How To Leverage TikTok Ads To Boost Your Small Business Quickly

It’s incredible just how much TikTok has rocketed into success since the pandemic’s beginning. In two years, it’s achieved a lot more than any other social media platform has before them. 

TikTok has overtaken Google as the most popular site. Yes, Google! The godfather of the internet has been knocked off its digital throne by TikTok. Suffice it to say; this is a social media platform that’s going nowhere fast.

With that being said, as a small business, is it possible to utilize this platform for your benefit? The answer is yes! When it comes to TikTok ads, some great opportunities can help boost your brand awareness and hopefully convert leads to paying customers, as a result.

What types of small businesses can advertise on TikTok?

The typical audience for TikTok is the younger generation. For example, 25% of its users are aged between 10-19, and 22.4% are between 20-29. That makes up nearly half of the app’s audience in the US. Only 11% of its users are over 50 years old.

However, just because there are a smaller amount of older generations on the app, it doesn’t mean certain businesses can’t take advantage of that.

The types of small businesses that may find advertising on TikTok beneficial are home decor brands, beauty, fashion, etc. Any brand with a lot of visual content they can offer will do well on this platform.

Is it too late to start TikTok? Not! It’s still a fairly new platform that’s in its infant stages. With features being added constantly and opportunities for advertising becoming more frequent, it’s certainly a platform to be a part of. TikTok advertising for a small business can be a goldmine of opportunity!

Types of Tiktok ads

There are a few ways that you can do Tiktok ads on this platform. Knowing which will work best for you is important to get the most out of the app’s potential and reach your target audience. Here are just a few examples:

Ads with influencers

If you’re a business with experience with influencers, then this type of advertising will be something you’re well aware of. While it’s not an official feature of Tiktok advertising, it is a form of advertising that can be done on this platform.

You basically partner up with influencers who will create a video ad on your brand, whether using the product within the video to show its uses or inserting a link or discount code for their audience to use.

Creating an official hashtag

As the platform often relies on trending sounds and hashtags, another way to advertise is by creating an official hashtag. That way, when anyone wants to make a video on your brand or product, they can use a hashtag that’s being used as the official hashtag for the campaign.

In-feed advertisements

In-feed advertisements are the main advertisement opportunity that Tiktok offers, and these advertisements show up on the feed or ‘for you page’ each user has when they go on the platform.

How much budget is required for Tiktok ads

The minimum spend on Tiktok ads is $500 through the platform itself. You may want to put a sizeable amount towards Tiktok ads, or you may just want to spend the minimum on seeing how well your adverts perform.

Tiktok advertising costs $0.50 cost per mile, meaning per 1000 views. There’s a $0.02 cost per click.

With other advertising options on Tiktok, your collaborations with influencers may vary in cost depending on their influence. Some charge hundreds of dollars, while others charge thousands to advertise your brand.

How to set up Tiktok ads

When you’re looking at how to grow your business on TikTok, setting up Tiktok Ads is the first step. With that in mind, below is a helpful step-by-step guide to setting up your Tiktok ads account.

1. Create a login – Use an email address or phone number to sign up.
2. Create your account – Fill in all the required information, such as your time zone, currency, etc. Once you’ve filled everything in, click register.

1. Access account setup – Add all your business details and choose your preferred payment method.
2. Submit account information – All left to do is submit the account for review, and Tiktok will confirm everything once the checks have been made.

Tips for advertising on Tiktok

When advertising on Tiktok, there are tips for brands to be proactive on this platform to help improve the success rate in its campaign ads and in general, on their profile. Here are a few tips for advertising on Tiktok.

Be authentic and original

Remain authentic, even when you’re advertising. The consumers of today’s social media generation aren’t stupid; they’ll see through anything that’s not legitimate. 

With that said, make sure you’re also being original in your content creation and not copying others.

Partner with influencers with bigger followings

As it’s already been mentioned, partnering with influencers that have bigger following than you do is going to help drive traffic to your profile and hopefully grow your following.

Use trending hashtags and sounds.

Trending hashtags and sounds are useful to incorporate into your content scheduling on Tiktok. Your advertising campaigns might be something you can incorporate into a trending hashtag or sound currently on the discovery page.

Examples of small brands advertising on Tiktok

Is TikTok good for promoting business? Well, why not ask the small brands that are already making use of the platform? Here are a few examples of small brands advertising on this platform over the past year or so.

Acome, a smartphone accessories brand created a Tiktok In-Feed Ads campaign to help boost traffic for Harbolnas, an annual online shopping holiday popular in Indonesia. 

The result? 480,000 clicks, 7.7-second average watch time, and 34% 6-second view-through rates.

Gymshark started as a small business and has utilized social media to its full advantage to gain notoriety across the globe. It’s also made use of TikTok by reaching 2 million followers in just six months of it going on the platform.

One of the brand’s main campaigns is the 66 Days challenge. This hashtag, #gymshark66 on Tiktok, generated 193 million views.

How has TikTok helped small businesses? Well, it’s allowed those with limited resources to take advantage of a global reach with a unique algorithm that means any video ads they run, can go viral. It’s an exciting time to be a business in Tiktok!