TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world.
In September 2021, the company announced that it had 1 billion global monthly active users and claims that marketers can reach 824.5 million users aged 18 and above on the platform – even though the app is not available in China and banned in India two of the most populous countries in the world.
TikTok used to be the playground of anyone under 20, but the demographic is changing. While Gen Z is 60% of the users, there are growing rates of older users, including a decent 20% of users over 40.
New Zealand has approximately 1.3 million monthly users, each spending an average of 85 minutes a day on the platform of which 30% can only be found on TikTok – meaning these people don’t have accounts on other popular social networking sites. That is quite staggering and shows that the app is clearly here to stay – and continue to grow.
Then in August of last year, TikTok finally launched its self-service advertising platform here in New Zealand, enabling SMBs to run ads. And the good news is, you don’t even have to have a TikTok profile to start advertising – but we do recommend to at least register and save a name (handle) for future activity.
We’ve been experimenting with TikTok ads a while longer with a US- based client and would love to share our top 4 tips for a successful start with TikTok ads with you:
Implement the TikTok Pixel on your website to be able to optimise for different conversion events:
Just like the Facebook Pixel, the TikTok Pixel gives you superpowers when it comes to targeting and reporting.
Start with a broad target audience:
Let the TikTok Ads Manager’s algorithm do the hard work and find the right audiences for you. Going to targeted might keep your campaign from delivering at all which we have found to be the case in NZ.
If you don’t have video content, don’t stress:
You can create pretty cool slideshow videos with free tools such as canva.com. the site has plenty for TikTok video templates (including music tracks) to choose from. Keep your videos between 10 to 25 seconds. Make sure to include a soundtrack as it will make your video more engaging. TikTok loves music and plays all videos automatically with sound on.
Don’t necessarily expect sales to roll in from this channel:
We’ve found TikTok ads are great for awareness building and generating new website visitors who are well engaged – but haven’t seen sales conversions yet. But note, overseas brands are reporting direct sales conversions from TikTok ads so we
By no means are we claiming to have fully mastered the art of TikTok advertising, but we’re doing it and are learning one ad at a time.
If you’re interested in learning more about running ads on TikTok, contact us.
