It’s time to answer one of the most frequent questions we get from our potential clients: “How much does it cost to advertise on TikTok?”. The truth is, the cost of advertising on TikTok can vary a lot depending on various factors, like the type of your creative, the campaign’s objective, ad targeting options, and the audience you want to reach.
First of all, let’s face it… even if you don’t spend hours scrolling on TikTok, it’s important to recognize the potential of this platform for your business. Many small businesses have leveraged TikTok to grow their revenue simply by posting videos. Of course, that means:
- You need to be consistent.
- It’s important to keep up with trends, such as popular sounds.
- Time & people resources: will you be able to create content at the same time when running your business, or will you hire a dedicated person to do so?
Nonetheless, even if you post interesting content frequently, the total views are unlikely to reach the same level as you can achieve with TikTok ads.
At the same time, keep in mind that running ads on TikTok cannot bring magic results if you post just one video per month. As marketers, we rely on you to continually update your feed with new videos.
Why do I need to post videos if you run ads for me?
There are two reasons to answer that question:
#1 Social proof
With paid social, yes we do send people to your website, however many users will click on your avatar to see your profile – is it a legit business after all?
#2 Spark ads versus Non-spark ads
Non-spark ads involve uploading a new video and writing a description. When seeing your ad, if a user clicks on the profile icon, she will be redirected to your landing page.
On the other hand, spark ads are ads built on already published video content. This means that we select a TikTok post from your profile.
The cost difference between TikTok Spark Ads and Non-spark ad
Spark ads are considered more effective because they collect:
- ~40% more engagement
- ~20% more conversions
According to my experience, Spark Ads are indeed more effective. One proven tactic that we use is to select the best-performing videos from your TikTok profile and promote them (those with the highest number of organic views). Therefore, in most cases, more engaging and interesting content is also more efficient.
Now, let’s deep dive into…
4 major factors that affect the cost to advertise on TikTok
Before breaking down into factors, let me mention something really important:
The minimum budget (per each ad group) must exceed $20/day or €20/day.
So, how much does it cost to advertise on TikTok? Well, you cannot spend less than €20 daily. This limit does not exist on other platforms. As a result, many small businesses might perceive advertising on TikTok as too expensive. However, I can assure you it is not. It all depends on what channel works better for you.
Is advertising on TikTok worth it?
If used correctly, then in most of the cases – yes.
For example, we work for more than 2 years now with one of our smallest clients, vrutopia.gr. It is a small local business offering a Virtual Reality experience in Athens. They do not have thousands of euros for advertising spend, however, after multiple tests on advertising platforms, we have concluded that TikTok is the best advertising platform for them (the number one is Google Ads)!
#1 Cost of TikTok advertising based on Campaign Objective
Similar to Facebook/Instagram ads, the higher up the funnel you go, the lower your cost.
In TikTok Ads Manager the breakdown is a bit different, but even in its ‘consideration stage’ video views can be as low as €0.00104 per 6-second view (Focused view).
Here is an overview of the marketing funnel within the platform:
And here are the results of the latest campaign with the ‘Video Views’ objective:
Another notable feature unavailable in Facebook Ads Manager is the ability to set up a campaign with the objective of increasing your follower base. On TikTok, you can do this! Again, the quality is not guaranteed, but the cost/paid follower is very low.
#2 Cost of TikTok advertising based on Targeting Audience
To achieve cost-efficiency, your audience should be marked as ‘balanced’. One of the best practices, if you start advertising on TikTok now, is to go very broad without selecting any interests. Then, you can select the interests that suit your business the most and the platform will recommend a few too based on your first(s) broad campaigns.
#3 Cost of TikTok advertising based on Creative
This can be one of the most important reasons for high costs when advertising on TikTok. Avoid sliding images, square videos, and graphics. Opt for videos that resemble user-generated content.
Lastly, if you believe that simply publishing your Instagram Reels on TikTok is sufficient, you’re mistaken. This doesn’t work anymore. Users can recognize that it is not native content and they are more likely to scroll down and pass your video. And what happens when users do not stay long enough on your TikTok content? The costs increase.
#4 Cost of TikTok advertising based on Budget & Bid Amount
You have two options: a daily budget and a lifetime budget, which you select at the Ad Group level. I prefer to set up my campaigns using a daily budget because it gives me more control.
As mentioned before, the minimum daily budget is €20/day. However, when you target purchases, this might not be enough. It is recommended to set a daily budget of at least €30-40 to allow the algorithm to work and achieve results at the lowest cost.
Do you have more questions? Let me help.
FAQs
- How much does it cost to advertise on TikTok UK?
As a guide, you can keep in mind two numbers: 1) the minimum budget per ad group is £20, and 2) the CPM (=Cost per 1K impressions) is around £9-10. However, the latest depends a lot on the 4 major factors that I mentioned above.
- How much does it cost to make an ad on TikTok?
In order to set up an ad on TikTok, you need at least basic knowledge of social media advertising. You can either invest personal time to learn how to do so or hire an expert. Hiring an expert will cost you anything from $30-$50/hour to even $500/hour.
This is it! I hope I gave you a clue about how much TikTok ads cost. The only thing remaining is to schedule a call with us and we can set up everything for you, at a lower cost 😉
