had to become smarter when it comes to content creation and how they engage with their audience.
If you’re trying to directly reach consumers and clients, the benefits of TikTok for business are tremendous.
As of the last quarter of 2022, TikTok boasts over 1 billion monthly active users and has generated a global consumer spending of over $2.5 billion. This makes TikTok a platform where you can connect with any audience you desire.
There's a lot you can do with your TikTok ads to ensure their success. Setting aside the generic suggestions we found online such as "shoot in HD" or "take advantage of TikTok trends," we wanted to give you some TikTok ad best practices that we have noticed in successful campaigns. Paired with our marketing experience at Zoek, we crafted these observations into TikTok advertising best practices. With our help, you’ll be able to create better, more successful ads right where your audience is scrolling.
Just a heads up, we won't be diving deep into the process of setting up a TikTok account for advertising in this article. However, if you're eager to get started, I recommend checking out this informative blog post by SEJ. On the other hand, if you're still uncertain about whether TikTok is right for your brand or need tips on creating ads that perform well on the platform, keep reading because we've got you covered.
Examples of Successful TikTok Business Campaigns
The language-learning app Duolingo is known for getting good results, but is even more well-known for its reminders to continue using the app. Users jokingly complained and poked fun at the slightly passive-aggressive Duolingo owl mascot, and its somewhat frightening habit of popping up on a notifications screen throughout it.
Duolingo’s TikTok leaned into these jokes, and created a series of videos with their owl mascot behaving in a sassy or aggressive manner that charmed viewers everywhere and got big results: 90 million video views, 39% CTR (click-through rate), and 1400% more followers over the course of the initial TikTok campaign. The videos trended even for viewers who didn’t use language learning apps, and the install base greatly increased, setting the standard as some of the best TikTok ads.
Another success story can be found in The Farmer’s Dog subscription dog food brand. They repurposed their existing content into In-Feed ads and Spark Ads, which proved to be an effective advertising package. For new content, they collaborated throughout creators who could get passionate about healthy, satisfying meals for their dogs.
Their results were also hugely impactful, gaining a 31% CTR, 33 million video views, a 62% reduction in CPAs (cost-per-acquisition of a new customer), and a 5% increase in conversion rate over the course of their TikTok campaign. One key aspect of their success was their smart targeting: sending ads to aduvideos5 or older in the US who were interested in pets and dogs.
Our Top 6 TikTok Advertising Best Practices
Trends have shown video content can help increase a company’s engagement rates on social media. In fact, 93% of companies have acquired new customers through the use of social media video. As a video-first platform, that benefit is amplified with TikTok. Following these examples as well as generally successful and productive TikTok campaign trends, we’ve come up with a list of the top 6 TikTok ads best practices:
#1: Add Captions on Screen
While TikTok is a platform focused on video content, it's still important to add captions or subtitles. Doing so can benefit individuals with hearing disabilities, as well as those who use screen readers or text-to-speech functions. Captions can also make your content more accessible in environments where audio can't be played out loud or for viewers who are learning a new language. So, it's worth taking the time to create captions for your TikTok content!
Using captions can also bring in viewers who might not normally be aware of your videos at all. Search engines like Google cannot view your video. But web crawlers from these engines can easily index your video’s captions or transcripts and search for relevant keywords to rank your video in web searches. Closed captions come in readable text files that crawlers can read and evaluate, giving you a better chancWithf ranking highly on these search engines.
Best of all, adding captions is an easy fix. At the minimum, TikTok gives you the option to create automated captions, which you can then edit for accuracy. It’s also typically pretty easy to create your own captions in any video editing software. For a very minimal effort, your videos suddenly become more accessible to whole new groups of viewers.
#2: Partner with Additional Brands or Influencers
Collaboration or co-branding in social media has been shown to increase brand recall, video view time, and overall engagement. By sharing audiences and playing off established expectations for each other’s brands, you can really create a memorable and fun TikTok campaign. TikTok itself shows that ad recall improved from 19% to 27% when partnered ad content is viewed.
For example, let’s look at Duolingo again. They decided to partner with the cleaning product company ScrubDaddy for a series of TikTok videos. On the surface, the two brands have next to nothing in common, apart from a fluffy mascot. However, their TikTok teams enjoyed a similar sense of humor and felt that their audiences would enjoy the collab- and they were right. The videos enjoyed over 4 million views! As you can see in the following video…
Currently, advertising also trends towards values of authenticity and humanity. By working with influencers, you associate your brand with those values and present your product as the choice of an individual and not a corporation. Be sure that these influencers mesh well with your brand, however. Controversial or completely unrelated personalities can end up being detrimental to your advertising.
#3: Change Your Backdrop and Scenery
Filming your TikTok's in the same room, with the same scenery, might seem like a good way to stay consistent, but audiences will quickly get bored with the approach or may even believe they’ve seen your video before. It’s a much stronger choice to regularly change your backdrop and scenery, applying a variety of visual compositions to your TikTok's.
You don’t just have to change your setting randomly, either. Changing backgrounds can help tell your story. For example, color affects how your audience feels and views your marketing. Each color in the world has pre-existing emotional and cultural associations. For example, most Western individuals equate the color red to passion or anger. Green could create associations with money, envy, or being good for the environment. Even going beyond color, backdrops and scenery can help your audience feel an emotion, connect part of your ad together, make something stand out or blend in, and so much more.
