If you are struggling to understand exactly what TikTok shopping ads are, then you’re in the right place! In this blog post, we’ll be discussing TikTok Shopping Ads and how to create them. TikTok Shopping Ads are an innovative way to promote your products on the platform and reach potential customers wherever they are in their purchase journey.
There are three types of shopping ads available: Video shopping ads, Catalog listing ads, and LIVE shopping ads. So, let’s dive in and see how you can take advantage of this feature to boost your sales!
Table of Contents
What are TikTok shopping ads?
TikTok shopping ads are a newer ad solution that helps e-commerce stores promote their products to potential customers on TikTok. The ads provide a simpler and smarter way for brands to interact with shoppers wherever they are in their purchase journey, which can help increase sales.
There are three types of shopping ads available: video shopping ads, catalog listing ads, and LIVE shopping ads.
Video shopping ads
Video shopping ads are the combination of features from two old TikTok ads, collection ads and dynamic showcase ads. This new format enables shopping from in-feed video ads and allows brands to highlight one or more products with video ads in the TikTok feed.
This means that a product card is added to the bottom left of the in-feed ad, highlighting a product with a title, image, price, and ‘Shop Now’ call to action. Users can tap on the product card to browse the store and buy products directly.
Remember, these ads are dynamic, TikTok will combine the video creative and product cards into different variations to optimize the campaign’s ongoing performance. As TikTok gathers data, it will optimize the campaign’s performance by dynamically choosing the top converting combinations.
Catalog listing ads
Catalog Listing Ads are a way for ecommerce stores to showcase their product catalog on TikTok’s For You page, without needing to create video content. Instead of video, these ads display static images from the retailer’s catalog in a shoppable format.
Users who are likely to purchase will see these ads on their For You page. It’s an easy way to get your products in front of a large audience on TikTok.
TikTok update: Starting from January 2023, Catalog Listing Ads is no longer a separate format, but is now included in Video Shopping Ads. However, advertisers can still access many of the Catalog Listing Ads features by using the Video Shopping Ads format.
LIVE shopping ads
LIVE Shopping Ads are a type of ads that promotes LIVE shopping events to users who are likely to engage with them. They are designed to drive engagement from the For You page to the LIVE event, increasing traffic and product discovery.
These ads appear on users’ For You Pages and allow brands to add product cards to their LIVE videos, making it easier for users to discover and purchase products. The goal is to entice the ideal audience with limited-time offers and more, increasing the chances of a successful sale.
TikTok shopping ads specs
File format: TikTok’s Product Feed supports various file formats, such as CSV, TSV, and XML.
Product information: Product titles, descriptions, images, prices, inventory levels, and other relevant data. It’s crucial to make sure all of the necessary information is included in your product feed.
Data requirements: Product ID, title, description, image URL, and landing page URL. These fields are necessary for creating effective Shopping Ads.
Product variations: If your business sells products with variations such as size or color, it’s important to include these variations as separate products with unique IDs. This will ensure that your customers can easily find the products they’re looking for.
Feed updates: It’s important to regularly update your product feed to ensure that the information displayed in your ads is accurate and up-to-date. Advertisers can update their product feed easily to reflect changes in their inventory or pricing.
Product feed management: TikTok Ads Manager allows advertisers to manage their product feed easily. It offers a comprehensive dashboard that enables advertisers to review, edit, and upload their product information.
How to create TikTok Shopping Ads?
If you want to create TikTok Shopping Ads for your ecommerce store, you first need to achieve ‘level one’ status. This means that you have to link your product catalogs to your TikTok account and integrate signals. You don’t necessarily have to use TikTok Shop for this.
To understand the entire process of creating TikTok Shopping Ads, you can refer to the TikTok PDF guide. However, please note that this feature is still in testing and not yet available to all TikTok users. But TikTok has a history of rolling out their latest features to a wider audience promptly, so you won’t have to wait long to utilize this feature.
Create TikTok video shopping ads
Step 1: First, go to TikTok Ads Manager and start a new Campaign. Select ‘Shop Purchases’ as your advertising objective and complete the campaign settings.
Step 2: Under your Shop Settings, select the Shop you want to promote and choose ‘Video Shopping’ as your promotion type. Then, select the Identity, which can be your own TikTok posts or those authorized by other creators.
