You might think TikTok is just an app for kids to dance to. Well, that was back in 2016. In 2023, TikTok officially surpassed 1 billion users, and it is a platform used to reach an estimated audience of 825 million individuals worldwide. Businesses are grasping this social media platform to market their brand, and it is one of the most influential marketing tools. Both B2B and B2C marketers are working on developing new advertising approaches for the social network.
TikTok focuses on shorter forms of video and allows content creators to reach a huge community. In Malaysia, TikTok has a user base that comprises more than fifty percent of its population that is 18 years old or older, and it is continuing to grow in 2023.
TikTok advertising provides companies access to one of the largest social media audiences through innovative ad formats and targeting choices. TikTok Ads Manager allows marketers to connect with TikTok’s massive audience worldwide. If you lack any editing or photography skills, content creation is not the only option to market your brand. Paid advertising on TikTok is an option for expanding your brand's reach among the app's users. TikTok ads, given the app's huge user base, could be a useful complement to your social media marketing plan.
Marketers can use TikTok Ads or contact a social media marketing agency that runs ads on the network for a fraction of the cost and still get the desired results, just like they can with Meta and other popular social media sites.
In Malaysia, Gen Zs make up more than half of the country's users, and there are many more female users than male users. Although older users are still a minority on TikTok, they have increased in number since 2020. A third of the platform's users are between the ages of 24 and 34, as reported by Statista. Meanwhile, the age group between 35 and 44 represents about 2.3% of the population. TikTok is the place to be if people aged 13 to 60 make up any part of your brand's ideal consumer demographic.
Many different advertising formats are available on TikTok. This will allow you to select the medium that is best suited to delivering your intended message to your targeted audience. Here are the various advertising formats available on TikTok advertising:
Takeover and Topview ads are always at the top of TikTok’s feed. They may surface on the feed (For You Page) in many formats, such as videos or images with clickable links that connect to the brand's landing pages. It efficiently increases mass awareness and promotes sales since the advertisements appear in front of the targeted audience as they open the app. The only differences between Brand Takeover Ads and Top View Ads are the duration and price. Takeover ads are 3-5 seconds, and Topview ads can go up to 60 seconds, and the longer the ad is, the higher the price.
These are the general advertisements that TikTok displays within the FYP of its users. Using the TikTok Ad Manager, users can make their own advertisements.
Spark Ads allows businesses to sponsor trending organic content that is relevant to their products. Organic posts by other creators can be promoted by advertisers (if the creator turns on ad authorization for the videos). According to data compiled by TikTok, Spark Advertisements have a far better completion rate (24%) and engagement rate (142%) than regular In-Feed ads.
Pangle helps advertisers access large audiences by placing advertisements on 3rd-party apps, while app developers benefit from app monetizations. Pangle's immersive ad styles improve user experience and drive commercial results. Pangle interfaces with TikTok to give video, native, and banner ads. However, this feature is only available in selected countries.
These slide ads can include up to 10 photos and are displayed on the FYP.
Advertisements may also be promoted in branded stickers, lenses, and other augmented reality material, allowing TikTok viewers to incorporate them into videos of their own creation, further promoting the brand with engagement.
This type of advertisement appears in the "Discovery" area of TikTok and can potentially attract users to engage and participate in the marketing campaign.
This is a form of influencer marketing where you may sponsor famous influencers on TikTok to promote your product. This form of marketing can be effective as it is targeted to the right audience depending on which influencer you choose and their field of interest.
Although it's generally understood that the majority of TikTok's content creators and users are members of Generation Z, it's a frequent misperception that all of the app's users are teenagers or young adults. Even though this demographic accounts for 56% of users, the remaining 44% comprises members of the Millennials or even Baby Boomers. Therefore, brands should not skip TikTok as their marketing tool, as has the potential to reach other subcultures and demographics.
TikTok is used regularly by these creators (celebrities, athletes, critics, and even customers) to share their ideas and opinions. TikTok's idea is to share unfiltered experiences instead of the highly edited content of platforms like Instagram. Make informed choices regarding who to work with and how to distribute promotions, as TikTok users are sophisticated and can detect when they are being marketed to. Collaborate directly with creators to agree on a format and message that will appeal to your audience as well as theirs, all while boosting your company's bottom line. With their data, TikTok helps establish these collaborations by pairing businesses with the most relevant influencers.
