How to Get Started with TikTok Ads

TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms, counting 834 million active users. Today, the social platform attracts new users and it gives an excellent opportunity for brands and influencers to reach new audiences and promote their products or services in-app.

With so much competition, standing out from the crowd is essential and one of the best (and fastest) ways is to run paid ad campaigns on TikTok.

Three Reasons to Get Started with TikTok Ads

No matter how much money you have, having organic growth on popular social media channels like TikTok sounds great. However, it can be daunting to attract your target audience to your TikTok account unless you have an army of loyal fans who show interest in your social media profiles.

Long story short: here are three reasons to get started with TikTok ads.

Promote Your TikTok Account: With so many TikTok users, it can take much work to stand out and get noticed. Running an ad campaign on TikTok is a great way to increase your visibility and gain more followers.

Reach Your Target Audience: TikTok's ads targeting capabilities allow you to reach the right people with your message. You can develop TikTok ideas based on age, gender, location, interests, and other factors that will help you find the perfect audience for your brand.

Boost Your Brand Awareness: TikTok Ads are an effective way to build up brand awareness and recognition. With creative visuals and engaging copy, your ad campaigns have the power to make a lasting impression in viewers' minds.

About TikTok Ads in Brief

TikTok advertising is an in-app paid feature for users that help to select the audience and deliver your content to the right people and therefore achieve your chosen goal. Whether you want to get more video views, increase web traffic, or attract followers, TikTok ads are here to help.

Here's an example of TikTok ads:

When it comes to setting up a TikTok ad campaign, you have the option of either using the TikTok Ads Manager or working with a TikTok influencer marketing platform. The former allows you to manage your campaigns in-house, while the latter gives you access to a wide range of influencers who can help spread your message.

For instance, suppose you are running a TikTok ad campaign to promote your brand. In this case, you can connect with influencers who specialize in promoting brands on the platform and have them create content that will reach your target audience.

Popular Types of TikTok Ads

TikTok offers a variety of ad formats to choose from, such as TopView, Brand Takeover, In-Feed Video Ads, and Branded Hashtags. Each format has unique features and benefits, so it's best to do some research before deciding which is suitable for your campaign.

Now that you realize the importance of paid ad campaigns on TikTok, it's time to understand more about the process of creating and running ads that achieve your goals. In this post, we're going to go through eight steps to get started with TikTok ads.

1. Learn More About TikTok Ads Manager

You must first understand the Ads Manager before starting a TikTok ad campaign. The Ads Manager is the platform where you can manage all of your campaigns in one place. Therefore, it's essential to familiarize yourself with this tool before you start running any ads, as it will help ensure your campaigns go smoothly.

Obviously, it's important to learn how to create ad campaigns, set up targeting and budgeting, track performance, and more. Once you have a good grasp of the Ads Manager basics, you can move on to setting up and running your campaigns.

2. Think About Your Ad Objective

Before creating any ads, it's crucial to think about what you want to accomplish with them. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Generate sales? Or maybe drive more website traffic?

When you know the goal of your paid campaign, it's easier to achieve it. Not only can this information help you decide which ad format to use, but it can also affect your decision on how to create your ads. Simply put, think about your ad objective first.

When it comes to TikTok ads, here are three main groups of advertising objectives: awareness, consideration, and conversion. However, each of these groups have detailed objectives you may want to accomplish.

If your main objective is to generate sales, you can come up with a creative call-to-action in your ad. On the other hand, if you want to increase brand awareness, you can focus on creating a visually-appealing ad that resonates with your target audience.

3. Know TikTok Ad Specs

Creating an ad that stops at the important moment or cuts your brand message is a waste of time and budget.

Before working on your ad campaign, every advertiser should know everything about TikTok ad specs. This includes understanding which available ad formats are available, what type of content works best for each format and how long your videos should be.

Here's an informative post for you to save and use when planning your TikTok ad campaign:

Moreover, it's a good idea to know about the recommended video ads. For example, In-Feed Video Ads have to be between 6 and 15 seconds in length while Brand Takeovers can only be 3 to 5 seconds in length. Knowing these specifications will help you create compelling ads that meet all the requirements.

4. Start a New Ad Campaign

This step is probably the most exciting of all! It's time to create your very first ad campaign. You can do so by simply opening the Ads Manager and selecting "Create Campaign" from the menu.

From here, you will be guided through a step-by-step process that will help you set up your campaigns – from defining your budget to scheduling when your ads should run. The best thing is that the process is intuitive if you use a TikTok ad manager.

However, note that a minor mistake in your setup could result in a wasted budget and less than satisfactory results. So be sure to double-check everything before you hit the "Launch" button.

5. Define Your Target Audience

Having the most creative and eye-catching advertising means nothing if you don't reach the right audience who has interest in your featured products.

The right targeting matters.

Thus, another important step is to define your target audience. TikTok Ads allows you to target users based on interests, age, location, device type, and more – so take some time to figure out who your ideal audience is and create a highly targeted ad campaign for them.

Also, consider the relevance of your ads. You want to make sure that only those who are interested in what you offer will see your ads – otherwise, you may find yourself wasting money on irrelevant impressions with no tangible results.

6. Add a Strong Call to Action

Your TikTok Ads should always include a strong call-to-action that encourages your audience to take the desired action – whether it be signing up for an email list, downloading an app, or making a purchase. Make sure your CTA is clear and stands out from the rest of the ad content, as this will help grab viewers' attention and encourage them to act.

For example, if you intend to get people to download your app, you can place a CTA button in the ad that says "Download Now" or "Get It Now."

Here's the list of call to action examples that can be handy when getting started with TikTok ads:

7. Create an Eye-Catching Visual

TikTok Ads are all about visuals. After all, it's one of the most visual social networks out there! So make sure your ads stand out from the rest by creating eye-catching visuals that grab viewers' attention and make them want to take action.

When creating visuals for your TikTok Ads, consider using bright colors and high-quality images that will help draw people in. You should also include relevant hashtags, as this will increase visibility and allow users who aren't already familiar with your brand to discover it.

Check out an example of a stunning TikTok ad:

If you want to create a similar ad for your campaign with ease, there's no need to hire an expensive video maker; you can choose from a variety of video design editors and customize ready-to-use templates. Boosted, ClipChamp, and Invideo are just a few tools that has a TikTok video maker feature.

8. Measure Ad Performance

The last and arguably most important step is to measure the performance of your ads. TikTok Ads Manager allows you to track key metrics such as reach, impressions, click-through rate, and conversion rate to see how well your ad campaigns perform.

This will help you understand which campaigns were successful and which need to be tweaked to obtain better results. With this data, you can make educated decisions about how best to optimize your future campaigns for maximum success.

Conclusion

TikTok Ads are a great way to get your brand seen by millions of users. You can become famous on TikTok by leveraging unique ideas and influencer marketing strategies – the possibilities are endless. But your ad campaign is only as successful as its setup.

By following this step-by-step guide, you'll be well on your way to running successful TikTok Ads campaigns that will help take your brand to the next level.