Ensure that your age selection is set to 18+ for targeting and complete the rest of the ad group settings.
Step 3: To create your ads, navigate to the ‘Products’ menu and choose the product(s) you want to promote. You can select just one or multiple products to promote. Then, choose a TikTok Post belonging to the Identity you selected earlier – this will be your ad creative.
Step 4: Finish filling in the rest of the Ad settings and hit ‘Submit’. Your TikTok Video Shopping Ad is now ready to go!
Create TikTok catalog listing ads
TikTok update: Starting from January 2023, Catalog Listing Ads is no longer a separate format, but is now included in Video Shopping Ads. However, advertisers can still access many of the Catalog Listing Ads features by using the Video Shopping Ads format.
Create LIVE shopping ads
Step 1: Start by opening TikTok Ad Manager and create a new Campaign. Choose ‘Shop Purchases’ as your advertising objective and complete the campaign settings.
Step 2: Under Shop Settings, select the Shop you want to promote and choose ‘LIVE Shopping’ as your promotion type. For targeting, make sure to select age 18+. Fill out the schedule with the start and end date and time that matches your LIVE session.
Step 3: Set up an Ad Group by selecting your identity, which can be either your own TikTok posts or those authorized by other creators. Complete the rest of the ad group settings.
Step 4: Next, create your ad. You can use the LIVE stream as the ad creative by clicking ‘LIVE video’, or select a different video to navigate viewers to your LIVE stream when clicked. Complete the rest of the ad settings and then click ‘Submit’. Your LIVE shopping ad is now published!
Remember, before getting started with LIVE shopping ads, you need to have TikTok Shopping set up.
4 key benefits of TikTok shopping ads
Simplified buying experience
With the option to access three new advertising formats through the Product Sales objective in TikTok Ads Manager, it streamlines the media buying experience for ecommerce store owners. By offering a simple and seamless shopping experience, TikTok Shopping Ads can ultimately lead to increased sales and customer satisfaction.
Unlock catalog potential
TikTok Shopping Ads offer the advantage of unlocking the full potential of your product catalog. This means you can scale your catalog with new formats to capture emerging shopping trends on TikTok, including LIVE, and reach more placements beyond the For You Page.
This allows your ecommerce store to tap into a larger audience and drive more sales on the TikTok platform.
New automation features
With advanced targeting and fully automated creative features, you can reach audiences that are more likely to make a purchase. This means that you can meet shoppers wherever they are in their buying journey and increase your chances of converting them into customers.
Better performance and optimization tools
These ads have new features specifically designed for TikTok Shop merchants, giving them greater control over their ad campaigns and allowing them to better target their desired audience. With these benefits, you can expect to see improved results and increased sales for your business.
FAQ(s)
Is TikTok new ads formats available in all markets?
Currently the feature is in the testing phase, which means it’s not yet available to all TikTok users. However, TikTok is known for quickly rolling out their latest features to a wider audience.
So, it won’t be long before you can start using these new ad formats to promote your products on TikTok. Just keep an eye out for updates and announcements from TikTok!
What are the requirements to run TikTok Shopping Ads?
To run TikTok Shopping Ads for your ecommerce store, you need to have “level one” status on the platform, which means you must integrate advanced signals and link your product catalog. You can find a guide on how to do this in this PDF guide provided by TikTok.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to use TikTok Shop, the in-app ecommerce solution, to run shopping ads. You can direct shoppers to an external website if you prefer. So, if you’re interested in reaching more potential customers on TikTok, shopping ads could be a great option for your ecommerce store.
Launch your TikTok shopping ads today!
TikTok Shopping Ads offer a great opportunity for e-commerce stores to increase their sales and interact with potential customers on TikTok. With the various ad formats available, such as video shopping ads, catalog listing ads, and LIVE shopping ads, it’s best to contact a TikTok agency to better implement the campaign.
However, if you’re new to TikTok ads, it’s best to start with in-feed ads, which are the most affordable and accessible ads. And NestAds is an excellent tool to launch your first TikTok in-feed campaign since it makes launching a successful ad campaign simple, even without any specialized knowledge.
So why not give TikTok Shopping Ads a try with NestAds and see the positive impact it can have on your business? So why wait? Give NestAds a try and launch your TikTok shopping ads today!
