Posted on
2/5/2023

How to Create Efficient Campaigns on TikTok Ads

TikTok Ads is a very useful tool that allows businesses to create advertising campaigns more efficiently, thanks to audience segmentation and ad analytics options. By running successful campaigns on this platform, companies can expand their audiences and improve their brand positioning. If you want to know how to include TikTok Ads in your marketing strategy to improve visibility and online traffic, read to the end of this article.

deux pages de navigateurs web ouvertes sur google ads et facebook ads
deux pages de navigateurs web ouvertes sur google ads et facebook ads

Key points

  • TikTok has more than 19.5m active users in Germany, making it an important showcase for brands and business relationships.
  • An effective TikTok campaign reaches the target audience, generates a high level of engagement and helps increase brand exposure, sales or any other goal of your brand cost-effectively.

There are some basic steps to creating effective campaigns, which we will describe in detail in this article.

What Are Tiktok Ads?

Since its launch in September 2016, TikTok has established itself as an important marketing tool for businesses, allowing them to reach and grow their audience more efficiently. TikTok is the sixth most-used platform in the world with more than 814m active users by the end of 2022.

It is estimated that a person spends an average of one and a half hours per day on the social network; of the 67m Germans (=95% of the total population) who use the internet, nearly 30% are logged onto TikTok, with monthly downloads more than doubling to 752,000 in January 2022. The success of the Chinese app is mainly due to the effectiveness of the social network’s algorithm, which manages to recommend the most relevant content that matches users’ interests.

Also read: Master the TikTok Algorithm

Given the enthusiasm of Internet users, TikTok decided to monetize the potential of creative creators on the TikTok app and allow advertising on the platform. Consequently, TikTok Ads was founded in 2020. TikTok Ads is a self-service tool supported by the so-called TikTok Ads Manager, which allows companies to create advertising campaigns. Advertisers can segment their audience based on various criteria such as age, location, gender and interests, then choose from different ad formats such as branded ads, in-feed ads, top view branded ads and more.

How Does TikTok Advertising Work? TikTok Business vs. TikTok Ads

TikTok Ads and TikTok Business are not the same thing, although they are closely related.

TikTok Ads is TikTok’s advertising platform, where advertisers can create and launch campaigns in the TikTok application. It allows businesses to create ads in a wide variety of formats, such as videos, images and augmented reality effects, and select their target audience based on TikTok user demographics, interests and behavior.

TikTok Business is a free tool that allows you to create a business account on TikTok for your company. This free upgrade provides businesses with analytics, statistics and advertising tools, governed by the TikTok Ads Manager, that help them grow their presence on the platform. This feature also allows brands to access the TikTok Ads platform to create and manage their ad campaigns.

How Much Does It Cost to Run Ads on TikTok?

The cost of ads on TikTok depends on a number of factors, such as campaign objective, budget, target group, etc. TikTok uses a so-called ad bidding model, in which companies set a maximum bid for cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM). The final price of the ad is determined based on the maximum bid, the relevance of the ad to the target group and the competition for ad inventory on the platform.

The lowest CPM is $0.50 per 1,000/impressions, which means brands can pay 50 cents for every 1,000 views of their ad. The lowest CPC is 0.02 cents per click.

Kolsquare Insight: We only mention the lowest value here on purpose, because prices in the industry are now also exploding on TikTok. Due to the fact that the creators of TikTok can quickly become viral, thanks to the algorithm, the rates are constantly changing – upward trend.

How Much Do Ads Cost for Campaigns or Ad Groups on TikTok?

Determining the right budget for an influencer marketing campaign on Tiktok is a challenge. Indeed, TikTok has not commented on official costs, but it is estimated that the minimum budgets for campaigns and ads are as follows:  

Campaigns:

  • Minimum daily budget: $50
  • Minimum lifetime budget: $50

Ad group

  • Minimum daily budget: $20
  • Minimum lifetime budget: Depends on the daily budget calculation multiplied by the number of days the ad is scheduled to run.

Seven Steps to Effective TikTok Advertising

An effective TikTok Ads campaign achieves the marketing goals set by the company while maximizing the return on investment. This means, for example, that the campaign reached the target audience, generated a high level of engagement, and helped increase brand awareness, sales or any other goal cost-effectively.

To achieve this type of successful advertising strategy, there are a number of essential steps, which we describe below:

1. Understand Your Audience

It’s important to know and understand your audience on TikTok. This helps brands create and promote relevant content, which resonates with the audience that has been well-defined beforehand. Knowing your audience’s demographics, interests and behaviors will help you adjust the tone of your campaigns to better resonate with your messages, increase engagement and build stronger relationships.

2. Set Up Your TikTok Ads Account

Before you directly start with your campaign, you first need to create a TikTok profile and if you have one, upgrade it to a business account. Download the TikTok app and proceed as follows:

  • Visit the TikTok Ads website: Go to the TikTok Ads website and create an account. Enter your personal information, such as name, email address and password, and then click “Sign In”.
  • Create an ads account: Once you are registered, you need to fill in the fields to create your ad account, including country/region, time zone, company name, industry, and more.
  • Set up billing information: To place ads on TikTok, you will need to set up a payment method. You can do this in the Payment Settings section of your profile. The required information may vary depending on country-specific regulations.
  • Create your ad campaign: Now it’s time. With this step, you are ready to launch your first advertising campaign on TikTok.

