Remember when we all thought TikTok was just teenagers doing dance routines? Well, hasn’t that ship sailed! These days, TikTok has transformed into a marketing powerhouse that’s helping brands of all sizes get noticed in an increasingly crowded digital world.
Here at Essex Marketing, we’ve been helping local businesses navigate the wild and wonderful world of TikTok advertising – and let me tell you, the results have been nothing short of eye-popping. So let’s dive into how those quirky 15-60 second ads can catapult your brand visibility to new heights.
Why TikTok? Isn’t It Just for Gen Z?
That’s what I thought too, until I looked at the numbers. While TikTok certainly has the young ones hooked (about 60% of users are under 30), the platform has been growing rapidly among older age groups. In fact, the 30-49 age bracket is the fastest-growing demographic on TikTok in the UK.
With over 23 million monthly active users in the UK alone, TikTok has become too massive to ignore. That’s roughly a third of the country scrolling, swiping, and engaging every month!
And here’s the kicker – TikTok users aren’t just passively consuming content like on some other platforms. They’re properly engaged. The average user spends a whopping 95 minutes per day on TikTok. That’s longer than they spend watching telly, for many people!
The Algorithm That Changes Everything
The magic of TikTok lies in its almost eerily effective algorithm. Unlike platforms where your reach depends heavily on how many followers you have, TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) is a great equaliser.
A small Essex boutique can go viral just as easily as a massive national chain – it’s all about the content, not the size of your following. This means even brands just starting out can achieve remarkable visibility with the right approach.
One of our clients, a small Chelmsford-based fitness studio, reached over 300,000 views with their very first TikTok ad campaign. Their marketing budget wouldn’t have got them a tenth of that reach on traditional platforms.
TikTok Ad Formats: Something for Everyone
TikTok offers several ad formats, each with its own special sauce:
In-Feed Ads
These blend seamlessly into the FYP, looking just like regular TikTok content. They’re less “ad-like” which means users are more likely to engage rather than scroll past. Think of them as your chance to pop up in someone’s feed without screaming “I’M AN ADVERTISEMENT!”
TopView Ads
These premium ads appear when users first open the app. Yes, they’re pricier, but talk about making an entrance! They’re like being the first act at a concert – everyone’s still fresh and paying attention.
Branded Hashtag Challenges
These are absolute gold for engagement. You create a challenge with a branded hashtag and watch as users create content around it. It’s essentially getting your audience to make ads for you – brilliant!
Branded Effects
Custom stickers, filters, and special effects that users can add to their videos. One Essex restaurant created a filter that made it look like their signature cocktail was being poured over the user’s head – it was used over 20,000 times in a month!
Spark Ads
These allow you to boost organic content that’s already performing well, including content from other creators (with permission). It’s like finding a rocket that’s already taking off and strapping an extra booster to it.
The “Realness” Factor
Here’s something crucial to understand about TikTok – overly polished, corporate-looking content often bombs spectacularly. TikTok users have finely-tuned “marketing guff” detectors.
What works instead? Authentic, slightly rough-around-the-edges content that feels genuine. Think behind-the-scenes glimpses, staff doing challenges, or honest product demonstrations. One Essex plumbing company gained thousands of followers simply by showing the truly horrifying things they find in blocked drains. Not pretty, but certainly memorable!
This “realness” factor is particularly brilliant for small businesses that don’t have massive production budgets. A smartphone camera, good lighting, and authentic personality will often outperform expensively produced content.
The Targeting That Gets Results
Like other digital platforms, TikTok offers sophisticated targeting options, but with some unique twists:
- Interest Targeting: Reach users based on the content they engage with
- Behaviour Targeting: Find people based on their in-app activities
- Custom Audiences: Upload your existing customer data to find similar users
- Contextual Targeting: Place your ads alongside specific types of content
One particularly clever TikTok feature is the ability to target users who have engaged with similar content creators. So if you’re a fitness brand, you can target users who watch lots of workout videos – common sense, but remarkably effective.
Sound On, Please!
Unlike Facebook or Instagram where most people scroll with the sound off, a whopping 93% of TikTok users have their volume up. This is game-changing for advertisers.
You can use catchy sounds, music, voiceovers, and audio hooks that simply wouldn’t land on other platforms. One of our Essex clients, a local music venue, used snippets of live performances in their ads to fantastic effect – something that would have been entirely lost on sound-off platforms.
Creating Content That Actually Works
So what kind of TikTok ad content drives brand visibility? Based on our experience with Essex businesses, here are the winning approaches:
Trends With a Twist
Jumping on TikTok trends but adding your unique brand spin is like catching a wave that’s already gaining momentum. It shows you’re culturally relevant without trying too hard.
Educational Quick-Hits
“Did you know?” style content performs brilliantly. An Essex accountancy firm went viral with a series of “Tax facts they don’t teach you in school” videos.
Behind-the-Scenes Peeks
People love seeing how the sausage gets made (sometimes literally – a local butcher’s “how we make our award-winning sausages” series was a massive hit).
Day-in-the-Life Content
Following staff members or business owners throughout their day humanises your brand instantly. A Southend café owner’s morning routine videos created a queue of customers wanting to experience what they’d seen online.
User-Generated Content
Encouraging customers to create content with your products isn’t just free advertising – it’s social proof on steroids.
Measuring Success: Beyond the Likes
TikTok’s business dashboard offers robust analytics to track your campaign performance:
- Video Views: The most basic visibility metric
- Engagement Rate: How many people are interacting with your content
- Share Rate: A crucial metric as shares expand your reach exponentially
- Profile Views: Are people curious enough about your brand to check you out?
- Website Clicks: The all-important conversion pathway
- Follower Growth: Building your audience for organic reach
A high-performing TikTok ad campaign should deliver improvements across these metrics, not just in one area. And the best news? TikTok’s cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is often lower than other major platforms, meaning your marketing budget stretches further.
Getting Started Without Getting Overwhelmed
Feeling a bit daunted by the whole TikTok universe? Here’s how to dip your toe in without diving headfirst:
- Watch Before You Create: Spend time on the platform understanding what content resonates
- Start Small: Test a modest ad budget before scaling up
- Embrace Experimentation: Try different formats and approaches to see what works for your brand
- Be Consistent: The algorithm rewards regular posting
- Consider TikTok’s Creative Services: They offer help developing ad concepts if you’re stuck
Is TikTok Right for Every Business?
In a word, no. If your target audience is exclusively pensioners or your product is incredibly niche and technical, you might find other platforms give you better returns.
But – and it’s a big but – many businesses are surprised by who they reach on TikTok. An Essex retirement community wasn’t convinced TikTok was right for them until their “seniors trying youth slang” videos went viral, leading to a surge in enquiries from the children and grandchildren of potential residents.
The lesson? Don’t write TikTok off without giving it a proper go.
The Bottom Line
TikTok has evolved from a quirky social platform into a serious advertising powerhouse that can dramatically boost your brand visibility. Its unique algorithm, highly engaged user base, and creative ad formats offer opportunities that simply don’t exist elsewhere in the digital marketing landscape.
Is creating TikTok content more time-intensive than running traditional ads? Perhaps. Does it require a different creative mindset? Absolutely. But is the potential visibility worth it? The numbers certainly suggest so.
In a world where cutting through the digital noise gets harder every day, TikTok offers that increasingly rare opportunity – the chance to get your brand in front of new eyes that are actually paying attention.
