Ever since its launch in 2016, TikTok took the world by storm and became one of the two most downloaded social media apps of 2023. In 2024, TikTok is no longer an emerging platform—it is now THE platform to be on outside of Meta, with 1.7 billion monthly active users. If brands aren’t on TikTok already, they’re considered to be falling behind.
So how do you create and manage a winning TikTok ad strategy on this social media kingpin, where anyone can skyrocket and go viral overnight? Crafting effective TikTok ads and maintaining an effective campaign require a strategic approach. There may not be one cookie-cutter formula, but we sat down with MuteSix’s media expert, Ilene Rothman, and other TikTok specialists, to help you understand the platform by answering your most asked questions.
Why should brands consider advertising on TikTok?
Here are 4 main reasons why:
- TikTok touts unique reach to Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and more. If your brand is looking to maximize reach and lift conversions beyond just one platform, then it’s worth tapping into something new. Or, alternatively, if you feel like you’ve hit a plateau on these established platforms, it’s time to spruce things up and expand your reach onto TikTok ads.
- TikTok primarily serves as a discovery platform where people learn about a brand for the first time OR go to learn more about a brand after hearing about them, making it an optimal platform to attract potential new customers through an expertly-crafted advertising strategy.
- TikTok is already the dominant social network in average user minutes per day—and soon, in total minutes per day. TikTok surpassed YouTube for time spent by adult users in 2022, per eMarketer forecasts. This year TikTok’s adult users will spend an average of 54 minutes per day on the app this year, nearly double the time spent by Facebook or Instagram users. In short, put your ads on TikTok, where users are paying attention!
- Lastly, TikTok provides an opportunity to tap into a demographic that aligns with TikTok’s consumption style. Gen Z (18-26) are 68% likely to make a purchase directly on TikTok followed by Facebook (62%) and Snapchat (55%). TikTok only trails Instagram at 71%.
How do I best reach and connect with my target audience through TikTok Ads? Can you share any insights on how to optimize content for better visibility when advertising on TikTok?
Take a content-first approach to your targeting by allowing your creative to speak to and resonate with your key personas. Address their core needs, provide solutions to their problems, speak to their lifestyles, and deliver social proof when creating your ad strategy.
In addition, make sure you’re diversifying your content. Don’t test three similar videos—instead, test three different hooks to see what resonates with your key personas and continue to iterate from there.
When advertising on TikTok, the best content will always be the one that’s the most engaging and relevant to the platform. TikTok considers a variety of factors when gauging distribution among its user base, but the most important are watch times and engagement. Engagement can be defined as clicks, likes, messages, shares, and conversions that you receive on/from your TikTok. This means that the most optimal content will entertain, engage, peak curiosity, educate, and have a CTA that’s aligned with your goal.
What is the recommended number of creatives needed for TikTok advertising?
When developing your ad strategy for TikTok, a great way to get started is by boosting videos that are already live on your organic TikTok profile. As part of your ad strategy, we recommend going live with 3-5 videos per ad group. 5 should be your goal, but anything within the range is ideal. If you plan to implement a large-scale effort with multiple ad groups and campaigns, then you will need additional creatives to support.
In addition, we recommend having a bank of videos that are ready to be rotated in once the ads fatigue, as this churn happens faster on TikTok. These videos do not need to be net new but should be native-looking and -feeling UGC. The amount of videos to keep in your back pocket also depends on your available budget.
A very general rule of serving is 1 ad per every 3x frequency. With their recent updates, TikTok can now tell you if your ad is fatiguing in “delivery optimization” at the ad level. In addition, advertisers can perform a key frame analysis using Video Insights to understand where users are clicking, dropping off, and more. Be sure to utilize this function when breaking down your ad performance.
How do I know if my TikTok campaigns are successful?
We recommend using TikTok Ads Manager for its helpful tools in managing, optimizing, and analyzing the success of your TikTok ad campaigns. Empowering advertisers with precise audience targeting, users can easily undergo creative testing, embrace real-time performance tracking, and ensure that your TIkTok ad strategy is performance-driven, accurate, and effective. With these features, TikTok Ads Manager helps you maximize engagement and conversion rates.
Start by monitoring your primary KPIs. What core metrics are the most important? Are you hitting your minimum target ROAS, CPA, and/or CPL?
Then, take a look at KPIs that tell you about how engaging your content is. This will lead you to understand what’s working and what’s not—these secondary KPIs include your CTR (1%+), Thumbstop Rate (30%+), Average Watch Time, and CVR.
- CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of times people click to a specified destination after being shown your ad.
- Thumbstop Rate: Measures if the creative is stopping the scroll.
- Average Watch Time Per Video View: The average amount of time your video was played per single video view, including any time spent replaying the video.
- CVR (Conversion Rate): When using clicks or visitors as the denominator, CVR will tell you beyond the initial success of the ad who is taking further action such as a purchase
Keep in mind that creating engaging content that stops people from scrolling to the next piece of content is just the first step of the process! Ultimately, the goal of your TikTok ads should be to usher users to make a purchase on your website. If you’re seeing a big drop off from your site visitors to purchasers, we recommend considering a CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) audit. In short, leveraging TikTok Ads Manager within your ad strategy not only streamlines campaign management, but also enhances your ability to achieve measurable success through meaningful engagement.
Are there other helpful tips that brands should know about being on TikTok?
Don’t be afraid to go beyond your branding. TikTok ads are the place for brands to develop and showcase a unique personality. The brands that “win” are the ones who aren’t afraid to take risks and interact with prospects in a different light. A fear of not wishing to diversify even slightly from current brand guidelines can limit you from reaching new, meaningful audience segments. For more information, check out our webinar on successfully diversifying your strategy specifically for TikTok.
How does an agency help elevate a brand’s TikTok strategy? What makes MuteSix different for brands who need TikTok management?
When it comes to advertising on TikTok and managing successful advertising campaigns, working with an experienced advertising agency can be invaluable. For success on a platform, there must be synergy between growth strategy, media buying, measurement, and content to meet your overall business goals. Agencies like MuteSix offer a team of experts within a digital marketing agency that specialize in creating, optimizing, and monitoring advertising campaigns on the TikTok platform.
For success with advertising on TikTok, an agency should not just understand the platform, media, measurement, and creative but should also understand the best ad strategy for your business goals. It’s not just about optimizing campaigns, but also increasing our AOV and LTV, all of which is catered to increasing your revenue and profits as you scale.
What makes MuteSix different for brands who need an updated TikTok advertising strategy? As the first-ever agency to partner with TikTok, MuteSix has been leading the pack since the start. We have the business relationship to learn about and leverage Beta offerings ahead of the competition. With our help, you can scale your brand, access new customer pools within TikTok Ads, and see massive improvements across all your marketing efforts.
Learn more about when the right time is to leverage an agency dedicated to managing your brand’s TikTok, or contact us today for a free marketing consultation!
Looking to maximize your presence on TikTok?