The Complete TikTok Marketing Guide for Melbourne Businesses

TikTok Marketing Melbourne
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The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Paid Ads

From hashtag challenges to dance trends and viral content, TikTok seems to be growing in popularity within the past few years.

With the app’s large audience along with its highly engaged users, it seems anybody who’s looking to share their content with the world can go viral.

Although the app isn’t only for aspiring content creators.

Businesses are utilising TikTok’s advertising platform to promote their brands, products, or services. It’s simple to use and offers a variety of different TikTok ad formats that may be tailored to your marketing objectives.

This article will cover everything you need to know about paid advertising on TikTok, as well as the different ad formats to choose from, how to set up your TikTok ad and more.

Is Your Audience on TikTok?

According to Backlinko.com, TikTok has garnered 1.4 billion monthly users on its social platform. It has also accumulated over 3 billion app downloads worldwide, making it one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

Backlinko also mentions that users spend an average of 52 minutes a day on the app with 90% of them using TikTok every day.

When it comes to engagement rate, TikTok users with larger followings (over 100,000 followers) have a 5.30% engagement rate, which is greater than Instagram’s and Twitter’s engagement rates of 1.10% and 0.30%, respectively.

Although the figures appear encouraging, we’ll now look into understanding who the majority of TikTok’s audience is made up of.

Based on Hootsuite’s Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, ad reach was estimated to be 885 million at the start of 2022.

Note that this number is only made up of TikTok users who are 18 years of age and older. Since the ad reach data collected through Bytedance’s tools are limited to include users who are at least 18 years old.

However, ads can still be targeted towards individuals who are 13 years of age and higher.

With the exclusion of data from the younger generation, the majority of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24. People in the 25-34 age group come in second.

Whereas the number of individuals in the older category is lower than that of the first two generations.

In terms of location-based ad reach statistics, we recommend that you read the entire section on it, to further determine if TikTok advertising will help you achieve your marketing goals.

Why TikTok Advertising

  • TikTok has a large user base
  • TikTok users are engaged and active on the app
  • Ad reach looks promising
  • TikTok ads have various ad formats, the majority of which enable users to engage with or respond to the ad
  • Its self-service ads are easy to use

TikTok Ad Types

Branded Hashtag Challenge

This type of ad format tends to draw lots of interest among TikTok users, as it motivates them to contribute their content on the app, surrounding the branded hashtag.

When people click on your hashtag, they will be directed to a landing page with user-generated videos about your branded hashtag challenge.

Besides being seen on a landing page, your ad will also appear on the in-feed placement and the Discover section’s banner.

If executed correctly, Branded Hashtag Challenges can help your brand get more visibility and engagement.

In-Feed Ads

In-feed ads are TikTok ads that blend seamlessly into the feed of a users’ For You Page, making it quickly overlooked.

Ensure that your in-feed ads are designed well so that people will stop scrolling past them and instead be compelled to click on the CTA button.

Take note, this ad format allows viewers to like the video ad, share it with everyone, leave a comment, follow you and even create a video with the same TikTok sound that’s in your ad.

Top View Ads 

Top View Ads provide brands with a great amount of exposure, which makes them an effective approach to promote products, services or the business itself. But how?

Just as its name suggests, when users open the app, your Top View Ad will show up on their feeds after 3 seconds. Your video content should be creative and of high quality, in such a way that your ad generates excitement around your brand or product.

If brand awareness is your goal, this might be a great option for your business to test out.

Branded Effect Ads

Branded Effect Ads on TikTok are a fantastic and entertaining way for users to connect with your business.

With this type of ad, brands develop and share their own filter, effects and stickers, allowing users to use it when creating their own TikTok videos.

Not only is this fun for users, but it’s also an excellent way to get individuals familiar with your brand.

We recommend adding a branded hashtag as well as partnering with an influencer to get other individuals onboard with using your filter.

If you would like to find influencers on TikTok who would be the perfect fit to promote your filter, TikTok has a Creator Marketplace to help you find your ideal influencer.

Spark Ads

Spark Ads work by boosting a brand’s organic posts or user-generated content, appearing as Top View or In-Feed Ads.

When promoting your business via Spark Ads, interested users can comment, like, share your post and visit your profile or even follow your account. Viewers of your ad are also able to make a video or a duet with the same sound that’s on your Spark Ad.

If you want to direct your audience to a landing page, you just need to add the CTA button.

Brand Takeover Ads

When you first launch the app, you may be greeted by a full-screen video advertisement. This is a brand takeover ad.

This ad format is ideal for reaching a wide audience and has been shown to be quite successful in raising awareness and generating conversions.

Brand Takeovers can take the form of still images, GIFs, or videos.

Unlike the Top-View Ads, users cannot like or leave a comment. Instead, they can only click on the ad and be directed to a landing page.

However, Brand Takeover Ads come at a high cost. This is because TikTok only presents one takeover ad per day.

Now that you know the different TikTok advertising formats, let’s start building an ad.

