How to Get Started with TikTok Ads in 2023

TikTok’s rise has been exceptional. In just five years of its existence, TikTok now boasts of having over 1 billion active monthly users. This number is only going to rise and is expected to surpass Instagram’s total active monthly users by 2025.

These numbers alone demonstrate the potential for advertising on TikTok. Most top brands have thus begun marketing heavily on TikTok to reach the younger demographic.

TikTok Ads are nothing less than an art form. They are cost-effective and highly productive, provided they are done right. And that’s what we are here to discuss.

In this blog, we will use TikTok Ads examples to explain how they help grow your brand and how you can optimize your TikTok Ads, use the correct TikTok ad specs, expand your reach, and connect with your target audience.

7 Different TikTok Ad Formats

There are several effective ways to advertise on TikTok, depending on who you are trying to reach out to. Here are the best TikTok Ads examples for you:

1. In-feed Ads

In-feed ads are the newest addition to the TikTok ad formats. They are designed to be as unobtrusive as possible and appear as if they are part of the user’s feed. For this reason, they can be more engaging for users and are often seen as more trustworthy.

These ads are embedded with the news feed of the target audience’s ‘For You‘ page. The people watching these ads can like, comment and share them.

TikTok in-feeds ads come in two formats: carousel and single-image.

Carousel ads let you feature up to three images or videos, while single-image ads show just one. Both formats allow you to include a call-to-action (CTA) button, which can lead users to your website or app.

Also, similar to other videos found on the For You Page, In-Feed Ads can be quickly scrolled past or skipped. Your audience will only give you around 2-3 seconds of their attention before they move on, so make those moments count!

When creating an in-feed ad, it’s important to keep the following things in mind:

• The images and videos you use should be of high quality and engaging
• The text accompanying the ad should be clear and concise
• The CTA should be easy to spot and understand
• The ad’s duration should be somewhere between 9-15 seconds

The ideal TikTok ad specs for In-feed ads are:

• Dimension: 300x250px
• Aspect Ratio: 1.91:1
• File Size: Less than 30MB
• Duration: 15 seconds or less

In-feed is one of those TikTok ad formats which are a great way to reach users who are actively engaged with the app. They generate high engagement rates, and are an effective way to increase brand awareness and drive downloads.

2. TopView Ads

These are 60-second long TikTok ads that appear to your target audience every day, and usually, it is the very first ad a user sees upon logging in.

Top-view ads on TikTok allow brands to create immersive, full-screen experiences. With top-view ads, brands can tell stories more engagingly and drive better results.

Top-view TikTok ads are best used to create an emotional connection with the viewer and drive action. They can be used to introduce a new product or service, promote a sale or event, or simply create awareness for your brand.

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating a Top-view ad:

• Be sure to use high-quality footage and visuals
• Create a story that is engaging and easy to follow
• Include a strong call to action

3. Branded Effects

To increase potential customer engagement, TikTok allows brands to put up an ad with their personalized filters, which can last up to 10 days. The above snapshot is one of the perfect TikTok ads examples of Colgate using branded effects.

Branded effects include the brand’s logo or trademark. They are often used to promote a product or service and can be very effective in getting viewers’ attention.

TikTok ad formats have a few different options for branded effects, including:

• Static Overlays: A static overlay is a graphic that appears over the video, typically in the corner. It can be used to promote a brand or product and can link to more information.
• Branded Hashtags: includes the brand’s name or logo. It can be used to promote a campaign or product and can be searched for by viewers.
• Branded Stickers: Branded stickers are graphics that can be added to videos, similar to hashtags. They can be used to promote a brand or product and can link to more information.

TikTok ads are short, 15 to 60-second video ads that appear in between users’ videos. They can be skippable and are often used to promote a brand or product.

Some of the best TikTok ads examples are creative and engaging and tell a story that resonates with viewers. Others are funny or quirky and stand out from the rest of the content on TikTok.

When creating a TikTok ad, it’s important to keep in mind the platform’s unique format and audience. Ads that are too long or sales-y will likely be skipped, and those that are poorly produced or boring will be quickly forgotten.