Please note that TikTok Ads has approval requirements for advertisers, including complying with the TikTok Ads Terms and Conditions, verifying your TikTok account and meeting the minimum ad spend set by the platform. In addition, it is advisable to have a clear marketing strategy before you start running ads on TikTok to ensure that your ads reach the right audience and achieve your desired goals.

3. What Are the TikTok Ads? Spark Ads on TikTok and Many More

TikTok offers several ad formats that are directly aligned with the goals of your ad campaign. The main formats include:

  • In-feed ads: This type of ad appears in the TikTok feed and is mixed with organic content. They can be videos of up to 60 seconds in length, which can include links to external pages. In this format, users can interact by commenting, sharing the post and following the brand’s profile.
  • TopView: These are full-screen ads that appear as soon as users open the application. The videos can be between 5 and 60 seconds long and are ideal for making a good impression and increasing brand awareness. However, it is easier for users to recognize that it is an advertisement.
  • Brand Takeover: Brand Takeovers are displayed like TopView ads in full-screen mode when users open the app and combine static or dynamic imagery, but they only see one Brand Takeover ad per day.
  • Hashtag Challenges: These are ads where brands ask followers to create content related to a specific hashtag and post it on TikTok. They are ideal for encouraging interaction with your content and increasing brand awareness. According to TikTok, this format offers an average engagement of 8.5% over the 6-day duration of the campaigns.
  • Shopping Ads: TikTok Shopping is a tool launched by TikTok in 2021 that allows businesses to upload and sell their products directly through the TikTok app. Currently, TikTok has managed to integrate various e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Square, Ecwid and PrestaShop to facilitate the sales process. To create your ads in this modality, you can choose between three formats: Video Shopping Ads, Catalog Listing Ads and LIVE Shopping Ads. Read more about e-commerce on TikTok here.
  • Spark Ads: This ad format allows businesses to promote other influencer publications, In-Feed or TopView ads.
  • Branded Effect: This format allows businesses to create effects such as filters or stickers with augmented reality to increase the visibility of their brand. They can be used as a complementary strategy to other formats or standalone.

Keep in mind that each of these formats can have a wider reach if you develop them through recognized influencers in their category. Here’s a guide to finding relevant influencers in 2023.

4. Create Engaging Ad Content

The key to creating engaging ads is to be authentic with content that shows the brand’s personality and doesn’t sound too much like advertising. Keep the content short, as short videos work best on TikTok. 15 to 30 seconds is enough to capture and hold the attention of users on this social network. Also, play with music and visual effects, and if possible, stick to the current viral trends to increase the audience’s attention. Don’t forget to add a call to action, such as a link to your website or a download direct link of your mobile app.

We also recommend TikTok content categories: These are relevant for influencer marketing campaigns.

5. Target Your TikTok Advertising Campaign

Before you target your campaign, you should determine your goals, which can range from increasing brand awareness to rising web traffic to generating conversions. With this clear information, you can better target your campaign and be more successful in getting the results you want. With TikTok Ads, you can create or exclude custom audiences; this requires you to provide information about age, gender, geographic location, behavior, interests, etc.

6. Set Your Advertising Budget, e.g. Max CPM, and Schedule for TikTok Ads

There are several factors to consider when setting the budget for a TikTok campaign, such as campaign goals, target audience, campaign duration, advertising costs and the amount of money a company is willing to invest. The platform gives you the option to choose a total or daily budget for the campaign, as well as the start and end times. They still exist, at cheap prices for content, it’s up to the influencers you choose and your price negotiation skills.

7. Measure and Optimize Your Campaign on TikTok Ads

To measure and optimize TikTok campaigns, it is important to track the results of the campaign and adjust them based on the data collected. To perform a complete analysis, you can use the TikTok Ads Manager, which allows you to adjust the parameters to be evaluated.

For optimization, you need to select the goal, either conversion, clicks or reach, which is directly related to the overall goals of your campaign. Next, you’ll choose from the bid and cost limit options in TikTok Ads, which can help you set the maximum budget for managing your ads.

First, there’s the bid limit, which lets you set a maximum amount per click (CPC), per view (CPV) or per 1,000 impressions (CPM) that you’re willing to pay for each interaction with your ad.

The cost cap, on the other hand, lets you set the average cost per result for an optimized CPM. The cost can be above and below the bid amount, but on average it should settle at the bid you set.

Finally, the lowest-cost option uses your ad group’s budget to deliver the greatest number of results possible at the lowest cost per result. This means that TikTok’s ad system uses your budget as effectively as possible to get the most results at the lowest possible cost.

About Kolsquare

Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, a data-driven solution that allows brands to scale their KOL Marketing strategies and implement authentic partnerships with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). Kolsquare’s technology enables marketing professionals to easily identify the best Content Creators profiles by filtering their content and audience, and to build and manage their campaigns from A to Z, including measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors. Kolsquare has built the largest community of influencer marketing experts in the world, and offers hundreds of customers (Coca-Cola, Netflix, Sony Music, Publicis, Sézane, Sephora, El Corte Inglés, Lacoste, …) the latest Big Data, AI and Machine Learning technologies to drive inspiring partnerships, tapping into an exhaustive network covering 100% of  KOLs with more than 5,000 followers in 180 countries on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. As a Benefit Company, Kolsquare has been pioneering Responsible Influence by championing transparency, ethical practices, and meaningful collaborations to inspire change.

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