TikTok Ads: What it is and how TikTok Advertising Works

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TikTok Ads or Ads TikTok, as it is also known, is TikTok’s advertising platform that allows companies to promote their products and services through ads in the app. It uses a short video-based advertising system, which is naturally integrated into users’ feeds. Ads can be targeted to specific audiences using user demographics, interests, and behaviors.

In this post, we tell you everything you need to know for your TikTok Ads campaigns, based on the experience of our agency for content creators.

Why Run TikTok Ads Campaigns? Fundamental Objectives

TikTok Ads campaigns can be designed for several fundamental objectives, including aspects such as the following:

  • Increasing brand awareness
  • Generating traffic to a website
  • Promoting app downloads
  • Increasing sales of products or services.

It is also a tool for increasing user engagement and creating viral content, in addition to that which is done organically, such as trending videos or a TikTok live.

Companies use TikTok Ads to take advantage of the trend of consuming content in short format and connect with a global audience effectively.

Types of Ads on TikTok Ads

TikTok Ads offers a wide variety of advertising formats to adapt to different marketing objectives and strategies. Each type of ad has unique characteristics, which can be used to capture the attention of users in different ways.

In-feed Ads

In-feed Ads are video ads that appear natively in the “For You” feed of TikTok, among the organic videos. They last up to 60 seconds and can include calls to action (CTAs) such as “Buy now” or “Download the app”. These ads are ideal for generating direct interaction with the content, as users can comment, share, and “like” the videos.

TopView Ads

TopView Ads are video ads that occupy the first position in the TikTok feed when the user opens the application. These ads can last up to 60 seconds and offer maximum visibility, due to their location. They are ideal for brand awareness campaigns and for capturing the user’s attention from the first moment.

Brand TakeOver Ads

Brand TakeOver Ads are full-screen ads that appear when a user opens TikTok. These ads can be static images, GIFs, or short videos and are designed to generate a high visual impact. Because they cannot be skipped, they are effective in increasing brand visibility quickly and directly.

HashTag Challenge Ads

HashTag Challenge Ads invite users to participate in challenges using a specific hashtag. This form of advertising encourages the creation of user-generated content (UGC) and can result in a high rate of interaction and virality. Brands can launch a sponsored challenge, offering rewards or highlighting the most creative content.

Branded Effects

Branded Effects are custom filters, stickers, and augmented reality effects that brands can create for users to use in their videos. These effects increase user engagement and allow brands to integrate organically into the content created by users, improving brand recognition and interaction.

Are you interested in learning more about the power of user-generated content for your brand? We show you how to leverage UGC to increase the trust and engagement of your audience. Read the full article here and discover all the benefits of UGC and how to use it.

Spark Ads

Spark Ads allow brands to promote existing organic content on TikTok, whether their own or from other creators, amplifying its reach. This TikTok Ads format combines the best of user-generated content with the targeting and measurement capabilities of paid advertising, resulting in more authentic and effective campaigns.

How to Create an Effective Campaign on TikTok Ads?

To create an effective campaign on TikTok Ads, it is important to follow some key steps: define the campaign objectives clearly, identify and segment the target audience, create high-quality content, establish an adequate budget, and choose the correct format.

In addition, it is crucial to monitor and optimize the campaign continuously, using TikTok Ads analysis tools to improve its performance and achieve the desired objectives.

How to Set up your First Tik Tok Ads Campaign Step by Step?

  1. Create an account in Tik Tok Ads: Register on the Tik Tok Ads platform and complete the verification process.
  2. Start a new campaign: Click “Create” to start a new campaign.
  3. Select campaign objective: Choose the objective, for example traffic, conversions, or app installation.
  4. Configure campaign details: Enter the name of the campaign and set the total budget.
  5. Create an ad set: Define the name of the ad set and select the location of the ads.
  6. Choose audience segmentation: Configure the segmentation according to location, age, gender, interests, and behaviors.
  7. Set the budget and schedule: Define the daily or total budget and select the start and end dates.
  8. Select ad format: Choose the ad format, such as In-Feed, Branded Hashtag Challenge, or TopView.
  9. Upload ad content: Upload the video or image for the ad and complete the information.
  10. Review and launch the campaign: Review all the details and click “Submit” to launch it.

