TikTok Spark Ads is a new native ad format that enables you to leverage organic TikTok posts and their features in your advertising.
TikTok Spark Ads have discovered the perfect way to fit into the feed and catch users’ attention effortlessly and seamlessly. This is why so many brands have been switching up their old ways and trying out Spark Ads for themselves.
What Are TikTok Spark Ads?
When you think of TikTok, your mind instantly goes to entertainment, discovery, and a creative community. With so many across the globe using this platform, it has encouraged technological innovations in marketing. Spark Ads have recently launched, enabling brands to facilitate growth by tapping into real connections via the community. This is done by sharing relevant and native content.
Spark Ads are a unique solution for brands to build a substantial presence with the community genuinely and authentically. It also enables brands to maximize their organic videos campaign goals, such as video views and conversion, with ease and flexibility.
These ads are designed to spark conversation and interactions between creators, brands, and the community. Doing so taps into the seemingly endless world of diversity and creativity that TikTok offers, allowing brands to connect with the inspiring creators who breathe life into these products and services.
How Do TikTok Spark Ads Work?
Spark Ads by TikTok are a native advertising format designed to help brands leverage organic posts that have been trending. It offers two choices to brands when publishing ads. The first would be using their own TikTok accounts content, and the other choice is utilizing organic posts published by other content creators in the community with authorization.
These unique ads are labeled as “Sponsored content” and will include a CTA of your choice, account name, caption, and audio. These ads are special because they feature all regular engagement drivers, like commenting, sharing, and liking.
They also feature some unique functionalities. For example, non-Spark ads usually redirect the users to the advertiser’s landing page. On the other hand, Spark Ads behave a bit differently, whereas users can click on the profile pic, nickname, or swipe left, and they are directed to the TikTok page where they can follow the account. In addition, If the user clicks on the caption of the video or the CTA button, they will be redirected to the advertiser’s chosen landing page.
Users may also click on the music name and music disc to be taken to the audio page. This feature is helpful for posts that contain your own branded audio files. The way Spark Ads are set up creates a very native look and feel in the feed and offers more organic functionality to users. Ads that blend in seem to hit differently regarding how the community accepts and interacts with them.
What Are TikTok Spark Ad Specs?
When it comes to Spark Ads, you’ll need to know the required specifications. For example, when creating an in-feed ad, it must be higher or equal to:
- 540 x 960 pixels
- 640 x 640 pixels
- 960 x 540 pixels
How Much Do TikTok Spark Ads Cost?
Using a similar model to other social ad platforms, you can customize the amount you want to spend on advertising, and you can also bid on ads with TikTok, yielding better prices. Therefore, TikTok ads cost varying amounts from campaign to campaign. It’s normal for advertisers to pay an average price of $1.00 per click and a CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) of $6.06. This number is generated through a combined analysis of all advertisers, so this cost will not be the case for every business on TikTok.
TikTok also requires a minimum budget of $50 per day at the campaign level and $20 per day at the ad level. Campaign objective, budget & bid amount, audience segmentation, and CTR significantly impact how much your TikTok ads will cost.
Best Examples of Spark Ads
To see some examples of how certain brands are leveraging Spark Ads, you can view case studies from Vessi. This Vancouver-based waterproof sneaker brand and Isle of Paradise, a vegan self-tan beauty line, have adopted Spark Ads. A few other brands to jump on the Spark Ad bandwagon include AU sports streaming service Kayo Sports and French online gaming app Lanslot.
Creating Engaging TikTok Spark Ads
While creating Spark Ads isn’t necessarily rocket science, users should still be aware of a few things before making their own.
- Only boost content with royalty-free or audio you already have the rights to. Again, this is a practice many have already adapted to on social media. Be careful with the audio choice.
- If you want to boost a stitched or duet TikTok, you’ll need authorization from all creators to boost that post. However, in scenarios where one of the creators is a celebrity figure, it could be impossible to gain the permission you need. Therefore, you’ll want to avoid boosting any TikTok videos of this nature. You could also ensure that both parties are Vamp creators, allowing easy access to approval codes.
- Branded hashtags in the original creator’s post could present some issues. It seems if a creator uses a trademarked or copyright term in the form of a hashtag and they are not licensed to promote the brand, the ad might not deliver since this breaches copyright policies. Avoid using content with a caption that includes a branded hashtag or trademarked term hashtag to bypass copyright issues.
- Keep in mind that creators select a specific time when authorizing the use of a post by a third party. Therefore, you will have to request a renewal for authorization before this time runs out, or you will no longer be able to run that Spark ad.
- Fortunately, no thresholds are placed on follower count for Spark Ads. This translates to using content from any creator, regardless of their number of followers. This is fantastic for micro-influencers and the brands who prefer using their own content.
When creativity and authenticity thrive together, TikTok users will inevitably want more. Meaning you can tap into more followers. Spark Ads set the stage for brand awareness and audience loyalty.