TikTok is a relative latecomer to the social media realm, launching in 2017. It has grown to become one of the most popular networks in the world by creating a space for users to post short but highly entertaining and attention-grabbing videos. With the influx of users, TikTok has become a go-to platform for companies to promote their brand – and they’re having tremendous success. Whether you’re new to TikTok or a proven vet, we’ve put together eight tips for getting the most performance out of your TikTok ads.
What Makes TikTok so Popular?
Simply put, it owns the short video social media space for young people. A staggering 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 -24. And TikTok is expected to have 1.8 billion users by the end of 2022, which equates to roughly 740 million users between the ages of 16 and 24. Even more telling is that these users spend roughly an hour a day on the platform, which gives TikTok unparalleled access to this demographic.
Read on to find out how your company can use TikTok to create content to engage users, build a larger customer base, and increase your company’s revenue from your next social media marketing campaign.
8 Best Practices for Advertising on TikTok
- Vertical Videos Are Key
- Create High-Quality Content
- Keep ‘Em Short
- Make an Immediate Impact
- Use The Full Screen
- Turn It Up
- Change It Up
- End With A Call To Action
Vertical Videos Are Key
Most Tik Tok videos – and definitely the successful ones – are shot in a vertical format. This has a ton of benefits – it feels natural to the user, helps utilize the entire space, and most importantly, doesn’t require the user to rotate their phone (and then rotate it back for the next video? No thanks – swipe).
Create High-Quality Content
Users can quickly tell the difference between videos shot in 720p (and above) and those shot below 720p – and they vastly prefer anything shot above 720p. In fact, a staggering 83% of the top performing videos on TikTok are shot in 720p or above. Anything less doesn’t engage the user in the same way.
Keep ‘Em Short
There’s a reason that TikTok has become so popular – the short video format. This strategy leans hard into the ever-decreasing attention span of the average internet user with successful results, as the most successful TikTok videos are between 9 and 15 seconds long. This short timespan doesn’t leave any space for filler, fluff, or content that doesn’t immediately engage the user, which is why the first thing that users see is so important.
Make an Immediate Impact
Since the videos are so short, you must start with an impactful image that grabs the user’s attention. It should pique their curiosity and make them want to watch the rest of the video. Remember: internet users nowadays are more than happy to just keep swiping and move on. So if your video doesn’t grab their attention immediately, their attention will move on to something else.
Use The Full Screen
It’s important to remember that TikTok is set to the full 9:16 aspect ratio – any video that is different from this ratio will fit poorly on the screen and will have black space around the screen edges. And users don’t like this – it’s disengaging, looks cheap, and conveys that the content creator doesn’t fully understand the platform. A remarkable 98% of the top-performing videos on TikTok use a 9:16 aspect ratio to take advantage of the full screen.
Turn it Up
Unlike Instagram and most other social media platforms, TikTok requires its videos to be played with the sound on. This means that your choice of audio is almost as important as the video content itself. So be sure to include some catchy beats or a clever voice-over to help engage users with your ad.
Change It Up
If users wanted to see someone talking straight at the camera, they’d go back to 2012. Nowadays, online content utilizes different angles, shots, and b-roll to help engage users with the video. This can include different shots of your product at different stages (think of a recipe video) or people using your product out in the real world (like someone riding an e-bike through a popular city).
End With A Call To Action
Lastly, it’s important to end your ad with a call to action. This engages the user with the ad and can also provide you with another way to follow up with them afterward. This could be in the form of a discount code provided through their email address or a subscribe button that allows you to notify them of upcoming sales. The possibilities are endless!
Bonus Tip: Share Your Ad Creative Through Your Fans with SocialToaster
Alright, we admit it. We’ve got some bias here. But, in our support, we understand the ROI potential of a fan advocacy effort layered onto a paid social marketing campaign. After all, if you’re going through all the trouble and expense of creating these ads, you might as well share them across other networks. Plus, empowering your fans to share your content will help you increase content visibility without raising your paid media budget.
You can learn more about SocialToaster’s enterprise fan advocacy program here!
