Ad spending on social media is projected to reach over $173 million this year, according to Hootsuite. Not surprising when you stop to think about where 3.6 million people spend their time. As the number of engaged users continues to grow, even naïve marketers see the value of a broad social media advertising strategy.
Yes, running ads on a few key social platforms is a critical piece of a respectable digital marketing campaign. So how do you choose, and where do you put your money? Interestingly, brands are starting to shift some of their ad spend away from traditional channels like Facebook and Instagram, focusing more efforts on newer, less saturated channels.
Ready to shakeup your social media strategy?
Let’s take a deep dive into Pinterest and Tik Tok, two modern social channels where we’ve seen clients have great success. Here’s a look at what they are, why they’re good for your brand, the type of campaigns you can run, ad formats, creative best practices and more to help inform your 2022 ad strategy.
Pinterest is a visual discovery engine where people go to get inspired. They’re looking for anything and everything from recipes and interior design ideas to hairstyles and dog leashes. Pretty simple in execution, users search for items using keywords and ‘pin’ photos that link back to a company website, product pages, even blog posts.
For businesses, Pinterest offers a unique way to market yourself — as part of a visual search engine —and is a great way to expose potential customers to your products and services.
Why it’s a good channel for your brand.
Unlike other social platforms where advertising interrupts the flow, with Pinterest, advertising is part of the flow. Meaning, users are actively searching for products and services. So, they’re generally more open to seeing your brand’s advertising, and they tend to respond well.
With a nice mix of both free and paid advertising, Pinterest is appealing for marketers looking for solid ROI. Overall, Pinterest ads earn a 2x higher return on ad spend[1], and have one of the lowest Cost-Per-Click (CPC) averages ($1.50 in 2021) in social media advertising.
If you’re worried about brand reputation on a newer channel, you shouldn’t be. Pinterest maintains fairly rigorous advertising guidelines, ensuring competence with respect to content, messaging and targeting.
Pinterest by the numbers.
- According to Hootsuite research, Pinterest is the 14th largest social network in the world, with a reported 459 million monthly active users in the US.
- Who is likely to see your ad on Pinterest? In 2022, Sprout Social found the audience to be a majority female, with 78% women, and 22% men.
- The median age of a Pinterest user is 40. However, most active pinners are below 40.
- Video consumption on Pinterest is a growing trend, with close to 1 billion video views each day with 82% watching on a mobile device.
- 97% of top searches on Pinterest are unbranded. Why does this matter? Users are not fully committed to one brand over another and are open to discovering new products and services.
Advertising on Pinterest.
Pinterest offers 4 different ad types that use video, images, or both to attract an audience. Ads are regular pins that surface in your target audience’s home feed, category feed and relevant search results. Below you’ll find the ad types and objective best suited for each.
Ad types.
- Collection ads: A combination of one large hero asset followed by three smaller, secondary assets.
- Carousel ads: A pin with multiple images, for showcasing different features of a product, or advertising multiple products at once or telling your brand story in chapters.
- Promoted pins: Run on a cost-per-click basis.
- Shopping ads: Used to surface products that appear within catalogs.
Objectives.
- Awareness: Build brand or product awareness (Promoted pins, Shopping ads)
- Consideration: Drive traffic to your content on and offline (Collection ads, Carousel ads)
- Conversion: Drive online sales, signups, and subscriptions (Shopping ads, Collection ads)
- Offline Sales: Increase in-store purchases (Collection ads, Promoted Pins)
New in 2022, Pinterest is offering ‘Try On’ product pins that use augmented reality to create a virtual fitting room. Users can quickly see how an item will by using a smartphone camera. Try-On pins is a new feature with restricted access but will likely be available more broadly in late 2022.
Pricing.
Success with Pinterest typically means running multiple campaigns with different goals. Effective targeting and great keyword research are critical with Pinterest ads. With brand awareness as the goal, expect to pay between $2.00 and $5.00 per 1000 impressions. If engagement or interaction with your ad is the goal, expect to pay between $.10 and $1.50 for each click.
Creative Best Practices.
According to Pinterest best practices, “The best pins are visually appealing, tell a good story and make people want to learn more”. Following the tips below will maximize your advertising campaign.
Images.
- Use vertical images over horizontal.
- Be bold, with your product or service front and center.
- Include your logo on every pin.
- Keep text overlay simple and clear.
- Optimize pin titles and descriptions for search.
- Test links to ensure they work properly.
Videos.
- Create 6-15 second ads for best conversion rate.
- Use text overlay for those watching without sound.
- Use a cover image that shows what your video is about at a glance.
