Social Media Video Advertising: TikTok 

As one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, TikTok has also become a treasure trove for marketers looking to get in front of different audiences. The key to being successful with TikTok advertising is in creating highly “binge-worthy” videos that capture users’ attention long enough to compel them to take action. 

Not Just for Gen Z 

Although TikTok has been touted as a Generation Z platform, the user breakdown, across all ages is rather telling. 

According to new research, of the 800 million daily TikTok users, 26% are between 18-24, 24% are between 25-34, and the number of older adult users has increased by 550% since mid-2020. For health brands especially, creating a TikTok marketing strategy could be fruitful, if you are trying to reach a younger demographic. 

However, even if your ideal patient age range is older, advertising on TikTok (right now) is much more affordable than using any other social media platform. So, though the size of the target market you’re trying to reach may be smaller, the average ad spend may turn out to be far less and the number of competing ads on the platform are also fewer. 

Advertising on TikTok 

If advertising on TikTok is a viable option for your telehealth or wellness brand, here are three key features you’ll want to leverage to get the most exposure and traction for your video ads. 

  1. Keep your video ads short. The best-performing TikTok videos are between 15-20 seconds. To create a highly-compelling video that consumers will want to watch, the first 2 seconds are key. 
     
    Telehealth brands will need to get very creative to create video ads that are both relevant to the target audience and will stand out amongst the 1.6 billion TikTok videos already vying for the consumer’s attention. 
  1. Get niche with your target audience. To maximize your return on ad spend, you’ll want to dial in your target audience as specifically as possible. By doing this, your ad may be seen by fewer people, however, your ad will be highly relevant to those people who will then be more likely to take the next steps and book an appointment or make a purchase. 
     
    Be sure to leverage the advanced audience features TikTok offers and whenever possible, upload the email addresses of your customers to help the algorithm create a highly targeted audience profile for your ads. 
  1. Don’t be afraid to test. As with any marketing campaign, A/B testing will be very important in determining the success (or failure) of your TikTok ads. Since these ads have to be micro-videos, you’ll want to consider every detail of the video, including the font size, color, placement, and of course the first 2 seconds. 
     
    Studying these components and comparing how your video ads are performing will give you great insight into how to tweak your video content to get more views and clicks. 

TikTok Ads Could Be for You 

Though TikTok doesn’t offer the same level of consistency or audience reach as Instagram and Facebook, it still represents a relatively untapped market for health brands looking to stand out (without breaking the budget). To promote TikTok’s advertising platform, new businesses are able to get a $300 ad credit to use on the platform. If nothing else, taking advantage of this free credit can help you try out TikTok and see if it is a viable social media marketing option moving forward.