Performance 101: Everything you need to know about performance on TikTok
We are in an age of peak media fragmentation, and getting noticed by consumers is more complex than ever. In today's world, consumers have evolved past disruptive ad solutions that are designed purely to sell. Instead, consumers crave advertising that is impactful, engaging, and most of all, entertaining.
That's where TikTok comes in. As the home of entertainment and creativity, 1 in 3 of our users are open to purchasing directly on the platform specifically because it's entertaining [1]. TikTok is particularly effective at product discovery and introduces brands to new customers who generate sales: brands using e-commerce attribution platform Fospha found that 76% of TikTok-attributed customers were new to the brand [2]. And it's a platform that's built to perform – 91% of users take action after seeing content on the platform [3] and 1 in 3 discovered something on TikTok and immediately went to buy it [4]. With TikTok, the opportunity to connect with a hyper-engaged audience and merge data-driven insights with creativity results in performance marketing on overdrive.
Our performance solutions enable brands to combine creative entertainment and commerce across the entire marketing funnel, powering a seamless customer journey from discovery to purchase and beyond. So, if you want to run a campaign that drives concrete, measurable business results, we've put together this guide to the three key pillars to winning performance on TikTok. Settle in, it's a corker!
Pillar 1: System fundamentals
The bedrock of a successful performance campaign on TikTok is providing our system with all the data it needs to help you achieve your objectives. Follow our fail-safe framework to make sure your campaigns are set up effectively.
1. Establish the right data connections
Putting in place safe and reliable data connections is the most important thing you can do for successful performance marketing campaigns on TikTok. The more you fuel Ads Manager with data connections, the better it becomes at generating conversions. This is because data connections power all of your measurement, targeting, optimisation and automation capabilities.
We recommend that our advertisers use TikTok's Pixel and Events API to maximise performance by deduplicating events and enabling Advanced Matching. This allows brands to further optimise towards the KPIs that matter most for their business and better utilise TikTok ad products to reach performance objectives, like Video Shopping Ads.
2. Improve business outcomes with optimisation
Optimisation is the second step in building a successful performance campaign. Our system is capable of adapting and optimising to achieve your brand's performance objectives, so we recommend the following tools to power this process:
Lead generation: Identify and cultivate potential customers.
App events optimisation: Acquire users that will take specific in-app actions.
Value-based optimisation: Achieve better ROAS by optimising directly towards those purchase values.
3. Further boost campaign performance with automation
Utilise our latest end-to-end automation solution to further boost your campaign performance. Smart Performance Campaign (SPC) leverages machine learning to run performance campaigns at scale, helping brands to optimise for the best placements, bid strategy, targeting and creative.
Smart Performance Campaign is a completely hands-off tool, with minimum input needed from advertisers to get started. Read more about it here.
Pillar 2: Creative that converts
We know that creativity is important, not just for branding objectives, but for campaigns across the entire marketing funnel. In fact, Nielsen reports that 47% of a brand's sales lift from advertising is the consequence of the creative, more than any other advertising element [5].
So how do you, as a performance marketer, crack the code for creativity on TikTok? Here are our tips:
Go native: On TikTok, being native wins – it lifts intent, increases watch time and engagement, and drives action. Use engaging creative cues to be native to the platform, including faster-paced music, transitions and scene changes, movement, text, emojis and brand visibility and/or early product placement.
Top tip: Work with creative production experts using the TikTok Creative Exchange (TTCX), our one-stop solution that enables fast, scalable high-performing video production for TikTok.
Partner with creators: Creators are a production shortcut to TikTok-first creative that performs. In fact, we've found that specific branded content in collaboration with creators drives +122% higher 2s view-through rate, +93% higher engagement rate and +27% higher ad recall [6].
Top tip: The TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) is our official platform for brand and creator collaborations. Access the right creators and generate creative to make your branded content go further.
Automate and optimise: Automated creative diversification and auto-refresh features can help you prolong your ad group lifespan and acquire the most cost-efficient conversions.
Top tip: Smart Creative is TikTok's next-generation automated creative solution that allows you to simplify ad creation while driving performance through anti-creative fatigue strategies. Use it to easily build multiple creative iterations at scale that drive results.
We have a host of tools and resources designed to make creating for TikTok easy. For more tips, explore our creative hub and check out our Creative Codebook.
Pillar 3: Go beyond last click with performance you can measure
Recent research identified that 79% of all conversions attributed to TikTok by users themselves were missed by last-click attribution models [7]. To really understand the power of your TikTok campaigns, leverage our suite of measurement solutions:
Attribution: Track the performance of your TikTok ads through Attribution Manager in TikTok Ads Manager.
Incrementality: Use Conversion Lift Studies to analyse the true incremental impact of your lower-funnel conversion campaigns. See how Bolt used this solution to reveal a staggering +1,977% relative lift in app installs.
Qualitative: Understand audience consumption behaviours by using customer-sourced data as input for your attribution framework with post-purchase surveys.
Whether you're running a branding, performance, or full-funnel campaign, there is a TikTok solution for every business. Have a read of our measurement guide to see some of the tools available to help you measure the success of your TikTok campaigns.
Accelerate your performance journey today
Our three pillars are designed with performance marketers in mind, so make sure to focus on the system fundamentals, creative best practice and using a combination of our measurement tools to build effective campaigns that really pack a punch.
Ready to level up your TikTok game? Get in touch with your TikTok rep and start driving impactful results today!
Sources
TikTok Marketing Science Global eCommerce Study 2022, conducted by Material
Fospha Q4 2022 TikTok attribution
TikTok Marketing Science, Global Time Well Spent Research 2021, conducted by Kantar.
TikTok Marketing Science Global Retail Path to Purchase Study 2021 conducted by Material
Nielsen Catalina Solutions, 2017, Period 2016 - Q1 2017, analysis of nearly 500 campaigns across all media platforms
TikTok Marketing Science EU proprietary creative analysis covering UK, FR, DE, ES and IT
TikTok Marketing Science Post-Purchase Analysis conducted by KnoCommerce, 2022
