6 Types of TikTok Ads Every Business Should Run

TikTok has become a marketing must for nearly every brand trying to reach a broader audience in 2023 and beyond. Knowing about the TikTok ad formats can help you grow your business.

TikTok has gained significant popularity in recent years and has become an essential platform for businesses to consider in their marketing strategies. Tiktok has a massive user base, with millions of active users worldwide. It provides businesses with a vast potential audience to reach and engage with. This large user base increases companies' chances of finding their target audience and potential customers on the platform.

More and more brands are investing in TikTok advertising to reach a younger audience and adapting its offering and features to grow its Brand. The platform allows marketers to create advertisements, set budgets, get the target users, and analyse their campaigns. Marketers must know about different TikTok ad formats. TikTok for Business offers brands unique features, allowing them to reach wider audiences and achieve the desired results.

According to recent statistics, more than 55% of TikTok users know about new products, services, and offerings via TikTok ads. The social media platform offers a frictionless advertising experience, and more than 88% of users enjoy seeing TikTok ads as the Ads Manager doesn't force users to click away.

Exploring its ad formats and features is essential to start your TikTok advertising agency. In this blog, you will learn about the benefits of TikTok advertising and what types of TikTok ads your business can run.

TikTok Advertising – A Good Marketing Strategy for Your Business

TikTok advertising is a relatively new form, but it has quickly become a popular way for businesses to reach a younger audience. It is an ideal platform for companies that want to reach Gen Z and Millennials. With its creative ad formats, targeted targeting, and detailed analytics, TikTok can help you reach your marketing goals.

In addition to its large audience, TikTok is a very engaging platform. Users spend an average of 80 minutes daily on the app and are very likely to interact with ads they see. According to a Kantar study, 67% of TikTok users agree that TikTok ads can capture their attention. TikTok ads can be used to drive traffic to a website, increase brand awareness, or generate leads.

Here are some benefits of investing your energy and budget into TikTok advertising.

• TikTok has over 1 billion active users worldwide, and the majority of them are under the age of 30. This makes TikTok an ideal platform for businesses to reach a large and engaged audience.
• TikTok ads can be very creative and engaging. You can capture users' attention through music, dance, and humour.
• With TikTok Ads Manager, you can find specific demographics and interests. It allows you to show TikTok ads to those interested in your brand.
• TikTok provides detailed analytics so you can track the performance of your ads and see how they are driving results.
• TikTok ads can be used to promote a variety of products and services, from fashion and beauty to food and travel.
• TikTok advertising can be used to drive traffic to a website, increase brand awareness, or generate leads.
• The cost of TikTok advertising varies depending on several factors, such as the length of the ad, the target audience, and the bidding strategy.
• TikTok advertising can be a cost-effective way to reach a large audience of potential customers.

Exploring Different Types of TikTok Ads

It is interesting to know that TikTok advertising is packed with a variety of ad formats:

1. Top view Ads
2. In-feed Ads
3. Spark Ads
4. Brand Takeover Ads
5. Branded Hashtag Challenge Ads
6. Branded Effect Ads

With the help of TikTok Ads Manager, you can create different TikTok ads to promote your products or services.

1 – Top View Ads

Top View ads are TikTok ads that appear at the top of the For You feed and can't be skipped. These ads only appear once a day when a user opens the app for the first time. This makes them a very effective way to reach a large audience of potential customers. According to TikTok statistics, more than 71% of users say these ads can quickly gain their attention.

Here are some of the benefits of Top View ads:

• High visibility: Top View ads are the first thing users see when they open the TikTok app, so they have a high chance of being seen.
• Full-Screen Immersion: Top View ads occupy the entire user's device screen. This immersive experience allows brands to deliver their message without distractions, making it more likely that viewers will engage with the content.
• Engaging format: Full-screen videos can be up to 60 seconds long. This gives you ample time to tell your story and engage users with your content. It is an excellent option for brands to promote their products and services, as it can grab their attention.
• Targeted reach: You can target Top View ads to specific demographics, interests, and even behaviours. It allows marketers to show their ads to people most likely interested in their products or services.
• Measurable results: TikTok provides detailed analytics so you can track the performance of your Top View ads and see how they are driving results.

In short, Top View ads are an excellent option for brands looking for an effective way to reach a large audience of potential customers. They offer high visibility, engaging format, and targeted reach.

2 – In-Feed ads

In-feed ads are TikTok ads that appear in the For You feed, just like regular TikTok videos. This makes them a very effective way to reach a large audience of potential customers. It is important to remember that The For You Feed algorithm features videos based on users' interests and app activity. A study conducted by Neuro-Insight suggests that TikTok In-feed ads receive 23% higher detail memory than TV ads.

