TikTok Ads - is it hype or a must-have in the marketing mix?
We have prepared practical tips for you on how to make the most of TikTok Ads and the 1.3 million Slovak audience on TikTok.
TikTok advertising has finally arrived in Slovakia. From August 2024, you can reach an audience of over 1.3 million Slovak users with advertising that's a bit different from before. We've taken a closer look at whether it's truly effective and whether TikTok Ads are worth it. Could TikTok be the missing puzzle piece in your marketing mix?
What is TikTok Ads?
TikTok Ads is short for TikTok Advertisement, meaning advertising on the TikTok social network. Ads are managed using a tool that, like business manager tools of other networks, offers options for setting up, optimizing, and evaluating ads.
Although there have been whispers about them for a while, TikTok ads were only recently launched in Slovakia. Those who have had the chance to experience their power and uniqueness, for example, in neighboring Czechia, know that it's definitely worth considering their benefits. For the brand, for the seller, or for the product. Because social media definitely belongs to the proven tools of performance marketing, allowing you to communicate with your potential customers.
Until recently, advertising options on TikTok were only possible, for example, by buying an account with potentially suitable content, choosing an influencer, or a creative hashtag challenge. Today, TikTok has a comprehensive ad manager. And thanks to it, you can reach up to 73% of users who feel a deeper connection with brands communicating on TikTok.
Why try advertising through TikTok Ads?
Want a proven tip from an experienced agency with 27 years of practice? Be where your customers are. Your target audience. If it's B2B, start with LinkedIn, if it's people in middle and higher productive age, they scroll Instagram or Facebook in their free time. But if you're targeting millennials or Gen Z (currently 12 – 27 years old), TikTok is definitely worth a try. Currently, you'll find almost 19% of all men aged 18 – 24 there, and women are represented in the same proportion. However, beware, this doesn't mean it's a platform where you won't encounter thirty-somethings and older. According to a survey, up to 35% of people belonging to Generation X (44 years and older) bought a product just because they saw it on TikTok last year.
Besides that, the numbers TikTok Ads bring in terms of return on ad spend – ROAS – can be enticing. According to data, we're talking about a value of 11, meaning that for every euro you invest in advertising, you get 11 euros back. And that's 3.2 times higher value compared to all media.
A big advantage is that you currently have quite a free field of action. Since many brands are only considering their strategy, competition in our market in terms of TikTok advertising is just starting to grow. And when else should you make the most of it, if not right now?
How is advertising on TikTok different from other networks?
TikTok is a social network focused on video content. This is an important point to realize before you step into these waters. In other words, you can't simply add another channel to the social media tool you use and post the same post on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
However, it works the other way around. Meta is well aware of the power of video posts, and therefore it creates better conditions for reels and videos in its networks compared to classic static posts. What does this mean? That if you create a video on TikTok, you can easily recycle it on Instagram and Facebook.
And when we compare TikTok Ads and ads in the Meta network? TikTok has a clear advantage in terms of direct interaction. Examples include Brand Effect with shareable stickers, augmented reality filters, or lenses. However, you won't make a big impact here with the popular carousel ad format that generates nice numbers on Facebook. Besides, you need to realize that you must allocate a certain minimum monthly budget for TikTok Ads to even launch an ad.
What should TikTok advertising look like?
Funny. Interesting. Inspiring. Ideally viral, definitely not dry and inappropriate. Why? People primarily go to TikTok to have fun, and for example, up to 40% of millennials say TikTok helps them discover new things. TikTok Ads allow you to choose several placements where you can fully unleash your ad – directly in the feed, upon app launch, or even on an influencer's profile. All depending on the type of ad you choose.
Regarding technicalities, the video post should be in a 9:16 format with a resolution of optimally 1080 x 1920 pixels and last between 5 – 35 seconds. However, don't forget one very important element – the right choice of music and also subtitles for those who always operate in silent mode. Of course, TikTok advertising also has some restrictions. Mainly regarding content. If you want to promote alcohol, dangerous products, finance, gambling, violence, politics, or adult content, you won't make much of a splash here.
At the same time, it applies that as a brand or company, you should set your communication to be as transparent as possible. As up to 60% of users on TikTok stated, misleading and deceptive advertising is a “no go” for them.
