TikTok is one of the most popular and fastest-growing social media platforms in the world, with over 1 billion monthly active users. It offers a unique and creative way to reach and engage with your target audience, especially if they are young, trendy, and fun-loving.
However, running TikTok ads is not as easy as it may seem. There are many pitfalls and challenges that you need to avoid if you want to achieve your marketing goals and get the best return on your investment. In this blog post, we will share with you some of the most common mistakes that businesses make when running TikTok ads, and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Repurposing content and ads from other platforms
One of the biggest mistakes that you can make when running TikTok ads is to simply repurpose your existing content and ads from other platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. This is a surefire way to lose the attention and interest of your TikTok audience, who are looking for fresh, original, and authentic content that fits the platform’s style and culture.
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TikTok is a very different platform from other social media channels, with its own unique features, trends, formats, and user behaviors. You need to create content and ads that are tailored to TikTok’s vertical video format, short attention span, fast-paced editing, catchy music, creative effects, and community-driven challenges.
To avoid this mistake, you need to understand the platform and its audience well, and create content and ads that are TikTok-first. This means that you should:
- Use native TikTok features, such as text overlays, voiceovers, green screen, duets, stitches, filters, stickers, etc.
- Use trending songs, sounds, hashtags, memes, or challenges that are relevant to your brand and niche.
- Use influencers or creators who have a large and loyal following on TikTok, and let them showcase your products or services in their own style and voice.
- Use high-quality videos that are clear, bright, colorful, and eye-catching.
- Use captions that are short, catchy, and engaging.
Mistake #2: Not using user-generated content and influencer marketing
Another common mistake that businesses make when running TikTok ads is to rely solely on their own branded content and ignore the power of user-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing. UGC is any content that is created by your customers or fans, such as reviews, testimonials, unboxing videos, tutorials, etc. Influencer marketing is when you partner with influencers or creators who have a large and engaged following on TikTok, and let them promote your products or services to their audience.
Both UGC and influencer marketing are very effective ways to boost your brand awareness, trustworthiness, credibility, and social proof on TikTok. They can help you reach new audiences, increase your engagement rates, drive more traffic to your website or landing page, and generate more conversions and sales.
To avoid this mistake, you need to leverage UGC and influencer marketing in your TikTok ads strategy. This means that you should:
- Encourage your customers or fans to create UGC about your products or services on TikTok, and reward them with incentives or recognition.
- Repurpose UGC in your own TikTok ads or stories, and tag or mention the original creators.
- Find influencers or creators who match your brand values, audience demographics, and campaign goals, and collaborate with them on sponsored posts, live streams, or hashtag challenges.
- Provide clear guidelines, but also allow creative freedom for the influencers or creators to showcase your products or services in their own way.
Mistake #3: Only posting ads (or posting infrequently)
A third common mistake that businesses make when running TikTok ads is to only post ads on their TikTok account, or post very infrequently. This is a waste of opportunity to build a strong relationship with your TikTok audience, who are looking for more than just promotional messages from brands.
TikTok is a social media platform, not just an advertising channel. You need to create value for your audience by providing them with entertaining, educational, or inspirational content that showcases your brand personality, story, and values. You also need to interact with your audience by responding to their comments, joining their conversations, and participating in their challenges.
To avoid this mistake, you need to post consistently and diversely on your TikTok account. This means that you should:
- Post at least once a day or several times a week to keep your account active and visible on the platform.
- Post a mix of organic and paid content that balances between promoting your products or services and providing value for your audience.
- Post different types of content that suit your brand and niche, such as behind-the-scenes, how-to, Q&A, tips and tricks, fun facts, customer stories, etc.
- Post at optimal times when your audience is most active and likely to engage with your content.
Mistake #4: Getting targeting wrong (not using custom or lookalike audiences)
A fourth common mistake that businesses make when running TikTok ads is to get their targeting wrong, or not use custom or lookalike audiences. Targeting is one of the most important aspects of any advertising campaign, as it determines who will see your ads and how likely they are to respond to them. If you target the wrong audience, you will waste your budget and time on people who are not interested in your products or services, or who are not ready to buy from you.
TikTok offers a variety of targeting options, such as age, gender, location, language, interests, behaviors, devices, etc. However, these options are not enough to ensure that you reach the most relevant and qualified audience for your campaign. You need to use custom or lookalike audiences, which are more advanced and effective targeting methods.
Custom audiences are audiences that you create based on your own data, such as your website visitors, app users, email subscribers, or previous customers. You can upload your data to TikTok and create custom audiences that match your criteria. This way, you can target people who already know your brand and are more likely to convert.
Lookalike audiences are audiences that you create based on your custom audiences, but with a larger scale and reach. You can ask TikTok to find people who are similar to your custom audiences in terms of demographics, interests, behaviors, etc. This way, you can target people who are new to your brand but have a high potential to become your customers.
To avoid this mistake, you need to use custom or lookalike audiences in your TikTok ads strategy. This means that you should:
- Collect and segment your data from various sources, such as your website, app, email list, CRM system, etc.
- Upload your data to TikTok and create custom audiences that match your campaign goals and objectives.
- Use custom audiences to retarget your existing customers or prospects, or to cross-sell or upsell your products or services.
- Create lookalike audiences based on your custom audiences and use them to expand your reach and find new customers or prospects.
- Test and optimize your custom and lookalike audiences to improve their performance and relevance.
Mistake #5: Not tracking and measuring your results
The last common mistake that businesses make when running TikTok ads is to not track and measure their results. This is a huge mistake, as it prevents you from knowing how well your ads are performing, what is working and what is not, and how to improve your ads strategy and ROI.
TikTok provides various metrics and tools to help you track and measure your ads performance, such as impressions, clicks, views, watch time, conversions, cost per result, etc. You can also use third-party tools or platforms, such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Shopify, etc., to track and measure your results across different channels and platforms.
To avoid this mistake, you need to track and measure your results regularly and consistently. This means that you should:
- Set clear and realistic goals and objectives for your TikTok ads campaign, and align them with your overall marketing strategy.
- Define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that match your goals and objectives, and choose the metrics that measure them accurately.
- Use TikTok’s analytics dashboard and other tools or platforms to monitor and analyze your ads performance and compare it with your benchmarks or expectations.
- Use A/B testing and other methods to experiment with different variables and find out what works best for your ads.
- Use the insights and feedback that you get from tracking and measuring your results to optimize and improve your ads strategy and ROI.
Conclusion
TikTok is a great platform for businesses to advertise their products or services, and reach a large and engaged audience. However, running TikTok ads is not without challenges and mistakes. You need to avoid these common mistakes that we have discussed in this blog post, and follow the best practices that we have suggested. By doing so, you will be able to create effective and successful TikTok ads that will help you achieve your marketing goals and grow your business.
We hope that this blog post has been helpful and informative for you. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to leave them below. We would love to hear from you.
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