How To Advertise On TikTok (+$100 bonus)

You can easily advertise your business on TikTok and if you do it right, you might even get lucky and your ad will go viral.

Any video can go viral on TikTok, irrespective of its poster’s follower count. However, there are a few steps that you will want to take to help increase the chances of your video getting liked, shared, and viral.

This guide shows you how best to advertise your business through the TikTok Ad Manager and Shopify app, an automated platform for online shop owners.

Benefits of Tiktok Ads

The TikTok ecosystem offers you market access to a huge population of young people. So, if you have a product for Gen Z and younger, then TikTok should be on your list of platforms to market on.

In addition to its vast user base, TikTok also offers many marketing tools, such as precise targeting of your ads, multiple ad formats, detailed analytics of your ad interactions, and various automation features to make your life easier.

TikTok marketing can help you to boost your brand awareness, sell your products directly from your online store, or to generate leads that you can later market to.

10 Tips To Go Viral

A viral video on the TikTok platform means your message will reach a far larger audience than you can imagine. However, going viral is not purely random or about luck. You can help your stars by taking a few extra measures yourself. Here are 10 tips to help your video ad go viral on TikTok.

1. Know Your Ideal Customer: The first step to creating a successful ad campaign is to know your target audience. You’ve got a product to sell, but who is your ideal customer? What problems does he or she have? What issues do they deal with? What do they identify with? If you don’t know your ideal customer, then you must first figure it out because only with this information will you be able to craft a compelling ad that strikes a chord and initiates engagements.
   
2. Start With A Hook: TikTok’s young demographic all have one thing in common – a very short attention span. So, you need to grab their attention as quickly as possible and this means in the first few seconds of your video. The hook could be anything from a strong visual to a juicy offer, a bold claim, catchy music, or anything else that can arouse the potential viewer’s interest and get him/her hooked on the video.
   
3. Tell A Story: If you are building a brand, then there’s no better way to do it than with a story. Even if you are just selling a product, a good story will help you to connect with a potential customer and build rapport. Story-telling must not just be with words, it should include visuals, impressive graphics, nice music, and background sounds. But beware of overdoing it – your story should be coherent, factual, easy to understand, and it should be relatable.
   
4. Be Visual: TikTok is a visual platform, always remember that. And given the immense competition, you need to maximize your visual communication to stand out. So, don’t just talk and talk about your product and all the wonderful things it can do. No, you need to show how your product works and what the audience can gain from using it. Your video should focus on creating such a visual experience for the viewer that he is tempted to take your offer.
   
5. Use Trending Sounds & Hashtags: Trending sounds and hashtags are two features that can help to give your videos the needed boost. Hashtags should be clear to you. They are those single or multi-word phrases that trend from time to time. You shouldn’t overdo it though, just add the ones that your target audience is likely to be interested in. Trending sounds offer roughly the same value, as TikTok seems to favor videos that include popular audio clips.
   
6. Keep Your Videos Short: Video length is equally important. In simple terms, the shorter your videos, the better they will perform on TikTok. So, although the platform allows long-form videos, try to keep your ad as short as possible. Between 15 and 30 seconds should get you the best results.
   
7. Make Your Content Share-Worthy: Would you share your video? This a question that you need to ask yourself and answer honestly. The truth is that engaging videos are more readily shared and interacted with than boring ones. So, why not take some time and try to put together the perfect video ad for your product or service? It can make all the difference.
   
8. Interact With Your Audience: Interacting with your audience will also help to boost your video ad’s success because your engagements will build a community around your offering, thereby making your ad feel less like a business proposition.
   
9. Include AR Effects: AR is short for Augmented Reality and is a type of effect you can add to your video to make it more fun and entertaining. TikTok comes with countless AR filters you can use, so it’s up to you to choose what will be best for your video. They are available in 2D and 3D formats.
   