- Optimize video titles and descriptions for search
Tik Tok
Tik Tok is a social media app that allows users to create and share personal videos. The platform originally launched (under a different name) in China in 2016 as a dance app, but quickly grew worldwide. Today, Tik Tok has one billion users and growing. In fact, they gain 8 new users every second! Unlike traditional social experiences that rely predominantly on images and text, Tik Tok is all about video, empowering everyone to be a creator, sharing short, bite-size video clips that tell a story in 3 minutes or less.
the day, early adopters that prioritize a powerful Tik Tok marketing strategy will be ahead of the game when the rest of the advertising world struggles to catch up.
Tik Tok by the numbers.
- Tik Tok is one of the fastest growing social media apps in the US. In Q1 2022, it was the second most downloaded app on the Apple App store next to Instagram.
- Tik Tok is available in 150 countries in 75 languages.
- The Tik Tok app has been downloaded over 200 million times in the US alone.
- Who uses the platform? The majority of Tik Tok’s user base is female. As of March 2021, 61% are female and 39% male.
- The Tik Tok community is highly engaged. 90% of users log on multiple times a day, with nearly half (49%) using Tik Tok to make purchase decisions.
Advertising on Tik Tok.
Currently, there are 5 types of ads that appear on Tik Tok:
Ad types.
- In feed ads: 9-15 second video ads that appear in between user videos as users scroll through a “For You Page”.
- Brand Takeover: Appear when users first open the Tik Tok app.
- Top View: Appear as the first in-feed post after 3 seconds. Premium real estate, with up to 60 seconds of full screen video.
- Branded Hashtag Challenge: Both organic and sponsored opportunities for brands. Encourages user-generated content.
- Branded Effects: Shareable stickers, branded filters and lenses to design your own custom filter on the app.
Objectives.
- Awareness: Build brand or product awareness through reach. (Brand Takeover, Branded Hashtag Challenge)
- Consideration: Drive traffic to your content, get app installs, video views and form fills. (In-feed ads, Branded Effects)
- Conversion: Drive online sales, signups and subscriptions.
Pricing.
Tik Tok pricing is based on a bidding model, with two budgeting options: daily and lifetime to help control spend. While campaign budget optimization and ad group budgeting is available now, Tik Tok is beta testing a feature for optimized cost-per-click objectives. The minimum campaign budget is $50 dollars, and $20 at the ad group level. The lifetime budget for ad groups is calculated by multiplying your daily budget by the number of days you plan to run your ads.
Targeting is available by gender, location, age interests and more. Look-a-like and custom targeting is available to help you reach your intended audience.
Creative Best Practices.
Veteran Tik Tokkers will tell you the best way to get engagement is to keep videos authentic. Tell your story in a However, being authentic doesn’t mean getting lazy. Be sure all your videos are high quality—in terms of content and sound.
Before jumping into creating your first video, set your goals and objectives. A solid marketing plan will inform everything you do from how you build your profile, to where you direct traffic, whether it’s a specific landing page, your website etc.
The following Tik Tok best practices will help you maximize your advertising campaign:
Videos.
- Create short (21-34 second) ads with most compelling content in first 3 seconds.
- Update content every 7 days to avoid user fatigue.
- Use audio, captions and text together.
- Create authentic ads, in a laid back, conversational way. Avoid ‘selling’ at all costs.
Other considerations.
- Use tutorials and ‘how-to’ content for higher engagement.
- Experiment with interactive content like polls and questions.
- Influencer sponsored video may increase engagement quickly.
- Use hashtags to make it easy for users to find your videos.
Maximize your advertising strategy by taking some time to get to know the platform. Browse a few trending videos to get a flavor for what does well. Research popular hashtags and check out your competition. What are they doing if anything on Tik Tok and how is it received?
If you use Tik Tok in your ad strategy, post often and regularly. The name of the game with Tik Tok is building a following. If you connect with your audience, they’ll want to see more. Most of all, have fun. With a variety of editing features, filters and different effects, the opportunities to create something imaginative and different are endless. Give your brand a new voice and don’t be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone.
The Final Word
Consumers today want to be inspired and entertained, not sold to. Many start and end the day online, going on a digital journey that passes through any number of social media sites, brand websites and more. Social media marketing done well adds to this journey, with the right combination of digital ads, video, and relevant content that nurtures relationships into motivated leads.
If you’re looking for an innovative, fresh way to reach a growing market, you can find success with Tik Tok and Pinterest. With a combined potential reach of more than (add stat) people on these platforms, it would be silly not to try.
If you’re ready to try your hand at Tik Tok and Pinterest advertising, we can help. With experts on hand, we can help you de-mystify social media. From defining campaign goals and targeting to creating groups, building a budget and placing ads, we’re happy to talk through options and opportunities.
Reach out today, and let’s shake up your digital marketing in 2022!