Came for the Dancing, Stayed for the Conversions
Things change fast on TikTok, whether today’s trend is dancing dogs or a cottagecore get-ready-with-me, it’s never guaranteed to stay trending tomorrow. TikTok’s advertising platform seeks to capitalise on the platform’s popularity and dynamism by providing brands with a unique way to connect with audiences.
TikTok boasts a user base of over a billion monthly active users, predominantly young people aged 18-24. Leading eCommerce retailers are among the early adopters flocking to TikTok’s advertising platform, eager to tap into the platform’s vast potential for reaching younger audiences. With its short-form, visually engaging format, TikTok offers eCommerce retailers a unique way to showcase their products and connect with potential customers.
However, with popularity comes fierce competition, and eCommerce retailers must work harder than ever to stand out in a crowded marketplace. To succeed on TikTok, we are seeing retailers having to be much more creative and strategic in their approach to advertising. Identifying their target audience and developing creative ad strategies that speak to their interests and needs.
This blog is a comprehensive guide for ecommerce retailers looking to advertise on TikTok. We’ll cover the dos and don’ts of TikTok advertising, including actionable tips for creating engaging ads that resonate with TikTok’s young audience demographic. We’ll also highlight some common mistakes to avoid in setting up your own campaign.
By following our best practices, ecommerce retailers can tap into the vast potential of TikTok’s platform and reach new heights of success. Without further ado, let’s get started.
TikTok Advertising: How to do it right (Hint: follow these do’s)
In today’s ever-more connected and digital age, social media platforms like TikTok are becoming more and more integral to the marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes. TikTok has quickly become a go-to platform for advertisers to reach their target audience. However, before diving headfirst into TikTok advertising, it’s absolutely essential to identify your audience.
Finding Your People
Identifying your target audience is a critical step to ensuring that your TikTok advertising campaign resonates with the right people. It allows you to tailor your advertising message to your audience’s preferences, interests, and behaviors, increasing your chances of conversion.
Here are some tips to help you identify your audience for TikTok advertising:
Define Your Target Audience
The first step is to define your target audience. Who are the people you want to reach? What are their demographics, interests, and behaviours? Knowing your audience’s characteristics will help you tailor your advertising message to their preferences and needs.
Conduct Market Research
Conducting market research is a crucial step to better understanding your audience. You can use tools such as Google Analytics to gather information about your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviours. Additionally, you can use social insight tools such as Hootsuite Insights or Brandwatch to monitor social media activity related to your business and industry.
Analyse Your Competitors
Analysing your competitors’ social media presence can also help you identify your audience. Look at the type of content they are posting, their engagement rates, and their followers’ demographics. This information can give you insights into what works and what doesn’t in your industry.
Test Your Advertising
Once you have identified your audience, it’s essential to test your advertising to ensure it resonates with them. Run a few test campaigns with different ad creatives, targeting options, and objectives. Analyse the results to determine what works and what doesn’t.
Developing Your Turbo Ad Strategy
Once you have identified your target audience, the next step is to develop a creative ad strategy that is so razor sharp, you’ve got to keep it in a scabbard. Your ad strategy should focus on delivering a clear and concise message that resonates with your audience and encourages them to take action. Here are some tips for developing a creative ad strategy that will thrive with TikTok advertising:
Use eye-catching visuals and music to capture attention
TikTok is a highly visual platform, so it’s essential to create ads that are visually appealing and attention-grabbing. We recommend using bright colours, bold fonts, and dynamic visuals to make your ad stand out. In addition, music is a critical element on TikTok, so use it wisely to enhance the mood and tone of your ad. Finally, adding people into your videos have proven to uplift conversions by up to 30%
Keep Your Message Short and Sweet
TikTok is all about short-form content, and users have short attention spans. So, it’s essential to get your message across quickly and concisely. Keep your ad under 15 seconds and focus on the most critical message you want to convey.
Create a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
After capturing your audiences’ attention and delivering your message, it’s essential to include a clear and actionable CTA. Whether it’s to visit your website, follow your brand on TikTok, or make a purchase, make sure the CTA is easy to understand and accessible. If you’re not sure what CTA is best for your audience, why not book a chat with one of our marketing experts to uncover your bespoke solution. Click here to get started
Use Humor and Relatable Scenarios to Connect with Your Audience
TikTok is a platform where users come to be entertained and have fun. So, it’s crucial to create ads that align with this culture. Use humour and relatable scenarios to connect with your audience and make your ad more memorable. Compared with more professional platforms like Google Adverts, TikTok has far more space for businesses to really showcase their brand values.
