With over 500M monthly active users and home to the much sought after Gen Z, TikTok is one of the most powerful digital advertising tools in a marketers’ playbook. What’s more, frequently referred to as ‘Install-accelerator’ by our app clients, TikTok is just waiting for its exclusive communities to be unlocked by app marketers.

Besides, with Instagram reaching mass saturation levels and becoming increasingly competitive due to higher CPI and decreasing ROAS, TikTok offers something marketers can’t get anywhere else: a new channel to reach a highly engaged Gen Z audience.

However, with TikTok’s ad platform still in its infancy, it’s no surprise that app marketers are still unsure about what works and what doesn’t.

We’re here to bridge that gap. Using our award-winning platform, we have activated 200+ campaigns for the world’s leading brands like King, Miniclip, Voodoo and Playdemic and have discovered effective content hacks that any app marketer can use to drive results using a combination of influencers + paid ads.



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What makes TikTok so unique for driving your app downloads?

Video content is now the driving force that has become a vital component of all social media apps. Just like Twitter, that created a massive hit worldwide by forcing the users to express their thoughts in the shortest form possible. 

TikTok is doing that right now by focusing on mobile friendly videos that last no more than 60 seconds. This is the reason why video ads in vertical format have up to 9 times better completion rate compared to the ones in horizontal format. 

This is a blessing in disguise to all of those who are trying to use the platform for marketing. It basically forces the creative teams to come up with short, but highly effective and mobile first campaigns that resonate with the audiences. 

With mobile apps, there is usually just a short window of time during which the idea is considered trendy and current. Because of that, TikTok, with its fast-resulting marketing plans is the ideal tool to drive your app downloads in a hurry.

TikTok offers an immersive experience to its users, by providing an exclusively full screen type of content, where challenges and choreographies go together.

Be they artists, content creators, newcomers or influencers, TikTok provides a space for its users to express themselves and their creativity.

All of the content is found in feed, which users must incessantly scroll in order to uncover all it has to offer. Concerning the app install campaigns, the ads are exclusively integrated into this feed.

The price of the CPM is 3 to 6 times lower than all of the other sources. This allows to work on the notoriety of the brand by sharing lower costing ads, alongside performance.

The Click Through Rate is up to 2.5 times (5%) higher: the users of the platform consume a lot of content as well as ads. They click more and interact more.
 
The slightly lower conversion rate (CVR) is due to this high click through rate and this very curious audience =>As a result, it is of utmost importance to have a creation that is as adapted to the platform as it is in adequation with your service in order to trigger the audience’s interest. The App Store Optimization therefore plays a very important role.

The CPI remains competitive because the CPM is very low and the CTR is very high.

Make TikToks instead of Ads

Forget what you have learnt for other platforms. On TikTok, the key is creation, much more than else where, as the algorithm was primarily designed for the performance of visual content.

In order for your campaigns to be effective, it is necessary to be immersed into the world of TikTok and to understand its laws. The most effective ads are the most in tune with the platform and fit the best in the feed.

The platform recommends to do at least 1 video per week. It is necessary to be productive and to have a wide imagination.
 
Among the hundreds of visual contents that we have tested for our clients, we have learnt the following tips that we share with you to maximize your acquisition campaigns for your app:

Make it short: The user must be drawn into the content in the first seconds. The high CTR shows us that the users of TikTok are more open to clicking on ads. Take advantage of this to retain the attention of the user from the beginning and for the longest time possible. Be surprising and original to then get to the point.

Use the same type of visuals (filters, challenges, real images) and the same manners of expression (embedded text, dance, music). Stay humble and simple as if you were posting as an actual user of the app.

Music is mandatory: Before anything, think of a « sound design » or use the music already available on the platform.

Be attentive to the user interface: The experience is full screen but TikTok’s user interface is added on top of your content. Be mindful of superposing text: put the important elements in the center of the screen to avoid one text covering up another, like your titles or your icons for example.

Abiding by the rules: To avoid rejections of your ads, be attentive to the rules of TikTok => do not use superlatives, do not include CTA, nudity, lies or even lone minors in your advertisements.

Do not narrow down your target audience too much

TikTok creators are proud of the algorithms they have created, and for a good reason. This app truly feels more intuitive than most others. Therefore, there is no need to narrow down the target audience for your campaign too much, the app will do it for you.

By narrowing down your focus audience more than you have to, you risk of losing a ton of potential app downloads. So, put your trust in the developers’ hands, and they will make sure that your content reaches those who will be interested in seeing it.

Build specific campaigns for clicks or conversions

While increasing your app downloads through TikTok needs to remain the primary focus, you would also want to create a clear separation between the things that you are trying to achieve. On one hand, you can use TikTok campaigns to increase the app awareness by scoring as many clicks as possible. Similarly, if you aim to create as many conversions as possible, you can do that instead, while still sticking to your original budget.

Create at least 5 unique videos for each campaign

After just one hour of using this app, you will quickly find out that creativity is the driving force that sets this entire thing in motion. That is what you’ll always have to work on if you want your business to stand out from the rest.

According to guidelines from TikTok, the best results can be expected if every campaign relies on at least 5 different videos. If you are struggling to find a way how to express yourself, don’t be afraid to reach out to a few content creators, as they always have plenty of fresh ideas and tricks up their sleeve.

Be careful about the number of changes you make to your campaigns

A lot of people tend to be too fiddly when it comes to their campaign management. It’s not that they don’t have trust in their creativity, but they somehow always seem to find a detail or two that requires editing.

Because of that, they tend to change their approach way too often, without letting the campaign to truly develop. We aren’t claiming that you shouldn’t try to stay on top of things whenever you can, but know that it takes time before you can look at the data and determine whether your videos have boosted the overall app downloads or not.

Allow yourself some space every week to make the necessary changes, but don’t push it longer than that. If you are satisfied with the way your campaign has been performing, don’t be afraid to leave it as is, as there’s no need to fix something that is not broken.