Guide to Using TikTok Ads Manager

TikTok has been on the scene for a while now and you’ve probably got a good idea of what it has to offer users.

Essentially, TikTok is the place to be if you’re a cool person these days! And according to their latest statistics, if you’re a Gen Zer then you’re more likely than not to be on TikTok.

Although it’s not just Gen Z that are on TikTok. About 30% of their users are aged between 20 and 29, making the majority of their users under the age of 30.

If you want to add TikTok to your paid marketing mix then our advice is to go for it. We’re definitely of the opinion that TikTok will be an important place to advertise moving forward.

To find out a little bit more about how you can get started running paid ads on TikTok, continue reading our article!

Should I advertise on TikTok?

You want to run your adverts where people will see them. And with TikTok, it’s a very safe bet that you’ll have eyeballs on your ads when you consider that they currently have over 1 billion monthly active users.

Also, TikTok’s users are more likely to actually follow through with purchases when they’re targeted by ads as TikTok is ranked as the second biggest app around the world in terms of consumer spend. Its users are even more likely to spend than YouTube’s users!

At the end of the day though, advertising on TikTok will only make sense if your target audience is there. If your demographic is 100% against TikTok and anything it could possibly have to offer them, then it’s pretty much a safe bet that you should stay away from advertising on it.

How do TikTok ads work?

The structure to TikTok’s ads isn’t too dissimilar to other paid media ads, so if you’re used to running a PPC campaign then you’re at a head start.

At the top of the funnel, you have your Ads Manager account. This is where you’ll organise everything to do with your ads so that all relevant information is easy to access and located all in one place.

Within the Ads Manager, you’ll be able to set up campaigns, groups, creatives, and landing pages – in that order.

So, from the bottom up, here’s the chain of events that relate to the structure of a TikTok ad journey:

• Your landing page will be the final destination for your prospective customers during their TikTok ad funnel. They will land on this page when they click your link and leave TikTok.
• They will decide to click on the link in your ad by the creative content used in your advert.
• The specific ad creative that they’ll be shown will be decided by the target audience and budget settings that’s defined within your ad groups.
• Ad groups are found within your ad campaigns. Campaigns are where you can see how your adverts are performing as well as optimise them for objectives and formats.
• Campaigns can be adjusted within the Ads Manager account. Therefore, treat Ads Manager as your basecamp where all of your operations are managed.

Within a single TikTok ad campaign, you can have multiple ad groups running with a number of ad creatives operating within them. This enables you to test different ad strategies and find out what works best for you. This is called A/B testing and is a really important step to maximising your return on ad spend.

TikTok Ads Manager account setup

With Ads Manager being the hub where all your ads are managed, it’s important that you set it up correctly to get the best chance of your ads performing successfully.

The first step to doing so is to create a TikTok For Business account. It’s crucial that this account is set up properly to get you up and running as quick as possible. You’ll have to include information like your website, currency and business name among other things.

Once your account is verified and you can log in, you need to set up your advertising pixel. If you already run paid ads on other platforms like Facebook then you should be aware of what a pixel is and the importance of it.

If you’re not aware of what a pixel is, then bear with us because this might get a little technical!

A pixel is a short line of code that enables you to see how people interact with your adverts. Don’t worry, you don’t have to write the code yourself! They’re really useful for measuring the success of your ads because you can check when people click on the link in your ad and see whether they end up as a conversion or a bounce.

To install TikTok’s pixel, go to your Ads Manager and select ‘assets’, then ‘event’. From here, you can install your pixel and create events.

Events are just specific examples of things that you want to track. For example, you can set an event for when someone becomes a conversion, or when they fill in a lead form, or pretty much anything else that you want them to do. You can never have too much data on your ad’s performance!

You’re good to go!

When you’ve fully set up your Ads Manager account and your pixel events, you’re ready to start running ad campaigns!

Remember to have fun with it. The secret to making good, effective TikTok ads is to make them feel like they’re not adverts at all.