Making Ads on TikTok

The TikTok For Business slogan, “Don’t make ads, make TikToks” is one of the most unique and powerful advertising models in the social industry today. As an early adopter of TikTok, I couldn’t appreciate it more. When I’m scrolling through the FYP, I can almost immediately tell when I’m being served an ad — I swipe past as quickly as possible.

Every so often, an ad is so creative and natural to the platform that I’ll watch it for a few moments before I even realize it’s an ad. To showcase a personal insight in action, I created an in-feed ad for Dunkin’ using a small–and growing–TikTok trend. As TikTok For Business states, “Engage with users who are at the forefront of the latest trends and movements.” I noticed the trend, where users choose between two options, popping up only within the past few days, so this is ad would be extremely relevant if Dunkin’ participated. Furthermore, by personalizing the trend before it’s overdone, I think this ad could work really well on the platform.

The objective of this ad is to create awareness for Dunkin’ and some of the perks (order ahead, become a DD perks member) and new menu items (Spicy donuts) that existing Dunkin’ customers may not be utilizing. Considering the platform, I believe this would perform best as an in-feed ad because it’s a TikTok, not a traditional ad. As Social Media Examiner states, “in-feed ads are native ads placed either at the bottom of organic TikTok videos or in the feed as part of the video queue,’ and I’d want this video to feel natural on the FYP. And this speaks to Dunkin’s success on TikTok thus far. They understand what performs well on the platform, and with the right targeting tactics, this would create awareness for Dunkin’ in the minds of users next time they’re thinking about going to Starbucks.