Instead, focus on creating an ad that is creative, entertaining, and relevant to TikTok’s users. If you can do that, you’ll have a much better chance of creating an ad that resonates with viewers and drives results.

4. Brand Takeovers

Branded Takeover ads are one of the types of TikTok ad formats that take up the entire screen of the app. They are typically high-quality and eye-catching and can be used to create a strong impression on the viewer.

These are 3-5 seconds long full-screen ads that the user gets when they first open TikTok. They may be in the form of a still image or a GIF.

As with all types of advertising, it is essential to make sure that the branding and messaging in a Branded Takeover ad is effective and consistent with the overall marketing strategy.

TikTok ensures that users don’t see more than one Brand Takeover ad each day.

5. Hashtag Challenge

Hashtag Challenge TikTok ads are a special type of ad that appears as a promoted video on the app. They are specifically designed to be shared as challenges among users and typically include a call to action to follow the brand or product account.

When you click on the hashtag, you will be taken to the brand’s landing page, where you can view their products and access other videos with the same hashtag.

Some best practices for creating Hashtag Challenge TikTok ads include:

• Keeping the video short and sweet, no more than 15 seconds
• Creating a catchy, memorable slogan or phrase that will be easy to remember and share
• Including a strong visual element that will grab attention

Branded Hashtag Challenge ads can be expensive. They cost almost $150,000 per day. But this hefty fee will ensure that your brand gets maximum exposure.

6. Spark Ads

Spark Ads are a new variety of advertisements on TikTok that allow brands to create videos that autoplay in users’ feeds.

These are organic TikTok posts that can be used for advertising a specific product. These ads are highly effective and usually generate over 142% higher engagement than standard in-feed ads.

To create a Spark Ad, you’ll need to provide a short video clip (15 seconds or less), as well as some text and a call-to-action. You can also add a link to your website or another destination.

While Spark Ads are still in beta, they offer an exciting new way for brands to engage with users on TikTok.

7. Carousel Ads

TikTok Carousel ads are a type of video ad that allows you to showcase multiple videos or photos in a single ad. This can be a wonderful technique to show off your latest product releases or to promote a contest or giveaway.

In Carousel ads, the brand is allowed to upload 10 unique images and add 10 unique captions for every single image. These ads appear on the ‘News Feed’ of TikTok users.

To create a TikTok Carousel ad, you’ll first need to create a new campaign and select the “Video” objective. Once you’ve created your campaign, you’ll be able to create your ad by uploading multiple videos or photos.

When creating your ad, be sure to make sure that each video or photo is high quality and visually appealing. You’ll also want to make sure that each video or photo has a clear CTA (call to action).

When people see your TikTok Carousel ad, they’ll be able to swipe through the different videos or photos. This makes it easy for them to watch or browse through your content.

Now that you know the different types of TikTok ads, let’s find out why TikTok ads are one of the best tools to get a big slice of your marketing budget.

Why Are TikTok Ads Useful?

Tiktok is a brilliant advertising platform, as evident from all the big brands now making the most of it as a marketing tool to reach a younger audience. From established sports brands to tech start-ups, they have all been advertising on TikTok with great success.

TikTok Ads are a means to stay relevant in 2023 and onwards. Let’s look at what makes TikTok Ads so valuable:

1. Expand Your Reach to a Wider Audience

TikTok boasts of having over a billion monthly active users worldwide. In the US alone, there are over 120.8 million active monthly users.

There is a misconception that only people aged 18-26 regularly use TikTok, so the ads should be directed to appeal to that age group. This is wrong. Almost 55% of TikTok users are over the age of 25.

Every age group, from millennials to GenZ to Baby Boomers, is your target audience. Keep in mind that while making your TikTok ad.

2. Extremely Cost-Effective

From a business perspective, you will surely think of how much do TikTok ads cost before getting into a whole campaign.

3. Higher Online Engagement

61% of TikTokers mentioned that they tend to buy from brands they see advertised, and 63% consider themselves brand conscious. If your ad is good enough, people will subscribe to or try out the products that you display in the ads. They will also recommend your brand to their friends and family.

