Your Guide To TikTok Advertising for Events

TikTok is the fifth most popular social media platform, having amassed over 1.5 billion active monthly users. With an average daily watch time of 58 minutes per day and the potential to access 23% of the world’s netizens, leveraging the platform for maximum marketing success is a must in the events advertising world. 

This guide will provide you with everything you need to know about using TikTok to promote your event, from paid media campaigns to influencer marketing, so you can maximise conversions and achieve your event marketing objectives!

Paid TikTok Ad Campaigns

TikTok provides businesses with five different ad types, each with its distinct use for meeting your campaign’s objectives:

1. TopView

Appearing as the first in-feed post when users open TikTok, these ads have a high exposure and high impact, making them perfect for raising awareness for your event and driving ticket sales. This type of ad is best suited to large-scale events with a broad audience, such as music festivals like Glastonbury or Reading. 

2. Brand Takeover

Similar to TopView, these ads appear when users first open the app. However, these ads take over the whole screen through videos, images or gifs. Once the ad is finished, TikTok auto-scrolls the user to the first video in their feed. 

Brand Takeover ads are fully immersive, with no opportunity for distraction, so they strengthen the call to action and the opportunity to drive ticket sales directly from the ad. This makes them perfect for those last-chance promotions. 

3. Brand Hashtag Challenge 

As the name suggests, brand hashtag challenges allow brands to run challenges to promote user engagement using a related hashtag—think #ShareACoke, #JustDoIt, and #ShotOniPhone, to name a few.

Brand hashtag challenges are perfect for B2C events, which aim to foster a community around the event, build excitement, and gain visibility. Not to mention, the UGC provides a wealth of content for further event marketing down the line! 

4. Branded Effects

We have certainly come a long way from the Snapchat dog filter! Now, TikTok allows brands to create filters, games, stickers, and effects to promote to their audience for use in their videos.

Branding effects have become increasingly popular with brands such as Disney, which released collectable virtual cards on TikTok for its Disney100 campaign, and campaigns such as The Barbie Movie’s Barbie Selfie Generator. 

Branded effects create memorable, interactive, and shareable content that event marketing campaigns can benefit from. Events such as music festivals, concerts, and sports events can use this type of ad to create filters to promote their events. Trade shows and conferences could benefit from the virtual event experience that brand effects offer. 

5. In-feed Ads

Due to their lower cost, in-feed ads are the most popular choice for advertisers. They appear seamlessly in TikTok users’ “For you” feed, blending into the array of user-generated content.

Event marketers can leverage this ad to target specific demographics, raise awareness for their event, and promote presale sign-ups and conversions. From early bird announcements to post-event recaps, this TikTok advertising feature is the Swiss army knife of event marketing opportunities. As a result,  In-feed ads are best suited to B2B events with limited budgets and niche audiences. 

Influencer Marketing

Using influencers to advertise your event can raise awareness and drive sales. While people often hesitate to trust brands, influencers are perceived as trustworthy sources of information. This is not just limited to influencers with millions of followers but extends to micro-influencers, who are perceived as relatable and trustworthy because of their smaller, tight-knit communities. No matter the size of the event industry or influencer following, influencer marketing holds massive potential for getting bums on seats. 

One prime example of influencer marketing within a niche field is @lawtontubes, a copper specialist on TikTok who has been promoting his stand at Installer Show with an ode to ‘The Office’ UK. Lawton has been using David and Gareth lookalikes in a clever and comedic way to promote his stall, and his out-of-the-box thinking has made its way from TikTok to LinkedIn!

Giveaways

Giveaways are brilliant ways to promote your event while raising brand awareness and audience engagement. Merging your Hashtag Challenge from your paid campaign, you can run online contests that encourage your audience to create and upload content for the chance to win event tickets or other related prizes. 

One great example was when Cadbury partnered with Arsenal FC. Using retired footballer Ian Write, who has over 2 million followers on TikTok, Cadbury and Arsenal FC promoted several giveaways on the platform, incorporating both influencer marketing and giveaways into one massive promotion!

Organic Events Marketing

TikTok promotes videos using trending sounds, providing brands with an opportunity to put their own spin on these trends and engage with the broader TikTok community. Whilst TikTok trends may not align with your brand guidelines, using TikTok creatively in a way that does align with your brand and ongoing trends is what will boost engagement and brand visibility. 

TikTok harbours huge opportunities for organic event marketing. But, with only 13 milliseconds to grab a viewer’s attention, a unique and creative marketing strategy is imperative to success. Ultimately, your organic marketing should complement your paid TikTok ad campaign and wider event marketing strategy. 

Conclusion 

TikTok is a powerful platform that can expand your audience and increase event ticket sales. Whether you are using organic advertising, running contests, using influencers, or using TikTok’s paid ad campaigns, there is always an opportunity for brand growth as long as brands maintain authenticity and innovation within their content.

At MCM, our creative studio can deliver excellent visual content, including bespoke TikTok videos tailored to your brand. Get in touch and discover how we can help.