Why creativity is THE way to win on social.

TikTok and Paragone: from creating to analysing what really works.

The data privacy reforms of the past few years have made it increasingly difficult to track and retarget potential customers on social and other digital platforms. How should your paid social media strategy pivot to ensure you’re still winning the war for clicks?

As the tech giants have ramped up efforts to safeguard the privacy of their users, it’s become increasingly challenging to retarget customers. From 2023, Google will end all support for third-party cookies, effectively sounding the death knell for retargeting. 

In response, advertisers are going to have to get creative – literally. They will need to put more effort and attention on clever creative executions and formats in order to maximize engagement. Of course, strong creative has always been at the heart of great advertising. According to Social Media Today, the most successful brands produce and launch 11 times more creatives than less successful ones. And aitarget, a firm that specializes in personalized creative for social, estimates that strong creative can reduce cost per acquisition by 77%.

So, what’s the best platform for brands to flex their creative powers? TikTok is sure to be a frontrunner.

---

Creative moves the needle on TikTok.

Whereas Facebook is made for family updates and Instagram used to boast about status and possessions, TikTok is first and foremost an entertainment platform. TikTok excels at low-fi, funny, creative content, often involving long-running in-jokes, stunts, WTF moments, and references to trends that are popping on the platform.

For brands to succeed on TikTok, they need to emulate this creative style. Branded TikToks need to look and feel like the rest of the content on the platform, and that includes the sense of humor and the creativity of your execution. Here are five creative tips for any brand hoping to excel on TikTok:

1. Keep it real

Your content should look and feel like other TikToks on the platform, so shoot it on a phone (or make it look like it was shot on a phone), vertical format, and feature real people, not actors or models. Authenticity is essential on TikTok. Lean into the raw, the honest, and experimental. One smart example was the Walmart vs. Target TikToks that kicked off last year.

2. Keep it short – and funny

Videos must be short, ideally no longer than 30 seconds, with a hook in the first two or three seconds to make it sticky. Hooks should promise the viewer something – a reveal, a payoff, a surprise, a WTF moment. Create suspense or anticipation – then quickly deliver your punchline. Ryanair’s TikTok channel is an excellent example of a brand that gets this right. 

3. Keep the sound on

TikTok is a sound-on experience. Creative should come with a soundtrack – music or dialogue or both. Business accounts can only use music from TikTok’s Commercial Music Library, a pool of 150,000+ royalty-free tracks. If you’re running an ad with its own sound, ensure the audio is loud and clear. E.l.f. Cosmetics scored big last year by inviting TikTokers to create videos dancing along with a catchy track the brand commissioned for the campaign.

4. Keep it on-trend

A lot of TikTok content is trend-based. Keep up with what’s trending, what’s hot, and what’s getting attention on the platform, then see how your brand can naturally join the conversation. TikTok says 21% of videos with the highest view-through rates leverage popular trends. But don’t force your brand onto a trend with no natural connection – you’ll end up looking thirsty. Check out peanut butter brand Jiff’s #JifRapChallenge for a nice example.

5. Or partner with existing creators

TikTok’s Creators Network can find you an established content creator who fits your brand’s sense of humor and style – and has the followers you want to reach. Partner with a creator, then let them create and share video content that promotes your brand. Partnering with creators boosts view-through rates by up to 193%. The fashion label Guess is often celebrated for smart partnerships with TikTok creators.

---

How to develop and execute a performance-first creative strategy with Paragone.

Paragone has also integrated TikTok’s Spark Ads, which combine the worlds of organic and paid posts into one, so you can take what already works organically, and push it to reach more audiences.

Paragone will supply insights and recommendations on how to boost results from creative and optimize budgets, switching the spend from low-performing creative to the videos that are performing best. This can be automated to ensure your campaign budget is spent where it will be most effective while freeing up time for your team to focus on more complex, value-add tasks.