Easy Creative Tips to Make Your TikTok Ads Work Harder

TikTok has shared a new set of tips on maximizing conversions with your TikTok ads, based on thousands of examples in its auction platform.

Using automated analysis, TikTok scanned its ad network to identify critical elements of the highest converting campaigns, which could help maximize the performance of your approach on the platform.

Here’s what it found in terms of universal best practices for driving TikTok conversions:

Shoot in high resolution

Even on small screens, video quality matters and sends a message about your brand’s attention to detail. TikTok found that videos shot at 720p resolution or higher saw a colossal 312% lift in conversions vs. lower resolution videos.

TikTok found that videos shot at 720p resolution or higher saw a colossal 312% lift in conversions. Click To Tweet

Most modern phone cameras can shoot at 720p or higher, but sometimes that quality gets compressed when sending files or using editing software. So before posting, it’s worth taking that extra time to make sure you’re maintaining that high quality in the final product.

Go full-screen

Letterbox (16:9) format may reign at the box office, but TikTok is all about portrait mode.

Shooting in 9:16 aspect ratio ensures that you’ll maximize your screen real estate for the best audience impact: TikTok found that videos shot in 9:16 aspect ratio caused a 91% increase in conversion vs. videos that didn’t have this screen resolution — in fact, the latter were framed by unattractive black bars at the edges of the screen.

Motivate your audience to take action

Don’t try to be too cute. Instead, clearly tell your audience the action they need to take to convert. TikTok found that calls to action (CTAs) in text format provide an astounding 152% rise in conversions vs. videos that don’t plainly state what they want their audience to do next.

Being direct pays off in the digital space, so don’t leave potential conversions on the table because you were too polite to ask.

Keep it short & sweet

Video ads on TikTok between 21 and 34 seconds long received increased conversions by 280% compared to videos that fell short or long of that duration window. Of course, it’s OK to go shorter or longer when the situation calls for it, but video lengths in the middle of the range work best.

How to drive TikTok ad conversions

Industry-specific tips

TikTok has also shared some industry-specific tips:

eCommerce

  • On-screen text or closed captioning that plainly displays an offer or CTA raise conversions by 80%
  • Combining human voiceovers illustrating the product with an offer in text format lifted conversions by 87%
  • Videos that incorporate a variety of scenes, as opposed to a static shot, lead to a 38% lift in conversion
TikTok industry-specific tips for best results

Gaming

  • Gaming ads with five or more scenes showed a 171% lift in conversion compared to those with fewer scenes
  • Videos that utilized on-screen text in the first 7 seconds saw a 43% lift in conversion compared to videos that waited 7 seconds or longer to show text

Check out TikTok’s complete list of conversion tips here.

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