It's not just influential people with large followers who can set the trend in motion. Your brand and anyone else's has the chance to have a video posted to the FYP go viral. Due to TikTok's algorithm, even non-celebrity users can easily amass a large number of views, exposing their audiences to unfiltered content. TikTok is different from social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. You don't need a lot of views for your content to be noticed. Ad content that is based on daily trends is more relevant and more likely to appear in a user's feed since this format permits a regular content rhythm, quick relevance, and ongoing discovery.
The widespread belief is that TikTok is nothing more than a time-consuming distraction. A growing number of people are using the TikTok app, which presents a great chance for marketers to get their messages in front of a highly receptive audience. TikTok's wide selection of videos means the app is useful for a wide range of audiences. It doesn't matter if you're a clothes company, app developer, service provider, transportation company, restaurant owner, or any other type of business hoping to promote your goods, TikTok is the place to be.
TikTok advertising stands out from other forms of digital marketing in that it prioritizes genuineness. In contrast to Instagram, which encourages its users to present their best selves, TikTok encourages users to be themselves and allows them to have their appearance, stories, and creations broadcasted while giving them a chance to go viral. Instagram users tend to show off their best selves on the platform (not a bad thing, but it sometimes lacks authenticity). Showcasing product authenticity rather than false advertising will propel your business to success. People are willing to watch your content as TikTok contents are short. Your company can increase awareness, showcase your products and services to consumers who have never heard of you before, and increase interaction as well, provided that the appropriate content is utilized.
Source: HubSpot Blog
TikTok calculates the price of in-feed advertisements using a metric called cost per mille (CPM). The base cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is $0.50, meaning that advertisers must pay $50 for every 1,000 people who see their adverts. TikTok's average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is $10, with a minimum CPC of $0.02. Ad spends minimums are $500 per ad campaign. Spending on a campaign must be at least $500, with a minimum of $50 per day at the campaign level and $20 per day at the ad group level.
Ad group settings include target audiences, ad placements, campaign budgets, optimization goals, schedules, and bids. TikTok Ads pricing is affected by the same factors that affect the pricing of ads on other online advertising platforms, such as the quality of the graphic creatives used, the amount of interaction users have with the ads, the effectiveness of the testing strategy employed, and the availability of comprehensive analytics.
For the first six days, several of the more expensive ad formats indicated above demand a fixed price of between $50,000 and $150,000. For instance, a branded takeover or hashtag challenge can cost up to $150,000 but will get your company a prominent placement on TikTok's Discovery banner. E-commerce companies that want to raise consumer recognition of their items frequently use CPM advertising. Advertising campaigns like these are typically only a small part of a company's overall marketing plan. CPM campaigns are used on multiple other sites as well.
It's common knowledge at this point that the number of an influencer's followers determines the cost of promoting their content on TikTok. According to a post on TikTok, five distinct levels of influencers each have their own price point: nano, micro, mid-tier, macro, and mega. TikTok video posts range in price from $5–$25 for audiences of up to 10,000 followers to $2,000 for an audience of over one million.
For the past two years, TikTok has had the highest number of downloads of any smartphone application, and it is also the world's fastest-growing platform for sharing videos.
TikTok is a great platform for advertising especially when your products are targeted to Gen Zs and a wide variety of demographics. Even if products are targeted at people who are aged 55+, audiences of different age groups are growing on a daily basis on TikTok. Due to its high reach, TikTok may assist your brand in gaining awareness, boosting leads, and generating sales.
Thanks to its algorithm, TikTok has democratized its platform such that anybody may post videos on it and have them become viral, unlike Instagram or YouTube, where it is only possible for a select set of celebrities.
TikTok Ads is considered as one of the top digital marketing platforms thanks to an intuitive dashboard, a strong bidding mechanism, a selection of 5 ad formats, and extensive targeting capabilities.
