TikTok Ads
TikTok Ads Where
the Product Demonstrates
Cheaper attention than Meta, a shorter creative shelf life, and a feed that punishes anything that looks like an advertisement. It works best when showing the product doing its job is the argument.
The Difference
Why Meta Creative
Does Not Transfer
The most common way TikTok budget gets wasted is by running what already works somewhere else.
A polished studio image performs on Meta and is scrolled past here. The feed is native-first: what holds attention looks like something a person made, shot vertically, moving within the first second, and making its point before anybody decides to keep watching. That is a production requirement, not a styling preference.
Creative also fatigues faster than on Meta, which means the cadence matters more than any single asset. An account that cannot refresh creative regularly will see results decay and conclude the platform does not work, when what ran out was the queue.
TikTok Shop
Where the Ads and
the Checkout Are the Same Place
The part of TikTok that changed what the platform is for, if you sell physical products.
TikTok Shop keeps the transaction inside the app. The buyer never lands on your store, which removes the drop-off between interest and checkout and removes your control over the experience at the same time. The product feed, the pricing and the fulfilment terms are doing the work your product page normally does.
That makes feed quality and fulfilment reliability the things worth getting right first, in much the same way a Shopping feed decides what Google spends on. It also means the customer is partly TikTok’s rather than yours, which is a real trade against the lower friction and worth deciding deliberately.
The Work
What Running TikTok
Actually Involves
01
Measurement first
The pixel and the Events API, deduplicated, before any budget moves. TikTok attributes generously inside its own window, and the gap against what the store recorded needs to be understood rather than argued with.
02
Creative built for the feed
Vertical, fast, and native in tone. Several genuinely different concepts rather than crops of one, because the system needs options it can tell apart and the winner is rarely the one anybody predicted.
03
A refresh cadence, not a campaign
New assets arriving on a cycle so there is something ready before the current set fatigues. On this platform that is the difference between a channel and an experiment.
Spark Ads
The Format That Changes
How This Platform Works
If you run one thing on TikTok, this is usually it.
A Spark Ad promotes an existing organic post rather than uploading a new advertisement. It keeps the original account name, the comments, the likes and the shares, so it arrives looking like a post that earned its place instead of one that bought it. Everything it accumulates while running stays on the original post afterwards.
That matters more here than on other platforms, because the feed is hostile to anything that reads as an advertisement. Social proof attached to the post does work that the creative cannot do on its own, and a comment section full of real questions is frequently the most persuasive part of the whole thing.
It also opens up creator content. With a code from the creator you can run their post as an ad from their handle, which is how most brands getting results here are actually doing it. The trade is that you are promoting something you did not make and cannot edit, so who you work with matters more than what you would spend on production.
Formats and Cost
The Rest of the Formats,
and What They Cost
Briefly, because most accounts should start with Spark Ads and In-Feed and add the others only when there is a reason.
In-Feed
The standard placement in the For You feed, skippable and priced in the auction. The default when there is no organic post worth sparking, and the format most creative testing runs through.
TopView and Brand Takeover
Bought placement at the top of the app, sold on reach rather than through the ordinary auction. Priced for brands running launches, and almost never the right first purchase for a store trying to establish whether the channel works.
Shopping formats
Video Shopping Ads and the catalogue formats that pull from your product feed and keep checkout inside TikTok Shop. Feed quality decides what these can do, in the same way it decides what Google Shopping spends on.
What it costs
Cheaper attention than Meta at the top of the funnel, and an auction like any other, so the price is set by who else wants the same viewer. TikTok also enforces its own campaign minimums, which matter more than the click price when the budget is small. The number to judge it on is what the store banked, not what the platform reports.
Fit
Who This Is
And Is Not For
Hire someone else if
- Your product is bought on specification rather than shown
- You cannot supply or fund new creative regularly
- Your margin cannot carry a customer who had never heard of you
- You need one channel to work and have not yet made the offer work anywhere
This works if
- Showing the product doing its job is the argument
- Your buyer skews younger than your Meta audience
- You can keep creative coming, or want that handled
- You are willing to judge it on what the store banked rather than on views
Questions
Questions About
TikTok Ads
If yours is not here, ask it on the call.
What does TikTok ads management cost?
It sits inside the retainer. Channel Management starts at $1,500 a month for one channel, Growth Partner at $4,000 for every channel priced as one. Ad spend is separate and paid to the platform.
Do TikTok ads work for ecommerce?
Where the product demonstrates well, yes. Where the buyer is comparing specifications or researching before purchase, search usually does more for the same money. It is a discovery channel rather than a harvesting one.
Can we reuse our Meta creative?
It can be tested, and it usually underperforms. Assets that look produced read as advertising here and get scrolled past, so the useful version is creative shot for this feed rather than adapted into it.
What is TikTok Shop and do we need it?
It keeps the purchase inside the app rather than sending the buyer to your store. That removes friction and removes your control of the experience, and it makes your feed and fulfilment terms do the work your product page normally does. Worth it when impulse purchase suits the product.
How often does creative need refreshing?
More often than on Meta. The account tells you: when results decay while budget, audience and landing page are unchanged, the queue was too short. Planning for a regular cycle is more reliable than reacting to the drop.
Why does TikTok report more sales than our store?
Because it attributes inside its own window, including views rather than only clicks, while your store counts orders. A gap is normal. Reporting here works from what the store recorded so the channels cannot claim the same order twice.
Pricing
What Does It Cost
to Work Together?
Published, so you can rule me in or out without booking a call.
Channel Management
Starting at $1,500 /month
You own the plan. I run the channels.
- Campaign build and management
- Conversion tracking and reporting
- Monthly performance call
- SEO is not included at this tier
- Additional channels +$500 each
- Minimum ad spend $5,000/month
- 6 month commitment
Most Popular
Growth Partner
Starting at $4,000 /month
I own paid strategy end to end.
- Everything in Channel Management
- Every channel included, priced as one
- SEO included: technical, on-page and content
- Channel mix and budget allocation
- Creative direction and briefs
- Quarterly CRO roadmap
- 25 hours a month included
- Minimum ad spend $10,000/month
- 3 months, then month to month
Fractional CMO
Starting at $7,000 /month
I own the whole marketing function.
- Everything in Growth Partner
- Email, SEO and site direction
- Contractor sourcing and management
- Quarterly planning with you
- 40 hours a month included
- Minimum ad spend $20,000/month
- 6 month commitment
Let’s Talk
Book a free 30 minute call. I will tell you what I would do with your accounts, whether or not you hire me.
Book a Discovery Call
30-minute strategy session
Prefer to Reach Out Directly?
Happy to talk it through over email or a quick call. I usually reply within a few hours on weekdays.
- greg@digitalkarbon.com
- Massachusetts • Nationwide
Who You Talk To
Me, Every Time
What to Expect
- 30 minutes with me, not a salesperson
- What I would change in your account first
- No pitch deck, no obligation