TikTok Ads - 16 Useful Tips

What do you think if I say, “Every Facebook ads consultant out there is now suddenly a TikTok ads expert?” People usually watch for the flood of courses with the “secret” formula to massive viral success and $1 leads. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, reached out to me last year, asking for help in building a proper course on TikTok ads. We’ve been testing hundreds of campaigns and looking at the results shared by our friends in real estate, e-commerce, agency, legal, and so forth. 

 I’ll save you the $2,500 course and tell you the “secret” right here:

Short Video Recipe

1. It’s in your simple, vertical video shot from your phone– that doesn’t look like an ad, has a “Hook” in the first second to capture attention, has big text so people know what it’s about, and tells a “Story”.

Algo-Does the Job. 

2. No crazy targeting or sophisticated campaign set-up is necessary– the super smart algorithm uses your content’s performance. Same for spark ads, where you boost someone else’s post (called “creators” no longer “influencers”).

What about hiring an agency for TikTok Ads?

3. Hiring an agency makes ZERO sense unless they can actively coach you through making 15-second videos.  The campaign setup is relatively easy, as long as you already have your digital plumbing (pixels, tracking, data) in place.

TikTok is the Next Big Thing. Right?

4. The frothy white waves of hype about TikTok being the next tsunami of traffic are true — just like we saw with Google and Facebook.

How much does it Cost?

5. Traffic is about 1/4th the cost on Facebook on the paid side (because base CPMs are about $2.50, meaning CPC, CPL, and CAC are correspondingly lower). Of course, you’re optimizing to the objective (the algorithm is so smart), using base traffic cost as one of many diagnostic measures.

Don’t Rush Because of FOMO

6. But make sure you’re not jumping in just because of FOMO (fear of missing out)…..but because you’re shoring up the fundamentals of collecting your client stories in 15-second videos, have a process to process these within your operations, have your digital plumbing properly in place, and are putting money on the winners.

How  smart is TikTok Algo? 

7. I was at Jake Paul’s house making 15-second videos for our social media marketing course for young adults.  One of the videos leaked out and got half a million likes.
8. It had nothing to do with our course and wasn’t even on his TikTok account– but one of the guys helping film. But the TikTok algorithm recognized it was Jake Paul’s house in the background of the video, showed it to fans of Jake Paul– and then it went viral.
9. You’ll see more stuff like this blow up out of nowhere on TikTok, almost exclusively on the organic side. But these are unlikely to be the posts you will be boosting as an extension of the Dollar-a-Day strategy.
10. Instead, you’ll find that the same themes that worked for you on Facebook will work on TikTok, adapted to their format of storytelling via 15-second videos.
11. It’s the same algorithm as Facebook and Google (fight me on this), which seeks to optimize your chosen objective based on conversion data you allow it to see.

Do I really need a strategy for TikTok ads?

12. TikTok didn’t want me to tell you that you can absolutely reuse Facebook strategies– since they want you to make TikToks only for their platform and know that most existing videos suck too badly to be repurposed.
13. But if you’ve found success with the fundamentals of the Dollar a Day strategy, I’m pretty sure you’ll find success on TikTok– when repurposing videos, extending your conversion tracking/remarketing, and starting testing at $10/day.

What About Dollar-a-Day?

14. There’s no better time to implement or refine your Dollar-a-Day process across Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and all social networks.
15. We are seeing a growing convergence on the data and ads side of social platforms– since they are all dependent upon the same optimization algorithm that balances user experience with ad monetization.

Most Importantly

16. Remember this each time you see a breathless pitch on how you need to jump on TikTok ASAP– to buy their secret before you forever miss the boat.

These Tips will help you make decisions for your TikTok journey. However, if you want a more detailed insight, check out my best-selling book, The definitive Guide to TikTok Advertising. 

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.

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