TikTok Reveals What Makes A High Performing Ad On Its Platform

The hashtag #Summer2020 gained 10.8 billion views last year, and there are expectations from TikTok for even more in 2021.

Many brands have already introduced this platform into their social media strategies, and others will no doubt be considering it.

To help brands make the most out of the opportunities this platform offers, TikTok has released some best practices.

What Are The Best Practices Based On?

TikTok has ascertained the following best practices based on specific attributes, citing closed captioning and video duration as examples, and assigning a ‘performance ranking’ depending on how that attribute relates to the video reaching a larger audience.

But before we dive into these best practices, let’s review what the platform’s audience is looking for, based on holiday shopping behavior research from the platform itself:

74% of TikTok users ‘come to be entertained’

The social platform recommends that you achieve this by engaging with both creators and the community through trending hashtags, make use of TikTok ads, and level these up with in-app effects.

Sure, it kind of reads like an advertisement for ads, but they aren’t wrong.

If the tools are there, businesses should definitely make the most of them.

4 Best Practices To Improve TikTok Ad Performance

TikTok saw the following best practices improve impressions compared to other video ads that didn’t set them.

Video Resolution Of At Least 720P

83.19% of the platform’s top-performing videos have a minimum of this resolution.

Having this as a benchmark means that you could increase impressions by 5.39%

Vertical Aspect Ratio

Of the top-performing videos on TikTok, 82.13% of them utilized a vertical aspect ratio.

The impact?

A 40.08% rise in impressions compared to videos with horizontal or square ratios.

Use Of Audio

93.02% of the highest-performing videos on TikTok used audio, which led to a 16.05% increase in impressions.

And that’s audio of any kind.

Whether you’re unboxing a product or making use of music, all of your TikTok campaigns should consider adding sound of some description.

9:16 Aspect Ratio

98.63% of the highest performing videos had this aspect ratio, which saw a 60.45% lift in impressions.

This is compared to videos that didn’t properly fit the screen and resulted in empty black space around at least one of the edges; a sure-fire way to make your video content look unprofessional.

TikTok Provides More Tips For eCommerce Brands

Using the same measurement that led to its best practice advice, the social platform gave three more pieces of advice for marketers to help increase campaign performance:

Feature An Offer Of Some Sort

Although only 3.21% of TikTok’s highest performing videos showed somebody highlighting an offer of some kind, these saw impressions rise by 67.4%

This could be a promotional code or a seasonal discount.

Include Scene Variations

This is a big one, 99.29% of the best performing videos published on TikTok made use of different angles and shots.

The result?

A 40.56% lift in impressions.

Don’t Forget The Closed Captioning

Not only does this help make your videos more accessible, but it can also increase impressions by 55.68%.

That is, according to 73.22% of the platform’s highest-performing videos.

This statistic also includes videos that displayed a CTA or offer of some kind as text within the video.

By following these best practices, you may see a spike in impressions and, hopefully, other performance metrics.

Featured Image: XanderSt/Shutterstock