Advertising on TikTok from A to Z: Drive Up Your Engagement Using TikTok

11 min read

Have you thought of making sales or improving your conversion rate in a fun way? Well, TikTok is just the choice to stick with. With several exciting filters, an interactive audience, a wide range of background music, and ease, you can run your advertising campaigns on the platform.

After research and actual work, we discovered ways to create engaging and effective Ad campaigns. At the end of this guide, you would know all about Advertising on TikTok from A-Z.

Who to Target when Advertising on TikTok

If you ever thought of advertising on TikTok, then you have to know who your target audience is. The whole idea of running an ad is communicating in the first place.

So, what then should you look out for?

Statistically, 66% of those on TikTok are under 30, while the remaining 34% are between 16 and 24 years of age.

Here’s how to effectively reach that audience:

Basically, your content has to be tailored to topics of interest for younger people. Every video ad you place must also be engaging enough when watched to foster engagement or at least interest in what you have to say and to offer.

Steps to Advertising on TikTok

The process of setting up the campaigns is a simple one that you could get over in just a few moments. In this section, I am going to show you the steps to take for a complete campaign page.

Here are the main steps for getting started with TikTok:

1. Create a TikTok Ads account

The idea of putting Ads on TikTok is a relatively new program, and the process is not as seamless as you would find on Instagram or Facebook… Well, this does not make it less effective, it just requires a different approach.

To get started, you would need to open an Ads account.

Go to the TikTok Ads homepage and tap on the “Get Started” button, and a form would come up. Once you have filled the form, a TikTok representative will let you know if the application is successful.

2. Start an ad campaign

Once your business has been approved, then in the dashboard, you are to select the “Campaign” tab and then the “Create” button. From there, select a goal for the advert as TikTok currently offers three major objectives — conversions, traffic, and application installations.

After setting the advert’s goal, you would have to pick out the budget for the whole campaign process. There is the option for a daily budget or total budget.

Are you under a budget constraint?

Depending on your budget, you can structure the Ads to follow that format.

3. Set up the ad group

How does this work?

You have to create an ad group within the campaign. This step is when placements and targeting are decided. Within a campaign, you can have different ad groups intended for different audiences.

When you set up and advertise on TikTok, you are automatically given access to a full package of several other related applications.

Note, this is a win-win as you can now get more from simply placing an Ad on the platform.

There’s the Vigo Video app which covers India, Buzz Video for those in Japan, TopBuzz for the US, and more.

That’s not all!

TikTok makes an effort to evaluate your Ad placement and decide where to best place it for optimum results. All that’s left is to make your choice of a preferred place and then follow through with the instruction.

Simple, right?

Well, to keep things interesting, there is the keyword part that lets you select as many as 20 terms. This goes to blend with hashtag challenges that could begin a trend. In that regard, all of these terms are to form a description of your target traffic location, which could be your website or application.

You can get better results by carefully picking out the proper keywords as it helps show your products to the right audience. Here is where targeting comes into the picture. Filtering of your target audience is set based on certain requirements such as age, gender, languages, location, and more.

What isn’t there to love about TikTok Ads campaigns?

4. Pick out the campaign details

There is a section that is tagged “Budget & Schedule” and the group budget that fits your Ads.

Pick out how much you are willing to spend daily and throughout the campaign program.
Choose the dates that you expect the campaign to be active. The “Dayparting” option then lets you pick out the times of the day and when the Ads should show in the week.
Another good news is that you can pick out the rate at which the budget is spent. There is an option for a standard offer that lets you distribute the budget evenly while
“accelerate” allows it to run faster during your set time.

5. Select the ad to group optimization goal

Several Ad optimization goals are depending on what you need to achieve. As a store, you may need more visitors to your website or actual conversion, and so this should drive your advertising campaigns.

Here are samples of what you could set:

Conversion: With this option, your Ads would be made visible to the audience willing to make an action that converts for you.
Click: The Ads you place would be optimized so that you can have as many clicks as possible. You would also be charged based on each click through the cost-per-click (CPC) payment models.
Impressions: The optimization works to show the number of impressions that are made on your post. The payment for this goal would be through a cost-per-thousand (CPM) impression payment model.

On a final note, you can turn on the “Smart Optimization” option to make sure your bids are optimized to increase conversion. However, you can have this turned off if you are solely are interested in getting clicks or impressions.

6. Design your ad

Ads placed on TikTok are made of both videos and images placed in either a vertical, horizontal, or square format. For advertisers like yourself to find it convenient to make content, there is an inbuilt Video creation kit on the platform.

Are you looking for more? Well, here it is!

You have access to several images and templates that can be customized using your own images. After the mix, there is background music that you can layer with the content to make it more engaging.

Hacks to Advertising on TikTok

So, you are no longer a novice to the business of advertising on TikTok; now what next? You would need to adopt certain practices to make a top view ad and even a brand takeover.

These hacks are highlighted below:

Make the videos short

Originally, the platform was designed for short videos of a maximum of 60 seconds, and so you will likely still need to stick to that time frame for maximum engagement. Also, for better click rates, your message should come across clearly in the initial 3 seconds.

Simply put, get straight to the point!

Your video ads can be that move for an actual brand takeover.

Optimize the center of the screen

Take note of what steals the show! So, the service or product that you intend to push should be the most obvious element in your video. You may be shocked at the number of adverts that get lost when the target audience cannot determine what is being sold.

Clarity is one way to ensure that your ads are spot on and get your target audience hooked at one glance.

Include a sound-on video

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the sound of your video, as it allows you to reach more people on the platform. TikTok advertising finds it much easier to get across several audiences when there is a trending sound attached.

Always add informative captions

TikTok ads always require that you include some context for your viewers, including captions. They help your target audience properly understand what you intend to sell with your ads on TikTok.

In the caption, you could even place any processes that are important for a successful conversion.

Conclusion

Just doing these things could help you get up your sales and optimize the use of TikTok in advertising. By implementing these hacks in creating content and setting up your campaign, we can assure you of reaching your target audience and getting the clicks, conversion, or engagement you require.

We can lead you through all the steps and the process of getting your TikTok ads. All you need to do is get registered, and then you are one step closer to reaching your advertising goals.

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Apr 16, 2021

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.