In 30 seconds:
- TikTok video shopping ads are here. The newest addition to TikTok’s paid ad offering expands their product discovery with an additional three options.
- These new advertising formats mean there are three new opportunities for brands to consider when establishing their TikTok marketing campaigns.
- TikTok shopping links are a direct route between your online video content and your product catalogs, so they’re perfect for increasing sales conversions. But which is the right choice for your e-commerce business?
TikTok integrated with Shopify last year, and is continuing its e-commerce trajectory with its latest introduction of three brand-new types of shopping ads, just in time for the big Christmas push. The three ad types include:
- Video shopping ads
- Catalog listing ads
- Live shopping ads
These new shopping ads offer expanded placement options that go beyond the For You Page.
Advertisers will already be aware that any company that wants to target young audiences should be focusing on social media – and TikTok principally amongst them, as 67% of TikTok users agree that TikTok ads successfully capture their attention.
A whopping 91% of Gen Zers prefer video content to static ads. So, it’s no surprise that TikTok is expanding its range of shoppable videos in order to help brands more effectively target young consumers.
We’ve explored everything you need to know to get started with the new TikTok shopping ads – including how they work, who can access them, and how to create them.
What are TikTok shopping ads?
According to TikTok, shopping ads are, “a simpler, smarter, and more advanced ad solution that helps brands meet shoppers wherever they are in the purchase journey, sparking demand and boosting sales.”
TikTok has been consistently developing their paid ads offering for TikTok for Business accounts, and the app is steadily growing their share of the e-commerce market. TikTok’s advanced ad solutions already included options such as in-feed ads, branded hashtags, dynamic showcase ads, collection ads and top view cards, among others.
For the low-down on the existing TikTok advertising solutions, check out our guide to the various TikTok ad formats.
But what about these newly-introduced ad formats? These new shopping ads build on TikTok’s already sizable ad solutions packages, with more ways for brands to promote products in-stream.
And, although TikTok Shop can be used with shopping ads, advertisers are not required to use the in-app e-commerce solution in order to run these new TikTok shopping ads. Instead, they’ll be able to direct users to an external site or e-commerce platform, if they wish.
Here’s what the three new ad formats will be like:
1. What are Video Shopping Ads?
In short, video shopping ads allow you to make your TikTok in-feed video ads directly shoppable.
They add a product card to the bottom left of your in-feed ad, which highlights a product: including a title, image, price, and ‘Shop Now’ call to action. By tapping on the product card, users can browse your TikTok Shop (or external store) and then buy products from you directly.
This style of shoppable videos are becoming increasingly popular, as they cut the purchase journey (the number of steps required for users to get from ad to product) even further down, making it easier than ever to buy.
Another thing to note: these ads are dynamic, meaning that TikTok will combine your video creative and product cards into different variations, and then optimise the campaign’s ongoing performance by choosing the combinations with the highest conversion rates. Pretty nifty, no?
2. What are Catalog Listing Ads?
In a first for TikTok, catalog listing ads do not require a video-creation component.
That’s right, to add these TikTok shopping links, brands simply need to upload their product catalog, which TikTok will then pull images from to place in shoppable placements.
Users then discover the ads through branded content on their For You Page.
3. What are Live Shopping Ads?
As the name suggests, these ads are specifically designed to promote live shopping streams, which users have been able to take part in since the end of 2021.
The ads will appear on users’ For You Pages, and direct them to a live shopping event – effectively capturing a wider audience for the ongoing events by promoting it to users who are already online and ready to make purchases.
These live shopping ads sit within the feed, with a banner across them which encourages users to ‘tap to watch LIVE’, and a CTA banner of the product card with more badges denoting that the Live event is currently taking place.
How do I get these new TikTok Shopping Ads?
In order to access shopping ads, brands need to reach ‘level one’ status. This doesn’t mean they have to use TikTok Shop – but you will have to integrate signals and link your product catalogs to your TikTok account.
This TikTok PDF guide outlines the entire process.
One thing to note: the feature is still in testing, so it won’t yet be available for every TikTok user just yet. But don’t worry, past releases have shown that TikTok is proactive in rolling out their newest features to wider audiences as soon as possible, so it won’t be long before you can begin to make the most of these new features.
