Auto Marketing on TikTok 101: Driving in the fun lane
Learn how TikTok is enabling automotive brands to connect with users in an era of unparalleled disruption.
Auto brands that want to connect with today’s consumers are facing unique new challenges in an unprecedented era of disruption. A successful automotive strategy requires brands to stay agile and nourish genuine relationships. Innovation is key—and authenticity is essential. On TikTok, brands are finding new opportunities to reach their target audience, build authentic connections and triumph in the race for consumer attention and sales.
Several automotive brands are already seeing success on TikTok by harnessing the power of our creative tools and global community. Discover how they’re doing it—and how you can, too—by learning the marketing strategies for achieving your goals on our game-changing platform.
The state of auto: Unprecedented category, consumer and cultural disruption
The automotive industry was already experiencing massive changes even before the arrival of COVID-19. An uncomfortable uncertainty seems to be the prevailing mood today. But there is one thing that you can count on: Nothing will ever be the same again. Brands must adapt and learn how to create authentic connections in the face of unprecedented category, consumer, and cultural disruption.
🏁 We're shifting to a subscription-based economy. Car ownership is no longer the sought-after rite of passage that it has been for decades. Many contemporary consumers prefer car-sharing and pay-as-you-use subscription services; 45% of millennials say that they value transportation but would rather not own a vehicle.
🏁 Computing power is the new horsepower. Drivers once bragged about their car’s big, loud engine—but now they brag about its smart technology. Brands that fail to focus on their vehicles’ computing power won’t be able to stay competitive in the future.
🏁 The increasing importance of sustainability. Consumer interest in electric and hybrid vehicles has only grown during the pandemic. According to the World Economic Forum, a recent consumer survey found that a majority of drivers in Asia, Europe, and North America cite “increased sustainability concerns” as one of their main reasons for considering an eco-friendlier ride. More than 40% of respondents said they were willing to pay a premium for an electric or hybrid vehicle, and 70% want to see all commercial transport vehicles go green.
Enter: TikTok. Our mobile video platform is positioned to become the world’s most influential, joyful, fan-fueled auto rally. Companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai have all been early adopters of automotive marketing on TikTok, which offers an authentic virtual showroom that inspires, informs, and entertains.
👉 Cruise through our case studies from car brands
Car-loving communities on TikTok
Brands, creators and consumers are rallying around passionate autophile communities at scale, with more than 130 billion combined views on these popular hashtags:
TikTok users are in the market for a new ride
TikTok users love to discover new content here, and around half say they discovered new products through ads on the platform. Our community is known for inspiring purchases organically, which makes it a powerful environment to get your brand discovered. Our research also shows that many US-based TikTok users are in the market to buy or lease a car. In fact, almost half (47%) are planning to buy or lease a car in next 12 months.¹
When it comes to car purchases or rentals, 68% are either the decision-maker or highly influential in their household. And importantly, our platform inspires them to act: 3 in 4 (74%) have taken action, such as sharing with a friend, reading reviews or visiting a dealership, after seeing automobile ads or content on TikTok. And a significant 12% of users said they purchased or leased a car after seeing it on TikTok.
The auto marketing playbook
TikTok is the place where brand love meets performance. Our distinct format of short, sound-on videos can amplify your message in an engaging, authentic way that connects with users around the world.
Get into the driver’s seat: Launch your verified account
After you sign up for a TikTok Business Account, start your journey by working with your sales contact to get it verified. This will give you a verification badge, which is the blue checkmark that you see next to a profile’s handle. It assures users that your account is legitimate and belongs to your brand. Running paid ads without a verified account is like flooring it without a transmission pan—your car won’t generate as much hydraulic pressure, and you’ll find yourself moving sluggishly, even as you redline. Essentially, if you launch straight into paid ads without setting up an official branded account, you'll be missing an important opportunity to start building your audience and prime them for future organic reach.
Owned, paid and earned content: Smarter together
A holistic marketing strategy employs both owned and paid content to reach your goals, which will also accelerate your chances to generate earned content from the TikTok community.
OWNED content refers to the videos that you post from your brand's account. Posting content on your own channel will establish your presence in the community and strengthen the bond with your audience. It’s also a valuable tool for testing your content and learning what works and what doesn’t, which helps to inform your paid campaigns.
PAID content refers to content whose visibility to users has been amplified through paid media in order to make a more powerful impression on a large, targeted audience. Customizing paid content allows you to connect with users at every stage of the consumer journey, from the initial awareness of your brand to the final sale.
