Are TikTok ads worth it?

TikTok is a rapidly growing social media platform that has quickly become one of the most popular apps in the world.

With more than a billion users globally, it’s not surprising that brands are taking notice and looking to leverage its immense reach to build their brand and grow their business.

We’ll explore why TikTok ads work and provide data and insights on the success of TikTok marketing. We’ll also look at the best ways that you can get involved and maximise your budgets to increase reach, engagement, and shareability.

Why TikTok ads work

TikTok offers you an opportunity to reach massive audiences with engaging, entertaining and immersive content. Its algorithmic feed ensures that users are served up content that they’re likely to enjoy. The platform’s short-form videos make it easy for you to create and share content that resonates with your target audience(s).

Here are some of the key reasons why TikTok ads work:

🪩 Immersive content: TikTok is all about immersive and engaging content, with users spending an average of 89* minutes per day on the platform. Its allows you to quickly capture the attention of users and communicate your message effectively.

🎯 Targeting capabilities: TikTok’s targeting capabilities are impressive and offer you the ability to target specific audiences based on their interests, demographics and behaviour. So, of course this means you can reach the right people at the right time with the right message. But, make sure the creative is designed with TikTok in mind first and foremost.

👉🏽 Native advertising: TikTok ads are seamlessly integrated into the user experience, making them feel like a natural part of the feed/scroll (unlike other platforms). This helps to increase engagement and reduce ad fatigue, ensuring that users are more likely to interact with the content #facts

📈 High engagement: TikTok’s engagement rates are among the highest of any other platform - yes higher than Instagram. With users spending an average of 4.9 minutes per session on the app, this means that you have a better chance of capturing their attention and driving engagement with your content.

🤌🏽 The massive user base: TikTok has a massive user base that is rapidly growing every day. With the majority of users aged between 16 and 35, this makes it an ideal platform for you looking to reach a younger audience. With over 1 billion monthly active users, the platform provides a huge audience for you to reach… even maybe go viral 😏

🤳🏾 User-generated content (UGC): TikTok is built around UGC, which means that users are actively creating content on the platform. You can leverage this to create authentic and engaging ads that are more likely to resonate with your target audience.

Plus, Gen Z resonate to UGC and creators more than brands directly.

📲 Viral potential: TikTok has a unique ability to make content go viral quickly. Its algorithmic feed ensures that content is served up to users who are most likely to engage with it and its makes it easy for users to share content with friends and followers.

💰 Cost-effective: TikTok ads are relatively cheap compared to other platforms, making it an attractive option if you have smaller budgets. The cost-per-click (CPC) for TikTok ads is around $0.10 (around £0.81 as of this being published), making it an affordable option for brands of all sizes.

Success of TikTok marketing

Many brands (including our clients) have already started to invest in TikTok ads and the results have been impressive.

Brands who have been leveraging the platform’s immense reach to build their brand awareness and grow their business has seen significant success.

And NO, we don’t mean;

🚫 Product pushing or selling (all the time)

🚫 What a social media manager/ marketing team have been up too (although this has a place in content)

🚫 What the team are up too in a day or week

🚫 Get ready with me (GRWM) or come to work with me

and much more.

You need to really think about the intended audiences you’re talking to, trying to reach and engage with. You also need to know why you’re using that channel, what story your telling and the creative to support it. As let’s be honest Gen Z and even Millennials don’t always care for that stuff.

Here are some examples of successful TikTok marketing campaigns:

Chipotle:

The fast-food chain (in the US) ran a TikTok campaign called #Boorito, where users could win free burritos by posting a video of themselves in a Halloween costume. The campaign generated over 3.5 billion views and helped Chipotle increase sales by 13.9%.

E.l.f. Cosmetics:

The makeup brand ran a TikTok campaign called #eyeslipsface, where users could create videos using the brand's products. The campaign generated over 5 billion views and helped E.l.f. Cosmetics increase sales by 7%.

Gymshark:

The fitness apparel brand ran a TikTok campaign called #gymshark66, where users could participate in a fitness challenge. The campaign generated over 700 million views and helped Gymshark increase sales by 150%.

📸: Chatdesk, Marketing Week and Springwise

Best ways for you to get involved and maximise your budgets

👥 Identify your target audience: Before launching a TikTok marketing campaign, it's important to identify your target audience. This will help you create ads that are more likely to resonate with your audience and increase engagement.

👍🏽 Work with TikTok creators/ influencers: Yes… this should be top of the list. Creators native to the platform have a massive and engaging followings and can help increase your brand's visibility on the platform. Consider partnering and working with the right creators and influencers who align with your brand, have similar values, ethos etc.

❗️And please don’t insult them and ask them to “work with you for free” or “send a sample” as an exchange for content. Times have moved on - respect them, their time, effort and experience they bring and pay them (if payment is needed).

💍 Create engaging content: This content needs to be designed to be short, entertaining, and highly engaging. To maximise your budget, create ads that are both informative and entertaining.

🧏🏻‍♀️ Leverage user-generated content (UGC): UGC is a great way to create authentic and engaging ads that are more likely to resonate with your target audience.

🎯 Utilise advanced targeting options: Use the advanced targeting options that allows you to reach specific audiences.

We think that by doing this you’ll have great success with launching your TikTok ads.

Are TikTok ads worth it?