What is TikTok?
TikTok is a social media app that allows users to create and share short videos and Music. Since it was launched in 2018, the app has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.
As of 2023, this social media platform has boosted around 1 billion users and 14 million users from Malaysia alone.
TikTok has grown in popularity in recent years amid top social media platforms and has become one of the hottest applications in the world.
Businesses can use TikTok to advertise, create a brand presence, drive traffic to their websites, and more.
TikTok Advertising in Malaysia
There are a total of around 14.6 million TikTok Users in Malaysia. I will let you digest that fact first.
That is quite a big number.
If your target audience is anywhere between the ages of 13 and 60, you should be utilizing TikTok Ads Malaysia right now.
More than 50% of its users are young adults, with more female users than males.
This is an exciting opportunity for marketers as they often find it hard to reach this younger audience. With TikTok Advertising Malaysia, this will not be an issue anymore.
There is so much unique content being created every single day on TikTok, and it shows no sign of slowing down.
To understand better, below are the local trending hashtags that have been a successful trend in the years 2020:
- #RamadanMubarak (1.4B Views)
- #HeadDanceChallenge (1B Views)
- #Raya2020 (344.5M Views)
- #JingJitChallenge (184.7M Views)
- #KesanaKesini (160.2M Views).
Apart from having a proper TikTok Ad Account which we will discuss below, as a brand, you can participate in the trending activities in a creative way to get more traction and traffic for your brand.
Are you wondering what are the main interests of TikTok users in Malaysia so you can decide whether venturing into TikTok Advertising in Malaysia is the right decision for you?
A recent survey from Digital Business Lab summarized the top interests of the people using TikTok.
A Beginners Guide to TikTok Advertising in Malaysia – How to create Ads on TikTok?
Now, you must have full confidence in knowing there is a platform out there that you can use to make the most out of your brand marketing.
Right?
Even with this vast opportunity, not many brands are utilizing TikTok, and many are doing it wrong.
There are probably many creative ways to apply TikTok to your brand marketing.
Here we will guide you on creating a complete and killer ad using TikTok Advertising Malaysia.
1.Create a TikTok Ads Account
For starters, one of the simplest ways to begin is to simply create a TikTok Ads account. When your account is ready, try producing content before diving into the full ad creation.
Give yourself some time to familiarize yourself with the platform and what people are up to nowadays.
Creating original and informative content can kickstart your brand marketing.
Content ideas for your TikTok Content Creation:
- Story – about your company, employee or customer
- Short 15 Second Video – your work environment, products and service
- Before & After – showcase the changes in your organization
- Customer or Business Feature
- Quick Tips
- FAQS
- Comparison of services
- Related Interests
Steps to create TikTok Ads Account
Step 1: Go to https://ads.tiktok.com/i18n/signup
Step 2: Choose your Country
Step 3: Chose your option, Business or Individual
Step 4: Click Next
Step 5: Enter your Email address, password and verification code
Step 6: Read and accept the terms and agreement
Step 7: Click Sign Up and Hooray, it’s done
2.Create a New Campaign
Before creating a new campaign, you need to have an idea of what the different types of ad formats are in TikTok.
Let’s start with that first.
Different Types of TikTok Ad Formats
#1 Standard Ads
Standard ads include Brand Takeover, Top View, and In-Feed Ad. Standard ads can be purchased through the Reservation on TikTok ads.
#1.1 Brand Takeover Ad
- To maximize brand awareness, it is the first thing users see when they open the app.
#1.2 Top View Ad
- It engages audience visually and also the first thing users open TikTok.
#1.3 In Feed Ad
- An excellent option for business engagement. It is a storytelling video ad integrated into the “For You” feed.
- Users can share, comment and like the content.
- An attractive way to pull users to visit your business page.
#2 Content Ad
#2.1 Branded Hashtag Challenge
- Designed to reach mass audiences through simultaneously releasing your campaign in many regions to guarantee a unified brand message while also catering to each market’s specific target with tailored creatives.
One of the brands in Malaysia that excel in this type of ad is Mc Donald’s.
McDonald’s Malaysia has long been recognized for its creative trend-riding material on Facebook and Instagram, as well as its adorable graphics work.
However, the fast food chain also found great success by capitalizing on what the younger generation does on TikTok.
#BigMacTiktok Contest
#bigmactiktok unleash your creativity to win prizes worth RM20,000🏆[4-31 Oct]
♬ original sound – McDonald’s Malaysia
#RasaMcCafe Contest
Sip & pass on your #RasaMcCafe! Win up to RM10,000 cash! #ad
♬ BLIP BLOP – Official Sound Studio
#2.2 Branded Effect
- Powered by intelligent video recognition technology for a more meaningful level of user interaction.
Now that you know what options are available for your brand let’s go into how to create a new ad campaign.
2. Create a New Ad Campaign
Begin by clicking on the “Create” button to create an ad campaign under the “Campaigns” tab.
Do not forget to name your campaign and set a budget.
Next, you must choose an advertising objective from several options that TikTok gives you.
Your first option is to establish a reach campaign. This type of campaign is intended solely for brand awareness and will not feature a call-to-action. Its sole purpose is to expose your ads to as many users as possible.
