TikTok Wants You to Know How Effective Their Ads Are

As one of the top social media platforms worldwide (with a billion active users monthly), TikTok provides an interactive space for users to create and consume a continuous stream of engaging and entertaining content. The platform’s algorithmic matching system makes it possible for viewers to watch videos they’re most interested in.

Some businesses and entrepreneurs have started using TikTok as a way to advertise their products—organically or inorganically. Well, let’s see what TikTok has to say about the effectiveness of their advertising platform.

Do viewers really watch your TikTok Ads?

Some people have questioned the decision to buy TikTok ads, worrying that because their viewers can easily swipe past them to non-paid video clips, TikTok ads aren't worth it. But if this was the case, the feature would be unworthy because the response rate would be too low.

To find out if this is true, TikTok recently undertook a research study in partnership with neuromarketing research firm MediaScience.

There were eight ads used and participants could skip through them if they'd prefer. The research, however, found that most of the participants merely swipe past the ad in the first round.

In the second round, MediaScience monitored and measured the eye movement and heart rates of participants to determine how they responded to each ad and the resonance of TikTok promotions.

For this experiment, the firm found brand recall to be strong despite the limited view times. This result is impressive as most of the ads lasted less than six seconds, unlike regular ads that could last up to 30 seconds.

The results of the study show that TikTok users were more interested in and remembered ads with shorter clips. This may mean that people prefer the kind of content on TikTok as it is meant to be short and quick.

Implications of the latest research on TikTok Ads

The continuous growth of TikTok’s active users has led to the ‘glocal’ dilemma, which refers to the question of how to balance the benefits of global media platforms with local counterparts.

Another research (this time, by Kantar) shows that TikTok’s collaborative tendencies have led to less intrusive but more creative ad campaigns.

The researcher’s other report highlights that TikTok ads are the most fun and entertaining ads to the audience. Apart from consumers’ acceptance, marketers also say TikTok product solutions are the most inventive.

TikTok is still the industry’s newcomer and if you're launching or promoting your latest product or promotion on TikTok, expect to catch a lot of attention from consumers due to general usage trends.

But in actuality, it turns out traditional advertising approaches don't work on TikTok, so some brands quickly learned and leveraged what works.

Another study by Neuro-Insight reports that sponsored brand messages were received better on TikTok than on other video-based media like TV.

What TikTok has to say to advertisers

The platform recommends that you…

• Give users a reason to participate since TikTok is based on creative collaboration.
• Develop your social media presence with creativity and community in mind.
• Find fun, exciting ways to entertain or educate your audience consistently.
• Leverage TikTok trends - a powerful way to engage users through relevance and reality.

So, if an ad is toned down and more in line with organic content on the platform, users will be more receptive to it. The cool factor of TikTok can also be useful for brands that make smart decisions.

Pro-tip:If you’re not sure how to go about a particular idea, business creative hub where you can find even more ideas for your ad content.)

Highlights from the first TikTok World showcase event

TikTok has invested a lot in new features to help brands get the most out of their account. The company announced its first global event in September 2021, which was held on the 28th. It explored various tools and options for brands and users.

First, the Creator Marketplace was updated and now included more ranking and performance-related info to help brands find the right influencer for their campaign.

The platform also introduced Whalar, Captiv8, and Influential as Marketplace Partners, plus they will be joined by other partners with the emblem soon as the ecosystem continues to grow and expand.

The Creator Marketplace is a great tool for identifying what the key trends are and how you can approach them.

To buttress this, TikTok also offers a new visual editor with extensive options for brands including copyrighted music and visual effects. Brands can also pair TikTok with Vimeo Create, a partner platform that provides new video templates and tools to streamline content creation.

Moving on, eCommerce remains a primary focus. By facilitating monetization opportunities for creators and businesses, TikTok plans to improve brand-influencer partnerships and maximize sales.

TikTok also maintains the longest engagement time stats in the industry. According to the platform, no matter how long an ad stays on screen, it acquires early attention and engages people's brains in the first few seconds.

Consequently, ads on TikTok take less time to impact your audience than on other platforms. This is because of how short TikTok videos usually are, meaning the platform doesn’t send brand messages in a bulky manner like others.

Final words

Looking at past data, it's clear that TikTok users are generally open to promotional content and they respond more often. Plus, the response rates are generally higher than other platforms.

More app-focused engagement translates to actual sales but this depends on several factors, including the appropriateness and approach taken to aim at the target audience.

Data has shown there are many benefits to advertising on TikTok. Brands see significant results when they take the time to learn how the platform works and thoughtfully promote their business, so it’s worth considering paid TikTok ads in your digital marketing plan.