TikTok

TikTok is more than a social media platform. When users open the TikTok app, they aren't doing so to chat with friends. They go to TikTok for entertainment.

The nature of the platform's For You Page gives brands a unique opportunity. You don't need loads of followers for your content to be discovered. As long as your videos are entertaining and relevant, they find their target audience.

This is part of what makes TikTok marketing a powerful customer acquisition channel that helps brands spread awareness, build supportive communities, and drive conversions. 

While the company has faced its fair share of controversy, it’s one of the most-used social media apps in the world. As of April 2023, 44% of the US digital population uses TikTok. That means utilizing TikTok as an acquisition channel gives your brand access to over 116 million people.

That growth is backed by the user base’s strong purchasing power. TikTok’s in-app purchases amounted to nearly 500 million USD in the first quarter of 2023 alone.

After reading this blog, you’ll have all the information you need to harness that purchasing power with a winning TikTok customer acquisition strategy.

Organic TikTok customer acquisition

Open TikTok today, and you won’t be seeing many 15-second dance videos. The app’s culture has evolved significantly since its pandemic-era rise to fame. It’s still an entertainment platform, but user behavior classifies TikTok as a search engine, too. 

According to Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan (in charge of Google’s Knowledge and Information organization), “Almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search… they go to TikTok or Instagram.”

Their purchase intent and the platform’s searchability factor create a strong foundation for organic customer acquisition. 

Here’s how you can implement organic TikTok marketing content into every stage of your customer acquisition funnel:

Building awareness among TikTok's users

When it comes to building brand awareness without an established following, consider TikTok an asset. TikTok's users spend the majority of their time on the For You Page. It’s a constant stream of content cherry-picked by the algorithm. While some of the content is from creators they follow, most of it is stuff they’ve never interacted with. 

Brands can take the already insurmountable amount of reach even further by working with influencers. A steady stream of organic content is key to building a community of potential customers.

Fostering consideration with user-generated content

Value-focused content is ideal for users in the consideration stage. They’re aware of your brand— now it’s time to show what your products can do for them.

The credibility associated with user-generated content is also beneficial for nurturing familiarity into consideration. Find UGC by checking branded hashtags, account mentions/tags, and by using a social listening tool. You can also commission influencers from the TikTok creator marketplace to make native TikTok videos about your products– just remember to maintain transparency for all sponsored content. 

Inspire decisions with clear CTAs

Inspire users to make a purchasing decision by implementing clear, specific calls to action at the end of your TikTok videos. Your CTAs should be tailored to your TikTok audience. Tell your viewers exactly what steps they need to take to make a purchase. The steps will vary depending on what conversion pathway you set up. Try to make the process easy and fast. 

Strengthen your CTAs further by providing TikTok-exclusive offers like discount codes, freebies, or even a dedicated landing page designed just for your TikTok audience. 

Maintain loyalty with community management

Don’t forget about your customers once they reach the purchasing phase. Promote long-term customer loyalty through community building and customer service. Continue creating engaging content, manage customer queries from your comments and DMs, and grow customer lifetime value by releasing limited edition versions and special offers on a semi-regular basis. 

Paid TikTok customer acquisition

While TikTok ads may not be as well-established as other industry players, they still play an instrumental role in TikTok customer acquisition.

Best practices for TikTok creative

If you want a successful customer acquisition strategy on TikTok, you need high-quality, entertaining videos. The following tips can help you improve your video content:

Use the right video specs

Optimal TikTok video specs:

• Aspect ratio: 9:16
• Minimum resolution: 540x960px, 640x640px, or 960x540px.
• File type: .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, or .avi
• Max file size: 500MB
• Optimal video length: 15-60 seconds for organic videos and 9-15 seconds for paid ads.

Know your TikTok safe zones

Safe zones are the areas where your content is displayed on screen, unobstructed by any buttons or sidebars. Be mindful of the safe zones to ensure all valuable content is clearly visible.

Be strategic with your TikTok video structure

Here’s a common product-focused TikTok video structure:

• Hook: Give your viewers a reason to stick around by showing them what they can expect if they watch your video to completion. One way to do this is by teasing your solution.
• Problem: Empathize with a problem they face.
• Your solution: Show viewers an easy solution in action. 
• CTA: Tell your viewers what to do next.

This structure can go full-on infomercial, leaning into the cheesy vibe for comedy, or it can follow a subtler approach. Some brands like to break the fourth wall in an effort to prove authenticity. 

Be genuine, even with ads

Life hacks are all over TikTok for a reason– they appear genuine and actually useful. This is the connotation you want to replicate with your content. You understand the viewer’s unique problem and have a solution to make their lives easier. 

Whether you’re making an organic video or an ad, follow the native TikTok format and design your content to fit the app’s unique culture. Basically, create your TikTok ads as you would any product-focused TikTok video. 

Use engaging features

Use all the features TikTok has to offer. Trending sounds, voiceover, closed captions, on-screen text, jump cuts, effects, colors, filters, and the like are all scroll stoppers that keep your audience engaged.

Remember intellectual property

Be mindful of any intellectual property used in your ads. IP boundaries are muddy on TikTok, but disputes currently in the works should be taken as a warning sign to brands using other users’ original audio for advertising purposes. 

Further reading: Check out our blog post “How to Nail Your TikTok Ad Creative”.

What products are TikTok ads best for? TikTok Advertising product alignment

TikTok ads are ideal for products that meet a need or solve a specific problem. Communities on TikTok are more niche than on other platforms. Organic hashtag research can lead to subcultures that align with your target audience.

The question is less "Are my target customers using TikTok" and more "What content do I need to put out to find them?" 

Your TikTok ads should visually represent your product's value proposition. This is one place where partnering with creators can change the game, as they are typically skilled at producing native videos that entertain while showing off your product's value.

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How to structure TikTok ad campaigns for customer acquisition

TikTok ads follow the campaign<ad group<ad structure. Brands can differentiate campaigns by objective, product, destination (app, website, or brick-and-mortar store), budget, offer, etc. Ad groups are a way to organize creatives. 

To get the most out of your ad spend, consider only displaying your ad in the TikTok feed. Include at least 3-5 unique, active ad groups per campaign and 2-3 unique creatives per ad group. When posting your creatives, uncheck the video download feature to keep your video from being saved and reuploaded by another account. 

Read this blog next: Every TikTok Ad Format You Need to Know and How to Use Them

How long does it take to test and validate TikTok ads?

The TikTok testing period can last 1-2 months. It takes time to gather enough conversion data to identify performance patterns. Factors that impact the testing period length include:

• The conversion event
• Sales cycle length
• Audience behavior

If your optimization goal is conversions, TikTok recommends not making any changes to the targeting, bid, or budget before it passes the learning phase. This type of ad group typically exits the learning phase after 50 conversions. Post learning phase, keep your budget within 20-50% of the previous budget. 

How much does TikTok customer acquisition cost?