UIČKOVSKÝ TIP: For TikTok advertising, the so-called UGC (user-generated content). is ideal. This is content created directly by people, such as testers, customers, etc. in the context of your product or service. It can be a reference, guide, tips, review, etc. The advantage of UGC is that you don't need any studio, expensive equipment, or specialists to create a professional video (lower costs). Such content is easily digestible, native, and moreover believable.
How to set up your first ad campaign on TikTok?
Do you have such video content? Then you can start advertising on TikTok immediately. Just create an account and directly in the TikTok ad management interface, you can very intuitively set up your first campaign. Ideally with three to five videos in a set, which you can optimize, turn off, or on based on results. You can easily read these from the statistics and analyses that the tool offers. Thanks to the TikTok pixel, a piece of code that you insert into your website's interface, you gain insight into further interaction on your page and can measure, optimize, and evaluate more comprehensively. The results should be getting better and better, as the TikTok pixel, like artificial intelligence tools, learns from increasing data.
TikTok Ads options and formats
You can set up TikTok advertising directly in the mentioned tool or, for example, like on Facebook, boost an organic post using the TikTok Promote button. You can target each campaign in detail and focus on the type of result you expect. The specific format should depend on who your target audience is, what budget you have, and what you want to achieve (brand building, clicks, etc.). Among the most used formats are, for example:
- In-feed video ad, where the video appears directly in the feed (after clicking on the “For You page.”
- Brand Takeover allows you to take over space right at the beginning, as your ad hits the person in a few seconds right after TikTok launches. The ad later returns to their feed.
- Hashtag Challenge still shuffles the cards on TikTok. If someone wants to have fun and be part of one of the latest challenges that have taken over this social network, just click on the “Discover Page.” That's where your original challenge can be, where you cleverly incorporate your ad. By the way, did you notice that even four-legged furry friends joined the most popular #tumbleweedchallenge?
- Augmented reality stickers – Branded AR Content, is a campaign you can use, for example, for voting or a stimulating discussion, where people express themselves using a sticker or filter.
- Custom Influencer Package is a proven way to involve an influencer in the campaign and use their profile to promote your ad.
How much does TikTok advertising cost?
TikTok advertising has a set minimum budget. This means you have to count on 20 € per day for an ad set (set of ads). At the campaign level, we're talking about almost double. So is TikTok a cheap advertising tool? No, definitely not. However, it's a very relative term when we consider the free, literally premium space without competition. Current numbers for 2024 from across the pond speak of average costs of 10 dollars per 1000 views (CPM) and 1 dollar per click (CPC).
Tips for successful TikTok advertising
Are you considering, based on the information above, whether to create an account on TikTok Ads and reach over a million Slovaks? In that case, we add several tips on how to get the most out of TikTok advertising.
- Use hooks – hooks that catch the right fish in the first few seconds, because TikTok video is also about the right timing.
- If you're used to targeting the narrowest audience possible with Meta Ads, in TikTok it's the opposite – the larger the audience, the better the performance.
- Every video, beware, even the ad, must have added value, otherwise your budget slips through your fingers.
- Connect with one of the influencers. Deciding who to approach can be difficult, but the key is to find a pearl among influencers.
- Recycle content from TikTok on other social networks as well.
- Use hashtags. They increase the visibility of the ad for the target group and are important for categorization (searchability) of individual posts. Up to 40% of Gen Z users use TikTok as a search engine because it finds more relevant content for them than Google.
Don't want to avoid beginner mistakes? Then there's a way to turn every euro invested in TikTok advertising into maximum profit. How? Contact us and we at uičko will launch your TikTok ads at rocket speed to the heights.
Sources:
- TikTok Marketing Science Global Community and Self-Expression Study (US Results) 2021 conducted by Flamingo
- TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertainment Study (Australia Results) conducted by Material, December 2021 (n=500)
- TikTok Marketing Science CPG Marketing Mix Modeling Analysis (METAP Results) conducted by Nielsen February 2022
- https://www.tiktok.com/business/library/Global_Retail_Path_to_Purchase.pdf
- https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-tiktok-ads-cost/
- https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/insights?ab_version=experiment_1
