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Ah, TikTok. It's one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet. In fact, the platform reached 755 million users in 2022. Due to its success, many brands are using TikTok to connect with users and convert them into paying customers.
Perhaps you're considering doing the same. If so, before you go and publish your first TikTok campaign, check out these tips and tricks for success.
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Sure, TikTok is popular with millions of users engaging with the platform daily. However, there are plenty of other benefits to using TikTok for advertising.
For example, TikTok allows you to take advantage of influencer marketing for your brand. Influencer marketing is an effective strategy, especially for e-commerce brands.
According to a recent study by HubSpot, 33% of Gen Z have bought a product based on an influencer's recommendation. And Morning Consult reports that 50% of Millennials trust product recommendations from influencers.
Plus, advertising on TikTok is driven by video, which is a proven content marketing medium. A report by Wyzowl found that 92% of marketers saw a good return on investment when using video as a marketing tool. Incredible, right?
It's easy to see the benefits of advertising on TikTok. However, executing a strategy using TikTok ads can seem overwhelming at first.
Luckily, our team got to sit down on our Reel It In podcast with Savannah Sanchez, the founder of The Social Savannah. Together, we discussed the winning formula for creating successful TikTok ad campaigns.
Savannah is a paid social expert with a proven track record of helping DTC brands like REVOLVE, Fabletics, BlendJet, and Dr. Squatch profitably acquire customers through campaign management and ad creative production.
With over five years of experience working as a media buyer and ad creative strategist, Savannah has become an industry leader in executing profitable paid social strategies. During our chat, she shared six effective tips for TikTok ad success. Let's dive in.
Want to skip ahead and listen to the full podcast episode for yourself? Check it out right here!
Savannah’s #1 tip? Be very detailed in your creative brief. If you use content creators, don’t assume they know how to make a great ad or understand performance creative principles.
Savannah believes it’s really on the brand to provide a very detailed brief, for example: “This is the hook we want to start with, here are the three value props we need you to list out, and end with this CTA.”
It's also critical to find the right creators in the first place. A tool like Cohley can help you connect with experienced content creators that are ready and willing to generate top-quality TikTok videos. Plus, Cohley helps you develop detailed briefs to ensure your creators know exactly what to deliver.
What makes a TikTok ad truly perform? According to Savannah, it's all about the hook. This is usually a sentence that lays out what the video is going to be about. The hook inspires your audience to keep watching, which increases the probability of them becoming interested in your products.
Savannah’s favorite hook? “Things TikTok made me buy.” Hooking your audience before you go into your problem and solution is crucial.
When creating TikTok campaigns, there are various mistakes you should avoid. According to Savannah, you should start by avoiding trends.
TikTok trends have a really short shelf life and don’t perform as well as evergreen videos in the tried and true "hook-problem-solution-ending" format. Another reason to avoid trends is that they usually accompany music, which is commonly copyrighted.
Another mistake to avoid lies in engagement. Once you publish a TikTok ad, it's important to continue engaging with your audience. For example, make sure to answer user questions in the comment section of your video.
TikTok’s main strength is top-of-funnel awareness and creating ads for people who have never heard of your product before. The video ads you create for this stage should be educational and simple, with the goal of simply making your brand known to your audience.
After developing top-of-funnel ads, Savannah recommends taking it a step further by retargeting your TikTok audience on Facebook with specific offers or more educational content to tackle purchase barriers.
Do you need to also post organically on TikTok for ad campaign success? Not necessarily. Savannah believes you can still find success with TikTok ads even if you don't have an organic presence. Oftentimes, TikTok ads aren't connected to an organic profile at all, but rather lead to a brand's website directly.
However, there is a benefit to posting organically. According to Savannah, having an organic presence on the platform provides insights into the types of videos that are resonating with your audience in-app. This insight can help you create more content that your audience will actually enjoy, watch, and share.
You can't simply post a TikTok ad, walk away, and watch the conversions roll in. For the best results, you must test your TikTok ads to determine what's working and what's falling flat.
Savannah recommends getting started by testing different variations of a video's first three seconds, or the hook. She also recommends testing the length of your videos. It's important to create iterations of what's working before you spin your wheels trying to come up with a completely new concept.
The good news is that testing tools are built right into the TikTok Ads Manager. For example, you can split-test your ads by publishing two different versions to see which one works best. As a result, you can further optimize your future campaigns.
One of the best ways to see advertising success via TikTok is by creating and utilizing user-generated content through the support of professional content creators. But how do you find creators that fit the bill?
First, you can use the TikTok platform to search for qualified creators on your own. For example, you can easily search through TikTok using keywords related to your industry. If creators are using hashtags and content related to those keywords, they will show up your search.
You can also conduct a bit of competitor research to find creators in your industry. For example, check out a competitor's TikTok page to see who's creating content about their products. You may just find a few influencers that fit what you're looking for.
Our best tip for finding creators is to utilize a content generation platform. For example, through Cohley, we work to connect you with thousands of pre-vetted content creators who can develop custom-branded videos for your TikTok ads in a matter of weeks.
If you're ready to get started with TikTok advertising, Cohley is here to help. Our platform features thousands of pre-vetted content creators and the tools you need to develop on-brand video content simply and quickly. Drive transformational value with Cohley by signing up for a consultation today.
And if you want to check out the full Reel It In episode featuring Savannah Sanchez, check it out below.