If you caught our piece on stopping the scroll on TikTok, you’ll know we’re big believers in the platform. After all, Tiktok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world.
But for many advertisers, it’s still relatively uncharted territory. To help demystify it as an advertising tool, we sat down with Isabella Parkes from our partners, Root Media, to get under the hood of how it really works.
Why should brands be advertising on TikTok rather than sticking with Meta or YouTube?
Isabella: A few things genuinely set TikTok apart. The first is creative. TikTok has developed its own visual language, and content made with that in mind tends to perform better compared to content repurposed from other channels. When brands invest in understanding that distinction, their ads are more likely to feel like a natural part of the viewing experience rather than an interruption. That is harder to achieve than it might sound, and the payoff in engagement is often far greater than advertisers initially expect.
The second is the sophistication of TikTok’s algorithm. It’s particularly effective at identifying engaged users and connecting them with relevant content, meaning brands can reach specific communities with a degree of precision that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere. Think ‘BookTok’, ‘CleanTok’ and ‘FitTok’… these are genuine interest groups that have formed organically, and advertisers can reach those audiences in a way that feels both considered and contextually appropriate.
The third is audience composition. TikTok still skews younger than most comparable platforms, and it remains one of the only major channels through which advertisers can target under-18s. For brands whose objective is to build awareness amongst younger consumers, that represents a meaningful and relatively rare advantage.
“The payoff in terms of engagement is often far greater than advertisers initially expect.”
– Isabella Parkes, Root Media
Is demographic and location targeting the best way to reach the right audience on TikTok?
Isabella: Sometimes, it’s not the most effective approach. TikTok’s algorithm operates at its strongest when drawing on live behavioural signals – the types of content people are watching, how long they watch for, and how they engage. That real-time data tends to be considerably more informative than knowing that someone falls within a particular age bracket or region.
For adult audiences, interest and behavioural targeting generally delivers stronger results. The more productive question is less about who your audience is demographically, and more about what they’re already watching and responding to. When creative and targeting are built around that understanding, TikTok can reach people more efficiently and at greater scale than traditional targeting alone.
Location and demographic filters still have a role, particularly for under-18s, where other targeting options are more limited by regulation, but they tend to work best as a supporting layer within a broader strategy rather than as its primary foundation.
How does the cost compare to other platforms?
Isabella: Investment levels on TikTok are broadly comparable to other major paid social platforms. Meta is the closest comparison in terms of pricing, though Meta distributes placements across multiple environments, whereas TikTok delivers exclusively in-feed. On a like-for-like basis for in-feed video, TikTok tends to be the more cost-efficient option.
Where TikTok can appear less favourable is cost per click, which tends to run higher when campaigns are optimised for traffic. This largely reflects audience behaviour – TikTok’s audience is generally less inclined to click through to external destinations. For that reason, performance is more meaningfully assessed through attention-based metrics like thumb-stop rate, video views and engagement, where TikTok compares very favourably.
Direct platform-to-platform cost comparisons have their limits too. Pricing is influenced by a range of variables including audience, geography, and campaign requirements. The more productive conversation is usually around what a given budget needs to achieve rather than how platforms rank against one another in isolation.
How do you measure whether it’s working?
Isabella: Start by measuring against the objectives established at the outset. But select metrics that genuinely reflect how people use TikTok, rather than applying a framework designed for a different platform. Clicking off-site, for example, represents a meaningful point of friction on TikTok in a way that it does not elsewhere. It requires users to disengage from an experience that the platform is specifically designed to sustain, and as a result it is not always the most reliable indicator of whether content has landed effectively.
The metrics that tend to be most meaningful are those native to the platform: shares, likes, comments, video completion rate and thumb-stop rate. Together, these give a more accurate picture of whether content is genuinely resonating with its intended audience. For campaigns with a specific conversion objective, or for older audiences where off-platform actions are more expected, clicks and conversions remain worthwhile. But as a general principle, TikTok delivers its greatest value as an awareness-building and culture-shaping channel, and measurement should be designed with that in mind from the outset.
Note to the reader: Before publishing on TikTok, we recommend familiarising yourself with the platform’s Guidelines to ensure your content meets their requirements. And if you’d like support creating campaigns that drive real behaviour change, get in touch.
