TikTok Performance 2.0: It's about hitting the right notes

Like an a cappella group, getting performance right on TikTok starts with a great foundation from which you layer each part to achieve advertising harmony. Jan Hofmann-Cassiani, Head of Product Marketing at TikTok ANZ, explores the evolution of the platform's performance products over the last year and how local brands are using them to achieve success.

I often compare the journey we've been on with performance products at TikTok with my experience singing in a cappella groups.

There are lots of rehearsals to build a solid foundation, ensuring everyone knows their part, perfecting the harmonies, performing to an audience and hoping they like it. Then you rinse and repeat, preparing your next repertoire.

How does this relate to performance products on TikTok you may ask? Well, we too have been working hard in the background and taking on feedback from our audience (that's all you performance marketers out there) to usher in our greatest program yet - Performance 2.0, the musical if you will.

Picture this: the year is 2021 and we're in our second year of operation at TikTok ANZ. We have a handful of characters on stage, but this is their first local performance. Let me introduce you to Collection Ads, Catalogs, Automated Creative Optimisation (ACO), Single Session Attribution and a partnership with Shopify. It's a great lineup of starting talent but not enough for an encore.

Fast forward and the year is 2022. The original characters are back but have now been bolstered by an international cast of top talent. Let's open the show's program and take a look:

Value Based & Campaign Budget Optimisation

Whether you're looking to target high value customers or wanting to optimise your budget at a campaign level, these two products are the stars of the show. Easy to set up via TikTok Ads Manager, businesses like Lifetime Luxury have been seeing results with lower CPAs and a higher conversion rate.

Purchase Intent & Automatic Targeting

Whether you prefer campaign targeting to be set for you (Automatic) or like to do it yourself, such as finding users who are more likely to spend (Purchase Intent), these two new options are sure to hit the right note. We heard your feedback on wanting more options to suit the preferences of your performance marketing teams and are continuing to optimise our targeting solutions.

Lead Generation & Dynamic Showcase Ads

We've jazzed up our ad offerings with the introduction of improved lead generation capabilities and the ability to showcase products all within TikTok. An example of brand success using these new ad formats is scent maker Nina Ricci who used Lead Generation on TikTok to promote their latest fragrance. The campaign let people request a free sample of their new scent from their Instant Form and was a huge success! Their campaign had a conversion rate of 41.85%, and they reduced their cost per lead by 83%, compared to their previous campaigns.

Smart Video

With the Smart Video tool, you're able to upload one or multiple pictures and videos, and then our AI system automatically analyzes those videos and chooses clips and music to create a symphony of beautifully edited videos. 

A local brand who has seen results using Smart Video is Silly George, a beauty brand selling innovative eyelashes and eyeliner products. They used the tool to effectively produce native videos for conversion ad campaigns, targeting female users aged 18 to 44 in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US.

The results are worth a standing ovation: a 42% higher click-through rate and conversion rate of 8.22%.

Pixel Revamp

Traditionally, advertisers were limited to selecting either standard mode or developer mode when creating a new pixel. Additionally, once a setup mode selection was made, advertisers looking to switch between had no choice but to create a new pixel to do so. The good news is, our pixel setup has changed its tune and advertisers are no longer restricted when picking a setup mode. This means if you're looking for additional customization like more events, parameters, or manual advanced matching, you can now do so with ease.

Partners

As well as our continuing partnership with Spotify, we also have a Partner Directory covering support available for Creative, Commerce, Campaign Management, Sound, Effects and Measurement through our trusted partners. Don't feel like you need to tackle performance on TikTok alone - all of the listed partners have been vetted by us and have deep experience running campaigns on the platform.

So, now that I've taken you through the line up, let's check out a couple of audience reviews:

Quad Lock

Leading smartphone mounting provider Quad Lock had been running traffic and conversion activity on TikTok but were keen to learn more about best practice to supercharge their sales.

They partnered with TikTok to launch performance activity simultaneously across different countries through a 90 day Performance Onboarding plan for their Motorcycle products. This included creative (POV, green screen, talking to camera) and audience best practices and recommendations.

The onboarding plan proved to be the correct approach. After 60 days, they drove +172% higher ROAS on average between campaigns and 253% higher Conversion Rates at lower purchase CPAs. They have now expanded performance activities to different products due to the amazing results!

+172%

higher ROAS

+253%

conversion rate

-42%

cost per action (CPA)

Catch

Australian online retailer Catch were already running awareness activity on TikTok but wanted to understand how the platform's audiences could also boost lower funnel activity for Web and App. 

They partnered with TikTok to launch a 90 day test and learn program to better understand bottom funnel performance on platform.

Using a variety of ad formats (Spark and Collection Ads being the best performers) with creative produced in-house, they swapped out the worst performers over time to drive stellar results.

Fun fact: The best performing creative came from a member of their team who filmed her dog in the office eating Doggy Butters (sold on Catch). Just goes to show that you don’t need big creative budgets to have high performing content on TikTok!

2.4X

ROAS growth uplift

+235%

conversion rate

-67%

cost per action (CPA)

These brands have definitely hit some high notes! But there's more to come. We know our performance products are still relatively new on the market, but this also means the opportunity for ad cut-through is massive. Trends like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt have shown that users are coming to TikTok not only to be entertained but to discover new products and make purchase decisions. We hope it will be music to your ears to know our performance capabilities have come a long way since last year and that local brands are reaping the sales rewards.

I'm looking forward to sharing more performance success stories over the next couple of months and also announcing new product offerings for 2023. We can't wait to explore Performance 2.0 with you and get your campaigns up and humming.

Are you an ANZ performance marketer looking to learn more about advertising on TikTok? Register below to watch the live broadcast of our performance event in Sydney on Thursday, 31 August.

We'll be giving you practical guidance on how to achieve performance with a lens on targeting, optimisation, creative and measurement. You'll hear from the TikTok team on the products and research behind performance campaign success and from the brands themselves, on how they've achieved performance success to move from traffic campaigns to CPA on TikTok. Hope to see you there!