Why brands should implement a paid TikTok advertising strategy. If you are still wondering whether your brand should add TikTok as a paid channel or not, then you are already missing out on potential sales for your business. Read on to find out why & how you should implement a paid TikTok strategy.

Another social media channel I have to worry about… Really??

If you are still wondering whether your brand should add TikTok as a paid channel or not, then you are already missing out on potential sales for your business. In the span of just a few years, TikTok has seen rapid growth, surpassing 1 billion active users to be one of the most popular global social media apps. The beauty of it all? Very few small brands are utilising TikTok’s paid ads platform, making it the golden opportunity to scale sales and widen your reach.

TikTok has a global reach with over 150 different countries at your fingertips. It has been the single most downloaded app for two consecutive years and leaves google in second place for the most visited site. The demographic across TikTok globally is shifting, with over 37% of TikTok users being above the age of 30 which has increased 5.5% annually and continues to grow. 

New Zealand finds itself on the map when it comes to TikTok. Figures published in ByteDance’s advertising resources indicate that TikTok had 1.46 million users aged 18 and above in New Zealand in early 2022. 58.5% of that audience is female and 41.5% is male. What’s even more compelling is that 30% of New Zealand’s TikTok audience can only be found on TikTok- they don't have accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook or other popular social media sites. So if you’re still looking for your core customer, chances are you will find them on TikTok.

Due to its rapid growth in users, TikTok paid advertising is still affordable in comparison to other social media sites. The simple reason is that the current ad inventory is greater than the number of advertisers (so jump on board ASAP). TikTok’s CPM’s and CPC's are 2-10 times cheaper than Facebook due to less saturation. 

Similar to Facebook ads manager, TikTok’s advertising tools automate the process of creating, delivering and optimising your ads. There are two budget options, daily or lifetime which can be adjusted as you go. TikTok also offers wide targeting capabilities by gender, age, location, interests and other unique variables. Similar to Facebook and Instagram you can also create ‘custom’ and ‘lookalike’ audiences to reach current and similar audiences.

Skincare brand Synth Labs Intl. utilised TikTok Spark Ads to boost their organic videos as In Feed-Ads. The brand utilised audience-relevant creators who talked directly to their target audience. The campaign helped to double the brand's organic following, while profile likes increased by 80% and total video views topped 100,000. On top of this, the campaign generated 300,000 impressions with a low CPC of $0.32.

Online jewellery store Lion Wild created a series of In-Feed Ads featuring various jewellery products targeted to different audiences to maximise traffic to their website. The native placement appeared seamlessly within the feeds of potential customers, and the inclusion of a discount code featured prominently throughout each ad meant the brand was able to further drive clicks to the site, and ultimately, convert customers. The discount code also meant that sales driven by the campaign could be accurately attributed and measured. The campaign had significant engagement with a 19.35% conversion rate and cost-effective results with a $0.13 CPC and $0.17 CPM.

TikTok is a place where people go to discover new things, what would be a better position to introduce a new brand or a product to your audience than this. You are serving exactly what the audience wants. You have the exclusive attention of the user on a full screen, sound on setting for 30 seconds or more. A study by Social Media week revealed viewers claim they retain 95% of a message when obtained via video and 93% of brands got a new customer because of a social media video. The power of video is being favoured in TikTok’s platform with ad formats such as native-in feed, top view, brand takeovers and hashtag challenges. These ad formats encourage enormous engagement among users. Native in-feed ads enable users to like, comment, share, follow and shoot videos within the same TikTok sound.

Balenciaga launched a shoppable campaign on TikTok over the Christmas period utilising the highly-engaging TopView format in the UK and France. In fact, the resulting numbers impressed the fashion brand so much, that it then went on to launch two Brand Takeovers as well – one for the UK market, to solidify its message, and another to extend its reach across Italy. All ads combined, the campaign drove 23M+ impressions across the UK, France and Italy. The average CTR from across markets was around 18%, and notably 20.56% in Italy. With a combined total of 25M+ video views, user engagement rates were also well above average, showing that a new audience of TikTok users connected with Balenciaga on a personal level, and then went on to explore its luxury fashion range, with over 4.5M clicks to the landing page.

The combination of affordable reach/frequency and a high ad recall format is a match made in heaven for your brand.

With decreasing campaign performance across Facebook and Instagram due to the iOS14&15 updates, TikTok may just be the solution to help scale online direct response campaigns profitably. With the right appealing content and long-term strategy, TikTok is a platform for long-term digital success.