Here is the average cost of TikTok customer acquisition (TikTok CAC) according to Business of Apps:

• Average TikTok engagement rate: 5-16%
• Average TikTok Ads CPM: $10
• Average TikTok Ads CPC: $1
• Minimal spend per campaign: $500

TikTok advertising budget best practices

Make the most of your TikTok advertising budget by adhering to the following recommendations:

• Use automatic bidding, as manual bidding is too susceptible to spend volatility. Opt for manual bidding only when you have a specific window of time during which your ads should run.
• Leave your campaign budget open.
• Daily budgets for campaigns must be greater than  50 USD
• Daily budgets for ad groups must exceed 20 USD. 
• If you select Daily Budget for the campaign, you have to select daily budget in the ad group. If you select lifetime budget for a campaign, you can choose either lifetime budget or daily budget at the ad group level. 
• When choosing a Bid Cap or Cost Cap bidding strategy, set your budget to be at least 20 times the CPA. 
• Use app Event Optimization to run app installs. Keep your AEO budget over $100, covering at least 20 times the targeted deep conversion CPA.
• When running conversion campaigns, select conversion as the optimization goal and Lowest Cost as the bid strategy. The initial budget should be 20 times the target CPA minimum. 

Delivery types: standard vs accelerated 

Standard delivery spends the budget as evenly as possible throughout the ad period. This method prevents leftover balance and optimizes the return. 

Accelerated delivery spends the budget in whatever way produces as many results as possible in the shortest period possible. This can result in a higher or lower fluctuating cost for a single result, but the average cost will still align with your bid. Accelerated delivery aims to get the highest exposure as quickly as possible. 

Measuring TikTok CAC (customer acquisition cost) ROI

While dividing the total ad campaign cost by the number of new customers acquired is the most effective way to measure ROI for a conversion campaign, brands can also measure the impact of their ads by calculating the difference between the view time per impression and the view time per viewer. The bigger the difference between these, the more people are rewatching the ad. 

Step up your TikTok Customer Acquisition with MarinOne

MarinOne’s TikTok integration gives advertisers better insights and improved performance for their TikTok campaigns. 

Powerful analytics and advanced optimization enable you to run better reports, compare TikTok ads with other paid social campaigns, customize KPIs, automate bidding according to your campaign goals, respond to external signals with custom bid modifiers, refine messaging with search intent targeting, and more.

Jumpstart your TikTok customer acquisition with MarinOne today.

TikTok is quickly becoming a popular choice for e-commerce advertising, as evidenced by its high number of monthly active users and downloads. With more than 1.7 billion monthly active users and three billion downloads, it has surpassed other popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Telegram, Reddit, Pinterest, and Snapchat. 

As its reach and popularity continue to grow, so does the interest in advertising on the platform. For e-commerce retailers looking to build a strong marketing strategy, including TikTok ads for e-commerce should be a consideration. For inspiration for your next campaign, let’s take a look at some of the best TikTok ads of all time, and what has made them so successful. 

Common features of the best TikTok ads

Understanding the essential components that constitute a well-optimized TikTok advertisement can help your ad attract more views. These features will help you get more views:

Clear messaging

As a fast-paced platform, on TikTok, users tend to scroll through their feeds quickly, which means that you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. To do so, craft a clear message that will resonate with them quickly and encourage them to take action. Without a clear message and a single, unambiguous objective, your ads simply won't make an impact. 

Create your ads with eye-catching visuals that are high quality and relevant to your product or service. Additionally, they should be optimized for mobile viewing to ensure the best user experience. 

Entertaining and engaging, never boring

TikTok can be a marketing powerhouse for capturing the attention of millions of users. However, since the platform is saturated with endless videos, entertainment, and other content, you need to create ads that are entertaining and engaging if you want to stand out. Aim to make your ads fun, creative, and memorable. Your ad should evoke emotion and create a connection with the user, making them more likely to share it with others.

TikTok videos are short—most are between 60 seconds and three minutes—but the most effective ads are often much shorter. To leave a lasting impression, get your message across quickly and effectively without wasting any time.

Use of TikTok influencers and creators

TikTok influencers can help direct high-quality, loyal traffic towards your brand, so collaborating with them can be an effortless approach to gaining brand recognition. In fact, collaborating with creators to produce TikTok-specific branded content generates 65% higher 2-second view rates and increases engagement by 83%.  

Using branded hashtag challenges, influencers and creators can enhance your brand’s visibility without hard-selling. Influencers and creators are also often sought after because of their ability to connect with their audience in an authentic way. Make sure, however, that the influencer or creator you choose truly aligns with your target audience. 

Selection of the right ad type 

To achieve success with your TikTok ad campaigns, it's important to understand the unique advantages and disadvantages of each ad format. Once you’re familiar with the six different options, you can determine which one will work best for your specific goals and audience so you can maximize your results on TikTok:

In-feed ads

In-feed ads are very similar to watching stories that you see on Instagram or Facebook, except they happen to be embedded in the “For You” feed. These ads are skippable for users and they have a maximum length of 60 seconds, but 9–15 seconds is optimal. However, you can include multiple CTAs (calls to action) to prompt users to click on the ad.

Brand takeover 

When a brand takeover ad is displayed, it appears immediately after the app is opened, as either a static image for 3 seconds or a 3–5 second video without audio. While this ad type can give you quick traction, it’s more expensive than the others. 

TopView ads

TopView ads consist of 60-second videos that play automatically as soon as the user opens the app. This ad type and its strategic placement ensures that viewers will be exposed to your ad, making it a dependable and efficient method for connecting with your intended audience.

Spark ads

Spark ads are a unique ad format that allows brands to target their audience with customized ads tailored to their interests. They consist of a single image or short video clip that can be used to showcase a product or service. However, what sets Spark ads apart from other ad formats is that they're displayed in a user's "Following" feed, which makes them feel less intrusive and more organic.

Branded hashtag challenge

The hashtag challenge ad format is unique to TikTok and promotes user-generated content. The audience is prompted to generate themed content that features the designated branded hashtag, which is subsequently compiled on a hashtag challenge page. In addition, these challenges yield an average engagement rate of 8.5% and provide creative direction to brands interested in participating.

Branded effect 

Comparable to Snapchat lenses and Instagram filters, these brand-sponsored visual effects compliment hashtag challenges. They can be found on the first page of the effects panel, and remain there for 3 days. 

Winning TikTok ad examples and why they work

e.l.f Cosmetics

To reach their relevant audiences on the platform and improve conversion rates, e.l.f. Cosmetics used an in-feed ad. The video they created was entertaining and genuine and successfully illustrated the brand’s personality while advertising products in an engaging and professional format. 

Why it worked

The beauty brand heightened awareness and brand recognition by ensuring their video was appealing while simultaneously highlighting their brand, making it clearly visible in the beginning and ending frames. 

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Aerie

The intimate apparel brand, Aerie, achieved TikTok success by leveraging in-feed ad campaigns alongside branded hashtag challenges. Most recently, they became the first to experiment with TikTok's Dynamic Showcase Ads (DSA), and were able to increase conversions through personalized advertising. 

Why it worked

With DSA, consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands can advertise thousands of products with minimal effort spent on creative production. By using dynamic ads on TikTok, not only did Aerie automate their advertising efforts, but they significantly increased conversions and freed up time for more strategic initiatives.

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KIND

In just 24 hours, KIND's hashtag challenge generated a staggering 20 million views. In their effort to promote their Simple Crunch Bars, the snack brand giant gave users the chance to win a flight to New York along with a year’s worth of KIND products in exchange for posting videos about the bar’s loud crunch. 

In conjunction with user videos, KIND strategically positioned influencers to create sponsored posts. By collaborating with Zach King, for example, the brand gained a record 1.7 million likes and more than 18k shares. 

