TikTok Advertising is an app monetization platform that enables advertisers to promote their brand or product through highly engaging video ads.
This platform allows advertisers to tell their brand story with a series of short videos. The videos share common characteristics and a unifying theme, with each video in the series adding new information to the story.
It is a great way for advertisers to appeal to their target audience with stories that are more interesting and inviting than typical advertising messages.
The platform is unique in that it provides advertisers with a new and engaging way to convey their message.
But how do you place ads on Tiktok? If the answer to this question is important to you, then you are reading the right article as I will take you through the right route to learn everything about Tiktok ad placements.
Before we dive in properly, let me give you a leak, TikTok placements support the following ad objectives_Video Views, Reach, Traffic, Lead Generation, App Installs, and Conversion.
Types of TikTok Ad Placements
Before you begin: Please keep in mind that the placement setting cannot be modified after an ad group is created.
In broader terms, we have two types of Tiktok ads placement:
#1. Automatic Placement
Automatic Placement uses all the available placements to provide you with the best result for your ad.
In this mode, the ad system can explore and learn from the vastest audience scope and place your ads across various applications. Tiktok recommends this type of placement to most advertisers.
During the delivery of your ads, the machine concentrates on the chance that your ad can be placed within your selected placements based on a relatively low actual bid.
Essentially, the cost you see is the best choice offered according to the system taking active users, competition environment, your bid, and budget upon delivery into consideration.
In contrast, if the ad system delivers all your ads in the placements that you deem as the lowest cost, it may fail to achieve the same results and delivery may be unsuccessful.
However, with automatic placement, the system leverages a smart calculation to offer you the best combination of ad placements possible across the app portfolio.
This means you can spend less time fine-tuning your ad placements, and more time concentrating on your business.
#2. Select Placement
Select Placement allows you manually choose the apps you wish to deliver your ads on. If you utilize this method, we do recommend selecting multiple placements so that the algorithm has some flexibility to deliver your ads and maximize results.
TikTok Ad Placements
With four placement options to choose from, there’s sure to be a placement for your objective.
Three of these options are super great for awareness and consideration campaigns, while In-Feed Video takes care of your direct action activity.
#1. In-Feed Video
In-Feed Video is presently the only placement purchasable through the self-serve platform. However, we are in the curve of some beta and even alpha placements that could be launching in the not-too-distant future, so watch this space.
Comparable to Facebook’s in-stream placement, the Tiktok In-Feed Video placement appears on the ‘For You page.
Just like all videos in this feed, in-feed video ads are full-screen with sound on, vertical, and start playing automatically. These videos should be 5-60 seconds long following best practices.
This ad placement type is available for purchase directly via TikTok’s Ad Manager. TikTok’s In-Feed ads can be used for a variety of campaign objectives.
Each features a clickable call to action button that can be used to drive traffic towards external landing pages, app downloads, or to your company’s TikTok Business Account.
Design your In-Feed video ads to work vertically and keep in mind the safe zones you need to work within to ensure that none of your main visual elements are shut off by TikTok’s user interface overlay.
TikTok In-Feed Video Best Practices
#Prioritize Vertical Videos
To give your ads a native-video-like look and feel, all video assets should fit the recommended ad specs.
If they don’t fit into that recommended format, TikTok is most likely not going to admit your ads.
And, even if they do, the ads won’t create as much effect. They can look jagged or might get cut off at the margins.
#2. Limit the Video Length
The best way to ensure that your video ad content is not pruned, keep the video length between 9 and 15 seconds max.
#3. Begin with an Impactful Visual
Understand that online users are more than happy to swipe and scroll to the next post if they don’t find the content in front of them interesting enough.
How can you get the trapped to watch your video?
To hook viewers to your ads, start with an attention-grabbing visual.
#4. Center all Important Elements
TikTok normally obscures the outer margins of frames. So it’s best to keep all the crucial elements of your advertisement centered. This should include your CTA and brand name.
#5. Include Background Music
TikTok call for audio settings to be turned on. It’s advisable to include background music clips and tracks in your advertisements, instead of subtitles.
#6. Add the Captions
Click-happy social media users may abandon an ad before it ends. You can write concise and informational captions so that users get the gist of your video, even if they don’t watch it to the end. TikTok recommends using the local language to write captions.
#7. Add a Compelling Call-to-Action
There is no point in investing in ads if they don’t lead to any tangible returns. Include a strong CTA in the form of a native button to inspire viewers to act.
#2. Top-View
TikTok’s Top-View enables advertisers to be the first piece of content that a viewer sees with a full-screen creative.
The placement is purchased nationwide but ensures millions of views within 24 hours.
Though this placement is a powerful tool for brand awareness, the format is fully clickable through to internal, or external landing pages with trackable conversions.
Furthermore, TikTok has enabled advertisers to upload multiple creatives for a single placement, ensuring viewers don’t watch the same video each time they open the app.
Your chosen creative could be a video 5-60 seconds in length, with sound on.
Note that this format isn’t accessible through TikTok’s self-serve platform so needs to be reserved with a TikTok rep.
#3. Brand Takeover
TikTok Brand takeover ads pop up instantly as users open the TikTok app, and take over the screen for a few seconds, before changing into an In-feed video ad.
They also display on the “For You Page” as still images, gifs, or videos, with clickable links that lead to landing pages within TikTok.
It successfully creates mass awareness and drives sales since the ads are displayed in front of the right audience.
You can also create and add your custom logos to stay in the mind of users better and make them remember your brand.
#4. Branded Hashtag
The branded hashtag is another popular Tiktok ad placement. It involves stimulating users to videotape themselves performing something like a dance or doing something in line with the product in question and posting it with a defined hashtag.
These ads are displayed at the top of the discovery page; When viewers click on the hashtags, it leads them to the landing pages on TikTok and a collection of other videos from similar hashtag challenges. TikTok hashtag challenges improve engagement and brand awareness.
#5. Branded Effects
TikTok branded effects enable brands to design an ad with their own custom filter on the app. The ad can last up to 10 days at a time and is a powerful way to boost user engagement.
They allow businesses to create highly-customizable effects with their brand logos or other branding elements.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has prepared your mind and now you can start to see how each placement works well with each other to create a full-funnel experience within the app using the Tiktok ads manager.
According to TikTok, the app is not another social network but rather an entertainment podium.
As such, ads are unlikely to work if they are a mere “cut-and-paste” from pre-existing creatives.
Amongst a sea of user-generated content, ad campaigns can offer immersive and engaging experiences. Hopefully, this article gives you an idea of how each TikTok ad placement might work for your brand.