Build Your TikTok Campaign, Ad Groups and Ads

If you already have a TikTok ads account, you can log in to your TikTok Ads Manager and follow along with the steps below.

Setting up Your Campaign

Step 1: Select Campaign and Click the Create Button

After clicking Campaign you will be directed to another page where you will find the Create button.

Step 2: Choose Your Objective

On this page, you will see TikTok’s campaign objectives are under the following categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversions.

Depending on what you want to achieve, you’ll want to select the best objective that meets your desired goal. For example, if you want to increase website traffic, you should select Traffic, which is under Consideration. For this objective, you need to create a TikTok pixel which you can learn how to do via this link.

Now, if you aren’t sure which objective to select, click here.


Step 3: Add Your Campaign Name and Set Your Budget

Enter your TikTok Ad Campaign Name.

When you set your budget, you’ll need to choose your ad campaign budget type. Below you’ll find a brief explanation of each budget type:

  • Daily

With a daily budget, you’ll specify how much you want to spend each day.

  • Lifetime
    A lifetime budget means that you’ll spend a fixed maximum amount for the timeframe you have set.


  • No Limit

When you go with the No Limit option, there are no restrictions on your ad delivery at the campaign level. Instead, you can set a budget per ad group.

Create an Ad Group

Step 1: Name Your Ad Group

Step 2: Input Your Ad Details

Promotion Type (For Traffic, App Installs and Conversion Only)

You have the option of promoting either an app or a website but this section will vary based on your campaign goal. In this example, we’ve chosen Traffic as our objective.

Step 3: Decide On Your Ad Placement

In this step, you’ll need to choose where your ad will appear. TikTok offers two placement options which are Automatic Placement and Manual Placement.

  • Automatic Placement

With this option, TikTok will choose the best placement for your ad. This can be a great option if you’re not sure where you want to place your ad or if you want the system to handle the optimisation for you.

  • Manual Placement

If you want to have more control over where your ads appear or if you have specific placements in mind then Manual Placement might be a good option.

Note: Campaign objectives such as Reach, Video Views, Lead Generation and Community Interaction do not have the option for Manual Placement.

To know more about ad placements and ad locations you may visit this link.

Once you’ve chosen your ad placement option, you can toggle some of the settings which are Block List (Pangle), User Comment and Video Download according to your preference.

Step 4: Determine if You’ll Use the Automated Creative Optimisation Feature

When you choose to turn on this feature, the best combinations of creative assets will be generated. This means that you don’t have to worry about testing different combinations to find the best one – the system will do it for you.

Step 5: Add Your Target Audience Information

TikTok enables you to create a custom audience as well as a lookalike audience, or exclude certain characteristics. You can even narrow your target audience by location, gender, age, language, operating system, interests and other characteristics.

Step 6: Enter Your Budget and Schedule

Depending on the budget you have selected earlier in the campaign level, you are either presented with the option for a Daily Budget or a Lifetime Budget. Regardless of what you choose, you must have $20 as your minimum budget per ad group.

Next, input the start and end date for your ad, as well as the time of day it will run.

Step 7: Add Your Bidding and Optimisation Preferences

Optimisation Goal

Three kinds of optimisation goals will be shown in this portion and they are:

  • Conversion
  • Click
  • Reach

Note that this is set by default for some campaign objectives. In this example, the campaign objective selected was to increase website traffic resulting in Click as the optimisation goal.

Bid Strategy

For Bid Strategy, you can either set it to Lowest Cost or Bid Cap, however, the options will vary in this section, depending on which campaign objective you’ve selected.

You can select the bid cap option if you don’t want to spend more than a certain amount per click, per thousand impressions or per conversion.

Although the higher your bid, the more likely you are to be shown in front of your audience. But, it’s also safe to stay within your budget if you are fairly new to TikTok Ads.

Billing Event

When you choose an optimisation goal for your TikTok ad, the app will automatically set the billing event on the basis of the chosen optimisation goal.

According to TikTok, below are how your ads will be billed as:

  • Reach will be billed as CPM (Cost Per Mille)
  • Click will be billed as CPC (Cost Per Click)
  • Conversions, where bidding method is oCPM (optimisation Cost Per Mile) while payment method is CPM.
Delivery Type

When it comes to delivery type, you have two options:

  • Standard

If you select this option, your advertising budget will be split evenly across the campaign period that was set.

  • Accelerate 

For this option, your advertising budget will be used as fast as possible during the campaign period that was set.

Create Your TikTok Ad

Step 1: Enter Your Ad Name

This step is quite straightforward, similar to naming your ad groups and ad campaigns. Naming your ad will assist you in differentiating your TikTok ads from the others that are in the same ad group.

Step 2: Set Your Custom Identity

Upload your business’ logo and name.

Step 2: Choose Your Ad Format

You have the option to choose Single Image, Single Video or Collection Ads, but options will vary depending on the objective you’ve selected on the campaign level.

