How to promote your brand with video ads

In the digital age, video advertising has taken center stage as an indispensable tool for brands seeking to engage their audience and leave a lasting impression. This article dives into the world of video marketing, offering insights into what video ads are, the various types available on TikTok, and practical tips for crafting campaigns that resonate with viewers. Join us as we explore the transformative power of video ads and how they can elevate your brand's presence on TikTok.

What is video marketing?

Video marketing is a powerful strategy that involves using video content to promote and market your brand, product, or service, engage with your audience, and drive sales. In today's digital age, video marketing is essential due to its ability to capture attention, convey information quickly, and leave a lasting impression on viewers.

What are video ads?

Video ads are short, engaging video clips designed to introduce a product or service, highlight features, and encourage viewers to take action, such as making a purchase or visiting a website. These ads can appear on various platforms, including social media, streaming services, and websites, and are a key component of many marketing campaigns.

Why choose TikTok for video marketing?

With the rise of TikTok, a platform known for its vibrant and creative community, video ads have found a new home where they can flourish. TikTok has emerged as a go-to destination for entertainment, discovery, and action, offering brands a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse and creative community through video advertising.

With its emphasis on diversity, creativity, and authenticity, TikTok provides an environment where video ads can resonate deeply with audiences, fostering a genuine connection between brands and viewers. As a short-form mobile video platform, TikTok's dynamic and immersive format is ideal for advertisers looking to captivate users with compelling stories and innovative formats.

Tips to create effective video ad campaigns

Creating an effective video ad campaign on TikTok is simple, but requires some strategic planning and creativity. To get the ball rolling, you can use TikTok Symphony, a suite of generative AI solutions that elevates your TikTok content creation journey. With Symphony, everything from helping to write a script to producing a video and optimizing assets is effortless and efficient—fueling business success with content that strikes a chord.

Here are some more tips to help you get started:

1. Understand your audience and what they find engaging. You can use the Audience Insights tool in TikTok Ads Manager to explore user interests, discover aggregate audience information and strengthen your audience planning workflow with data to bring your audience persona to life.

2. Open with a strong hook. 90% of ad recall impact is captured within the first six seconds,[1] so communicate the value proposition of your ad early and keep your audience's attention with exciting hooks like suspense, surprise, and emotion.

3. Include a clear call-to-action (CTA). On TikTok ads, you can choose from standard CTA buttons or allow our system to recommend one.

4. Energize and entertain with the right soundtrack. Whether it's voiceovers, sounds, or music, audio on TikTok can do everything from setting the mood to uplifting your story. To find the right tune for your ad, check out TikTok's Commercial Music Library for brand-ready songs that are available to use.

5. Don't underestimate the power of text overlays. Creative attributes that get people to read increase view time, drive recall, and make ads more likable.[2] You can try the auto captions feature to add subtitles automatically.

6. Test different ad formats and content. The best way to see what works best for your brand is to test different variations. You can use the Video Insights tool to hone in exactly which creative elements are driving performance for your ads.

Types of video ads on TikTok

TikTok offers a variety of video ad formats and placements to help brands reach their target audience effectively. In-Feed Ads are the standard full-screen ads that appear in the user's For You page, seamlessly integrating with user-generated content.Here are some ways to create engaging video ads on TikTok:

• TikTok Promote: This convenient, mobile-friendly advertising tool allows businesses to turn organic TikTok videos into ads, helping them reach a broader audience.

• Spark Ads: harness the power of organic content by turning user-generated content or your own organic posts into ads.

• Interactive Add-Ons: These are creative elements like stickers and filters that users can interact with, making the ad experience more engaging and memorable.

• Creative Marketing Partners: From creator marketing to video production, our vetted third-party partners are experts at making unskippable video ads at scale.

Here are some video ad placements you can utilize on the platform:

• TopView: TopView ads are the first thing users see when they open the app. These ads grab attention with their prime positioning and can last up to 60 seconds.

• Top Feed: When you enable Top Feed, your ad will occupy the first in-feed ad slot that appears on someone's TikTok feed when they open the app.

• Search Ads: A feature that allows you to serve ads in TikTok search results. The Search Ads Toggle leverages advertisers' existing In-Feed Ad creative to serve ads alongside organic search results from relevant user queries.

• TikTok Pulse: A premium placement that provides adjacency to hot and trending content, contextual alignment, and brand suitability.

Video ads for e-commerce

If your video marketing is aimed at selling products, TikTok has a range of e-commerce solutions that make it easy to drive product discovery and sales. You can integrate your product catalog to dynamically create shoppable video ads, then target the people most likely to make a purchase.

• Video Shopping Ads: Catalog-powered ad solution to supercharge sales on your website.

• Shop Ads: Ad solutions that drive users to your in-app TikTok Shop storefront.

Video marketing examples

To inspire your next video ad campaign, consider these examples:

• A beauty brand might collaborate with creators to create makeup tutorials featuring their products, then use Spark Ads to amplify these videos.

• A travel agency could utilize a TopView ad showcasing breathtaking destinations to spark wanderlust.

• A clothing retailer could showcase a live fashion show with Video Shopping Ads, allowing users to purchase featured outfits directly.

• A personal care brand could use Shop Ads to highlight a range of products with a compelling call-to-action.

• A new app launch could leverage a TopView Ad that showcases the app's interface and user testimonials, capturing viewer attention right when they open TikTok.

• A home improvement store could use Search Ads to appear at the top of search results when users look for DIY tips, leading them to instructional content and product links.

• An automotive company could create an Interactive Add-Ons campaign with a virtual test drive experience, allowing users to explore the features of a new car model through an interactive video ad.

• A sports apparel company might use TikTok Pulse during a major sporting event, to align their ads with content that's capturing high engagement.

For more storytelling inspiration, check out the Top Ads Dashboard and Video Templates in the TikTok Creative Center, or explore case studies by industry, goal, region, and more.

Remember, the key to successful video ads is to make them entertaining, informative, and relevant to your audience.

Sources

1. TikTok Creative Guide: Driving Brand Equity, 2020 (TikTok "Value of View" Analysis)

2. TikTok Marketing Science US SMB Creative Effectiveness Study 2021, conducted by Lumen