How do I Advertise on TikTok?

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Advertising on TikTok

How do I Advertise on TikTok?

TikTok is an excellent target for advertising. It has over 680 million active users each month, more than both Twitter and Snapchat. Still relatively new, TikTok has less advertising saturation and is not yet considered passé.

TikTok is especially enticing as an advertising opportunity if your target audience is young, as over 40% of TikTok users are between the ages of 16 and 24. TikTok videos also tend to cover topics of interest to younger users, such as dating and homework. But TikTok is also spreading to other demographics, so even if your target audience is older it pays to understand how to advertise on TikTok.

How is TikTok Different?

TikTok is a social media site for sharing and editing short videos. Users can add filters, effects, music, and text to videos, and set hashtags so people can find your videos. 

TikTok uses an algorithm to decide which videos to show you next. This is based on the amount of time you watched previous videos, so you’re more likely to see videos similar to videos you found interesting before.

What is TikTok for Business?

TikTok for Business is TikTok’s ad system for businesses. The platform offers a range of resources to help you create exciting, engaging ads, and then you choose how your ads are displayed to users.

Creating a TikTok Ad

Creating an ad campaign on TikTok starts by choosing an advertising objective (e.g. traffic, conversion, or app install). You set a lifetime or daily budget and choose the target audience. You can set their location, age, gender, language, and interest categories.

Ads can be created directly from videos and images you’ve created offline. TikTok also offers several creative tools for making videos. You can use the ad preview tool to see how your ad will look on mobile devices.

What Ad Formats are Available?

There are currently five types of TikTok ads. 

  • Top View Ads are the most audacious; video ads that display for up to 60 seconds the first time a user starts up TikTok for the day. 
  • In-Feed Ads are videos between 5-15 seconds in length that are shown for a maximum of one day. You can add CTA links to the videos, driving users to your website or app.
  • Hashtag Challenges are six-day challenges where your brand gets exclusive access to a hashtag so you can invite the community to build content based on your chosen topic.
  • Brand Takeover is a full-screen ad that can show a static image or a 3-5 second video. You can add links to your website.
  • Branded Effects allow you to create stickers or bespoke filters that people can use on their own videos. Again, this can work to create viral content and boost brand awareness.

TikTok Ad Pricing

Branded Takeovers, Hashtag Challenges, and Top View Ads are available only through discussions with TikTok marketing, and official pricing hasn’t been released. Leaks suggest prices will range from $50k up.

In-feed ads are the go-to option for SMEs. Campaigns have a minimum of only $50 per campaign with a $20-per-day minimum. TikTok ad rates depend on how competitive your niche is, but the average cost-per-thousand impressions in the U.S. is $1.82, significantly less than Facebook.