TikTok Advertising Guide 2024: Types and Examples

Overview of TikTok Advertising

It didn’t take long for TikTok to become one of the largest social media platforms in the world. With over 600 million monthly active users, this tech giant continues to grow at a scale that has surpassed both Instagram and Facebook!

Because TikTok’s advertising platform is new, there are less advertisers on the platform which creates a massive opportunity to create more affordable ad campaigns which have a higher ROI than on other platforms. We've seen CPMs up to 5x cheaper on TikTok's advertising platform than on the Facebook advertising platform for the same brand. TikTok ad creative however, is quite different than ad creative you’d run on instagram, YouTube, or other channels. User generated content is the key to finding success on TikTok and spreading your brands reach.

Because TikTok’s advertising platform is new, there are less advertisers on the platform which creates a massive opportunity to create more affordable ad campaigns which have a higher ROI than on other platforms. We've seen CPMs up to 5x cheaper on TikTok's advertising platform than on the Facebook advertising platform for the same brand. TikTok ad creative however, is quite different than ad creative you’d run on instagram, YouTube, or other channels. User generated content is the key to finding success on TikTok and spreading your brands reach.

Types of TikTok Ads

TikTok offers a variety of paid advertising options. It’s important to know which types of TikTok ads are right for your business and the growth you are looking for.

In-Feed Video Ads: TikTok displays your short form video ad natively on the user’s for-you page. These 15-60 second ads blend seamlessly with the users feed, both looking and feeling like native content.

Branded Effects: Similar to Snapchat ads and Instagram ads, with TikTok’s branded effects, you can create custom stickers, AR effects, and filters. Branded effects are extremely popular across TikTok users and are a great way to engage with your audience.

Branded Hashtag Challenges: Hashtag challenges appear in the discovery page and are a great way of engaging audiences by promoting user created content. A link in the discovery page will take users to see other content with the same hashtags.

Brand Takeover Ads: A 3-5 second branded video that appears right when a user launches TikTok, and also appears in the for-you page. These can help drive traffic to either a hashtag challenge or a landing page.

TopView Ads: These are full screen video ads that can be up to 60 seconds long. They launch immediately upon opening and are a great way to guarantee reach by having no other competing content on the screen for users.‍

How to Set-Up and Launch a TikTok Ad

Step 1: Create a TikTok for Business account.
Creating a Business account will allow you to access the TikTok Ads Manager to create and manage your advertising campaigns.

Step 2: Determine your advertising goals.
Knowing your goals will help you create a campaign that is aligned with your business objectives. There are several advertising goals that you can pursue on TikTok:

Brand awareness: This goal is about increasing the visibility and familiarity of your brand among TikTok users.

‍Traffic: You can use TikTok's "Website Conversion" objective to create ads that encourage users to click through to your website. You can also use the "App Install" objective to drive downloads of your app.

‍Leads: TikTok's "Lead Generation" objective allows you to create ads that capture user information, such as email addresses or phone numbers, through a form that appears within the ad. This can be a useful way to generate leads and build your customer database.

‍Sales: If you want to drive sales of your products or services, you can use TikTok's "Conversion" objective to create ads that encourage users to make a purchase. You can also use the "Catalog Sales" objective to promote specific products from your online store.

‍Engagement: You can use the "Video View" objective to create ads that encourage users to watch your videos, or the "Page Like" objective to increase the number of followers for your brand's TikTok account.

Step 3: Choose your target audience.
TikTok allows you to target your ads based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can also use the "Lookalike Audience" feature to reach users who are similar to your existing customers.

‍Step 4: Create your ad.
Use the "Creative Lab" to create and edit your ad content. You can choose from a variety of templates and design elements to create an ad that stands out. You will need to upload images or videos and add ad copy and call-to-action buttons.

Before you submit your ad, be sure to review all of the details to ensure that everything is correct. Once you're satisfied with your ad, click the "Submit" button to submit it for review.

Step 5: Set your budget and schedule.
TikTok allows you to set a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign. You can also choose to run your ad continuously or schedule it to run at specific times.

If you select "Lifetime Budget," you will need to enter the total amount that you want to spend on your campaign over the entire duration of the campaign.
If you select "Daily Budget," you will need to enter the amount that you want to spend on your campaign each day.

TikTok requires a minimum budget of $50 for lifetime budgets and $10 for daily budgets. Be sure to set a budget that is appropriate for your advertising goals and target audience.

Step 6: Monitor your campaign's performance.
‍TikTok provides detailed analytics and reports to help you understand how your ad is performing and make adjustments as needed. For example, you may need to adjust your budget over time to optimize your campaign's performance, or you might decide to change the copy of your call-to-actions.‍

TikTok Ad Examples

We created these in-feed video ads for Ponto Footwear to promote their sustainable dress sneaker. This campaign’s primary goal was to drive conversions by getting users to a product page which was linked in the ad.

Ponto wanted to get their sustainability message across to consumers, while also creating content that felt organic and natural to the TikTok platform. We worked with influencers to create videos and then ran them as in-feed video ads.

Ponto’s CPM’s are 75% cheaper on TikTok than they are on the Facebook Ads platform.

Savor Beauty also utilizes the in-feed video ads to promote their fast-selling new skincare product: the Yuzu Lemonade Peel. Similar to Ponto, Savor Beauty used a link to drive users to the Yuzu product page, boosting the sales of the Yuzu Peel.

Using in-feed video ads, although for different target audiences entirely, both advertiser's used videos which were recorded in a way to blend in with user's native TikTok feed's. This tactic made the advertisements more engaging, prompting more views, high click through rates, and great conversion rates.‍

Influencers and User Generated Content (UGC)

Quality content is crucial to marketing and branding, and having influencers on social media channels creating and producing UGC for your brand can drive substantial conversions. Working with influencers can seem intimidating, but it is essential for TikTok advertising. Influencers can create in-feed ads, do brand takeovers, and participate in hashtag challenges to trigger engagement and build a loyal customer base. It helps you target audiences that you would otherwise pass over. Finding the right influencers in the right niche is important, and can lead to higher than average conversion rates.

TikTok advertising can help build a strong foundation for your social media advertising efforts. We’ve found that some of the most successful Instagram ad and Facebook ad campaigns utilize videos produced for TikTok ads. Having content created by influencers, as well as UGC is priceless in any social media advertising campaign. Advertising across multiple social media channels is extremely effective once you understand the basics of TikTok ads.

icepop is Here to Help

With so many different TikTok advertising options available, it can be daunting trying to decide which option is right for your business. icepop is here to take all the stress and guesswork out of the equation. Our team will work with you to create the highest quality content for your business to target the right audiences and boost your sales.

Our goal here at icepop is to maximize your return on ad-spend by creating, testing, and optimizing the most engaging ads, specifically for your business. Our team knows exactly how to tap into that gold mine of users and increase your ROI, brand awareness, and help you grow your business.