How to Sell on TikTok in 2023: The Ultimate Guide to Success

Preparing your marketing strategy for 2023 means looking at the latest market trends and there is no doubt that TikTok is one of them. Of all social media platforms, in the second quarter of 2022, TikTok was the one where users globally spent the most time (around 95 minutes per day). Thanks to this platform businesses can not only create brand awareness through creative video content but also sell on TikTok through either ads or in-app shopping functions (available in selected countries) and thus advance their e-commerce strategy. 

With over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide and a presence in over 150 countries, this social media platform has revolutionised the way online content is consumed and has even aggravated the conflict between two superpowers, China and the United States. If this once-considered “silly dance-video fad” made it to one of the top social media channels in the world, why waste the opportunity of reaching such a large audience?

According to a global survey conducted in April 2022, around 1 in 4 TikTok users were women aged between 18 and 24 years, who made up the majority of the platform’s audience. Male users belonging to the same age group represented 18% of the global audience. However, despite what some brands might think, TikTok is not a social network only for gen z. In fact, around 30% of all users are aged between 25 and 34 years and the other 30% are distributed across the older age groups. Overall, female TikTokers from all age groups are more active than men, so if your business targets this audience you should consider starting advertising on TikTok now.

One question many brands ask themselves is whether it is wise to invest in TikTok ads or not. Our answer is: Yes. Of course, having a TikTok Business Account, which allows you to see the performance of your content and get your audience to reach out to you, is the first big step for your business on the platform. However, creating an advertising campaign through TikTok Ads Manager can benefit your brand in many ways, which we have listed below: 

• The leader in ad equity worldwide. Compared to other social media platforms TikTok is perceived as the best environment for displaying ads, for both companies and audiences. 

• An ever-growing user base. Over 1 billion people from all corners of the world use TikTok every month.

• Gen z favourite social platform. Brands that want to reach younger audiences (18-24 age demographic) should be present on TikTok.

• Appealing short-form video format. TikTok allows businesses to advertise creatively and quickly capture users’ attention.

• Branded hashtags generate a median engagement rate of 17.5%. By creating hashtag challenges TikTokers are able to generate content for brands which results in high engagement.

• Multiple advertising options. Brands have various ways to reach their target audience which helps to tailor ads for each segment group.

If you want to sell on TikTok, you should establish some core objectives for each campaign that you start. Since TikTok’s ‘native’ social commerce solution, TikTok Shopping, is still not available in Europe (only in the USA, the UK, and some countries in Asia), brands have to rely on ads to promote their products. 

Luckily for you, TikTok Ads Manager offers you the possibility to choose from three main objectives:

• Awareness: Reach as many viewers as possible (TOFU).
• Consideration: Generate as much traffic/ leads as possible (MOFU).
• Conversions: Make as many viewers as possible take action/ buy (BOFU).

Once you know what you want to achieve with TikTok ads, the next step is to define your target audience. Remember that although your overall target group might be very heterogenous (e.g. various age groups, genders, and interests), you can create campaigns or ads that appeal just to one specific segment. Once again TikTok Ads Manager has the filters you need to select the specific attributes that represent your desired audience. Another tip you should consider is diving deeper into the kind of content being posted for and by your customers so you know how to communicate to them.

As mentioned above, one of the many benefits of TikTok ads is their variety. When your target audience is clear you should decide on which ad types to focus on. There are four different types of ad placements: In-feed, Detail Page, Post-roll, and Story. In addition, there is a differentiation between those ads managed by yourself (In-feed TikTok Ads) and those managed with a TikTok Sales Representative (TikTok Ads for Managed Brands):

• In-feed TikTok Ads: These ads appear within the feed of the users and are created with TikTok Ads Manager (categories: image ads, video ads, spark ads, Pangle ads, carousel ads).
• TikTok Ads for Managed Brands: Some brands can have access to exclusive ad formats by working alongside a TikTok Sales Representative. These are the available formats: Ads TopView ads, Branded Hashtag Challenge, and Branded Effects.

You can either create ads from scratch using videos and images you previously produced or you can also transform TikTok posts from your business account into ads. In case you opt for the latest make sure you select posts that generated high engagement rates because those will very likely be suitable to reach your campaign objectives. 

Overall, when it comes to advertising on TikTok the app itself recommends “not making ads” per se, which means being authentic and trying to act as a creator instead of an advertiser. Not only should you create ads that inspire and look just like another piece of content from your page but also ensure your own profile has had enough organic content beforehand so your brand can seem more credible and trustworthy to the audience.

In order to be perceived as more authentic to the public try to work with influencers, for instance, since a familiar face to your audience will make it easier to trust your products. 

TikTok’s Dynamic Showcase Ads (DSA) or Dynamic Product Ads enable brands to promote their products in real-time with personalised video ads. If you belong to one of those companies that want to advertise thousands of products then you might think that creating each ad one by one is very time-consuming. But, did you know that you can automate this process? 

Thanks to Lengow, the fast-fashion brand Pimkie was able to do just that and showcase over 2,000 products only 15 days after deciding to launch on TikTok. Thanks to Lengow’s product ads solution Pimkie became France’s first brand to publish Dynamic Product Ads on TikTok and was able to achieve:

The steps above will guide you through your journey as a TikTok advertiser and help you sell effectively thanks to product ads solutions like Lengow. With Lengow you can have a full overview of your ad campaigns and start selling like a pro in no time which will give you the competitive advantage you need in such a difficult year like 2023.