While TikTok was known for dancing and lip syncing in its early days, the tide has now turned: Content shared on TikTok today ranges from 15-second cooking recipes to informative videos directly from the law firm as part of the #learnwithtiktok initiative. It is clear to see: the face of the platform has changed. And so the first companies are already becoming aware of the potential of the latest channel with enormous virality potential. With TikTok for Business, there is now also a suitable ad network that offers these companies incredible growth opportunities.
But is TikTok advertising really the right choice for your business? And more importantly, how exactly do you achieve a lasting effect through TikTok advertising on your target audience to increase your brand awareness and turn your goals into reality?
As an official TikTok Marketing Partner, we know TikTok advertising like the back of our hand and can now give businesses the same performance successes we’ve shown with other platforms. We know which advertising formats are made for your campaign and how your ads need to be designed and played out in order to reach your target group.
In the following paragraphs you will find everything about the chances of TikTok advertising, as well as the (not quite so) hidden potential behind the ever-popular video platform TikTok.
The history of TikTok is mixed. From a social media channel for teenagers that has been ridiculed for the time being, the video platform has steadily developed into one of the fastest-growing social media since 2018. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, in cooperation with worldwide lockdowns, led to a further, extreme increase, both in the number of users and the average daily usage time: In Europe, more than 100 million users are now swiping through the algorithm-driven video buffet!
TikTok has already gained a firm foothold in Austria as well: TikTok now has 1.5 million monthly users here. In other words, around one in five people has already downloaded the video app on their mobile phone and uses it regularly! (Source: TikTok, 2020)
But a high number of users alone does not speak for the placement of TikTok advertising. Because here one thing counts above all: quality over quantity!
“Why should I advertise on TikTok, only children use that!” is certainly one of the first sentences that comes up in a conversation about the video platform. Do you think so too? Wrong thinking!
Here you can see the breakdown of users based on their age in Austria:
– Source: TikTok, 2020
The relatively young user structure of the video platform TikTok can be seen at first glance: Around two thirds of all users are under 25 years old! This is a clear indication of a very modern, future-oriented platform, which still has a lot of development ahead of it.
It is also noteworthy that not only Millennials and Generation Z are represented on TikTok. With increasing frequency, adults of all ages and generations can also be found. 77% d users on TikTok are already of legal age!
So one thing cannot be doubted: the audience of TikTok advertising is young. However, a young target group is not directly a bad target group. Because a target group grows with its platform, just as a platform develops together with its audience.
At the time of the app launch for IOS users in 2010 (Instagram was first available in the Android app store in 2012), Instagram was primarily aimed at photographers and their community. However, it wasn’t long before a new demographic took notice of the photo app: by 2014 at the latest, teenagers aged 13-18 were populating Instagram, delighting the community with duck-faced selfies and filters. These same users are still represented on Instagram today, so that most Instagram users today are between 18 and 29 years old!
The Instagram generation has not only remained true to its platform, but also inspired other generations: from niche influencers to adult private users, the photo platform has become a popular hotspot for young people, adults and companies alike.
A similar development can also be predicted for TikTok: the video platform was discovered by young music lovers. These generate a certain buzz around the platform and thus attract the interest of older generations and companies to the medium. At the same time, these young music lovers are developing with the platform and will grow into an important, affluent target group in just a few years.
Sooner or later, TikTok advertising will become an advertising opportunity with unspeakable potential for advertisers!
Not only is the user structure of the video platform young, but so is TikTok itself. Compared to social media giants such as Facebook, Instagram and Co., TikTok is still in its infancy. The shared content comes primarily from individual users without commercial ulterior motives, the focus is on the creativity behind it. The fact that advertising is displayed between the individual videos on TikTok is currently rather a rarity.
This largely organic character leads to two important effects. First and foremost, the contents are perceived by the recipients in a completely different way: It’s about living out creativity and inspiration. This leads to high natural engagement rates and strong audience retention.
The second effect relates to the fundamental novelty of a platform and its ad network. As already mentioned, TikTok still relies heavily on creative, organic user content. Few ads have found their way onto the TikTok feed so far.
But this is exactly why your company should start looking at TikTok advertising now: it not only gives you the opportunity to act as a kind of pioneer, but also ensures that your ads are perceived with full awareness . Instead of being annoyed by the 17th ad in the Instagram feed, TikTok ads are received much more as a natural part of the TikTok feed thanks to their native placement. And that is exactly what is necessary to achieve a lasting effect on your target group.
Anyone looking for purely text-based ads or static photo ads is out of place on TikTok. TikTok advertising is all about packaging an advertising message in captivating video formats and playing it out in the right environment, namely a platform that is already exclusively based on the medium of video.
But what exactly is that supposed to mean?
To better understand the difference that the environment makes in the reception of an advertisement, let’s work through the whole thing with an example!
Imagine we want to promote the new energy drink “Blue Elk” via Facebook and TikTok. On Facebook, the most common ways to get a message across are text and image, so while a video ad would generate some level of attention, it’s out of the ordinary.
On TikTok, on the other hand, it is intended to communicate using moving images. Playing a video ad as a TikTok ad thus creates a suitable impression of the platform, much more than the same video within a Facebook ad.
In technical jargon, this type of advertising is called “native advertising”: This refers to any advertisement that integrates almost seamlessly into its editorial environment and thus gives the impression of being part of the platform itself. Due to their natural appearance, they not only inspire a higher level of trust in the recipient, but also regularly ensure outstanding engagement and click-through rates.
While on LinkedIn we mostly deal with informative content that requires concentration, content on TikTok is one thing above all: entertaining! And that not only affects the way that content is perceived, but also the time spent on the platform.
Due to the focus on games, fun and creativity, TikTok enjoys an extraordinarily long time spent by the community. On average, TikToks users spend around 73 minutes on the video platform every single day! (Source: TikTok, 2020)
No other social media platform can boast a higher dwelling time these days. For comparison, here is the average time spent on the largest social media channels in minutes:
– Source: SimilarWeb, 2020 und TikTok, 2020
With an average dwelling time of 1 hour and 13 minutes per user per day, TikTok is nowhere near as fast – making it an ideal location for your ads!
Over the next few months, this upward trend will only continue. A few days ago, TikTok announced that it was testing the possibility of sharing videos of up to 3 minutes on the platform. Once this feature is made available to the masses, expect another explosion in dwell time.
TikTok advertising is an interesting channel to reach an exciting target group in a targeted and cost-efficient manner, as well as to communicate your advertising message creatively and inspiringly. But how exactly does TikTok advertising actually look like?
One characteristic that all TikTok advertising formats have in common is undoubtedly the “video” medium. From organic content to paid ads, it’s all about the moving image.
So while you don’t have to decide on a specific medium, it’s still important to establish two key things:
It’s all about you and your goals! What do you want to achieve with the campaign? TikTok advertising distinguishes between three different categories.
Awareness campaigns are all about drawing attention to your business and increasing brand awareness. The appropriate “reach” objective ensures that your video ad is played out to as many users in your chosen target group as possible.
With consideration campaigns, you can ensure that interest in your offers increases and that recipients of the advertisement find out more about them. You can choose between three specific objectives:
With this final goal, you can target people who already know what you’re offering and would like to take immediate action. With the “conversion” objective of TikTok advertising, you can encourage recipients to take a predefined action. Here you have the free choice from registrations to direct purchases.
Which goal suits you depends of course on your specific situation and can change over time. If you have the right strategy, we will of course be at your side!
Similar to city lights, posters or advertising on public transport, TikTok advertising also offers a wide variety of formats to address your target group in different ways.
As the classic among native online ads, in-feed ads, as the name suggests, appear in the For You Feed of TikTok users. And this is exactly where the advantage lies: With the right creative design and implementation, an ad of this type can be integrated so perfectly into the For You feed that it is not perceived as such at all, but rather as organic content. Unexpectedly high engagement and click-through rates are often the result of lucky advertisers.
However, one thing to keep in mind with TikTok advertising in the form of in-feed ads: they act as a natural part of the For You feed. For this very reason, these ads must convince even more in less time. Conversely, this means: The selected video should convince within 2-3 seconds and completely captivate the recipient. Otherwise, the dreaded swipe downwards is imminent.
Together with ayoka, the Good Mood Drink, we implemented an attention-grabbing campaign under the communication conditions on TikTok: creative, fast-paced and anything but expressionless.
Sounds very engaging? It is! But all the more obvious and effective. In short, brand takeover ads are those ads that cover the user’s entire screen as soon as the app is opened and can therefore not be overlooked. Even if this alone is impressive enough, there is also the option of playing out the brand takeover campaign in the For You feed and further intensifying the effect. What they have in common is that a call-to-action link can be used to direct users to an external landing page or hashtag page within TikTok.
A special feature of Brand Takeovers is TikTok’s algorithm. It manages that every TikTok user only sees a single brand takeover per day. This way you can be sure that your ad will receive full attention.
In principle, TopView ads are relatively similar to their big brothers in brand takeovers: They take up the entire screen and thus claim all the attention for themselves. In contrast to brand takeovers, however, they do not appear directly when the app is opened, but within the first few posts in the For You Feed.
So, TopView ads combine the best of two worlds: they capture everyone’s interest while still being interpreted to some degree as part of the natural TikTok feed.
If there’s one thing the TikTok community can’t get enough of, it’s challenges. You can use this to your advantage with a branded hashtag challenge: A well thought-out strategy with a creative challenge and an exciting hashtag create the basis for the often viral effect that can enable an avalanche of user-generated content and brand awareness.
On the one hand, branded hashtag challenges spread organically through the participation of committed TikTok users. For a larger reach, however, there is also the option of placing a banner in TikTok’s Discover Feed and thus generating attention for the challenge.
With Branded Effects you have the chance to create and promote unique effects and filters, which creators can later use in their TikToks for around 10 days. Not only does it sound exciting, it is. Because that way you not only show innovation, but also achieve a new level of awareness!
Unlike Facebook, for example, where an “organic” profile is required to place ads, you don’t need your own page on TikTok. So don’t worry, to start your first TikTok campaign, you don’t have to invest a lot of time in content first.
Managing a new network can be challenging. As an experienced performance agency and multiple network partner, we are not only practiced in the strategic setup and optimization of campaigns. As an official TikTok Marketing Partner, we also have the opportunity to access completely new advertising opportunities to make your campaign a success.
Our Digital Director Stefan Teubel knows TikTok advertising from A to Z and knows exactly which screws to turn to help you achieve your goals. In an initial consultation, he will be happy to go through all the options and details with you.
With a media volume of €5,000 or more, we optimize your campaign for optimal performance. For this we create performance-driven advertising concepts with exclusive campaign objectives.
Would you like to use the potential of TikTok campaigns? You can find all information here:
Reach your customers with unique influencer videos, start with ads and get exclusive content for your own TikTok profile.
Reach your customers with unique influencer videos, start with ads and get exclusive content for your own TikTok profile.
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