TikTok Marketing 101: How To Get Started via @sejournal, @shuey03

TikTok has taken the world by storm with its popular social media platform, and there are plenty of opportunities for savvy marketers.

TikTok has over a billion monthly users, and in the U.S., users spend approximately 52 minutes a day on the app.

With this level of reach and engagement, TikTok offers plenty of unique ways for businesses to get in front of potential customers.

In this post, I’ll break down the benefits of advertising on TikTok, how to build a business profile on TikTok, how to navigate its ads manager, and what types of ads perform well on the social app.

What Is The Benefit Of TikTok Advertising?

TikTok continues to improve its marketing efficiency and ability to drive revenue.

In 2022, approximately 24% of marketers found the app to be effective for their business goals.

The progress is not going to stop any time soon.

In 2021, TikTok users spent approximately $2.3 billion dollars on the app compared to $1.3 billion in 2020; that is a 77% increase in revenue!

And since TikTok ads reach so many people, the opportunity to get your product in front of the appropriate audience is fairly easy.

How To Build A TikTok Profile For Your Brand

Curious about how to build a TikTok Business Profile?

Follow these five simple steps.

Step 1: Create Your Login

Visit the TikTok Ads Manager’s signup page and fill out the boxes with your business’ self-identifiable information.

Click “Send Code” and enter your verification code.

After you have verified your account, you will be given the option to “Sign Up” to create your login.

Step 2: Build Your Account

Once your account is verified, you will need to fill in the basic information for your business.

This includes indicating your business’ location and currency preferences.

Here, you will also add your business name.

Step 3: Add Business Information

When you first log in, you will see a pop-up form where you will add more details about your business and your billing information.

It is critical to enter your URL correctly to ensure your site is working properly.

In order to pass the account review, the website will need to contain all of the business information you previously entered, clearly list the products you display, and be relevant to what you want to promote.

Step 4: Indicate Payment Preferences

In your account, you will select whether you prefer manual or automatic payments.

Once you select your preference, you will not be able to change it.

Step 5: Submit Your Account

Once you have completed adding your account information, you will hit “Submit,” and within 24 hours, you will hear whether your account has been approved or not.

Rejected? Here Are Common Reasons For Rejection

How To Navigate TikTok Ads Manager

There are four main areas you can navigate to from your TikTok Ads Manager:

Dashboard

The Dashboard quickly provides a glance into your data and performance trends.

You will see a high-level overview of active campaigns, budget spend, and charts that track ad performance over time.

Campaign

When you visit the campaign page, you will see all of the campaigns, ad groups, and ads that have been created.

You can make edits on a micro and macro scale for all of your ads and create new campaigns with ease.

Assets

The assets page stores all of your ad resources, including events, creative, audience data, and your catalog.

Your assets page will also be the main source for you to create and manage third-party tracking pixels, website pixels, and audience managers.

Reporting

Here you will be able to build custom ad reports that you can share with your team members. You will be able to customize each column as you see fit, or you can take advantage of one of the pre-defined templates.

What Types Of Ads Can You Run On TikTok?

There are a variety of different ads you can run on TikTok. It is crucial to understand the different types of ads to determine whether the format is effective for your business goals.

Here are the five types of TikTok Ads:

TikTok Ads: In-Feed Ads

In-feed ads have a similar feel to the Instagram ads you experience while tapping through endless Instagram stories. They pop up in between other videos on your “For You” page (FYP).

They are meant to feel seamless to your TikTok experience. They typically have a 9 to 15-second format and carry a unique call-to-action (CTA) that can vary.

To maintain the attention of end-users, these ads should be eye-catching and engaging. This will help improve the likelihood the end-user will keep engaging with your ad.

TikTok Ads: Brand Takeover

Immediately when you open up the app, you may be presented with an ad right away. That would be a Brand Takeover Ad.

If you want to generate brand awareness to a large audience, this ad type will be the best to accomplish that goal. After the ad has been presented to the user upon opening the app, it will also appear on the FYP.

If you are a small company or just beginning with TikTok ads, this may not be the ad template that is most effective. These ads can be quite expensive due to their large reach.

Reviewing your KPI and performance benchmarks will be crucial when deciding what format to proceed with.

TikTok Ads: TopView

Building upon Brand Takeover Ads, TopView ads are similar, but instead of the ad appearing immediately when the user opens the app, it is presented in your feed after three seconds.

TikTok Ads: Branded Hashtag Challenge

Are you looking for an ad type that is unique to TikTok? Think about using a Branded Hashtag Challenge ad.

When you build this type of ad, you will be encouraging users to create self-generated content using your hashtag of choice.

When an end user clicks on your sponsored hashtag, they will be taken to a TikTok landing page with your logo on it, your website link, and a description of your challenge.

This information sets the stage for your end users to get creative.

It is important to remember these ads require crystal clear objectives to be created before the ad is launched.

You need to designate whether you want this hashtag challenge to build awareness for your products, generate leads, or improve brand awareness.

Having the details ironed out will help you set clear standards for your hashtag challenge.

TikTok Ads: Branded Effects

Like Snapchat, TikTok allows brands to advertise using shareable stickers and filters.

These ads can run up to 10 days and encourage end users to interact directly with your brand.

What Type Of Content Performs Well On TikTok?

Each social platform has a style of content that will perform better than others.

Understanding the types of content that drive engagement will help maximize your key performance indicators (KPIs) and will help you avoid the trap of only sharing purely promotional content.

Below we breakdown three types of content that drive engagement on TikTok:

Humor

Why do end users gravitate toward TikTok?

They are looking for entertainment and a brief escape. Brands can speak to this audience effectively through humor.

Light-heartedly introducing a problem and how your product solves it can be a unique way to present your product and solutions.

Educational

Have you ever been tagged in a “TikTok tips” or “TikTok hacks” video? Probably too many times to count.

The reason why is that these videos are highly informative and intriguing.

Following a similar format can be beneficial for your brand. You can display how your products will help your prospects solve problems in a memorable and meaningful way.

Influencers

Establishing a strong working relationship with influencers in your industry can help you speak directly to your target audience.

Influencers have the unique ability to build a trusting relationship with large amounts of followers.

This trust is highly valuable since they have the opportunity to provide a candid review and endorsement of your product.

They can speak to the pain points of your audience and be perceived as an authentic and genuine source of information.

Conclusion

TikTok is set to continue its unprecedented growth.

With new advertising opportunities becoming more available and updates constantly being made to the platform, the potential to grow your business with this platform will only increase substantially.

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Featured Image: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock