TikTok Advertising 
Whether you’re launching new branding or looking to increase store sales, it is important to choose the right buying type for your brand campaign on TikTok. Wondering about the difference between TikTok Auction vs Reservation Ads? How to choose the right buying type for your brand campaign on TikTok? Which one is best for your brand? Let’s reveal all about it in this article!
About TikTok Auction Ads
TikTok Auction ads (or TikTok ads bidding) tell TikTok how much you’re willing to pay to show your ads to users. From then on, TikTok will find the target audience who meet your criteria. This decision can be difficult because it affects both the cost and frequency of your ad display.
The cost of your ad campaign depends on factors such as click-through rates, conversions, and impressions. If you offer a higher bid than your competitors, your ad has a better chance of being seen by your desired audience. Therefore, it is crucial to select a bidding option that suits your budget and advertising goals.
Bidding methods
The estimated costs for TikTok advertising bidding are determined by four different bidding methods, which are:
- Cost Per Mille/ Thousand Impressions (CPM)
- Optimized Cost Per Mille/Thousand Impressions (oCPM)
- Cost Per View (CPV)
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
Unique features of TikTok Auction ads:
- Simple to create on TikTok Ads Manager.
- Flexible costs, no need to pay upfront fees
- No need to purchase ad space.
- Ideal for conversion efficiency
About TikTok Reservation Ads?
TikTok Reservation ads are the type of ad that needs to book ad placement on TikTok. To do that, you have to work with TikTok partners. Brands will purchase the advertising space through a TikTok agency.
TikTok Reservation ads show up when users open the TikTok app. They’re often used for increasing brand awareness, as they guarantee a vast amount of impressions up to a couple of million. This ad type suits big brands with large advertising budgets more than other small businesses.
Unique features of TikTok Reservation ads:
- More expensive than Auction ads
- Must work with TikTok partners
- Suitable for increasing awareness and branding.
- Unique advertising solutions that are only available on TikTok.
Key differences between TikTok Auction & Reservation ads
4 main points will help you choose between TikTok Auction vs Reservation Ads:
| TikTok Auction Ads | TikTok Reservation Ads | |
| Application | Bid on ads and set the budget right within your TikTok Ads Manager account. | Only available for TikTok agency account |
| Optimization | Based on your bidding strategies, whether you’re using Cost cap or Lowest cap | Purchase ad placements from TikTok partners. |
| Price | The cost depends on the type of advertisement you choose, ranging from $1 per click to $20 per day. | – TopView Ads: must spend $65,000 each day for 7.4 million Top View Ad impressions. – Brand Effect: The cost is approximately $45,000 for a 30-day period – Branded Hashtag Challenge: The cost is typically between $130,000 to $160,000 to book |
| Ad format | Available for: – In-feed ads – Shopping ads – Deeplink ads | Available for: – TopView ads – Branded Hashtag Challenge ads – Branded Effect ads |
How to set up Auction and Reservation ads?
Wonder how to set up your campaign with TikTok Auction Ads vs Reservation Ads? For Reservation ads, unfortunately, you cannot set up an ad campaign from TikTok Ads Manager. As we mentioned above, you have to work with a TikTok partner to book placement and make your ad viral.
However, with Auction Ads, you can create your own campaign right in the TikTok Ads Manager dashboard. Let’s uncover how to create an Auction ad in these simple steps.
Step 1: Create a new campaign
In the first step, you need to log in to your TikTok Ads Manager, find the Campaign tab, and Create a new campaign.
Step 2: Set up the campaign objective
Next step, let’s choose the objective for your ad campaign, whether it is awareness, consideration, or conversion. Then set up your campaign name and budget.
Step 3: Complete the ad groups’ general settings
Name your TikTok ad group, choose placements, and turn on or off automated creative optimization.
Step 4: Choose your target audience
Select your target audience by giving information about their demographics, interests, and behaviors
Step 5: Complete the budget & schedule settings
In this step, you need to set up a budget and schedule the time for your ad.
Step 6: Select your bid strategy and optimization.