Why it worked 

KIND’s campaign was successful because it tailored its messaging to reach Gen Z by using influencers to promote their product. In addition, KIND encouraged video shares by giving their intended audience a motivational incentive, one that guaranteed a trip and some free products. Who could turn that down? 

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Garnier

Garnier turned to TikTok to promote a new line of vegan hair care products to its Gen Z and millennial target audience. Using a branded hashtag challenge combined with a 2-D branded effect, they enabled users to test the product line by creating a before-and-after transition video. 

In addition, Garnier tapped influencers to help push their brand further in conjunction with a One Day Max in-feed ad and a TopView Lite. A subcategory of TopView ads, TopView Lite ads include a 3-5 second-long video with no sound. To top off their efforts, the brand compiled a mash-up of the best user-generated videos, which they later promoted through Brand Premium In-Feed Ads.

Why it worked

Using a mix of different TikTok ad formats, Garnier was able to reinforce their brand’s message and appeal to their audience. Encouraging a viral challenge also allowed their users to become a central part of Garnier’s bigger story, helping the brand gain more traction. 

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Netflix

To gauge the attention of users for a new release titled “Sing On! Germany,” Netflix launched a TikTok ad campaign that would increase awareness. They used a Branded Effect paired with a Hashtag Challenge that enabled target viewers to participate in a virtual karaoke booth. Using this strategy, Netflix was able to incentivize submissions, and in turn, improve engagement levels. 

Why it worked

Netflix promoted the Branded Effect through influencer marketing and by using tunes from iconic songs that got users to sing along. Because so many people were able to use the filter and emotionally connect with classic tunes, the campaign became wildly popular and generated over 600m total video views.

Create a revenue-driving strategy with MarinOne’s TikTok advertising experts

To create a winning TikTok ad campaign, it’s important to analyze what aspects successful ones got right. Pay close attention to the various approaches used, identify successful hooks, and note which influencers generate the most engagement so you can determine how to establish a connection with your own target audience. 

If you’re ready to begin your TikTok advertising strategy, MarinOne is here to help. Our TikTok advertising pros will advise you in creating trendy, on-brand TikTok ads that work for your business and industry.

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To grow your business with TikTok, contact us today. 

In an unprecedented global frenzy, businesses across the planet are plunging headfirst into the vibrant realm of TikTok advertising. In the heart-pounding first half of 2022, titans of industry like Amazon and HBO claimed the throne as TikTok's most monumental advertisers, with a jaw-dropping investment of $22.5 million and $19 million respectively, as per Statista's report.

Curious about why they're all flocking to TikTok? The answer's simple yet exhilarating: TikTok is a colossal coliseum of brand exposure and skyrocketing sales, buzzing with over a staggering billion monthly active users!

The introduction of TikTok for Business and Ads Manager has been a game-changer, simplifying the route for brands to zero in on their target audience in this dazzling social media universe. The plot thickened when TikTok forged a groundbreaking alliance with Shopify, unlocking a new realm of marketing possibilities for e-commerce and retail.

For small businesses, TikTok is akin to a treasure-laden galleon. A whopping 78% of SMBs proudly attest to harvesting a positive return on investment (ROI) from their foray into TikTok advertisements. Are you ready to discover the secret sauce of the best-performing ads on TikTok and sharpen your strategies to surpass all expectations and reap an extraordinary ROI? Let's dive right in.

Revealing the Magic of High ROI-Generating TikTok Ads

Let's first unveil the TikTok ad formats leveraged by brands:

- TopView Ad

- In-Feed Ad

- Brand Takeover Ad

- Dynamic Showcase Ad (DSA)

- Video Shopping Ads (VSA)

- Deeplink Ad

- Branded Effect

- Branded Hashtag Challenge

- Spark Ad

Surprisingly, the dark horse, Spark Ads, despite being last on our list, claims a staggering 157% higher view-through rate compared to the typical In-Feed Ads. Yet, the crown for the highest click-through rate (CTR) belongs to TopView adverts, with a phenomenal 12–16% among all other TikTok advertising variants.

Knowledge of the different TikTok ad types is just the first stage of this thrilling journey. To truly unravel the power of TikTok advertising and catapult your ROI to unseen heights, it's time to master the art and science of maximizing the efficacy of your TikTok ads.

Master the Art of TikTok Advertising to Skyrocket ROI

Mastering the art of TikTok advertising - and it is as much art as science - boils down to a few foundational best practices.  Let’s dive into each of those best practices and find the best way to maximize return on your investment in TikTok advertising.

Know your audience

Who are you aiming to captivate with your riveting TikTok ads?

"Unlocking the magic of TikTok marketing commences with pinpointing your dream customer," advises Ryan Hammill, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ancient Language Institute. "You must craft an intricate, quasi-fictional avatar of your ideal consumer to meticulously align your marketing efforts with the right individuals. This involves sketching out an in-depth portrait of your target demographic, complete with their preferences, quirks, and tendencies."

To resonate with the core ethos of your most valued consumers and delve into their TikTok behavior, Hammill prescribes taking into account the following multifaceted aspects:

- Age

- Gender

- Income

- Lifestyle

- Personality traits

- Aspirations

- Interests, and more.

While TikTok reigns supreme as the quintessential social media marketing hotspot for Gen Zers, the scales are slowly tipping. The echo of Millennials and Gen Xers footsteps is growing louder, as they make their presence felt on the platform. As of 2021, a significant 36% of TikTok's audience fell within the 35–54 age bracket, a notable leap from 2020's 26%.

Beyond this demographic dimension, you should also uncover your audience's expectations from your brand. Could it be a tantalizing discount they seek? Observe how The Farmer’s Dog brilliantly wooed American dog owners with a Spark ad, promising an irresistible 60% off.

Ensure your ads shine a spotlight on the most relevant content, meticulously curated to cater to the distinct desires and needs of your TikTok audience.

Join Forces with Influencers

TikTok reveals a mind-boggling statistic - advertisements born out of a dynamic synergy between brands and influential content creators boast a staggering 91% higher six-second view rates. Moreover, these fruitful partnerships trigger a 27% leap in ad recall. 

Consider Babbel's strategic move, who tapped into the enormous popularity of Ben Hanlin, a TikTok sensation with a thriving community of over 1.3 million followers. He regaled his audience with his journey of mastering a new language with Babbel, painting a vivid picture of his expeditions in foreign lands.

Why not chart your own course and craft a robust influencer marketing strategy for TikTok? Identify and connect with influencers whose ethos aligns with your brand. 

Take the innovative example of SearchKibble, a search engine provider with a heartwarming mission - feeding shelter animals with every search. They partnered with powerhouse influencers who share a deep bond with their pets, such as Moca Cho Dien and Mason Glasco, boasting 8.9M and 6.6M TikTok followers respectively. These influencer collaborations propelled SearchKibble to phenomenal success, with a ROI of 2.3x, over 273,000 views, and a staggering 954,000 impressions.

Let's not forget Michael Kors' ingenious back-to-school campaign. By harnessing the power of Spark Ads to promote influencer content, they struck gold. The campaign reached an awe-inspiring 8.3 million people, amassing a whopping 58 million impressions.

Incorporate a Powerful Call-to-Action (CTA)

A compelling call-to-action woven into your TikTok ad could be the catalyst that drives a tsunami of clicks and conversions. As per TikTok's insightful research, advertisements that incorporate on-screen text and a crystal-clear CTA are 55.7% more likely to steal the spotlight with increased impressions compared to those that abstain from text.

