Wednesday Morning, Issue 31 (10/3/24)

TikTok rolls out Search Ads, Reddit has an ad library now and B2B brands shift focus from lead gen to upper funnel.

??? JUST THE HEADLINES:

TikTok introduces Search Ads campaigns.* While many assume this is a clear threat to Google’s ad business, this thought piece along with initial advertiser reactions all point to us needing a bit more time to really understand the impact of this update. But if you need a proof point to at least add TikTok search ads to your test-and-learn radar, here’s that stat: 57% of users utilize TikTok’s search functionality and 23% search for something within 30 seconds of opening the app.

More from Digiday: “Users come to TikTok with a different mindset — more passive and open to discovery, compared to Google’s searchers, who are typically driven by intent. TikTok execs… [are] pitching search ads as a way to boost product discovery and research, not as a direct sales driver. Yet they’re still pushing the narrative that these ads can deliver performance metrics and have even hinted that marketers should consider reallocating budget from other performance channels.”

Tl;dr: get TikTok search ads in the mix and see what role they play for your brand.

Reddit has released its own Ads Library, where you can explore ads by keywords, industries, spend level, format, placements or objectives. We ?? ads libraries and here’s a guide to all of them.

Top of funnel for the win. According to this Dentus research, ‘raising brand awareness/top of funnel performance’ has jumped from the sixth most important factor influencing future strategy in 2021, to the most crucial in 2024’ for B2B brands. And pipeline is thriving for the brands we manage who made this shift early.

*Closing Headlines Note: If you read the TikTok search ads announcement above thinking, wait, didn’t they already have search ads? Yes, you did read something about TikTok search ads this time last year, but their initial move into this territory was through the introduction of search as a placement, allowing advertisers to toggle on that they’d like they’re ads to show up alongside relevant search results, but not giving them the ability to choose keywords. With this update, now they can.

?? CASE STUDY: We recently wrapped work on a 4-month sprint to overhaul a media client’s paid social boosting program and we have a great case study from our work. If you’re interested, you can view it here.

COMING SOON: I started this newsletter as a way to stay on top of the intel I need to know to best help clients, so similarly, I’m now considering a new series on AI ad tech integrations that are truly relevant for SMBs. Weigh in on the Substack poll (or drop a comment) if this is of interest!