10. Keep Testing: Nobody knows it all and everything is constantly evolving, including TikTok. Your first ad might not be perfect or go viral, but if you keep testing and optimizing your ad creation process, then it is only a matter of time before you strike gold and start to enjoy the fruits of the TikTok platform. You can always tweak the ad length, colors, presentation style, sounds, and targeting options until you hit the right settings for each offering.
    

How To Create Your First TikTok Ad

Now that you understand how to help your video go viral, here is the step-by-step guide to easily create your first TikTok ad.

Step 1. Register A Business Account

TikTok ads only work with a TikTok business account. So, even if you already have a personal account on TikTok, you will still need to register a business account. Visit the registration page here to register an advertiser account with your business name.

Fill in all the required details, such as currency, phone number, industry, and billing address, but note that your country location will determine the type of documents that will be required from you. Note you will get $100 if you spend $$100. This is available to all Targettrend users who register with the link above

Step 2. Log In to TikTok Ads Manager

After your business account has been approved, your next step is to now log in to your Ads Manager account at ads.tiktok.com to set up your first campaign. For Shopify users, please note that you will first need to connect your Shopify account with TikTok.

You will find it in the apps section of your Shopify admin panel. If you are using Prestashop, OpenCart, WooCommerce, or other popular e-commerce platforms, please check with your platform for instructions on how to connect your online shop with the TikTok Ads Manager.

Step 3. Set Up Your Campaign

Setting up a video ad campaign on the TikTok Ads Manager is straightforward. From your dashboard, click on Create Ad and answer the questions. It will require a campaign name from you, an objective for the campaign, an ad category for targeting, and the option to split-test your ad creatives.

Finally, you are required to input a campaign budget, which starts at $5 per day or a minimum spend of $70 for the ad’s lifetime. Remember, when you spend $100, you will get $100 free.

Step 4. Submit Your Video

Now is the time to submit your video. TikTok Ads Manager allows you to either select a video from your TikTok account or upload a new video.

Shopify users can quickly and automatically generate a video of their store’s products using the Shopify TikTok app. If you use other e-commerce solutions, please check with your platform.

Other Campaign Ideas

Aside from simply advertising your video on TikTok, there are many other ways you can create and run marketing campaigns to boost your company’s or product’s visibility. Here are two top ways.

• Leverage User Generated Content: User-generated content or UGC for short refers to videos that are created by other users of the platform. For instance, you could re-post a video created by a fan of your product or service to boost your brand visibility.
  
• Leverage Influencers: Most influencers will happily collaborate with you to help spread the word about your business. It is important, however, that you only work with those whose videos and audience align with your business.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

There are lots of questions regarding the TikTok platform and how businesses can leverage it to advertise their products and services. Here are some of the most frequently asked.

Q: Can anybody advertise on TikTok?

A: Yes, anybody with a TikTok business account can advertise on TikTok. However, the registration requirements for the business account can vary depending on the jurisdiction you live in.

Q: How do I know if my TikTok ads are working?

A: The Ads Manager comes with both summarized and detailed reporting that keeps you up to date about your ad’s performance.

Q: Will I be able to target the ads?

A: Yes, TikTok Ads Manager includes lots of targeting features that help you to drill down on the audience. They include demographics, such as male and female, location, age group, language, spending power, and device type.

Q: How much does it cost to advertise on TikTok?

A: It depends on your advertising goals, your targeting, the type of bidding you use, and how much other advertisers are willing to pay. If your campaign is very targeted, for instance, and you are using CPC (Cost Per Click) bidding, then you may get results for a lesser price than paying CPM (Cost Per Mile) with a less targeted campaign.

Conclusion

Rounding up this guide on how to easily advertise your business on TikTok and go viral, we have touched on all the necessary points to create an impactful and engaging video by using all the tools available to you.

If you are ready to start your journey, then why not make use of our exclusive free ad credits offer for small businesses? By registering your TikTok advertising account through this link, TikTok will reward you by matching your ad spend. For instance, if you spend $100, you will get $100 credited, and so on.