4. Whooping Returns On Ad Spend

Before you worry about how much do TikTok ads cost, did you know that they, on average, bring in 2.5x Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)? This point is self-explanatory. If you spend $500 on an ad, there is a possibility that you gain $1250 from sales for the product you were advertising.

5. Valuable for Customer Insights

The response and feedback from your audience who have seen your ads can give you valuable insight into product development and customer preference.

How to Optimize Your TikTok Ads?

To create the best TikTok Ads so that they reach the maximum number of people on TikTok, you could follow these tips:

1. Review and Update Your Ad Campaign Goals

Be sure of the objective of your TikTok ad campaign.

Do you want to display your ad to the maximum number of people possible?

Do you want to send the people viewing your ad to the landing page of your website or app?

Or is it to promote app downloads or target viewers to watch more of your TikTok videos.

All these strategies depend on the popularity of your brand. You need to properly analyze what strategy would work best for your brand. Once you have set your objective and finalized your strategy, you can make the ad that best compliments your goals.

2. Experiment With Your Budgeting and Bidding Strategies

Another way to optimize your TikTok ads is to experiment with your budgeting and bidding strategies.

There are currently three bidding strategies supported by TikTok Ads Manager.

Bid Cap

If you’re trying to keep your average cost per result below the bid threshold you set, then bid cap is the way to go.

You just have to enter the maximum cost you’re willing to bid per result, and then the system takes it from there. Your delivery will automatically be optimized against your bid.

The Bidding cap strategy is ideal for conversions, content views, and keeping down your average cost per result.

Cost Cap

In the case of a cost-per-result system, such as Google AdSense or Bing Ads, Cost Cap will give the system an average cost per result that it tries to achieve. This implies that the cost per result might fluctuate above or below the bid amount at times.

This strategy is ideal for app installments and lead generation. It will also help keep check of your average costs and ensure that it does not exceed your bid.

Lowest Cost

The Lowest Cost bidding strategy doesn’t require a bid. Instead, it’ll use the ad group budget to get results at the most economical cost per result.

With this method, you can spend your budget exhaustively to get the best results. This strategy is ideal for app downloads, catalog sales and conversions.

So, how to plan the bidding strategy?

It is important to get your TikTok ad bid right so that your campaign is successful. The first thing you need to do is remember to check if your bids are high enough to have an effective TikTok ad campaign. One way to do this is to compare your bid with what TikTok recommends.

If your bid is too low compared to what TikTok recommends, there is a possibility that your campaign will begin to underperform. Make your bids competitive enough to warrant sufficient delivery.

If your strategy is to get conversions, then your daily budget should be planned to get at least 50 conversions every week. Begin your campaigns by allocating a budget that’s around 1.2-1.5x your average cost per acquisition and reevaluate from there.

Avoid manipulating any component in that ad group for at least two days after changing your campaign budget.

Also, if you’re thinking of altering your bid, don’t make any drastic changes – try to stay within 20% of what you’re bidding currently.

3. Conduct an A/B Test Whenever Possible

The easiest approach to figure out your ideal creative, targeting, and bidding strategy is to run A/B tests — where one variable of your ads is changed from ad to ad – and compare the outcomes.

Make sure your A/B tests are conducted for at least two weeks. Also, ensure that the tests do not overlap with significant, high-traffic holidays, as that could possibly ruin the objectivity of the results.

4. Do Competitive Analysis

The only way to stay relevant on TikTok is by following the latest trends. Study your competitors’ hashtags and marketing methods to see what works for them.

Apply those trends to your marketing strategy and make your TikTok Ads reach a bigger audience.

5. Review Your Own Performance

Track your optimization results regularly on the TikTok performance dashboard to ensure that your efforts are paying off.

Here are few thing to analyze while reviewing your TIkTok Ad’s performance:

• Find out if your ads have been approved and are scheduled as per your target audience’s time zone.
• Analyze whether your bid for the ad was too low or whether your target audience is too small.
• Check whether you have enough funds to run the ad or whether the video quality of your ad is optimum.
• Examine the different metrics such as the click-through rate, video views and conversion rate of your content.