The TikTok Ads Manager is your secret weapon, allowing you to concoct Recommended and Dynamic CTAs:

• Recommended – Cherry-pick a suggested CTA from an array of options on the drop-down list.
• Dynamic – Craft a versatile collection of CTA texts, primed to present the most fitting message to each TikTok user who lays eyes on your advertisement.

A sterling example is PepsiCo Australia's masterstroke of deploying a 'Learn More' CTA button in their Brand Takeover ad. On the very first day, the campaign's CTR hit a blistering 24%. Overall, they reaped a solid 17% CTR and accumulated a staggering 10M+ impressions.

Harness the Power of Hashtags

Hashtags are the unsung heroes of social SEO on TikTok. Long used on other platforms, many TikTok advertisers have not yet caught on to the effectiveness of hashtags on this platform. Savvy advertisers see this as a golden opportunity to expand their reach on TikTok. Hashtags serve as a beacon, guiding each user to their perfect ad match.

"To catapult your brand reach and ignite engagement, concoct a potent cocktail of trending and niche-specific hashtags," advises Carson Lang, Co-Founder and COO of Test Prep Insight. "If we were to promote ourselves, we'd sprinkle niche hashtags like #LSAT, #LSATexam, #LSATexpert, #LSATprepcourse, #lawschooladmission, #lawschoolexam, and trending ones like #lawyersoftiktok, #examprep, and #study."

As for the number of hashtags to feature, TikTok hasn't set a definitive cap, but a 100-character limit for the caption provides guidance.

For hunting down the most impactful hashtags, Lang suggests: "The Trending section on TikTok is your treasure map to the most popular hashtags. Alternatively, hashtag tracking tools like Tiktokhashtags or TikBuddy can also serve as valuable aids."

One fashion and beauty brand, Isle of Paradise, hit a home run with their custom hashtag #WakeUpandGlow in their Spark Ads to amplify brand awareness and promote their Glow Drops.

Their ad campaign returned a dazzling 500% ROI and an impressive 68% weekly revenue uptick.

Unleash Your Brand Power

Branded elements, from stickers to hashtag challenges on TikTok, can elevate your brand's presence and etch your name in the minds of potential customers. Dress your content in your brand's unique style to amplify visibility on TikTok, reel in new customers, and skyrocket sales.

We love the example of how ASOS exemplified this. The company devised an engaging Branded Effect and Branded Hashtag Challenge dubbed #AySauceChallenge. They strategically promoted this content through In-Feed and TopView ads, sparking their audience's creativity to showcase their favorite outfits. This clever initiative culminated in an astounding 488,000+ UGC videos and over 1.2 billion video views in a mere six days.

Even LG Electronics tapped into the power of a Branded Hashtag Challenge with their #lifeisgooddance and complemented it with a unique Branded Effect. This combination supercharged their brand visibility, generating 100M+ total ad impressions, 7B+ video views, and 2M+ video creations.

Don't Craft Ads – Create TikToks

TikTok echoes this mantra time and time again.

Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games, emphasizes: "TikTok is defying the norms of traditional advertising. It's critical to embrace a revolutionary approach to advertising on TikTok. Break the mold, infuse fun into your content, don't shy away from humor, and create awe-inspiring TikToks."

According to Hanson, your TikTok ads should be:

- Concise (9–15 seconds)

- Engaging

- Authentic

- Entertaining

- Immersive

- Fun-filled

- Creative

To hit the bullseye with your TikTok ad creation, incorporate high-quality videos/images. Moreover, use an eye-catching hook (like a catchy sound, vibrant color, meme, trigger word, or other TikTok tactics) within the first three seconds to outshine the mundane.

Consider how Itsu seized attention with contrasting colors in their In-Feed ad.

Automate, Analyze, and Amplify

Why not simplify the process and engineer automated, easily scalable campaigns? Consider using MarinOne + TikTok for Business to steer your campaigns and glean reports automatically with minimal effort. Plus, with creative A/B testing and advanced optimization, you can smartly allocate your budget and anticipate the impact of your TikTok ads.

TikTok Sales Funnel Strategies: Pro Tips (Amir Farrokhi) 

Acquisition strategy 

Influencer marketing on TikTok has proven to be incredibly effective in reaching and engaging with the platform's active user base, particularly for discovery and acquisition purposes.

The effectiveness of influencer marketing on TikTok stems from influencers' ability to build trust and credibility among their followers. These influencers have amassed large followings and possess the skills to create engaging and authentic content that resonates with their audience and, if chosen wisely, with your brand's target audience. When collaborating with TikTok influencers for acquisition, it is crucial to select individuals whose content aligns with your brand and target demographic. Seek influencers who hold a strong presence in your industry or niche and whose followers match your desired demographics. By partnering with influencers, you can leverage their existing fan base and tap into their influence to promote your products or services. When influencers recommend or endorse a brand or product, their followers are more likely to take notice and consider making a purchase.

The content produced by influencers for your product or service can take various forms, such as product/service reviews, unboxings, tutorials, challenges, or simply incorporating your brand into their entertaining videos.

Retargeting

Pixel Implementation: Install the TikTok Pixel on your website or app to track user behavior and capture relevant data. The pixel enables you to build Custom Audiences based on specific actions taken by users on your digital properties.

Define Retargeting Segments: Analyze the actions and behaviors of your website visitors or app users to segment them into different retargeting groups. For example, you can create segments based on users who abandoned their carts, visited specific product pages, or engaged with specific content.

Create Custom Audiences: Utilize TikTok's ad platform to create Custom Audiences based on the defined retargeting segments. Upload your customer lists, sync with your app data, or utilize pixel data to create these audiences.

Develop Engaging Ad Content: Craft compelling ad content specifically tailored to each retargeting segment. Personalize the messaging and creative elements to resonate with the audience's previous interactions with your brand.

Frequency Capping: Set frequency caps to control the number of times your retargeting ads are shown to users. This ensures that the ads don't become overwhelming or repetitive, leading to ad fatigue.

Ad Sequencing: Consider creating a sequence of ads to tell a story or provide additional information to users who have previously engaged with your brand. This sequential approach can help reinforce your messaging and drive higher engagement and conversions.

Continuous Optimization: Regularly monitor the performance of your retargeting campaigns on TikTok. Optimize your ads, adjust bids, and refine your targeting to ensure maximum effectiveness and return on ad spend.

Retention

User generated content(UGC) campaigns on TikTok can be highly effective in engaging and retaining your existing user base while also attracting new users. UGC campaigns involve encouraging TikTok users to create content related to your brand, products, or services.

Here are some key steps and considerations for implementing a successful TikTok retention strategy using UGC campaigns:

Create a Branded Hashtag: Develop a unique and memorable hashtag that represents your brand or campaign. This hashtag will serve as a rallying point for users to participate in the UGC campaign.

Define Campaign Goals: Clearly outline your campaign objectives and what you hope to achieve with the UGC campaign. It could be increasing engagement, generating user testimonials, showcasing product experiences, or fostering a sense of community.

Promote the Campaign: Spread the word about your UGC campaign through various channels. Utilize your social media platforms, email newsletters, website banners, and other marketing channels to inform your existing users about the campaign and encourage their participation.

