TikTok Ads for eCommerce: How to Boost Your Sales and Reach Your Target Audience

TikTok is the latest social media platform to captivate a new generation and pull in users from other social media platforms. Now, TikTok can provide amazing benefits for eCommerce businesses that learn how to create compelling ads specifically for the video-based platform. 

Keep reading to learn more about leveraging TikTok Ads to boost sales and reach your target audience.

Are TikTok eCommerce Ads Worth the Cost?

You might already advertise on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Search. Is taking on another paid ad platform worth the cost?

TikTok Ads can be extremely effective when carefully crafted and targeted, but if you need to learn how to use them effectively. It’s vital to continually track your TikTok Ad conversion rate and make tactful changes to truly reap the platform's benefits.

Like other paid ad platforms, TikTok allows you to set cost-per-mille (CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC) campaigns. Understanding overall industry benchmarks help you accurately control these costs to reap the rewards of TikTok Ads.

Below, you can see how the Varos dashboard shows you real-time competitor benchmarking for TikTok CPM costs so you can see if you’re spending too much or too little. Then, you can adjust accordingly to only spend what’s necessary.

Benefits of a TikTok eCommerce Strategy

What will your business get out of investing in Tiktok for eCommerce? First, let’s briefly touch on a few of the primary benefits of investing in ads for this relatively new platform:

• Less saturated: TikTok has established itself, but many eCommerce businesses have been slow to advertise on the platform. The result is less saturation for many industries. You can benefit from this by standing out amongst other advertisers with less competition from your peers.
• Reach new audiences: Facebook may still have the largest audience, but TikTok has a younger audience that may be perfect for your business. Ultimately, advertising on both Facebook and TikTok is likely worth the costs, but you’ll reach different audiences with both platforms.
• Quickly developing platform: TikTok is still evaluating and enhancing its ad manager to help attract more businesses, giving them the tools they need to succeed. As such, you’ll be able to explore new features and ad formats as they launch to continually grow your business.

However, truly realizing these benefits depends on crafting effective ads and targeting them correctly. It may take some time, but your business will likely grow as a result of learning how to run TikTok Ads.

TikTok Ad Best Practices to Grow Your Business

TikTok can work wonders for your online store, but you must follow essential best practices to engage with the social media platform’s users. So let’s explore some of the best ways to succeed on TikTok.

Stay Aware of Current Trends

TikTok is more about trends than any other social media platform. From dances to challenges, your company must be aware of these trends and incorporate them into your ads when possible.

Understanding what’s popular on the platform can do wonders for crafting paid ads that still feel like organic posts and help generate sales. For example, you may be able to directly incorporate a trend into an ad or simply mention it in relation to your product. 

Choose the Right Ad Format

TikTok has a wide range of ad formats for you to consider for your next campaign. Like other paid ad platforms, you must choose the proper format to meet your goals and complement the creatives. Some of the popular ad formats are:

• In-feed ads: These ads appear as people scroll, so it’s essential to have them appear more like a user’s post than an ad. You can still highlight your project and have a CTA, but a less polished ad will likely do better than a professional ad.
• Branded effects: Effects are incredibly popular on the platform, and TikTok continually adds new ones for the user base to explore. Instead, your team makes branded effects and promotes them for the same usage. An effect that connects with users can significantly boost sales and brand awareness.
• Hashtag challenges: Challenges are a core aspect of TikTok so that you can create and promote hashtag challenges related to your brand. Essentially, a hashtag challenge asks for user-generated content (UGC) that lends social proof to your business and increases your reach.

There are other ad formats to consider, but the main takeaway is to have a strong understanding of your chosen format and use it effectively in combination with the rest of your campaign.

Target the Right Audience

Target audiences are everything for paid ads, and TikTok is no exception. You can configure your audience based on the following criteria:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Interests
• Devices
• And more

You can use historical data to help target those who are more likely to be interested in your products. For example, look at your existing customer base, audiences from other ad platforms, and past TikTok campaigns to help create ad targeting that will get your ads in front of the right audience.

Demonstrate Your Value Proposition 

What makes your eCommerce business unique? So why should someone scrolling through their feed pay attention to your ad and learn more about your business?

If you’ve chosen the suitable ad format and audience targeting, you’ll put your ads in front of the right people. However, the ad must still demonstrate your unique value proposition, what pain point you solve, and why someone should learn more.

You likely already know what makes your brand unique, but TikTok users may have never heard of your business. Make a solid first impression with ads that convey a concise and compelling message.

Leverage Varos for Real-Time Competitor Benchmarking for TikTok Ads

TikTok is the latest platform to captivate social media users, and its unique infinite scroll format encourages users to stay on the app and keep scrolling. You’ll be ready to put your ads right in front of an audience willing to pay attention to your ad, perhaps more so than other social networks.

Take the time to create compelling creatives and configure your campaign correctly. YAs your campaigns evolve, you may need to experiment, but you’ll be poised for success with consistent evaluation and refinement.

Competitor benchmarking allows you to see how your peers are performing with TikTok Ads. For example, you may discover they have a lower CPM, a higher conversion rate, or a cheaper CPC. Then, you can make strategic changes to maximize ad costs while still growing your business.

Below, you can see how Varos gives you insights into competitor benchmarking so you always know how you compare. Our TikTok Ads overview breaks down KPIs with tiered comparisons to help you identify areas for improvement.

Ready to run cost-effective TikTok Ads by leveraging competitor benchmarks? Sign up for Varos today, or contact us for a demo to get started.

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About the Author

Sarah Clowes-Walker 

Head of Marketing at Varos

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