The next available option is the Consideration objective. You have to choose this if you want to utilize your TikTok advertising budget to encourage viewers to visit your website, download your mobile app, or view your branded video on TikTok.
The final option is Conversion. Here, you choose the end goal, such as subscribing to an email newsletter, creating an account, or making a purchase on your e-commerce site.
3. Select Your Ad Placement, Details, and Targeting
In this section, you have to choose your Ad placements, targeting, details and budgeting.
Ad details changes in accordance with your Ad objective but most of the time, it has to be direct and not confusing.
Here, you can either opt for automatic placement or choose your targeting placement manually.
Automatic placement will ensure your advertisements will be automatically placed on all TikTok partner applications.
It may be something to consider if you do not have a certain location in mind. With the “Select Placement” option, you can manually select which partner apps your advertisements will show on.
When configuring your targeting, you’ll be able to configure your targeting and select specific demographics to focus on when communicating with users. Factors such as geographic area, gender, age range, language is spoken, and recreational interests are included in this option.
When utilizing Tik Tok Advertising in Malaysia, it is important to take into account that the age of majority of Tik Tok Users in Malaysia is between 18 – 34 years old.
This has to be your main targeting area when designing an Ad.
If you want to do more in-depth targeting, there’s an option to make the most out of your ad campaign, which is by creating a custom or lookalike audience from your existing database.
4. Set Your Budget
In the budget and scheduling option, you can set your ad group budget.
You should be aware of its budgeting requirements, such as a $50 minimum on both daily campaign budgets and total budgets.
This is the cost for each ad category according to the leaked TikTok pitch deck on Jun 2019:
- Brand Takeover: US$50,000 per day
- In-Feed Video: US$25,000 minimum per campaign with US$30,000 daily maximum
- Hashtag Challenge: US$150,000 for six days.
- Branded Effect: US$80,000 – US$120,000 based on the complexity of the lens design.
5. Start Creating Your Ad
You can now create your first ad after creating your ad group.
TikTok allows you to upload a video or an image file as your ad creative.
Follow the recommended ad specs for the best results. This ensures that your ad looks great on TikTok and all of the partner platforms.
TikTok videos are brief and casual. The less polished it appears to be, the more engaging it may be.
You’ll see the option for “Smart Video” if you select “Create a Video” and then “Video Generator.”
TikTok claims that the smart video generator will cut your added video transitions to the Music you’ve chosen based on the number of images you uploaded. To make it work properly, they recommend uploading multiple images or videos. Take a look at the interface with the options below.
6.Optimise Your TikTok Ad
If you have an e-commerce site, then the Landing Page to Video Tool is yet another useful function.
Images from your landing page will be used by TikTok, and the platform will automatically pair them with relevant Music to create engaging advertisements.
7. Set Up Billing and Payment Information
Simply enter your billing information and payment information, and you’ll be ready to start running TikTok ads!
8. Measure Your Ad Performance
After you’ve launched your ad, you should measure its performance to see how well the campaign is working.
TikTok offers native analytics that shows you how your ad is performing in terms of impressions, clicks, conversions, and other metrics.
TikTok includes a dashboard that displays all the data from your advertisements for the set time period.
You can filter the dashboard based on your objective (e.g., CPM or CPC) and any of the settings you selected when setting up the ad group.
TikTok even allows you to export your reports! This function is really useful if you need to demonstrate to your CMO that your TikTok advertisements are resonating with your users.
You can even test and compare the effectiveness of various ad creatives and placements to determine which works best for you.
Additionally, you can generate custom reports to simplify your weekly reporting.
These can be built using templates provided by TikTok or from scratch. Here is a sample of the available metrics and dimensions.
Schedule these reports to run at a predetermined interval, and voilà!
Your staff will receive a handy email with the linked report on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Remember that everyone receiving the email must have access to your TikTok Ads Manager.
Keep This In mind!
1) One of the most important things to remember when creating ads on Tik Tok is that the video content should be short and sweet. The reason for this is simple: one has to swipe either left or right to watch the full content, so you don’t want your ad copy to take longer than a few seconds.
You can upload up to 60 seconds of the video within your Tik Tok ad campaign. However, if it’s longer than 3 seconds, then it’ll automatically play in full-screen mode after 3 seconds.
This means that if you’re trying to create an engaging experience with your audience, then they might not even get past three seconds! The first few seconds matter.
2) As a company, it is essential to ensure that your advertisements are compatible with the content you wish to promote and that they match Tik Tok’s quality requirements.
You must also ensure that your advertisements are not deceptive or inflammatory, as doing so could result in a ban.
With these tips, you’ll have no problem creating a TikTok ad that will help grow your business.
Don’t be intimidated by TikTok. As you can see, it’s easy to create effective TikTok ads that will effectively represent your brand.
Just remember to keep your ads factual and promote something that makes sense for your brand, as well as congruent with your target audience.
The most important thing to remember is that TikTok is all about engaging with your audience, so make sure to use compelling visuals and short but sweet copy.
Crush your TikTok Advertising in Malaysia using these in Depth guides to showcase your brand to wider audiences.