Measure and Analyze the Performance of your Tik Tok Ads

Measuring the effectiveness of your Tik Tok Ads is essential to optimize your campaigns. Use the Tik Tok Ads control panel to access key metrics such as impressions, clicks, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions. These metrics provide you with an overview of how your ads are performing. It is important to observe the conversion rate to understand how many users perform the desired action after seeing your ad. Analyzing the cost per click (CPC) and the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) will help you evaluate the efficiency of your advertising spend. If costs are high and conversions are low, you may need to adjust your strategy.

Audience Segmentation in Tik Tok Ads

Audience segmentation in Tik Tok Ads is crucial to ensure that your ads reach the right people. When creating your ads, you can determine the demographic segmentation, selecting criteria such as the age, gender, and geographic location of your target audience. This allows you to focus your ads towards a specific group of users.

In addition to demographic segmentation, Tik Tok offers advanced segmentation options based on interests and behaviors. You can select interest categories that are close to your brand, such as fashion, technology, or sports, to target users who already show interest in related topics.

Segmentation is key in Tik Tok Ads, keep these criteria in mind to improve the results of your ads.

How much Does it Cost to Advertise on TikTok? Bidding Strategies

The cost of advertising on TikTok Ads varies depending on the bidding strategy used and the objectives of the campaign. The available strategies are the following.

Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM)

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is a bidding strategy in which the advertiser pays for every thousand impressions of their ad. It is an effective way to increase brand visibility and is ideal for brand awareness campaigns, where the main objective is to reach a broad audience.

Cost per Installation (CPI)

The cost per installation (CPI) is a bidding strategy used primarily in application promotion campaigns. In this model, the advertiser pays each time a user installs the application from the ad. It is an effective strategy to increase the number of app downloads and ensure that advertising spend is directly related to performance.

Cost per Click (CPC)

The cost per click (CPC) is a bidding strategy where the advertiser pays each time a user clicks on the ad. This model is useful for campaigns that seek to generate traffic to a website or a specific landing page. It is suitable for marketing objectives oriented to action, such as lead generation or sales.

Enhanced CPC (eCPC)

Enhanced CPC (eCPC) automatically adjusts bids to maximize conversions while trying to maintain the average cost per click. This model uses machine learning to adjust bids in real time, optimizing campaign performance and improving the efficiency of advertising spend.

Cost per View (CPV)

The cost per view (CPV) is a bidding strategy where the advertiser pays each time a user views the ad for at least a specified period of time. This system is especially useful for video campaigns and is ideal for increasing audience engagement and retention.

Do You Need Help Managing your Ads on Tik Tok?

If you want to enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns on the platform, our team of TikTok experts offers you a specialized team, capable of exponentially growing the results of your campaigns.

We can produce content or advertising campaigns that are successful on TikTok. This can be a challenge for many brands, as you have to master the codes and visual styles, as well as keep up to date with trends in music, effects, challenges, etc.

As a TikTok agency specialized in the platform, at 2btube we have access to specific software that eliminates these difficulties. And the best thing is that all our services can be combined to develop a personalized strategy that guarantees the fulfillment of objectives.

If you want more information, we would love to tell you what we could do for your brand. Get in contact with us and give us the opportunity to prove it to you.

On the other hand, 2btube has been chosen by TikTok as one of its official agencies to be part of its exclusive TikTok LIVE agency program, which certifies us as experts in live broadcasts on TikTok and gives us access to exclusive software with which we can better advise our creators, among other advantages. If you want to enter this program you can read our article on the requirements to join our TikTok LIVE agency.

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