Incentivize Participation: Offer incentives to users who participate in the UGC campaign. This could include giveaways, exclusive discounts, or featuring selected user-generated content on your official TikTok account or other marketing channels.

Showcase User-Generated Content: Regularly feature and highlight the best user-generated content on your TikTok account. This recognition can motivate participants and encourage others to join in. Consider creating compilation videos or showcasing individual content creators to amplify their impact.

Engage and Interact: Respond to user-generated content, comments, and messages to foster a sense of community and connection. Engaging with your audience shows that you value their contributions and encourages ongoing participation.

Continuously Refresh and Evolve: Keep the UGC campaign fresh and exciting by periodically introducing new themes, challenges, or opportunities for users to contribute. This helps maintain user interest and engagement over time.

Measure and Analyze: Monitor the performance and impact of your UGC campaign. Track metrics such as engagement rates, reach, and user sentiment to assess the effectiveness of the campaign and make necessary adjustments.

Turbocharge Your ROI with TikTok Ads

TikTok's reign in social media marketing is indisputable. The platform is revolutionizing business advertising in breathtaking ways. By harnessing the potent TikTok advertising techniques shared in this article, you can fuel positive ROI, sharpen your competitive edge, and smash your marketing objectives.

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Cut down your efforts and ramp up results with MarinOne's automated solutions and analytical tools.

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Rachel Melegrito is a guest contributor to Marin Software.

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Influencer marketing, which includes businesses collaborating with influencers, is a powerful strategy for brands to broaden their social media reach. It's growing in popularity– over three-quarters of US marketers will employ influencer marketing in 2022. Influencer marketing initiatives are not one-size-fits-all. Much depends on your specialty, goals, and the pool of influencers in your audience. With the right strategy and approach, influencers can help any business reach its marketing objectives.

What exactly is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy in which companies collaborate with influencers (also called content creators) to promote a product, service, or brand. The influencer creates and distributes material about the brand or product, and the business compensates them with cash, free items, or both. Typically, businesses will supply the influencer with whatever product they will be featuring on their platform. To guarantee the influencer will post about your product, you’ll have to pay according to their sponsorship rate sheet. Reach, traffic, engagement, and conversions are the most common influencer marketing KPIs.

The first type of influencer marketing was celebrity endorsements. Social media content creators with highly engaged specialized audiences may now provide more value to marketers than superstars with large but generic followings. This is because social followers find social content producers relevant, trust their suggestions, and are committed to exhibiting their support.

How to plan an influencer marketing campaign

Here are the stages to launching a successful influencer program for your company.

Establish your objective

Like any effective marketing plan, the first step is to define your objectives. Defining your goals for influencer marketing can help you develop a practical approach throughout your campaign. It will also assist you in understanding the metrics you should follow to determine the effectiveness of your campaign.

Below are some good influencer marketing objectives to consider:

• Boosting brand recognition
• Increasing your fan base
• Raising engagement and generating leads
• Increasing your sales and conversions
• Boosting brand loyalty
• Link building for SEO

Understand who you're attempting to reach

A successful influencer marketing strategy requires reaching the right people with the appropriate tools and influencers at the right time. Create audience personas to better understand who you're attempting to target with your campaign. Outline specifics regarding your target audience, such as:

• Chronological age
• Optimal spending habits or comfort level (if you want to drive sales with your campaign)
• Their pursuits
• Geographic location
• Where they spend their time online.

You have to know your target audience to know which influencers they engage with. The influencer must be relevant to your target audience– otherwise, you’re throwing money down the drain. 

Recognize the guidelines

Before implementing an influencer marketing plan, you must first grasp the guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission establishes those rules in the United States. Transparency is key here. Influencers must also be aware of sponsored content requirements, and they frequently fail to do so. Or the influencer may make the revelation of their sponsorship delicate and partly buried. The restrictions for advertising vary widely by nation, so verify them. The sponsorship must be disclosed to the audience with clarity. Social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube are simplifying this by adding features that identify a sponsored post as such. 

Consider the three Rs of power

These three factors determine influence:

Relevance

The appropriate influencer for your campaign shares content about your industry and company, and their target audience must be similar to yours.

Reach 

Reach is the number of individuals who could see your material through the influencer's audience base.

Resonance

The influencer's potential degree of engagement with an audience that resonates with your brand is referred to as resonance.

Influencers to be considered

The key to a successful collaboration with influencers is trust. Whoever you collaborate with must have your audience's confidence and respect. Without authentic content, your influencer marketing campaign is unlikely to achieve the desired marketing objectives.

The best approach to tell if a prospective influencer is trustworthy is to look at their engagement and the feedback they already receive from their followers in the form of comments, direct messages, likes, and shares. Socialblade is a great tool for doing a closer analysis of each influencer with which you are considering collaboration. To ensure that you are hiring the most trustworthy and reputable influencers, you may consider partnering with a reputable event staffing agency that specializes in influencer marketing. This could provide you with a wider pool of qualified prospects, allowing you to make an informed decision.

Conduct your research

Your study does not end with creating a shortlist. Before signing any contracts, there are a few more steps to solidify the success of your campaign. Determine how frequently your potential influencer uploads paid material. If they share a lot of sponsored posts, their engagement rate may be lower than what you would like. 5% engagement is generally considered healthy, so keep that in mind as a general rule of thumb. 

Keep the influencer's posting schedule in mind when considering the content you'll want the influencer to share. Any influencer strategic about their approach is very cautious about what promote and when. So if you ask them to share too many pieces of promotional content in a short period, the influencer will reject your offer (or their compensation expectations will increase dramatically).

Reach out privately 

Invading a potential influencer's DMs and asking for collaboration right off the bat may not be the best method to start a relationship. It can sometimes be perceived as too forward and even a bit tacky, so do your best to navigate the start of the connection with care and professionalism. Don't get me wrong: it may be effective to reach out cold, but there are other communication methods for planting seeds that lead to longer-lasting partnerships. Influencers accustomed to working with brands often list an email in their bio for this purpose. Start by engaging with the influencer’s content...Enter their direct messages after establishing an authentic interest in them as an individual and an interest in supporting their content.

Create great content in collaboration with your influencer

A social media influencer who has worked hard to build their brand would refuse any offer that jeopardizes their integrity. So it's better to offer some rules/guidelines on what you want but leave the actual content creation process to them. Content creators know what their audiences resonate with. They can also spot what will be an immediate turnoff. Best practices are to offer talking points and guidelines that the influencer can work into their native content however they see fit.

Analyze your outcomes

When you begin your influencer marketing campaign, the number of likes and comments on your branded content may overwhelm you, especially if your influencer has a significant following. These are vanity metrics that don't accomplish anything for your brand. You must calculate your actual return on investment (ROI) to determine the value of your campaign.

Even though users who engage with the sponsored content might not purchase right away, they are now aware of your brand and have started their journey to becoming a customer. Getting them to follow you or visit your website opens that door.

And even if they don't follow your account, your product will come to mind when a need arises. They can revisit the influencer's post to find the link and make a purchase. That's the power of influencer marketing-- an influencer's audience trusts their recommendations. If a follower needs something, they use the influencer's recommendations to make their purchasing decisions.

After running a successful sponsorship, consider pulling the influencer's content and posting it to your own account as a paid ad. This maximizes the value and ROI of the partnership and allows you to reach segments of your target audience that are not already following the influencer, but that would still benefit from the influencer's content.

