A Day of Learning at TikTok Creative Partner Day: Themes and Takeaways
Source: TikTok
I just got back from the West Coast after spending a few days in Los Angeles to attend TikTok's Creative Partner Day on behalf of Mavrck, which became an Official TikTok Marketing Partner last summer.
Throughout the day, leaders from different departments at TikTok delved into current and upcoming TikTok programs and solutions across advertising, creator marketing, music, and more.
I really enjoyed the event and learned a lot, so I recapped some of the notable themes and takeaways below.
TikTok-First Content Delivers
One of the biggest drivers of success on TikTok is creating TikTok-native content. This means content that is tailored specifically for TikTok, which typically is in vertical format, uses text, has sound on by default, grabs the viewer's attention early on, and is creator-driven.
Content with these components also serves best as TikTok ads, which have an impact on viewers across the entire marketing funnel. TikTok-first ads lead to higher view-through and completion rates. They also drive purchase intent by 60%, with viewers intending to make a purchase between 3 to 6 months, depending on the types of products and services being displayed. TikTok-first content can also be used effectively as ads across other channels such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and even television.
Esteban Ribero, Global Research Leader - Marketing Science, recommends that brands take a "walk, run, and then fly" approach to get the most out of their TikTok creative. This involves starting by building performance on TikTok with TikTok-first creative and then eventually taking it off-platform for efficiency.
TikTok is looking to make it easier for brands to get content for ads with its TikTok Creative Exchange, a platform helping marketers connect with creative partners for creative asset production. After being around for a year and a half, the program is planned to expand globally and feature different pricing, packaging, and tiering to give advertisers more flexibility.
Takeaway: Creative is the key ingredient for successful TikTok ads. Videos that align with the TikTok experience will not only perform well on TikTok but can also be repurposed across other video experiences, allowing advertisers to not only drive impact but also benefit from efficiency, such as cost savings.
TikTok is Continuing to Invest in Sound
With 93% of TikTok users watching videos with sound on, audio is an integral part of the experience. Because of this, TikTok is continuing to expand the audio options that brands have through its Commercial Music Library, a collection of pre-cleared audio that can be used for organic and paid content on TikTok.
Along with expanding partnerships like Epidemic Sounds, William Gruger, who heads Global Music Programs, shared its Emerging Artist Program is an area of focus for the platform. With EAP, brands can access select popular and trend-adjacent songs to use in their advertising efforts. While these artists aren’t household names like Drake or Lizzo, they offer brands another avenue for incorporating music to make their content more engaging in a more cost-effective way. By partnering with these artists, brands also can grow with them, which can be quite beneficial in the long run, especially if they become bigger artists.
To drive the discovery of CML and partner artists, TikTok is also relying heavily on ongoing editorial support, such as bi-weekly playlists that are built around different themes and key moments in time.
Takeaway: Whether it’s leveraging the CML, tapping one of TikTok’s Sound partners for popular music licensing, or custom sound creation, brands of all sizes and budgets are getting more options for leveraging music in their content, which allows them to better drive towards their desired performance.
Brands Are Going All in on TikTok
Garland Hill, Head of Growth Business, led a client panel featuring Jenna Habayeb, Chief Marketing Officer at IPSY, Jason Eskin, VP of Digital Marketing at Disney Studios, and Erin Franzman, VP of Content Social Strategy at CBS. The panel highlighted how brands are embracing TikTok and some of the ways they are approaching the platform.
Habayeb explained how IPSY takes a tiered approach to producing TikTok content. It relies on a combination of its content studio, in-house TikTok creators on its social team, and paid and gifted TikTok native creators for sponsored content. Eskin revealed how his team categorizes content into two buckets — low contextual content and high contextual content. The former is focused on driving awareness and requires little knowledge for viewers to understand and enjoy, while the latter is focused on engaging with fans and requires some prior understanding. Lastly, Franzman discussed how CBS sees value in the comments left on videos. She often analyzes them to understand viewers' behavior, including whether they are streaming shows or watching them in real-time, which then can be used to inform its strategy.
Although the panelists noted their current successes, they expressed a desire for more data across TikTok and other social media platforms to measure the impact of their efforts. Additionally, they would like a standardized method for measurement between the platforms. Hill said TikTok is continuing to work on initiatives related to data and measurement and cited post-campaign surveys as a potential solution.
Takeaway: Successful brands on TikTok are mindful of how they produce and share content and how they evaluate its performance. This involves sourcing content from in-house teams and external partners, defining a content strategy, and analyzing how the community responds to the content.
Creator Marketing is the Now and the Future
During the final session, the Head of Client Operations for TikTok Creator Marketing Solutions, Andrew Banis, discussed how TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) is allowing brands to leverage the power and impact of creator marketing.
Acknowledging that creator marketing is much different than the marketing that brands have traditionally used, he sees this difference as an opportunity. In addition to driving results across various business objectives, ranging from awareness to conversion, creators help brands lean into "TikTok's DNA." As experts in trends, community stewards and talented producers, creators, and brand partnerships can go beyond just sponsored content. Creators can aid in consumer research and insights, creative strategy, product development, and much more.
With the value that creators bring, Banis says that creator marketing will become core to a brand's success. Brands will learn to communicate with their customers better than ever, and agencies and technologies will evolve to support more creator collaborations.
Takeaway: TTCM has accelerated creator marketing across TikTok. A majority of brands are still leveraging the marketplace as a way to find creators to feature their products and services in videos. But, as brands increasingly recognize that creators can also have a place in corporate boardrooms, they will source and partner with creators in different aspects.