With that in mind, we’re taking you through how to go about creating the newest TikTok shopping ads:
How to create video shopping ads
Note: before getting started, you’ll need to have TikTok Shopping set up. Here’s TikTok’s guide to getting started with that.
1. Create a new campaign
First, go into TikTok Ads Manager and start a new Campaign. You’ll need to select ‘Shop Purchases’ as your advertising objective, and complete the campaign settings when prompted.
2. Set up an Ad Group
Under your Shop Settings, select the Shop you want to promote, and choose ‘Video Shopping’ as your promotion type.
Next, select the Identity: this can be either your own TikTok posts, or those authorised by other creators. (Meaning you can use an Influencer partnership in this way!)
For targeting, make sure your age selection is set to 18+, and then complete the rest of the ad group settings.
3. Create your ads
Next, navigate to the ‘Products’ menus, and select the product(s) you want to promote. You can choose just one, or several.
Finally, select a TikTok Post belonging to the Identity you selected above – this will be your ad creative.
Finish filling in the rest of the Ad settings and hit ‘Submit’ – you’re all done!
How to create catalog listing ads
Note: Catalog listing ads are still being tested, and so brands looking to get involved with them are encouraged to contact their TikTok Sales representatives. Here’s what we know about the process so far:
1. Upload your product catalog
Since catalog listing ads don’t require supporting video content, getting started is a matter of uploading your product catalog and defining their visibility according to the experiences on offer.
2. Choose your catalog listing ads experience
TikTok has so far announced two ads experiences for catalog listing ads: the landing page, or related products.
Landing page: With this route, users will see TikTok-developed videos on their For You Pages that promote shopping via catalog listing ads. Clicking on these videos will lead users to a personalised landing page containing multiple products from multiple advertisers.
Related products: This experience means your products will be showcased via a ‘related products’ label across TikTok’s onsite product detail pages.
How to create live shopping ads
Note: before getting started, you’ll need to have TikTok Shopping set up. Here’s TikTok’s guide to getting started with that.
1. Create a new campaign
Just like with video shopping ads, you’ll first have to go into TikTok Ad Manager and start a new Campaign. You’ll need to select ‘Shop Purchases’ as your advertising objective, and complete the campaign settings when prompted.
2. Set up an Ad Group
Under your Shop Settings, select the Shop you want to promote, and choose ‘LIVE Shopping’ as your promotion type.
Next, select the Identity: again, this can be either your own TikTok posts, or those authorised by other creators.
For targeting, make sure your age selection is set to 18+. You’ll need to fill out a Schedule, including a start and end date and time that matches your LIVE session.
Complete the rest of the ad group settings when prompted.
3. Create your ad
Click ‘LIVE video’ to use the livestream as the ad creative, or select a different video, which will then be used to navigate viewers to your livestream when clicked.
Complete the rest of the ad settings, and then hit ‘Submit’, and you’ll publish your LIVE shopping ad. Easy!
TikTok Shopping Ads: What brands need to remember
When it comes to making sales on social media, the ad format you choose is only half of the story – if that.
The truth of the matter is that TikTok users and Gen Zers in general don’t like being advertised to in the traditional sense. They expect different treatment from brands in order to want to support them, meaning they’re looking for a more personalised, more ethically-minded, and more authentic experience.
So, regardless of which TikTok ad format you choose for your next marketing campaign, don’t forget to focus on the content above anything else. We’ve written guides to show you which marketing campaigns have got it right on TikTok – and with our history of successful campaigns under our belt, you know you can trust our advice to help you deliver.
If you’d like support to create the best TikTok paid ads to drive revenue and transform your TikTok presence, get in touch. We’d love to talk you through how to make scroll-stopping TikTok ads that young people love – and that get them hitting the ‘buy now’ button.
Advertising on TikTok – for brands with their sights set on Gen Z audiences, it’s more than worth the effort, just as long as you make the most of your campaigns. Don’t worry – we can help with that. Contact us, or check out our other guides to advertising on the platform:
