What is the TikTok Ads Manager?
The TikTok Ads Manager is the backend dashboard available to advertisers. You’ll be able to set up and monitor all of the available ad types within your TikTok Ads Manager account.
Understanding how to use the ads manager effectively is crucial to advertising on the platform. You also need to understand which types of ads to choose from, which we’ll detail below.
Core Types of TikTok Ads
TikTok is supported by ads, just like other social media platforms. However, TikTok has developed a wide range of ad types that go beyond what many advertisers are accustomed to.
Many of these ad types are a direct reflection of what makes TikTok unique among its peers and what its user base responds to, such as:
- In-feed video: An in-feed ad is the most common type of ad, which appears directly in the native news feed for TikTok users, typically on the “For You” feed.
- Video ads: Video ads are a specific ad format that is available with several campaign types. These ads can run from 5 to 60 seconds and appear in the “For You” feed.
- Brand takeover: This unique type of campaign can only be run by one advertiser per category each day. These ads appear when a relevant user opens TikTok, making them highly effective at growing awareness and making sales.
- Spark ads: TikTok deployed spark ads in 2021, making them one of the newer ad types available to advertisers. Spark ads allow advertisers to sponsor organic content from users that is relevant to the advertiser’s product or service.
- Carousel ads: A carousel ad pivots away from video and allows advertisers to upload up to 10 images that users may scroll through. These ads appear in TikTok’s news feed apps: TopBuzz and BuzzVideo.
- Image ads: Similar to carousel ads, an image ad will also appear in TikTok’s news feed apps but will only be a single image rather than 10.
- Branded AR ads: This type of campaign lets you promote branded stickers, lenses, and other types of AR content. When done well, these campaigns can connect with the user base and help expose your brand to entirely new audiences.
- Hashtag ads: A hashtag ad shows up in the “Discovery” section of the app and is ideal for encouraging user-generated content (UGC) and can offer significant reach.
- Sponsored influencer content: TikTok has a built-in mechanism that allows you to work with relevant influencers without relying on messaging them individually. Sponsored influencer content can lend social proof and credibility to your product or service.
What type of ad is the right choice for your campaign? Consider the specific goal of the campaign, available budget, and ad creatives to guide your decisions.
How to Use the TikTok Ads Manager Dashboard
The TikTok Ads Manager is where you’ll configure, launch, and review individual ad campaigns. You can set up your first campaign by following the below steps:
- Choose your specific goal: Like most paid ad platforms, every campaign begins by selecting your goal. Some of the most popular goals include:
- a. Get more app installs
- b. Drive online sales
- c. Generate leads
- d. Drive website traffic
- Select your audience: Targeting is crucial for every campaign, and TikTok gives you the tools you need to target the right people. With TikTok Ads management, you can select ‘Create Custom Audience’ or ‘Lookalike Audience’ to find users similar to those who have already interacted with your brand.
- Set your budget: Your budget will significantly affect the performance of your ads. TikTok ads use an automated auction system, making it important to set a reasonable budget and bid strategies to help your campaign earn the ad bid.
- Upload ad creatives (or design them): If you’ve developed your ads already, you'll be able to upload and fine tune them at this step. Additionally, TikTok provides a utility similar to what users have access to for making organic posts, and you can use it to create ad creatives from scratch.
- Publish and measure results: You’re now ready to publish the ad, and ideally, you’ll start seeing results immediately. Once the campaign has run its course, be sure to measure any specific KPIs that are relevant to the campaign and your overall business goals. Then, try to exceed these results with your next campaign.
