You’ve been thinking of advertising on TikTok for a while now. You’ve heard marketers say TikTok is a great marketing platform and you’re willing to test the waters.
You want to see if TikTok advertising can help get your sales through the roof. However, you’re not familiar with the details and would like a detailed account of how you can use TikTok advertising to get the most for your business.
Look no further!
This article explains what TikTok ads are and who can rake in the moolah if they were to use the ads.
Let’s start with addressing basic concerns about TikTok
Wasn’t TikTok banned in India?
Yes, TikTok was banned last year for hosting content that made children vulnerable to predators. However, the ban was lifted after a short span.
After the ban was lifted, TikTok pulled down about 6 million videos and came back with stricter guidelines.
Since then TikTok has grown and has close to 800 million daily users. TikTok has been downloaded 323 million times in India alone. It outnumbered the downloads in China by more than 200 million.
So, TikTok is the perfect platform to sell your products through quirky memes and challenges if you’re targeting users in India.
Will TikTok work for my business?
Yes, TikTok will help your business build a brand and give you plenty of followers and leads. Here’s a checklist that will help you decide if TikTok is the best fit for your business.
- You run a B2C business.
- Your target audience is under 30. 66% of TikTok users are under 30 years of age. So, TikTok ads will be a good way to reach them.
- You produce tonnes of videos to promote your business. A great chunk of your revenue comes from video ads. TikTok users express themselves through videos. So, you must create quality video content regularly to increase your following and build your brand.
- You shell out plenty of money on ad spend every month. TikTok ads are quite expensive. The minimum spend for a daily budget is Rs.5,000.
So, if you’re a B2C business that targets people under 30 and can afford to spend quite a few lacs on TikTok advertising and influencers alone, TikTok will give you great results.
How can I use TikTok for my business?
Here are 3 ways you can use TikTok for your business
- Create a TikTok account and upload entertaining videos that are relevant to your audience and business.
- Get the help of influencers to promote your products on their accounts.
- Set up a TikTok ad account and start running ads to promote your products.
Many businesses follow all the three steps to get the most out of TikTok.
How are businesses using TikTok advertising to promote their brand?
Hashtag Challenges
TikTok users love taking up challenges that let them express their creative self. Businesses have taken this opportunity to throw challenges and conduct giveaways to promote their brand.
One of the businesses that made the best use of Hashtag challenges was Samsung. To promote Galaxy A, it created the #GalaxyA challenge.
The challenge was simple. All users had to do was draw the letter A on their palms and use the app’s transition effect to transfer the letter to their friend’s palm. This effectively conveyed the message that users can stay connected with the Galaxy A smartphone.
McDonald’s also made use of TikTok challenges to grow its brand in Malaysia. Users were supposed to dance to pre-recorded Big Mac TikTok clips as a part of the #BigMacTikTok challenge.
Once they’d danced to the music clips, they were asked to upload the recording to the McDonald’s app to win a free Big Mac. Some of the users walked away with actual prizes too.
So, get innovative and enlist the help of a TikTok Marketing Agency to help you with creating a Hashtag Challenge.
Influencer Marketing
This is the easiest way to get traction if you’re just starting your business or launching something new.
Sony hired 30 influencers to promote their movie “Escape Room”. The influencers were challenged to escape from settings that were similar to the ones shown in the movie. They also hire influencers from time to time to promote their songs on TikTok.
Educational Insights was launching a new product called Playfoam Puffle. It’s similar to clay but never dries out. It helps kids get creative and adults love it too. So, Educational Insights reached out to 10 influencers and asked them to create content around their product for 4 weeks.
At the end of the 4-week campaign, the influencers had reached a total of 2.5M views on their videos.
If you’re going to hire influencers, remember to let them create their own content. Each influencer knows what works for their followers. So, if you want to get the most out of each influencer, it’s best to let them get creative with your products.
TikTok Ads
TikTok started showing short ads to their users in January 2019. You must create a TikTok ad account, set up a campaign, and add money to your ads account to start displaying ads.
The different ad formats in TikTok are
- Brand Takeover: These ads appear right after the app is opened and helps grab the user’s attention instantly.
- In-feed native video: These are ads that play while you’re watching a video on TikTok. Ad Publishers are charged based on the number of views their videos get.
- Hashtag Challenge: Brands encourage users to take the Hashtag Challenge and post content to win some cool prizes
- Branded lenses: This is similar to the AR filters that Snapchat and Instagram provide.
Conclusion
TikTok launched ads in 2019. You can benefit from TikTok advertising if you’re a B2C company whose target audience is in the age group of 13-30. TikTok ads are costly. So, if you’re willing to set aside a huge budget as TikTok ad spend, it’s the right platform for you.
Businesses promote their brands through Hashtag Challenges, Influencers, and TikTok ads. The different types of TikTok ads are
- Brand Takeover
- In-feed Native Video Ads
- Hashtag challenges
- Branded lenses
Have you used TikTok to promote your business?
If you said yes, how was your experience with it? Do let us know in the comments below!