Step 3: Upload Your Creative Media

There are 3 ways to upload your creative media. Choose from the following:

  • Upload new media from your computer (+Upload button)
  • Upload the same media from your previous advertisements (+From Library button)
  • Create a new video through Video Template and Smart Video (+Create)

Next, decide on a thumbnail and music for your video ad if your video does not have any music.

The thumbnail you pick will be the first thing people see, so it’s critical to make it enticing. Some individuals use a new photo for it, while others select a portion from the video that best represents the ad.

If you plan on utilising the Video Template or Smart Video options, both are great alternatives that help you create amazing videos without having to spend more time or money. It’s a quick and easy way to create ads, so be sure to check out the Video Template and Smart Video functions.

Step 4: Place Your Ad Text

Add your text and keep it short.

Step 5: Select Your Destination Page, Call-To-Action and Add Your Website Link

Destination Page

In this example, we’ve chosen to bring people to a website instead of an Instant Page.

Call-To-Action

For your call-to-action, you can either select Dynamic or Standard.

  • Dynamic

If you choose this option, TikTok will optimise the call-to-action that will get the most clicks.

Simply click the Edit text options and uncheck which ones you don’t want TikTok to use when optimising.

  • Standard

When you click the dropdown arrow, you will be presented with several call-to-actions wherein you only need to pick one that makes the most sense to place on your TikTok ad.

Website Link

Now, add the website link that you want your audience to visit.

Step 5: Preview the Ad

It’s important to preview your ad before you publish it, in order to make sure that it looks right. This will help to ensure that your viewers have a positive experience when watching your ad.

Step 6: Add Your Tracking Links

Adding tracking links to your TikTok ads is a great way to track ad performance data.

You can use third-party tracking URLs and pixels to help you keep track of how many people are clicking on your ad, how many impressions you’re generating, and more.

To add tracking links, simply copy and paste the URL or pixel code into the appropriate field.

Step 7: Click Submit

Now all that’s left is to wait for your ad to be approved.

TikTok Ads Cost and TikTok Ads Specs

Ads Cost

As reported by AdAge, advertising costs on TikTok can range from $50,000 to $120,000. But of course, you can work with the budget that you have, then test different amounts to determine how much you should spend to get your ideal results.

Ads Specs

  • Aspect Ratio

Stick to these aspect ratios: 9:16, 1:1, or 16:9.

  • Video Resolution

An ad’s video resolution should not be less than 540 by 960 px, 640 by 640px or 960 by 540px.

  • File Type

For file types, TikTok recommends .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, or .avi.

  • Duration

The minimum video duration is 5 seconds, with the maximum being 60 seconds. But TikTok suggests a shorter video duration of 9-15 seconds.

  • Bitrate

Bitrate should not be less than 516 kbps.

  • File Size

Stick to file sizes that are less than 500 MB.

  • Profile Image

Your profile image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1. The supported file types are .jpg, .jpeg, and .png and the file size should not exceed 50 KB.

  • App Name or Brand Name (Display Name)

Do not use emojis and keep your text short. Note that TikTok supports 1-40 half-width characters (0.5-20 full-width characters).

  • Ad Description

Keep your text short, do not use emojis and symbols such as “{ }” and “#”. Note that for Ad Description, TikTok supports 1-100 characters (latin) and 1-50 (asian characters).

TikTok Advertising Tips

  • Your Ads Can Be Creative or Trendy but Should Always Be Consistent

It’s essential for you to create video ads that are just as creative or trendy as organic TikTok posts.

But not all businesses can hop on trendy ads.

If this is the case for your business, we recommend you to take a look at what your competitors are doing on TikTok.

While keeping these in mind, your ads should also be consistent with your branding.

  • Add Music to Your Ads

Most of your video ads should have non-copyright music in the background that complements what you are promoting. To do this, use TikTok’s Smart Video Soundtrack.

  • Only Use High-Resolution Videos

Do not upload blurry, distorted, stretched or compressed videos. High-resolution video ads look great and provide an excellent user experience. So don’t miss out on this by uploading low-resolution content!

If you need help in resizing your ads’ aspect ratios, you can visit this link.

  • Consider Working With Influencers

In the world of social media, influencers promoting a product or brand is becoming more commonplace for companies to leverage. However, organisations should think carefully about who they collaborate with, to get great outcomes.

There are various types of influencers available to businesses of all sizes, who can help them achieve their goals while staying within their budget.

If working with an influencer is applicable for your business, you need to thoroughly research the best influencers who can represent your brand well and not just meet your budget.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to TikTok advertising- from the cost and specs of your ad to making sure that your ads are creative and consistent with your branding.

But now that you know the basics of TikTok advertising, it’s time to put these tips into practice and create your own ad campaign. By following these simple tips, you’ll be on your way to creating successful TikTok ads that drive awareness, consideration and conversion for your business.

If you need help getting started with running ads on TikTok, contact us – we’re happy to help!