Shopify is helping its merchants take advantage of the latest social media craze: TikTok, a Chinese short-video sharing social network.
The new TikTok Shopify channel, which is now available in the Shopify app store, allows merchants to create a TikTok for Business account and deploy TikTok video ads in the store feed from Shopify.
Shopify Channels is a collection of sales and marketing integrations that allow merchants to connect with their customers on social media and across the web. Like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Google, as well as major marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart.
To use this new tool, merchants must first choose the products to promote. The tool then generates video ads that direct TikTok users to the merchant’s Shopify store for payment. According to Shopify, the new feature provides pre-designed ad templates that allow merchants to use existing images or videos. Additionally, merchants will be able to track ad performance in their Shopify dashboards.
Shopify and TikTok, which has more than 100 million active users in the US alone, will also collaborate in the coming months to test new commerce features to help merchants expand their paid and organic reach on the social network, according to Shopify.
This move follows other recent Shopify integrations with various social networks. Shopify has teamed up with photo-sharing social media company Pinterest to convert merchants’ product catalogues into shoppable “product pins”. In other words, pins that allow merchants to update product price, availability, and descriptions in their Pinterest accounts.
Shopify’s extensive network of platform integrations will help it take advantage of the rise of “shoppable” ads, as these types of ads take a larger share of the total digital ad budget.
According to a survey of 105 retailers, 45% of them spend more than 10% of their digital marketing budget on social networks. According to 61% of retailers, this type of marketing is very effective, and 50% say it’s particularly effective in acquiring new customers. Additionally, 60% of these retailers say they use social media to increase brand awareness, and 51% say it helps them sell more.
However, TikTok is not yet widely used for marketing by online sellers. TikTok is used by 5% of sellers, while Facebook is used by 82%. That could all change, though, as 60% of online merchants say they plan to increase their social media marketing spend in 2021.
Leverage TikTok features for Shopify:
The Shopify app itself includes a lot of features designed to help you sell products on TikTok.
Here are some notable features of TikTok for Shopify:
- TikTok Campaigns: Online sellers can create ad campaigns, target audiences, and track ad performance, all from one dashboard.
- Video Template Tool: With this tool, you can create a video ad using a TikTok template and any existing photo, text, and logo.
- Audience targeting: TikTok allows you to target ads based on location, demographics, and behavioural data.
- TikTok Pixel: The TikTok Pixel allows you to track the performance of your campaigns with just one click. These analyses help in making future campaigns more effective.
TikTok’s creation tools help convert Shopify merchants’ products into high-quality TikToks. It’s an excellent way to reach a new audience.
Once your store is linked to your TikTok channel, you can start creating content to promote your products.
Here are some tips on how to effectively promote your Shopify store on TikTok to increase conversions.
- You can use various apps to integrate your feed on your online store.
- This allows your customers to see your products in action before making a purchase.
- You can leverage true word-of-mouth digital advertising if you regularly feature user-generated content on your TikTok feed. This can go a long way in increasing customer trust in your brand.
Using TikTok’s paid advertising features is a great way to break into this exciting new market.
To start creating ads, you first need to understand what you’re working with. TikTok content has specific specifications and parameters that must be adhered to:
- Image files: JPG or PNG only
- Video files: MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP or AVI
- Aspect ratio: 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9
- Image resolution: 1200×628 is recommended, but not necessary
- Video resolution: 720×1280 pixels, 640×640 pixels or 1280×720 pixels
- Video length: 5 to 60 seconds
- Brand name: The brand name you display in an ad must be between 2 and 20 characters. If you’re advertising an app, you can use 4 to 40 characters.
- Ad description: Your ad description must be between 12 and 100 characters. You cannot use emojis in your description.
Looking for a TikTok Ads agency? Neads is here to help you get your sales off the ground ?
By Nathan Elmaleh