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It's no secret that users on social media are scrolling through their feeds for much more extended periods. In 2022, social commerce sales in the United States are expected to reach $45.74 billion, with more than half of the nation's adults purchasing directly on the social media platform of their choice. 

With such robust behavior data, brands must have an omnipresent presence across social media platforms to take advantage of these trends. Recent studies indicate that the majority of significant brands plan on increasing their social commerce investments in 2022.

Get a quick look into emerging social commerce trends for 2022 and how they can help you grow your brand's sales, marketing, and profits. Continue reading and discover key trends that have shaped social business over the past few years and what you should do in 2022. 

What Is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is a part of e-commerce and refers to consumers' shopping experience on a social network. In other words, social commerce is selling products through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Social buying is a growing trend within the US and is becoming more popular worldwide. It's estimated that social commerce will grow to $79.64 billion by 2025 in the US. Although that may be a very healthy number for the market overall, marketers still have a long way ahead of them if they want to succeed on the individual brand level.

Brands can utilize various techniques in this space to take advantage of impulse purchase decisions and consumer FOMO. The major players in social media like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have optimized the buying experience by reducing friction throughout the buyers' journey within the platform.

Social Commerce Trends

One of the most inherent benefits of social media marketing is how quickly it can change and adapt to new consumer trends. Text-based updates have been replaced by more visual, transient content on social media platforms in the last two decades. Companies can draw on their strengths historically to determine how they approach social commerce now. Think of it as an opportunity to present the same brand messaging that has worked before in a new medium, like taking the headline of a billboard and turning it into a PPC ad. This transition from organic social media to social commerce ought to work much in the same way. 

For example, Instagram Shopping, Facebook Shops, and Pinterest Buyable Pins have all been updated in response to consumers’ want for quicker, easier purchase experiences. Snapchat is another platform taking steps to introduce social shopping trends to its 229 million users. Snapchat’s recent introduction of “lenses” allows users to read product descriptions, reviews, and specs.

Verbiage within the content (whether in video, audio, or written form) is often purchase-driven on social media now as well. Common phrases such as "swipe-up to purchase" or "click the link in the bio" make it easy for social media users to purchase the advertised items and services. Users have come to expect these captions or comments within brand messaging, as they reinforce the CTA (call to action) in another way and make the user’s most simple next step very clear.

A Shift in Marketing Strategies For Brands

Just like any other channel, the social shopping experience for each industry can vary quite a bit. Social commerce ads that promote athleisure clothing is very different from ads that promote electronics, for example. Take the time to do thorough competitive research for your social commerce strategy, just as you would for any other new medium. If you don't have the internal resources to do this research, you can also hire marketers who have experience in the space.

With so much content available to consume, users are unlikely to engage with or pay attention to brand-generated content. Because of this, more brands are starting to understand the value of user-generated content, live stream shopping, chatbots and influencer marketing. This content is both user-friendly and approachable–the key being that UGC is humanizing your brand and building authenticity, much like a low-key testimonial. With such a shift in traditional content engagement, these organic opportunities should not be overlooked. They will play an important supporting role in your social commerce strategy.

Social Commerce & the Importance of User Experience

E-commerce purchases are affected by the interaction a shopper has with the website. Merchants who run online stores have ultimate control and can often view direct actions when all purchases are taking place on site. Social commerce diversifies that shopping experience. The benefit of course is that this can increase the amount of revenue and number of sales overall, as a step is removed from the users’ conversion journey. The downside is that you may not have as much data or control as an advertiser that you would have on your own site or e-commerce shopping cart.

Keep in mind that the objective is digital convenience whenever looking at important decisions within the social commerce space. Brands that still use outdated business models with a long buyer journey and complicated purchase models will frustrate customers. The faster and more seamless the path is to checkout, the better your chance to capture more revenue. 

Another factor to consider is the fact that users' attention spans have fallen dramatically. This makes it even more critical for brands to optimize their user experience to gain more confidence and increase sales with as little work from the consumer as possible. Consider diversifying your purchase integrations to optimize this process fully. Plugins from tools like Shopify Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, and more will yet again remove a step from users’ finishing their checkout.

Social Commerce Market Stats And Outlook

It's been fascinating watching how social trends have driven innovation in social networking beyond just communicating with friends or family. Over the last several years, legacy direct-to-consumer brands (DTC) have invested billions in paid social advertising to drive new revenue. Their success caused a flood of more unique, independent brands to follow suit…which made the competition for advertising slots that much more aggressive. This led to higher costs for advertisers and increased ad fatigue for social media users. Global advertising spend on social networks was 26% higher in the third quarter of 2021 than in 2020. In 2022, Insider Intelligence forecasts that US retail and social commerce sales will rise by 24.9% to $45.74 billion. Fashion categories, such as apparel and accessories remain the largest market for social commerce. However, other lifestyle brands wanting to market electronics or home decor are also doing incredibly well with social commerce campaigns. Brands that offer new and differentiated goods are best suited to social commerce. But if the patterned growth is any indication of the value still to come for advertisers…we recommend testing it out, regardless of what kind of DTC product you’re selling.

In Conclusion

Social commerce enables brands to develop frictionless shopping experiences and reach consumers in the most critical places. As social media continues to evolve in 2022 and beyond, brands will have more options to create social commerce experiences with potentially explosive growth. Brands with a proactive approach to moving to the next level should shift their marketing efforts and build trust with customers through social commerce implementation.

Today's consumers are always connected and always on the go. Marketing is omnipresent and users are incredibly sensitive now to inauthentic marketing tactics. Companies wanting to make a lasting impression need to shift their focus to catering to increasingly savvy digital marketing audiences. Continually innovating and coming up with the most creative marketing ideas possible is the only way to attract and engage customers in a competitive marketplace. All of this is easier said than done. In this article, we have listed 5 of the best creative marketing ideas that you can implement in 2022.

Design Content Specifically for Smaller Social Platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat

There is a trend in the industry of designing content for smaller social platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, or Pinterest. Designers and marketers alike need to pay attention to the layout and functionality of these smaller platforms and design their content with them in mind. This way we can provide an optimal, user-friendly experience for a broad range of users. Users that could ultimately end up converting on the company website.

TikTok has taken social media by storm in 2021. It is now the most popular live-video app among 13 to 18-year-olds, which is a demographic few other platforms have had success reaching over recent years. Assets for tiktok design should be vertical videos that are short, snappy, and successfully hook the user within the first 5 seconds.

Pinterest and Snapchat also continue to be large driving forces in the social media platform metaverse. Pinterest design needs to contain lots of pictures for viewers to see what's being talked about in a very literal way with any given topic. As an example, you could write a piece titled "10 DIY projects with supplies from Walmart" and include pictures of all the supplies you used to make the project.

Similar to Instagram, Snapchat design is most powerful when driven heavily by influencer campaigns or user-generated content. Marketing on Snapchat is tricky because it’s different from other forms of social media, but with over 11 billion daily active users the effort to create dynamic content will be well worth it. MarinOne’s paid social optimization tool can help you make the most of all social content optimization, especially when combined with a thoughtful paid advertising plan.