When you have answers to these questions, you will know what is working for you or what you can improve to get the desired results.

6. Know Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience is a must if you want to expand your reach and convert engagement or views into sales.

For best results, select “automatic” when prompted to choose your audience and allow the platform to optimize targeting based on who watches and interacts with your ads the most.

By allowing TikTok to create lookalike audiences from your current high-value customers, you increase the likelihood that your target demographic will either engage with or convert into paying consumers.

How Much Do TikTok Ads Cost?

If you wish to use TikTok Ads professionally as a marketing tool for your brand, you HAVE to think about how much do TikTok ads cost. They can cost a bit, but don’t forget that the returns are rather substantial, as mentioned previously.

They start at about $10 per CPM (Cost Per 1000 Views), and you must spend at least $500 on an advertisement campaign.

Here is how much different TikTok ad formats cost:

• Brand Takeover ads cost $50,000 per day
• In-feeds ads cost $15 per impression
• Hashtag Challenge ads cost about $150,000 per week

How To Get Started With TikTok Ads?

Now that you’re familiar with the various types of TikTok ads, it’s time to learn how to set them up in your TikTok ad account.

Step 1: Register for TikTok Business Account

First, decide which country or region of billing. After that, select whether the account is for business or individual use. Finally, click ‘Next.‘

You will then be asked to provide some basic information like your email address and mobile number. After you enter your email address, they’ll send a verification code to your email.

If you prefer to sign up with your phone number, you will receive the verification code to your phone instead.

Once the verification is done, you will need to agree to their terms and conditions, and click on ‘Sign Up.‘

Step 2: Set Up TikTok Pixel

The TikTok Pixel is a code that you are required to install on your website. It tracks events that happen on your site, like how users got there, what device they mostly use and their location.

With all this data, you can analyze which ads are leading to more sales and which ads are not getting the desired results. Pixels can prove to be a truly useful tool to track the returns on your investment and helps you build Custom Audiences or Lookalike Audiences. Another vital function of Pixels is that it can retarget the visitors to your website with engaging, personalized ads that are more to their liking.

You’ll need a Pixel to run the TikTok Ads Manager. Select ‘Standard Mode‘ or ‘Developer Mode‘ after choosing the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

Before deploying your Pixel, double-check your cookie consent settings. Then save or copy the Pixel code and add it to your website’s header.

Step 3: Create Your First TikTok Ad Campaign

To create a TikTok ad campaign, click on the ‘Campaigns‘ tab and select the ‘Create‘ button.

This will give you a choice of objectives for your campaign – driving traffic, conversions or app installs.

Next, name your campaign and set a campaign-level minimum budget. You may establish a lifetime budget to spread as widely as possible in a few seconds.

However, if you create a daily budget, you can gradually and methodically connect with your target audience.

Step 4: Define Your Target Audience

When creating your ad, consider who you would like to reach. You can target users by location, gender, age group, language and more. Additionally, add users with common interests and include those who have interacted with your content before.

Step 5: Create Your TikTok ad(s)

After you’ve created your ad group, you may begin to customize your first ad. You have the choice of uploading a video or an image file as your advertising creative on TikTok.

Step 6: Distribution & Scaling

After you have made the advertisement, you may choose to play it solely on the TikTok app or distribute it to other apps like Pangle, Facebook, and BuzzVideo, which are a part of the TikTok network. By distributing your ads to multiple apps, you naturally broaden your brand’s visibility and increase potential customer engagement.

Conclusion

Now that you have understood the importance of TikTok Ads in this day and age, we recommend making a TikTok Business account and utilising TikTok to market your brand and extend its reach.

Our aim through this blog is to help you understand what you need to do to create the perfect TikTok ad, how to stay with the current trends, how to attract a young audience and how to grow your brand.

Carefully examine your brand’s needs, understand the utility of different ad formats and get the desired results.

When your TikTok ads campaign hits off by bringing the desired results and increasing engagements, keep the momentum going with engaging and organic content. Schedule your organic TikTok videos with SocialPilot’s TikTok scheduler and see the engagement rolling.