How to Choose the Right Objective on TikTok

Choosing the right objective is essential if you want to spend your ad budget efficiently and reach the goals of your business on this platform.

There are seven types of objectives on TikTok: reach, traffic, app installs, video views, catalog sales, lead generation, and conversions.?

Let’s start with Reach. If you want to launch a branding campaign or just want as many people as possible to see your ads, use Reach as an objective. It helps your brand to raise awareness, increase recognition and build trust. The bidding method in such campaigns is CPM, which means you’ll pay for 1000 impressions. Usually, it’s good for huge brands like Coca-Cola or Nike, but not very much efficient for small businesses. Although, you can also use it if you run some local brick-and-mortar business and want as many of your fellow citizens as possible to find out about you. In this case, it might work for your small business, especially if you’re located in a small town. But choosing traffic may also give you good results.

Traffic looks like a similar objective but is used for slightly different business goals. You do not simply show your ad to a wide audience, but lead them to your website or landing page (or, if you work with apps, to the App Store/Play Market). Then, on your landing page/website you describe products’ benefits, give social proof and deal with potential objections. Sometimes business owners are not sure which objective to choose to cover a wide audience, reach or traffic. Generally, reach looks like a better choice to us, but the best way to find out is to split test them.

App Installs. The name of this objective speaks for itself. If your goal is app installments, this is for sure what you need. The algorithm looks for people who would most likely install your app, not just click through the link. It’s important to mention that TikTok Pixel (as well as FB Pixel) cannot be installed in an app. For this, you need to use an MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner), also called a third-party tracking partner. Some MMPs are supported by TikTok, in other words, there’s a possibility of integration, and some aren’t. You can find the list of the supported ones in TikTok Business Help Center.

Video Views. When you choose this objective, TikTok does its best to find people who would most likely watch a video ad. Sometimes big businesses use this objective instead of reach. But you need to remember that bidding method is a little different here. It’s CPV, which means that you pay for 1000 of 6-second or 2-second video views. If you’re not sure which objective would work more effectively for your brand, just split test them and then keep going with the one that performs better.?

Catalog Sales. First of all, I’d like to mention that this type of objective is available only in certain markets as of now (Sept 2021). Using this objective, you can show people specific products they’ve viewed on your website/app. This type of ad is pretty personalized and so works really well for warm audiences. Also, it’s a great solution if you have a large number of products because thanks to it your audience will see only relevant items. An additional advantage of Dynamic Ads (another name of Catalog ads) is that you can showcase a product’s price, name, description, and inventory.

Lead Generation. With the help of this objective, you can publish an in-feed video ad that is connected to the Instant Form. This form allows you to tell people about your business and gather information about them. Basic user’s info is pre-populated, which is a simple but super-useful solution. And what’s more important, you can customize your questions and gather data that is the most relevant to your business. It’s also possible to schedule appointments through the Instant Form. In fact, if your goal is to make people schedule appointments with you, or, for example, sign up for some programs, Lead Generation objective might be a great option for you.

Conversions. The last but for sure not the least. This is the objective we like the most. It encourages people to take the needed actions (either it’s a purchase, or a signup, or whatever you want them to do). For TikTok algorithm to optimize correctly for this objective you need to have TikTok Pixel installed on your website or landing page. This way it will be able to gather data about previous conversions and find similar people in your prospecting and retargeting audiences.

When choosing a campaign objective, remember what your business goals are. If you’re hesitant, you can always run an A/B test. Your strategy on TikTok should be driven by long-term goals, not cost per click or per thousand impressions at the moment.?

And if you want to get personalized expert advice, book a call with us and we’ll tell you how to make your TikTok ads carry the day!