TikTok launches TikTok For Business for marketers, takes Snapchat with new AR ads – TechCrunch

TikTok announces to advertisers that it is open for business. The company today officially unveils a new brand and platform called “TikTok For Business,” which will serve as the home for all of its current and future branded marketing solutions. At launch, the website provides access to TikTok ad formats, including the branded TopView, the ad that is displayed when the TikTok app is first launched. Other products under this umbrella from TikTok for Business are brand takeovers, in-feed videos, hashtag challenges and brand effects.

Brand takeovers are the three to five second ads that can be either a video or an image. In-feed videos can be up to 60 seconds long and run with sound. Hashtag Challenges allow brands to participate in the user community by inviting TikTok users to create content around a hashtag of their choice. This also includes Hashtag Plus, which also adds a shopping function to this experience.

Meanwhile, branded effects allow brands to blend in more directly with the content creation experience. The effects allow a brand or product to be added to a video in 2D, 3D, or now AR format, either in the foreground or background of the video. These can also be combined with hashtag challenges to increase brand engagement.

The new AR effect “Brand Scan” is being added today along with the official launch of TikTok For Business itself. Digiday had previously exhausted TikTok’s AR advertising plans and determined that they would pose a direct challenge to Snapchat’s Sponsored Lens and Word Lenses AR formats.

AR effect aside, most of the marketing products were offered on TikTok For Business before today, but the new platform organizes them under one roof and provides a place to showcase new products as they arrive.

In addition, the platform is introducing a new e-learning center that will help marketers learn more about TikTok and its promotional offers. This center contains product guides, resources, and creative best practices to help you launch successful campaigns or learn more about the Branded Effects Affiliate Program.

TikTok does not publicly disclose prices for its promotional tools and solutions, but says that pricing is based on what the brand wants to achieve and the scope of their campaign. Their website lists some of the budgeting requirements, such as a minimum of $ 50 for both the daily campaign budget and the overall budget. Digiday recently reported that TikTok’s ad prices on a CPM basis were cheap compared to Facebook amid the recession.

Credit: Tick ​​tock

Today, the brands work closely with TikTok to buy and manage their campaigns and to run the performance reports. But TikTok is working to introduce new solutions that will make this process easier.

The launch of the new platform aims to transform TikTok from a place where marketers can experiment to one that requires a seat at the table alongside other social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.

The company will showcase the platform to brands and advertisers on the IAB’s NewFronts this afternoon, where it will position itself as the place where marketers create work that becomes part of the TikTok community rather than parting with it. Some marketing campaigns on TikTok were so successful that TikTok users created their own version of them, for example.

The presentation will also advocate the idea that the TikTok platform is a place where culture and trends are created and shared around the world, and where content can go viral to a diverse audience in a matter of hours.

In this context, TikTok also found that it is testing a new platform called the Creator Marketplace in select regions. Launched last year, this platform allows brands to discover and collaborate with TikTok content creators on paid brand campaigns, much like YouTube’s BrandConnect (which recently changed its name from FameBit).

TikTok’s sales were up ahead of its platform’s format debut for marketers today. In January of this year, reports claimed sales would skyrocket over 300% by the fourth quarter of 2020. The information recently reported that TikTok’s U.S. sales are projected to hit $ 500 million this year.

“With the introduction of TikTok For Business we decided to use the creative, positive and real moments that make our community so special with solutions for companies to connect with our wonderfully expressive community and to grow with it” said TikTok’s managing director for global business marketing, Katie Puris, in an announcement.

“As we continue to build a platform on which brands deliver immense user experience value, we look forward to continuing to invest in solutions that provide brands with a platform to inspire others to be discovered and to make meaningful use of the TikTok platform. Community, ”she added.