EARNED content is about your brand but posted or shared by someone else. This might be a user sharing their love for their new hatchback, or someone responding to your brand's content with a Duet or Stitch — and in turn, amplifying it to other users. This type of content is extremely effective and doesn’t cost you anything. The more you post, the greater the potential to maximize virality and brand buzz.
Inspire audience participation
TikTok users are creators and participators, not just passive viewers—and our platform makes it easy for our community to co-create with brands. In-app creation features like Duet, Stitch, and video reply to comments unlock interactions unique to our platform. These tools are fun and easy to use, and they provide a whole new way for brands to connect with their audiences.
Duet is a feature that lets TikTok users create content featuring two videos that appear side by side on the screen (usually the original video plus a user-generated video).
Stitch allows TikTok users to trim a clip from another user’s video and use it as the start of their own post. It’s great for posting reactions, where users respond to the content that they’ve just seen.
Replying to comments with video is an effective tool for sparking creative responses.
Nissan Australia made great use of the Duet feature to drive awareness around the local launch of the new JUKE: they challenged the TikTok community to Duet a video of the new model with their own voiceovers for a chance to be featured in the new TV commercial. This became one of the country's most successful TikTok campaigns, with over 34,000 users posting their own video creations.
Impactful ad products fuel both brand love and performance
What is your main marketing goal right now? Would you like to increase brand recognition? Inspire user-generated content? Prompt new sign-ups and sales—or all of the above? No matter what your priority is, TikTok provides a wide range of ad types to reach users at every stage of the customer journey.
In-Feed Ads: The power of TikTok lies in the For You feed, and In-Feed Ads are the most native and direct way to show up in this environment where users are primed for discovery. Whether you're looking to maximize awareness and consideration or optimizing for conversions, it all starts here.
Spark Ads: An ideal way for brands that want to add fuel to organic content for enhanced authenticity. Spark Ads let you boost the visibility of organic videos (posted by either the brand account itself or by TikTok creators) by serving them as In-Feed Ads. Compared to standard In-Feed Ads, Spark Ads have a 30% higher completion rate, 142% higher engagement rate and 43% higher conversion rate.²,³
Branded Hashtag Challenge: You can turn the TikTok community into co-creators at scale with this unique engagement event, an excellent choice for eliciting community engagement.
Branded Effect: Another good choice for provoking engagement and user-generated content, these special 2D and 3D video effects inspire users to interact with your content and make it their own.
Scenario 1: New launch reveal
The situation: You’re ready to announce the newest addition to your vehicle family.
The objectives: Maximize audience awareness and consideration of your new vehicle. Gather valuable information about future customers from ad traffic, leads, pre-orders and other data.
The plan: When you have an exciting new product to unveil, it’s important to make the most of it. Cast your net wide and own the launch day, and then extend your reach and carry the conversation into the culture. By using TikTok’s media amplification tools, you can broaden your influence far beyond what’s possible with traditional TV and sponsorships alone.
Scenario 2: Driving leads
The situation (for auto brands): You’ve piqued the interest of potential customers, and now it’s time to show them where they can learn more and sign up for a test drive
The situation (for dealerships & dealer groups): You want to let potential buyers know that you have the hottest inventory (and deals) in town—and then hook them for a test drive.
The objectives: Maximize traffic, leads, and conversions
The plan: Convert audiences to website visitors, test drive sign-ups, sales (and any other methods of engagement you need).
No matter what your marketing goals are, TikTok’s fresh approach to communication can help take your auto brand to the next level.
TikTok’s innovative automotive marketing solutions are enabling brands to connect with users around the world during an era of unparalleled disruption. Car enthusiast communities are gathering on our platform to celebrate and share their passions, and brands that join the conversation can make a huge impact. Earned content, Spark Ads and TikTok’s creative features are just a few of the tools that brands can use to forge authentic connections with their communities—and leave their competitors in the dust.
Ready to join the fun? Download the Auto Marketing 101 Playbook below, and sign up to start advertising on TikTok.
TikTok Marketing Science US, Custom Auto Survey via Suzy, June 2021, Base: US Monthly TikTok users, ages 18-55
Spark Ads performance comparison with Diversion In-Feed Ads, Q4 2020-Q2 2021, TikTok Internal Data
Spark Ads performance comparison with Diversion In-Feed Ads, Q4 2020-Q2 2021, average data of all CVR/CPM-metrics available offering, TikTok Internal Data