Invest in Short Form Video, Long Form Rarely Works (Except on Youtube)

We all know that video is a powerful medium that can be used to convey a message in an entertaining way, but what is rapidly changing in the video marketing space is the length of time that users will give video content the opportunity to be entertaining. A company may choose to use video marketing for a product or service release, educational assets, or even as a search engine optimization technique. A solid short-form video marketing strategy is something that should be included in every marketer’s optimization toolkit and should be considered as one of the top digital marketing strategies for 2022 and beyond. 

In terms of video length, as marketers, we must “prove” that the content is indeed engaging within the first few seconds. And even more than that we must embrace short-formSnapchatTikTokhow-to editing from beginning to end--be prepared to make video content 15, 30, or 60 seconds in most cases. 2-3 minutes is acceptable in some cases, such as an explanatory video describing how a complex SaaS tool works, but be prepared to make every moment of those 3 minutes informative and visually interesting.

The only exception to this rule in the digital marketing space seems to be Youtube. With over 1.5 billion users and more than 400 hours of video uploaded every minute, YouTube has become one of the most popular and influential channels for marketers. Here is a quick guide when determining the ideal youtube video length for your content:

• Short-form videos: Like other platforms, these videos are typically under 2 minutes in length, have higher watch rates, and have a low production value.
• Mid-form videos: These are around 2 to 5 minutes long. They have a moderate production value but average watch rates. The majority of content on YouTube falls into this category--common topics include “how to” guides, quick tips, and tutorials.
• Long-form videos: These are usually over 5 minutes in length and often promote a product or other content. Videos of extended lengths can be complex training, highly entertaining content, or lists featuring many different topics such as “The World’s Best 20 Cheapest Travel Destinations for 2022.”

Make Social Listening a Central Component to Content Planning

Social listening is the process of monitoring social media networks to find topics, trends, and insights. It's a great way for brands to find out what people are talking about them, what they are interested in, what their responses are to the brand's posts, and more. To stay relevant, content creators need to increase their social listening skills. 

Social listening tools provide a central place for data related to conversations on social media networks. The key is to listen in on conversations, gather data, analyze it, and use insights gleaned from social listening to generate relevant content. While social listening used to be only available as an expensive service offered by consulting firms or expensive software systems, now many tools allow you to do this on your own. A few popular software systems in this space include Sprout Social, and Brandwatch.

Push the Envelope in Graphic Design, Especially for Paid Advertising

Graphic design is an important element in paid advertising - a well-designed ad draws the attention of the audience to what you are trying to sell, increases clicks, and incites action from the user. While the main objective of graphic design for any medium is to convey a message or an idea through images, symbols, words, and colors, advertising graphic design takes communication through these same visuals even further. It’s common to go through many stages to create an advertisement that is highly likely to convert and become part of an evergreen performance marketing campaign.

2022 is likely to see popular design trends such as 1990’s nostalgia, anti-design, and parametric patterns. To make sure the advertisement looks attractive, vector icons are a great choice. There are plenty of free and premium vector icons that can be easily tailored to match the company's branding.

To still be effective in the competitive world of digital marketing today, graphic designers face a colossal task. They not only need to create strong visuals for websites but also graphics for a myriad of other assets like social media posts, email campaigns, and blog cards...all while maintaining a congruent user experience from channel to channel. The first stage for a designer to achieve the best possible ad is basic research like gathering textual information about the product, its history, and its target audience. A/B testing is the best practice for comparing ad creatives, and MarinOne’s display ad testing solution makes it easier than ever before. With the use of this tool’s sophisticated AI, potential ad campaign examples can be produced in mere minutes.

Complete the Customer Lifecycle with Marketing Automation

Marketing is no longer a one-time, short-term investment. Companies need to maintain a constant stream of marketing efforts to nurture their customers and maximize the lifetime value of their business.

The customer lifecycle is the process of interacting with a customer to satisfy their needs. It starts when a potential customer's need is just an idea and ends when they become loyal customers for your company. Connect by MarinOne has powerful data visualization and integration to get the full picture of your loyal customers’ lifecycle.

Marketing automation helps you in every step of the customer lifecycle by automating processes and providing insights about your customers’ preferences. More and more businesses are executing campaigns at scale using pre-configured workflows without requiring excessive manual input from employees. Some benefits to using marketing automation software effectively include increased efficiency in lead generation, higher sales conversions due to improved data accuracy, improved customer satisfaction by providing personalized interactions, and greater sales opportunities from targeted marketing campaigns. 

What is consistent amongst all of these creative new marketing ideas is the need for authenticity within the content itself. Unique marketing strategies that include fascinating statistics, great storytelling, and beautiful design are paramount to stand out amongst all the noise. Thanks to MarinOne’s comprehensive suite of paid advertising optimization tools, staying at the forefront of innovation is now quicker, easier, and simpler.

TikTok recently partnered with Shopify in an effort to help Shopify’s 1 million+ merchants sell to the TikTok audience.The partnership allows Shopify merchants to create and manage TikTok marketing campaigns without ever leaving the Shopify dashboard. Taking advantage of this new feature is easy. Just download the TikTok channel app found in the Shopify App Store then access the TikTok for Business Ads Manager right in Shopify. 

How to use TikTok for retail 

TikTok sells. Not only is it the fastest growing social media platform in existence, but it is also the easiest place to sell out a product. On average, TikTok users spend upwards of 850 minutes per month on the app. Considering there are more than 1 billion active monthly users on the platform, the potential for your content to be seen on the platform is massive. In quarter 2 of 2021, consumers spent more than $535 million via the TikTok app. 

Understand how TikTok works

TikTok isn’t like Instagram or Facebook. It’s designed for short form content. When users scroll through their For You Page (FYP), they are bombarded with rapid context changes. If you don’t grab their attention in the first few seconds of your video, they can (and will) scroll past with a simple twitch of the thumb. 

Advertising on TikTok successfully requires carefully crafted native content. Traditional ads won’t work here. Luckily, TikTok users are pretty easy to please. Catch their attention and show them your product or service works, and they’ll be flocking to your site in no time. 

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Hack the algorithm: learning how the TikTok algorithm works can go a long way in the quest to create viral content that sells. TikTok starts by showing your content to a limited number of users. Who they push your video to next depends on how those users interact with your video. Your goal should be to get as much engagement as possible by those first users. 
• Use native formatting: aim for your videos to be around 30 seconds in length, always use vertical orientation, and make sure your video takes up the entire screen (no black space). 
• Hop on trends: using trending hashtags, sounds, and video concepts is the best way to market your products via native content while participating in bigger conversations and trends on the platform. If a user likes a particular sound, using that sound might be all it takes to grab their attention. 

Get to know your audience 

Understanding your target audience isn't enough. You have to understand how your target audience behaves on TikTok. As you post content and grow your account, keep tabs on the analytics. Take a look at what TikTok influencers your followers are fond of, when they are online, what trends they participate in, etc. The more you know about what TikTok content resonates with your audience, the better informed your TikTok advertising strategy will be. As TikTok is a hub for Gen Z, it’s important to prioritize authenticity when creating content. 

Take advantage of TikTok’s features 

TikTok wants you to find success on their platform. This is why they’ve implemented so many features that make selling products on TikTok easier. Here are a couple to consider: 

• Live stream shopping events: recruit influencers to help you sell products in a live stream shopping event. 
• Product tags: turn every post into a potential advertisement by adding product tags that link directly to your product listings. 

TikTok might be a newer landscape for most advertisers, but the platform has proven to be a goldmine for selling online— especially to a younger audience. With the help of the Shopify integration and the right advertising solutions, you can use TikTok for retail too.