Finally, choose your bid strategy and optimization and submit your ad campaign.
It’s all about creating your TikTok Auction ads campaign! However, to maximize ad performance and results, you may need some best practices, especially if you are a beginner on this highly competitive platform.
How to effectively do TikTok ads Auction?
Winning TikTok with Auction ads is easy if you know the bidding methods and strategies; nonetheless, there’s more to take advantage of from this ad type. When you’re bidding, remember to:
Enter the highest amount that you are ready to pay for conversions
By giving the system the maximum cost you’re willing to spend, you offer TikTok more chances of finding the right audience for your ads. You can increase your competitiveness in the Auction by raising your bid. If you bid higher than other businesses in the same industry, TikTok will show your ads in front of more viewers.
Use historical benchmarks to set your bids
In this way, you can choose suitable cost per acquisition (CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS) bids in the system. If you don’t have data for these benchmarks, try running ad groups using the Lowest Cost or Highest Value bid strategies for a few days, and after that, you can use the real CPA and ROAS as references for your future bids.
Not immediately change your CPA/ROAS bid when it does not reach your targets
Budget consumption may immediately decline if your CPA bid is decreased or your ROAS bid is raised. If your CPA/ROAS is falling short of your goals, have patience and give the system some time to improve. If you need to revise your bids, it’s better to make minor, infrequent changes.
Adjust your bids at 12:00 AM local time
The system will have more time to stabilize ad delivery if you update your bid early in the day. To run new bids at particular times, use the Automated Rules feature in TikTok Ads Manager. If you have to make changes later in the day, the smaller, the better.
TikTok Auction & Reservation ads: Success stories
Maybelline: Take full advantage of TikTok Auction ads
Before launching your campaign, it’s crucial to take some precious lessons from other brands. Let’s dive into a great example from Maybelline to get inspired!
If you are into cosmetic and beauty products, you heard about Maybelline. It is an American multinational cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, and personal care company that is a subsidiary of the French cosmetics company L’Oréal. For the 2020 Christmas season, the brand set up a TikTok campaign that drove customers towards their new Lash Lift Mascara product.
In partnership with a TikTok agency, Maybelline launched a One Day Max In-Feed Ad featuring famous TikTok creator @lolaloliitaaa. With sound-on and full screen, One Day Max In-Feed Ads displaying next to other user-generated content provide a 100% share of voice for your brand name and a short description or call to action.
After one day, the In-Feed ad gained more than 3.5 million impressions, 109,000 likes, and a huge amount of engagement. A click-through rate of 0.81% (28,000 clicks) was also recorded, proving that this type of ad can generate remarkable engagement even in a very short time.
Nike: Make the most out of TikTok Reservation Ads
Are you wondering whether TikTok Reservation ads are worth it or not? Let’s take a look at the success story of Nike – one of the world’s most famous footwear brands.
To promote its new pair of boots, in 2020, Nike launched the #MagicBoots Branded Hashtag Challenge encouraging fans to show their football trick while wearing Nike boots. The challenge attracted massive responses thanks to the collaboration with popular TikTok creator @ben and football stars like Kevin De Bruyne.
In this Branded Hashtag Challenge, Nike also ran additional TopView Lite and In-Feed ads to maximize its reach. As a result, the brand exposure was incredible with over 317 million video views and 160,000 videos created. Over 46 million interactions and a growth of 215,000 followers in Nike’s TikTok profile were recorded. It was beyond imagination.
TikTok Auction vs Reservation ads: Which one is best for your E-commerce?
When comparing TikTok Auction vs Reservation Ads, Reservation Ads are more impactful, and they are more expensive, too. To be able to run TikTok Reservation Ads you must work with a TikTok Advertising agency. If your business is small or start-up, then Auction ads are a great choice for your budget. As these affordable and accessible TikTok ad formats, TikTok Auction Ads are the great starting point for your TikTok advertising campaign. Launch your first TikTok Ads campaign with a suitable budget and gradually increase your ads spending as performance data becomes available.
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