Advertisers can reach customers on TikTok in a new way.
Although it hasn’t been announced or confirmed, TikTok appears to be quietly rolling out ads in its search results pages.
In this article, we’ll show you why you believe search ads are coming to TikTok, and what that means for your social media marketing strategy.
Examples found in the wild
The discovery was first reported on Twitter by David Hermanan industry digital media buyer.
Herrmann posted a screenshot of TikTok’s search results page; sponsored ads are shown in the first four results.
To make sure this isn’t just a coincidence, we used a few different non-relevant queries in the TikTok search results page:
- Makeup Tutorial
- House Cleaning Tips
Both result in the ad showing in the first four results.
Image credit: Screenshot by author, March 2022
Image credit: Screenshot by author, March 2022What this means for advertisers
If search ads are available to the public, you’ll be able to expand campaign targeting to specific queries. The benefits of this positioning include:
- Better control over your campaigns
- More “bottom of the funnel” options
- Identify user intent and interests
When you can use search ads, you will also receive reports in the TikTok Ads Manager interface, including:
- Search term click data
- Conversion data from search terms
Benefits beyond paid advertising
Search ad targeting brings new benefits to marketers. In addition to being able to report search term data, it allows you to take actionable steps in your TikTok marketing. Not just for your paid campaigns, but also for SEO and general content creation.
For example, later Hermann recommend In his Twitter thread:
- “…list those search terms and start putting them as titles in your top-performing TikToks to get new life out of them.”
This strategy may help you to rank higher and gain extra reach without the extra boost of paid advertising.
From an SEO perspective, the search term report is also beneficial. You’ll be able to analyze data on popular search terms, which can then help guide your TikTok marketing approach.
If you see a lot of users searching for “how to” related to your product or service, Herrmann recommends creating TikTok content to solve users’ problems. This is a great way to introduce and engage with your audience before they buy.
Another benefit of reporting is conversion data. You can create new audiences from converted users to expand or exclude your targeting in future campaigns. It’s a great remarketing game, and then you can tailor content directly to that audience; maybe with a stronger call to action.
generalize
TikTok’s advertising capabilities appear to be just getting started. While this Search Ads beta is not available to everyone, the best way to get started is to get in touch with a TikTok Ads representative.
We would love to hear from you. Are you part of the TikTok Search Beta? What are your results so far?
Featured image: Daniel Constant/Shutterstock