This is the second post in our three part series where we’ll dive into TikTok advertising and how you can leverage the platform to get in front of new audiences with unique and engaging content.

TikTok ads are relatively new, and considering how unique the TikTok video format is, marketers looking to conquer this new landscape could use all the help they can get. According to data straight from TikTok HQ, these best practices are your ticket to high-performing ads that reach their full ROI potential. 

Universal best practices

1. Prioritize quality video

Analyzing top-performing ads showed TikTok exactly how important video quality is to performance. 83.2% of top-performing TikTok videos have a resolution of 720p or higher. And as a bonus, these videos get an average 5.4% lift in impressions. 

2. Use sound

Sound matters. It doesn't matter whether you’re talking to the camera, playing a music track, or doing a voiceover– but your video needs to have sound. TikTok is a sound-on environment. Adding audio results in significantly more impressions, which is why the vast majority (93%!) of top-performing TikToks use audio. 

3. Keep it short

TikTok is designed for short attention spans. Your ads need to accommodate this video format while still getting your message across. According to TikTok data, 1 in 4 top-performing videos is between 21 and 34 seconds long. Videos of this duration see a 1.6% lift in impressions. 

4. Go full-screen

The full-screen viewing format is part of what makes TikTok unique to other social media platforms. If you want to take advantage of TikTok’s popularity for your social ads, your videos should play to the platform’s strengths. 98% of top-performing TikTok videos play full screen, without any border or black space getting in the way. And videos that adhere to the recommended 9:16 ratio get 60.5% more impressions. 

5. Shoot vertically

The last thing you want is for your videos to snatch viewers out of the TikTok scrolling experience. Your content needs to feel natural on the platform, which is why shooting vertically is so important to TikTok ad success. Just think about it– if users have to turn their phones sideways to view your video, what’s keeping them from scrolling past it? Vertically formatted videos received 40.1% more impressions than those shot square or horizontally. 

Best practices for eCommerce

6. Vary your scenes

When it comes to product placement on TikTok, mixing up your angles and settings goes a long way. 99% of top-performing eCommerce videos vary the way they showcase their products in a single video. When compared to videos that don’t use b-roll or transition footage, videos with varied scenes got a 40.6% lift in impressions.

7. Caption your CTA

Captions are a vital element of all video content. They make your video accessible to your deaf and hard-of-hearing audience and give sound-off users the ability to consume your content without altering their phone settings. Captions become even more powerful when used for eCommerce ads on TikTok. Ads with captions that reinforce the CTA with on-screen text get 55.7% more impressions than ads without on-screen text. 

8. Emphasize an offer

Advertising a special offer like a seasonal deal or discount code? VIdeos that include footage of a person emphasizing an offer get 67.4% more impressions than those that don’t. 

Best practices for gaming

Here are TikTok’s best practices for advertising games:

• Spell out the CTA: Data shows that videos in the gaming category with a clear CTA on-screen experience 11.3% more impressions than those without.
• Show the game: The gaming community prefers to see features and gameplay in action. Over half of gaming category videos do this (and they experience 12.6% more impressions as a result).
• Include an end card: Summarizing download information, tips, and tricks at the end of the video got ads in the gaming category 47.3% more impressions.

Now that you know what it takes to create a winning TikTok ad, it’s time to put these best practices to work. TikTok’s editing tools simplify the process– they even have creative tools to help you repurpose content from other platforms into videos that mesh seamlessly with the platform’s top-performing ads. Once your videos are up and running, be sure to track and optimize their performance with Marin One. 

Ready to learn more about how MarinOne can expand your reach and drive growth on TikTok?

Click here for more info. 

This is the first post in our three part series where we’ll dive into TikTok advertising and how you can leverage the platform to get in front of new audiences with unique and engaging content.

TikTok is a marketing gold mine. This hub for starting conversations and sharing ideas lends itself strongly to virality, creating the perfect storm for boosting a company’s brand awareness and revenue. 

Getting your products in front of the right TikTok audience creates a domino effect. The more users engage with, share, and respond to your post using Duet and Stitch, the more favor you garner from the TikTok algorithm. The platform might even expand your reach by featuring your video on the For You Page (FYP). 

Brands just delving into the realm of trendy dances, weird challenges, and life hacks galore can use TikTok ads to find their audience (and jumpstart their success). Ready to get started? Here is everything you need to know about TikTok ad formats, explained. 

In-feed ads

In-Feed ads are your go-to ad format. They place your videos right on your target audiences’ FYP. This format embeds your video onto the FYP as an ad, making it look native. Users can interact with your ad the same way they do with any other TikTok by liking, commenting, sharing, and reusing the sound for their own content. 

In-feed ads are a good pick for quite a few campaign objectives. You can use the clickable CTA button to send users to the destination of your choice, whether that be a landing page, your app, or your TikTok profile. For the best results, make your videos around 9-15 seconds long. Make use of popular effects, filters, and sounds, and keep up with the trends to ensure your videos will resonate with TikTok’s user base. 

Top-view ads

Top-View ads are more attention-grabbing than In-Feed ads. Your target audience will see these ads at the very top of their FYP. The videos can last up to 60 seconds and have less competition than In-Feed ads. 

The Top-View ad format guarantees high reach and impressions, making it a solid strategy for building brand awareness. For the best results, prioritize creating an engaging video. This will help users remember your brand, even after they’ve scrolled past your ad. 

Brand takeover

The Brand Takeover ad format displays your video full-screen as soon as a user opens the app. While similar to the previous format, due to the lack of direct competition surrounding your video, users cannot engage with Brand Takeovers. The upside is that they can’t be skipped. The best Brand Takeovers are short videos or images that display for 5 seconds or less. 

Branded hashtag challenge

The Branded Hashtag Challenge format inspires users to create their own content using your hashtag. This format has three placements: In-Feed videos that inspire users to join in on the challenge, featured banners found on the “Discover Page” that drive users to the Hashtag Challenge placement, and lastly, the Hashtag Challenge itself. This last placement acts as a landing page for the challenge. It pulls all the challenge’s video submissions into one centralized hub, making it easy for users to connect and engage with other participants. 

This format combines traditional digital advertising with TikTok’s user-generated content focus to create the ultimate ads for driving engagement and boosting brand awareness. 

Branded effects

The Branded Effects placement allows brands to create their own effects for their audience to use when creating content. 

This format is special for two reasons. First, it allows users to engage with your brand on a deeper level by using your effects to create content of their own. This content will have a home on their profile, acting as a constant reminder of their relationship with your brand. 

Second, users all over the world who have no idea what your brand is all about will have access to your effect. If your effect becomes trendy, your reach will expand beyond your target audience. Users who might not need your products now will still be loosely aware of what you have to offer and, chances are, your brand will be the first they think of when the need does arise. 

Wrapping up

Like the platform itself, TikTok’s ad formats are unique. When used in tandem, they can create an all-powerful ad strategy that boosts brand awareness, sparks engagement, and drives sales. You can check out more examples of each of TikTok’s ad formats here. 

Brands using MarinOne are now able to add the unique value of advertising on TikTok to their digital campaigns. The MarinOne integration with TikTok means advertisers have better insights and improved performance of their TikTok campaigns.

Ready to learn more about how MarinOne can expand your reach and drive growth on TikTok?

Click here for more info.