Here are some of the benefits of Top View ads:

• Seamless integration: In-feed ads seamlessly integrate into the user's TikTok “For You” feed, appearing as native content. They blend with organic videos, ensuring a natural and non-disruptive user experience. This integration increases the chances of users engaging with the ad content.
• Broad reach: These ads allow brands to reach a wide range of users and demographics, ensuring broad exposure for their products or services. This broad reach can be particularly beneficial for brands targeting younger audiences.
• Creative flexibility: In-feed ads on TikTok support various creative elements, including videos, images, text overlays, stickers, filters, and sound. This flexibility empowers brands to showcase their creativity and express their unique identity. Marketers can experiment with different formats and styles to capture users' attention and stand out.
• Engaging and interactive: In-feed ads allow brands to create captivating ad experiences that resonate with the TikTok community. Brands can leverage TikTok's creative tools, such as special effects and challenges, to encourage users to participate and engage with the ad content.
• Targeted advertising: TikTok offers robust targeting options for in-feed ads. Brands can target their ads based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and location. This targeting capability ensures that the ads are shown to the most relevant users, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
• CTA integration: You can add customisable Call-to-Action buttons, such as “Learn More,” “Shop Now,” or “Download.” These CTAs prompt users to take specific actions, driving them to a landing page, an app store, or a website.
• Measurable results: TikTok provides comprehensive analytics and performance metrics for in-feed ad campaigns. Brands can track key metrics such as impressions, clicks, click-throughs, engagement, and conversions.

3 – Spark Ads

Spark ads are a fantastic type of TikTok ads that allow marketers to make the most out of user-generated content for their ad campaigns. It will enable marketers to maintain a native feel of organic posts and shows authenticity, helping them to reach new audiences and effectively promote their brand.

• Create unique brand experiences: Spark Ads allow brands to use their organic TikTok posts as ads, which can help create more authentic and engaging brand experiences. This is because users are more likely to be receptive to ads that feel like organic content.
• Improved ad performance: Spark Ads have been shown to improve ad performance, with higher completion rates, engagement rates, and conversion rates. Spark Ads have a 134% higher completion rate and 157% higher 6-second view-through rate than In-Feed Ads.
• Innovative features: Spark Ads offer several innovative features that can help you create more engaging and compelling ads, such as adding interactive elements, such as polls, quizzes, and challenges, to your ads to drive more engagement.
• Increase ROI: Spark Ads can create a strong positive impact, helping marketers to build brand awareness, generate leads and drive traffic to their website or app. It will eventually improve ROI for brands.
• Leverage content already trending: Spark Ads allow you to leverage content already trending on TikTok, which can help you reach a wider audience and get more engagement for your ads.

4 – Brand Takeover Ads

Like Top view ads, brand takeover ads are a powerful ad format that appears immediately upon opening the TikTok app. These ads typically last for five unskippable seconds and can be a video or an image with a clickable call-to-action button. These full-screen ads are highly immersive and capture the user's attention as soon as they enter the app. Remember that TikTok displays only one Branded Takeover ad per day, making it less competitive but pricier.

Brand takeover ads can offer several benefits for brands.

• Massive reach: Brand takeover ads are displayed as the first thing a user sees when they open TikTok, which means they have the potential to reach an enormous audience and get maximum attention.
• High engagement: Brand takeover ads are more likely to be engaged with than other ad formats on TikTok. This is because they are more visually appealing and attention-grabbing.
• Brand awareness: These ads can help marketers to build brand awareness by exposing their brand to a large audience. You can showcase your brand's logo, tagline, and unique visual elements in a visually captivating way. The ad's creative should be designed to impact and leave a lasting impression on users immediately.
• Clickable CTA: Brand takeover ads have a clickable CTA, which means users can easily click on the ad to learn more about your brand or product.
• Lead Generation and More Sales: They can help to generate leads by driving traffic to your website or landing pages. Brand takeover ads can help you to increase sales by promoting your products or services to a targeted audience.
• Trackable results: You can track various metrics, including video views, engagement rate, and conversion rate. This means you can see exactly how effective your campaigns are and make necessary adjustments as needed.

5 – Branded Hashtag Challenge Ads

​Branded Hashtag Challenge ads are one of the most popular types of TikTok ads that have the potential to generate maximum user engagement. It allows marketers to create a challenge and invite users to participate in a trend by using a branded hashtag to identify their videos. This will enable brands to track the engagement of their challenge and reach a wider audience.

