Don’t make ads make Tik Toks: A Small Business Guide to Marketing on Tik Tok

The Secret Sauce to Success on Tik Tok

Creativity is King, Queen, and All Things on Tik Tok

Content on Tik Tok succeeds or fails based solely on the quality instead of a brands popularity on the platform.

Currently there are more than 100 million active U.S. users on Tik Tok, a number that has doubled since this time last year. This is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms and in June they introduced a self-service advertising platform much like that of Facebook and Google. This has built a clear path for businesses to take a stab at incredible discovery and reach with the use of creativity and storytelling. In general, I believe businesses that have a younger audience and more of a consumer product based business can find the most success on Tik Tok. But, there is a high possibility of massive organic reach for any business who joins this community as long as your creatives and content are consistently captivating.

During her #BizHackLive webinar Becca Sawyer, head of small businesses and operations for Tik Tok gave us tangible steps and tips small businesses can use to create campaign ads that integrate seamlessly with other Tik Tok content for the best results. “You have an opportunity to reach new audiences that may not be active on other platforms,” stated Becca. Tik Tok has made it incredibly easy for businesses to turn their assets into engaging video ads requiring no editing skills – a HUGE win for small businesses who don’t have many marketing resources at their disposal. Becca dives into this and more in her webinar.

Recap: Don’t make ads make Tik Toks: A Small Business Guide to Marketing on Tik Tok with Becca Sawyer

Connect with the Tik Tok Community as a Small Business using In-Feed Video Ads

  • Reach Tik Tok communities through fun and informative videos.
  • Ads are inserted into community members’ personalized feeds.
  • Choose the objective of your ads depending on your goals.
  • Up to 60 seconds full-screen videos, set to auto-play with sound on.

[insert targeting capabilities slide for in-video ads] – to find out more here

Tik Tok for Business: Unleash Your Creative Genius

Tik Tok is an entertainment platform that brings millions together to create and discover fun, enjoyable short-form mobile videos. They host content that is continuously relatable, relevant, and diverse. When it comes to the success of your content, creativity is definitely key.

[Our mission SLIDE] – to find out more here

Brands truly have an opportunity to be creative storytellers and the opportunity to be discovered by the Tik Tok community. The biggest difference about Tik Tok and how their algorithm works compared to how other platforms work, is that their algorithms are built on a content graph not a social graph. The success your content sees is not based on your following but on the quality of the content itself.

Real-Life Case Study: Slate and Tell

Slate and Tell is a personalized jewelry brand that uses in-feed video ads on Tik Tok as an advertising technique. They used a Tik Tok creative tool: Smart Video (more on this below) to bring awareness to a spring promotion they were holding. They reached 40 million Tik Tok users, received over 1,000 single sessions “Add to Cart”, and more than doubled their return on ad sales. They were able to meet their goals within days.

5 Pro Tips to In-Feed Video Ad setup

  1. Make sure to define your pixel events & rules when setting up your pixel.
  2. For conversion campaigns optimize based on higher funnel events like “Add to Cart” or “Page Views”.
  3. Set your bid as your target cost per action and set your daily budget at at least 20x your conversion bid. Ex: If your target cost per conversion is $1 set your daily budget at $20. (cost per conversion = amount you’re willing to pay for key conversion activity)
  4. Use broad targeting to start.
  5. Leverage Tik Tok creative tools to easily create and test new ads!

Creative Tools Available on Tik Tok

  • Video templates – There are 60+ video templates available to you. All you need to do is choose a template, upload your creatives, text, and logo. This tool turns your assets into a video with music, effects, and transitions – no editing skills required!
  • Smart Video – This tool is powered by Tik Tok’s AI technology allows you to scale your content into multiple versions of creatives with music, effects and filters, from just one set of starting resources.
  • Automated Creative Optimization (ACO) – Arguably the most powerful tool we have. This tool takes existing content you upload to the platform, multiplies your creative and helps you find the best performing version of all the combinations its going to create for you.

[ACO tool explanation slide] – to find out more here

Content and creative is one of the most important ingredients to a successful campaign.

Creatives Best Practices

Content on Tik Tok is going to succeed or fail based on its quality instead of a brands popularity on the platform or celebrity status, or even high end design + production. It is seen over and over again from the community that it prefers imperfection.

Three essential components your success on Tik Tok:

  • Video
    • Keep them short and focused, vertical, most compelling creatives within 3 seconds, strong CTA
  • Sound
    • Design for sound-on
  • Sync (similar look and feel, a DIY style of production)

The most successful ads on Tik Tok don’t look like ads, they look and sound like Tik Toks.

Tik Tok Back to Business Program

Tik Tok has been committed to helping small businesses around the world that have been heavily impacted during this time. They have provided 100 million dollars in ad credit to support and help companies get back on their feet and start rebuilding. This program is available globally and any small business can apply for the credit.