TikTok Ads: How to Get Started with TikTok Advertising?
TikTok Ads
From targeting, ad creation, insight reports, and ad management tools, TikTok Ads offer a powerful, yet easy-to-use platform to help businesses and brands advertise to millions of users across the globe. Whether you’re a small business with a limited budget or you’re running a 10-day campaign, TikTok Ads offers a number of unique tools to help brands and businesses excel.
Types of TikTok Ads
In-Feed
As the name suggests, these ads appear in between videos as users scroll through their feed. At first glance, In-Feed ads seem like organic user-generated content. Similar to organic content, users can like, comment, and interact with these videos, making them a suitable option if you’re looking to increase engagement. It is also important to note that because of the organic nature of these ads, you only have a few seconds to catch a user’s eye before they keep scrolling.
Brand Takeover
If you want to make sure your ad is seen, then consider purchasing a Brand Takeover. These videos appear as soon as someone opens the app and completely take over the user’s screen, making them more direct than In-Feed ads. A Brand Takeover is also exclusive to a specific category, which means only one brand can appear in that slot per day. Although the exclusivity of these ads makes them effective, it also means they come at a higher cost.
TopView
TopView ads are very similar to Brand Takeover ads — the only difference is that they appear three to five seconds after a user opens the app, rather than appearing instantly. These videos show up at the top of a user’s For You page, which is prime real estate in the land of TikTok. A TopView ad is also TikTok’s longest ad format and can last up to 60 seconds.
Hashtag Challenge
These ads are sponsored hashtags that appear on the Discover page, which is where trending hashtags are found. TikTok is known for its viral trends, so the purpose of a Hashtag Challenge is to encourage users to participate in your brand’s trend or challenge. When a user clicks on the hashtag, they are redirected to a landing page that includes the brand’s logo, website link, a description of the digital challenge, and the most popular videos using the hashtag.
Branded Effects
Similar to Instagram or Snapchat’s AR filters, branded effects on TikTok are custom stickers, AR filters, and lenses that creators can use to make their own content. These ads help increase engagement, as the sole purpose is to get creators to use your branded effect. Branded effects also help add personality to your brand, and are a great way to encourage users to interact with your digital brand in a fun way.
How to set up ads on TikTok?
Step 1: Create your TikTok ad account
The first step is simple: start by creating an account on the TikTok Ads Manager.
Choose your billing country or region and then select whether you’re using the account for a business or individual. Then click on “Next.”
Step 2: Create and install the TikTok Pixel
Now you’ll need to install the TikTok Pixel—a snippet of code on your website that gathers information about site events (such as how users arrived on your site, what device they’re using and where they’re located).
After selecting “Standard Mode” or “Developer Mode,” you’ll create your Pixel by first setting up a “Web Event” in your TikTok Ads Manager.
Step 3: Create a new campaign
Create an ad campaign under the “Campaigns” tab and clicking on the “Create” button. This will give you the option to choose your marketing campaign objective — whether you want to drive traffic, conversions or app installs.
Step 4: Create an ad group
Create an ad group to define audiences, marketing campaign budgets and placements for your ads.
Step 5: Create a new ad
After setting up your ad group, you can configure your first ad. TikTok gives you the option to upload either a video or an image file as your ad creative.