• Reach a large audience: These ads are a great way to reach a large audience on TikTok. When users participate in a challenge, their videos are shown to their followers and other users who are interested in the challenge. Your challenge can reach a much larger audience than a traditional TikTok ad.
• Brand storytelling: Hashtag challenges allow brands to tell their story and showcase their products or services uniquely and creatively. By setting the challenge parameters, you can guide users to create content that aligns with your brand's values and messaging, helping to communicate your brand identity effectively.
• User engagement: Branded hashtag challenges encourage user participation, creativity, and interaction. Users who join your challenge create content related to your brand, increasing attention and fostering a sense of community around your products or services.
• Viral potential: If your branded hashtag challenge gains traction and becomes popular, there's a higher chance of it going viral, reaching a much larger audience than you initially anticipated. Viral challenges can generate significant brand awareness and attract attention from media outlets and influencers.
• User-generated content: Branded hashtag challenges generate a wealth of user-generated content (UGC). UGC is valuable for brands because it provides authentic content created by actual users, which can be leveraged in various marketing efforts. You can repurpose UGC for social media posts, advertisements, and testimonials, showcasing real people using and enjoying your brand.
• Build brand awareness: Branded hashtag challenges can also help you to build brand awareness on TikTok. Users who see your brand's hashtag in videos are more likely to become familiar with your brand. This can lead to increased brand awareness and consideration.
• Influencer collaborations: TikTok is home to a vast network of influencers who have cultivated dedicated followings. Branded hashtag challenges can be an excellent opportunity to collaborate with relevant influencers who can create and promote content around your challenge. Partnering with influencers can amplify your campaign's reach, tap into their fan base, and lend credibility to your brand.
• Drive sales: If you offer a prize or incentive for users participating in your challenge, you can encourage them to buy your products or services. This can lead to increased sales and revenue.

6 – Branded Effect Ads

Branded Effect ads are TikTok ads that allow brands to create a custom filter or effect that users can apply to their videos. Like Instagram and Snapchat, marketers can make the most of special effects and filters for promoting their brands. These effects can be used to add fun, creative, or branded elements to videos, and they can be a great way to engage users and market your brand.

Branded Effect ads on TikTok, or AR (Augmented Reality) effects or filters, provide several benefits for businesses and brands. These special effects are perfect for its audience, allowing brands to get more UGC and brand engagement.

The key advantages of choosing Branded Effect ad format include the following:

• Highly engaging: Branded Effect ads are often more interesting than traditional TikTok ads because they allow users to interact with your brand more personally. These ads can be very creative and eye-catching, which can help them to stand out from the competition. On top of that, these ads are easy to use, which means that users can start using them right away.
• Interactive product discovery: Branded effects can be used to showcase your products or services in an interactive and visually appealing way. Users can virtually try on makeup, clothing, or accessories, see how furniture looks in their space, or experience your brand's unique offerings. This interactive product discovery helps users visualise and connect with your brand, potentially leading to increased sales and conversions.
• Customised AR experiences: Branded effect ads allow users to interact with your brand in a fun and immersive way. By creating customised AR effects that align with your brand's identity, you can engage TikTok users and offer them a unique experience beyond traditional advertising. These effects can be applied to users' videos, allowing them to try on virtual products, transform their appearance, or engage in branded games.
• Social sharing and virality: TikTok is a highly social platform, and users love to share entertaining and creative content. Branded effects can become viral sensations, spreading across the platform as users incorporate them into their videos. When users see their friends using a particular AR effect, they're likelier to try it themselves, contributing to the virality and organic reach of your brand's campaign.
• Data and insights: TikTok's ad platform provides detailed analytics and insights about the performance of your branded effect ads. With customer feedback analytics, you can track metrics such as impressions, views, engagement, and shares to understand how users interact with your effects. These insights help you measure the success of your campaign, optimise your strategy, and make data-driven decisions for future marketing efforts.

TikTok Ads – Which Type could be the Right Choice for Your Brand?

The best way to choose the right type of TikTok ad for your brand is to consider your specific goals, target audience and budget. TikTok ads can range in price from a few cents to several dollars per view. Setting a budget you're comfortable with before running ads is essential.

Similarly, define your target audience and whom you are trying to reach with your ads. If you're targeting a younger audience, consider using a more creative ad format, such as a Branded Effect Ad. The type of TikTok ad you choose will depend on your specific goals. What do you want to achieve with your ads? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales?

These factors will help you choose the right TikTok ad type that makes perfect sense for your business. A digital marketing company can help you choose the right ad type and create content to fuel your TikTok ad campaigns. If you are a small business with a smaller marketing budget, it is the right time to start experimenting with different types of TikTok ads and make the most out of its TikTok advertising.

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