The price of a perfect TikTok: Is it worth your money?
Want to know how much successful TikTok ad campaigns cost? Look no further, we have all the information you need.
Let’s face it, we’ve all tried a silly dance, spent countless hours scrolling through videos, or watched an influencer teach us how to make cucumber salad (if you know, you know). However, TikTok is not just a platform for funny content, it can be a strategic tool for businesses.
Any business can post on TikTok for free but paid TikTok advertising is a powerful tool for businesses that increases audience reach and engagement. With more and more brands advertising on TikTok, it could leave you at a disadvantage if you ignore TikTok in your paid social strategy.
Want to find out how much TikTok ads cost? Let us break it down for you.
A brief summary of costs
TikTok requires a minimum budget of $500 (£375.06) for a campaign. Daily minimum budgets are also set at $50 (£37.50) a day at a campaign level and $20 (£15.01) a day at the ad group level. After this, you can invest as much as you want in your campaigns.
TikTok ads operate on a bidding system; the cost of a campaign is subject to competition, campaign goals, and the type of campaign.
TikTok ranks ads based on the bid price and relevancy of content. You can choose a bidding option that aligns best with your campaign goals:
Cost per click (CPC)
This bid is the cost you pay per click; every time a user clicks onto your ad. The average CPC price is around $1 and a minimum of $0.02. Don’t be shocked if the CPC for your campaign differs from the average slightly; CPC is dependent on serval factors e.g. target audience, location, and competition. If you want to increase conversions then this is the best bidding method.
Cost per view (CPV)
TikTok also offers a bid where you can choose to pay per view (view-time is longer than 6 seconds); TikTok doesn’t charge you if the user watches the video for less than 6 seconds. The average CPV is $0.10-$0.30 and a minimum cost of $0.01. This is a brilliant bidding method to get more video views.
Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
With this bid, you can choose to pay per one thousand impressions; users don’t need to click on your ad to be counted as an impression. The average CPM is $10 and a minimum of $0.50. This bid is perfect if you want to increase reach and brand awareness.
Optimised cost per thousand impressions (oCPM)
Although very similar to CPM, with this bid, you can choose to pay per one thousand impressions when you specifically target ideal users. The average oCPM cost is $4-$8 and a minimum cost of $4. This is a great way to simultaneously promote your brand and increase conversions.
How much do TikTok influencers charge?
Influencer marketing is huge on TikTok. Due to their success, the word ‘TikToker’ has become a job title for many influencers. Therefore, partnering with the right influencers has never been more important for brands wanting to advertise on the platform. They can help you increase reach and gain a new audience.
TikTokers have also built trust and respect with their followers, so if they promote your product, you have a whole audience of people who value their opinions, which will help you generate sales.
Influencers don’t partner with brands for free. Depending on the fame and influence a particular person has, alters the price per post. For example, a nano influencer (1k-10k followers) may charge around $5-$25 per post, whereas a mega influencer (1 million followers) could charge as much as $2500 per post.
The key to influencer marketing is finding someone who reflects your brand’s values and whose audience matches your target demographic.
Are TikTok ads worth your money?
For the right brand, yes, they are.With over one billion active users every month, it is a brilliant opportunity to expand your reach and target leads all over the world. Because TikTok’s algorithm can learn users’ interests and how they change, it provides advertisers with the useful capability of targeting specific users based on this.
With over 60% of TikTok users being aged between 18-34 years old, the platform provides a great opportunity to target the younger generation. However, your target demographic could be more active on another social media platform, like Facebook or Instagram. If that is the case, you will have much more success with your ads there.
Make sure to understand where your target demographic is!
Tricks to lower the cost of TikTok ads
Before we go, we want to make sure you know how to make sure you are not overspending or underspending. Quick, let’s go.
1. Test, test, test (then test again!)
Once you set a campaign live, the worst thing you can do is turn your laptop off and come back to it in two months when the campaign is due to finish. You need to continuously monitor and review your campaign, so you can see what is working and adjust your budget accordingly. TikTok ads manager allows you to track metrics easily, so you can see what resonates best with your audience.
You should use split testing to measure the success of different versions of your campaigns. You can then see which is most successful and invest more into that.
2. Make your content ‘real’
The last thing a user wants to see is an advert that ‘looks like an ad’. You want your content to blend in with other TikTok videos so users don’t immediately scroll past when they see it. TikTok doesn’t favour staged, scripted content, so adverts which feature real life users is a great way to show authenticity within your ads; many brands do this brilliantly. Make your content relatable and it will resonate with your audience.
3. Use an effective bidding strategy
You can either use a cost cap strategy or a maximum delivery strategy to help you reach your goals. The cost cap should be used when you want to increase conversions when you have more freedom with your budget. On the contrary, a maximum delivery strategy should be used when you want to maximise your paid social budget and drive results. This is when your budget is predetermined with less wiggle room.
Our head of paid social, Harriet Tuite shares her advice:
“You should focus on content that users want to engage with, not just content that is super salesy, so that you get higher engagement rates. As well as this, advertisers should respond to comments – the more you engage with customers, the more you will see lower costs. Finally, make sure to run a mixture of ads and turn off the underperforming, focusing budget only where you see the best results!”
So, do you think TikTok advertising is something you want to try?
Our team of experts can help you build and implement an effective TikTok advertising strategy that achieves your marketing goals. Join us and start your journey to TikTok success today!