#4: Utilize User-Generated Content (UGC)
Social proof is the validation customers provide to the brand about the trust, authenticity, and reliability of their products & activities. (For example: reviews, recommendations to friends, and expert endorsements.) Suppose your brand has loyal customers or, even better – brand advocates. In that case, you can repurpose their user-generated content to showcase brand advocacy that will help attract new consumers and generate revenue through the scope of existing customers.
UGC has become an important part of content marketing strategies in the last few years. Influencers, affiliate marketers, or just regular consumers, can be a part of their favorite brand's marketing material. When pre-buyers can see real people using your products and enjoying them enough to brag about them, it instantly gives your credibility a boost. The customer won’t have to take your word for it, as they can get a recommendation from an apparently more unbiased source.
#5: Summarize Key Information at The End
A wise person once said "Getting my interest is easy, keeping my interest is hard." People are bombarded with ads and marketing every day. On TikTok, if you don't hook someone and give them a reason to stay within the first few seconds, they'll continue scrolling. Even then, if you're lucky enough to be able to keep a viewer's attention, your ad has to be memorable enough to remember later on. One of the best hacks to help them remember key info about your brand is by summarizing or inserting key information at the end.
This is due to a well-studied human quirk called “the recency effect”, which shows that individuals tend to remember more recently presented information better than older information. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s good to keep in mind wheToiting the scripts for your advertisements. Put something splashy at the start to grab viewer attention, and save most of your key info for the very end.
#6: Don’t Make Ads- Make TikToks
TikTok in-feed ads are meant to be seen as the user is casually scrolling through their FYP. In order to remain unsuspicious, our top tip is to create TikToks, NOT ads. You'll want your video to feel organic and natural. If most people suspect they’re looking at an ad within the first couple seconds, they will zip right by it without even giving it a second thought. After all, it’s thought that at least 40% of users scroll by social ads, and in the frantic-paced world of TikTok that number is much higher.
TikTok Ads have changed the way we think about ads. If you are a marketer, a CMO, a UA Manager, or a founder of a company, you know how to communicate your brand message and target your reach to the best potential users out there. You may be ahead of others with your own company brand book, outlining tone, do’s and don’ts, and more. But TikTok has a completely different logic. Advertising and communicating on TikTok challenges us to go beyond our traditional approach and really focus on the audience, adjusting the way we tell a story.
This is why you shouldn’t create standard, traditional ads; instead, you need to start thinking about what’s right for TikTok. Do your research: watch not just the ads, but the popular videos and trends in your target audience. This is the number one Tiktok ads best practice: the best TikTok ads don’t feel or look like advertisements.
Key Takeaways
In conclusion, advertising on TikTok is an investment that is well worth it. With the potential to reach millions of viewers in just a few weeks, companies of all sizes can benefit from targeting the right audience and creating engaging content, you can build brand recognition and grow your customer base.
One trend that is clear is that video content increases engagement rates on social media. As a video-first platform, TikTok offers an amplified benefit. However, in order to be successful on TikTok, it's important to create content that feels organic and natural. Our top tip is to create TikToks, NOT ads, as users are less likely to scroll past a video that doesn't feel like an ad.
If you're a small business owner looking to explore social media advertising, our ad experts can help you create ad strategies that are designed to bring in more sales and more traffic. By working with our team, you can get the guidance you need to create engaging content that resonates with your target audience and drives results for your business through Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok (coming soon)!
FAQ
How can I get started with TikTok advertising?
Getting started with TikTok advertising is easy. First, create a TikTok Ads account, and then decide which ad format is right for your business. You can choose from In-Feed Ads, Branded Effects, TopView Ads, and more. Set up your campaign, target your audience, and start creating your ad.
What types of companies can benefit from TikTok advertising?
All types of companies can benefit from TikTok advertising, from small startups to large corporations. As long as your target audience is active on TikTok, you can use the platform to reach them. If you're able to correctly target your audience and create the right content, you could have millions of views on your brand in just a matter of a few weeks.
How can I make sure my TikTok ad is successful?
To make sure your TikTok ad is successful, you need to create engaging and relevant content that resonates with your target audience. Make sure you're targeting the right audience, using strong visuals, and adding captions or subtitles to your videos. You should also consider collaborating with influencers or other brands to increase your ad's reach.
What are some best practices for TikTok advertising?
Some best practices for TikTok advertising include creating engaging content, targeting the right audience, collaborating with other brands or influencers, using strong visuals, and adding captions or subtitles to your videos. You should also focus on a strong call to action and repurpose existing content for your ads.
How can I make sure my TikTok ad is not perceived as an ad?
To make sure your TikTok ad is not perceived as an ad, you should create TikToks, not ads. You want your video to feel organic and natural. If most people suspect they're looking at an ad within the first couple of seconds, they will likely scroll right by it without even giving it a second thought. You can also consider using branded effects or collaborating with influencers to make your ad feel more authentic.
Can you help me with my TikTok ad strategy?
Yes, we can help you with your TikTok ad strategy! Our ad experts can help you create ad strategies designed to bring in more sales and more traffic to your business. We'll work with you to identify your target audience, create engaging content, and launch your ad campaign. Contact us today to learn more.
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