Align Your Ad Strategy with Your Business Goals
Finally, it’s essential to align your ad strategy with your business goals. Consider the type of audience you want to reach, the message you want to convey, and the action you want users to take. By aligning your ad strategy with your business goals, you can create more effective ads that drive results. Don’t forget to shout about the things that make your business unique.
Collaborate with TikTok Influencers
Collaborating with TikTok influencers is an excellent way to reach your target audience and build brand awareness. Influencers have a large and engaged following, and their endorsement of your product or service can drive significant traffic to your products. The right niche influencer can help to lend their industry authority to your products and services with authentic and relevant commentary on how they found your products.
When working with content creators, it’s important to maintain a healthy and respectful relationship regarding the commitment and exposure that you both benefit from in the partnership. If you are interested in exploring working with influencers on tiktok’s marketplace, here are our top tips for collaborating with TikTok influencers:
- Identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target audience
- Research their engagement rates and previous collaborations
- Reach out to influencers and propose a collaboration using the connect creators network
- Request access to influencers content via tik tok’s built in spark ad system. (click here to learn more about that process)
- Set clear expectations and goals for the collaboration
- Measure the success of the collaboration and adjust your strategy accordingly
Utilise TikTok Ads Manager
TikTok Ads Manager is a powerful tool for creating and managing your TikTok advertising campaigns. It allows you to create and customise ads, set targeting options, and track your campaign’s performance. Here are some tips for utilizing TikTok Ads Manager:
- Set clear campaign objectives and goals
- Create and customise ads that align with your ad strategy
- Use smart and manual targeting options to reach your ideal audience
- Monitor your campaign’s performance and adjust your strategy accordingly
- Take advantage of the reporting and analytics features to track your campaign’s success
Test and Optimise Ads
Testing and optimising your ads is the most crucial part to ensuring the success of your TikTok advertising campaign. Knowing which creatives, audiences and CTA’s offer you the best return allows you to identify what works and what doesn’t and make adjustments accordingly. When creating adverts on TikTok, follow these key steps:
- Create multiple ad variations to test different ad creatives, messaging, and targeting options
- Use A/B testing to compare the performance of different ad variations
- Monitor your ad performance regularly and adjust your strategy accordingly
- Use the data and insights from your ad testing to optimise your campaign for better performance
How to make the worst ad ever (or how to avoid it)
Completely Ignore TikTok’s Features, they are useless
TikTok offers a range of powerful features to make your ads more engaging and effective. Ignoring these features can seriously harm the overall performance of your ad. Using features such as filters, stickers, and optimised music to make your ads more eye-catching and engaging will uplift engagement and drive conversion, if that doesn’t sound helpful to you, we suggest throwing them out the window. Additionally, using new smart targeting options allows TikTok to leverage its massive data banks to reach the right audience for your ad.
Stuff Your Ads With Promotional Language
TikTok is a social media platform where users come to be entertained, not to be bombarded with promotional messages. Therefore, we suggest avoiding overly promotional language in your ad copy. The best performing Ads Instead focus on entertaining, engaging, and informative content. Use language that is industry specific and connects with your audience, and avoid using too many one-sided, sales-focused CTA’s.
Try To Avoid Compiling With TikTok’s Advertising Policies
TikTok has strict advertising policies that must be followed to ensure your ads are approved and reach your target audience. These policies cover areas such as prohibited content, targeting options, and ad formats. Ensure that your ads comply with these policies to avoid your ad being rejected or your account being suspended. Additionally, make sure you stay up-to-date with any changes to TikTok’s policies to ensure continued compliance.
Don’t Get Left Behind: Master Social Media
In conclusion, TikTok offers a unique opportunity for eCommerce retailers to reach a younger demographic and showcase their products in a visually engaging format. However, to succeed on TikTok, businesses must be creative and strategic in their approach to advertising. It is essential to identify your target audience, develop a razor-sharp ad strategy, and align your ad goals with your business objectives. Use eye-catching visuals and music to grab your audience’s attention, keep your message short and sweet, include a clear and actionable CTA, and use humour and relatable scenarios to connect with your audience.
Incorporating these best practices into your TikTok advertising strategy can help you stand out in a crowded marketplace and reach new heights of success. Don’t be afraid to test and adjust your advertising to see what works best for your audience. With over a billion monthly active users and an advertising platform that continues to evolve, TikTok is a social media platform that businesses cannot afford to ignore. So what are you waiting for? Get started on TikTok advertising today and see how it can transform your business!
