How To Set Up Your First TikTok Ad

TikTok has had a rapid growth spurt in the last couple of years and it’s showing no signs of slowing down, set to become the number one social media platform globally in 2022.

As a business or brand looking to grow its online presence and take advantage of the sizeable audience on the app itself, there’s good reason to learn how to run a successful TikTok ad campaign. If social media advertising isn’t part of your digital marketing strategy, you’re likely doing something wrong. In today's marketing world, social media advertising is key to a successful digital campaign.

While there are certainly some similarities between TikTok’s ad manager and Facebook’s ad manager, there are also several differences you should understand.

With that said, in what follows will be a step-by-step guide on how to create your first TikTok ad campaign so that you can hopefully take your business to new heights in a channel with lots of potential.

Types Of TikTok Ads Offered

Before setting up your first ad, it’s important to understand the types of ads that you can choose from. Understanding each type will better prepare you to choose the most suitable option for your campaign goals.

The following types of ads are offered by TikTok:

• Brand Takeover
• Hashtag Challenge
• In-Feed Video
• Sponsored Influencer
• Branded AR

Brand Takeover

A Brand Takeover ad is an ad that takes up the entirety of the screen. It’s beneficial in that it immediately captures the attention of the audience for a few seconds before scrolling to the next video on their feed.

Hashtag Challenge

A Hashtag Challenge ad is an ad that appears on the discovery page with the intent to encourage engagement using a specific hashtag. The idea is that people see the ad and try to replicate it themselves under the same hashtag, which grows the total videos (and hopefully virality) of the hashtag.

In-Feed Video

An In-Feed Video ad is an ad that appears on the audience’s “For You Page” and acts as a convenient way to get in front of many eyes. It also includes a Call-To-Action (CTA) button which encourages people to click through and perform the desired action, such as visit your website.

Sponsored Influencer

A Sponsored Influencer ad is an ad that uses influencer marketing tactics to get your message out using a well-known face on the app. Influencers are users / accounts on TikTok who have a large following - sponsoring an influencer means you pay them to post a video about your business. This is a good tactic to help authenticate your brand and get some great exposure.

Branded AR

A Branded AR ad is an ad that creates content usable to the user, whether via branded stickers, filters, or otherwise. A great way to increase engagement and brand awareness.

Setting Up Your First TikTok Ad

As a marketing professional, brand, or business, social media ads shouldn’t be anything new. TikTok ads, in particular, just might be.

Launched in the middle of 2020, TikTok Business now allows you to bypass the red tape of qualifying for an Ads Manager account and begin to create campaigns with a few clicks of the button.

Like any ads manager account, whether Facebook or otherwise, the first and most obvious step to creating your first social media advertisement is to create your account! It’s during this step that you can distinguish whether you’re a business or individual.

Once you’ve filled out a compilation of basic information to set up your ad account, it’s off to the races! Below is a step-by-step guide on how YOU can successfully launch your first TikTok ad campaign.

Step 1: Create New Campaign

The first step to any ad campaign is to select your primary objective of the campaign. In order to select an option, you need to first create the campaign itself. To do so, simply login to your ads manager account and select ‘Campaign’ followed by clicking the ‘Create’ button.

Step 2: Choosing An Objective

Much like Facebook, TikTok provides several objective scenarios in which you can choose. By clicking the ‘Advertising Objective’ on the left sidebar, you’ll be presented with these options.

Campaign objectives include fall under three (3) main categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. There’s a total of seven (7) campaign objectives: Reach, Traffic, Installation, Views, Lead Generation, Conversions, Sales. Each objective serves its own purpose, be sure to click "Learn more" on each option if you need a bit more understanding of what the objective aims to achieve. Just like all digital platforms, choosing the right objective for your campaign is an important part of a successful campaign.

Step 3: Naming & Budgeting Your Campaign

Once you’ve selected a campaign objective, it’s time to name your campaign (for organisation sake) and select a budget. Naming conventions are completely unique and adaptable to your own business, but the general rule is you want to name your campaign something that easily tells you what it is, just by reading the name. Common items to include are the objective, the target and a unique identifier such as a name or number (from a log that you'll match with a name separately).

Setting a budget depends on a variety of factors including how deep your pocket is and what your primary objective is. If you’re looking for a quick sale, for example, opt for a lifetime budget. If you’re looking for a slow burn of persistent sales from a continuous ad campaign, opt for a daily budget. While these rules aren't set in stone, it's what we're seeing is working best at the moment. Keep in mind though, TikTok is new, meaning there will be lots of room for change as people start to understand the ad platform better in time.

Other options to consider include what your budgetary limit is, what type of bidding strategy you want to pursue, and what delivery type you prefer.

Step 4: Create An Ad Group

Grouping an ad involves ad placements and targeting. It’s during this step that you will determine where you’ll be showing your ad(s) and to whom.

Assuming that you’re new to creating ad campaigns, your likely best bet is to opt for automated placements. If you’d prefer to be more hands-on and decisive, you also have the option to manually select both the placement and target.

Again, be sure to name your ad group something that easily identifies who you're targeting and any other factors you've customised in this step.

Following this, it’s time to select your target demographic. Options for selection include audience type, gender, location, age, language, interest, and more. Similar to Facebook, you’ll also be provided with the opportunity to create a custom audience should you desire to do so.

Step 5: Create The Ad

Now that you’ve filled out all of the details, it’s time to actually create the ad to launch. Here, you’ll be asked to choose your ad format (i.e. video, image, etc), compile the ad copy, and offer a call-to-action (such as Sign Up, Download Now, Click Here etc).

Once you’ve filled out all of the information and uploaded all of the relevant content, all that’s left to do is click ‘Submit’ to create and set live your first ad campaign! Once live (it undergoes a review process first), it’s your opportunity to track and measure performance and make adjustments as necessary.

Congratulations, you’ve created your FIRST TikTok ad campaign!

Next Steps

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