With over 500 million active users worldwide, TikTok presents an opportunity for advertisers. Not only does TikTok pass Twitter and Snapchat in popularity, but it’s also less ad-saturated than its older counterparts. Intuitive app — allowing users to edit and share 15-second videos with built-in filters, effects, and music has shocked the marketing world with its unprecedented virality. However, not all businesses benefit from TikTok’s unique service. Before investing time and effort into TikTok ads, you need to find out if the platform’s TikTok ad formats are right for your business. For clarification on these ad formats, please continue reading the article below.

TikTok Ad Format – TopView

TopView ads appear once a day at the top of the “For You” page.  As soon as a user opens their TikTok app for the first time. Top View ads are the ideal solution for increasing brand awareness as it has a wider reach with high impressions. TopView ads can be up to 60 seconds long, which is perfect for businesses looking to promote products or services that require longer attention spans, such as movie or TV show trailers. The longer the run time, the more effective it is because 71% of users say TopView ads capture their attention.

TikTok Ad Format – In-feed Ads

In-feed Ads appear as the fourth video users see when they scroll through the “For You” page, which is where they go when they open the app. With this TikTok ad format, users can like, comment, share, follow and record videos with similar sounds on TikTok. The “For You” feed features videos the algorithm thinks users are interested in based on their app activity. A study by Neuro-Insight found that TikTok In-Feed Ads achieved 23% more detailed memory than TV ads. In-feed Ads can highlight CTAs, making them especially useful for marketers looking to use the platform to drive sales and conversions.

TikTok Ad Format – Branded Hashtags

Brand Hashtags are ads that businesses use to inspire TikTokers to create content around a brand-related hashtag of their choice. Brands using this ad format have exclusive access to hashtags, which is not the case on other social media sites. However, its exclusivity comes with a higher price tag. However, the investment can be worth it as this ad type has an average engagement rate of 17.5%. Additionally, 77% of TikTok users like it when brands come up with new challenges, trends, or memes for them to engage with, so using the format speaks directly to the audience’s desires.

The #WorldSeries hashtag challenge, sponsored by Major League Baseball, is posted on TikTok’s Discover feed. The hashtag encourages users to post videos showing they’ve hosted soccer matches and how to kick. Clicking the hashtag will take the user to an internal landing page with the sponsor’s logo, challenge description, and other hashtags videos.

The TikTok Branded Hashtags ad format divides into three locations within the app. The first type of video ad is a regular video ad that appears in the In-feed and encourages people to join the challenge. The second method is to use the prominent banners on the Explore page to bring people to the Hashtag Challenge. Hashtag Challenge or Hashtag Challenge collects all video entries from around the world into one spot, making it easier for users to interact with other people and businesses.

TikTok Ad Format – Brand Takeover

The Brand Takeover is an ad format that can include TopView, In-Feed Ads, and Branded Hashtags at the same time, and the takeover aspect of this type is that the platform only has one business per day. The TikTok- Brand Takeover ad format goes full screen, creating the massive visual impact that viewers see the first time they open TikTok, but users can’t like or comment. You can think of these ads as YouTube’s non-skippable bumper ads.

The TikTok- Brand Takeover ad format aims to be short, sharp, and to the point, consisting of a 3-5 second video or a 3-second image. It allows businesses to drive visitors to both internal and external landing pages. The best practice is to combine this ad format with others for the widest and deepest reach.

Guess, a fashion company, ran Brand Takeover on TikTok to promote their denim jeans. In six days, its TikTok account gained over 12k new followers and generated a total engagement rate of 14.3%. Its Brand Takeover includes Top Views, Branded Hashtags, and In-Feed Ads.

TikTok Ad Format – Branded Effect

Branded Effect ads use 2D, 3D, or AR to add images of your products to TikTok videos. Brands often create stickers for their products or filters that TikTokers can use when creating videos. These filters and stickers help increase engagement and brand awareness, as their use often involves playing brand-specific games.

Not Okay Movie used the Branded Effects feature to create a game where users can use the effect to figure out which characters are in the movie. This effect has generated over 2,000 videos of UGC (User Generated Content) of people playing the game.

TikTok can be seen as an extremely potential marketing platform not only for influencers but also for marketers. If you want users to engage with your channel, you need to optimize your video ads effectively. Clover hopes this article has provided all the necessary information for you to optimize your TikTok ad campaign more effectively.