What are TikTok Spark Ads? Examples and Guide for Beginners

In the dynamic landscape of social media, TikTok has rapidly gained traction as a platform that offers a fresh and engaging approach to advertising. With its unique blend of catchy tunes, viral challenges, and innovative content, marketers are drawn to this digital goldmine. Looking to amplify your marketing campaigns and make an impact on TikTok? It’s time to get acquainted with TikTok Spark Ads.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the world of Spark Ads. Here, organic posts and paid advertising join forces to elevate your brand’s presence on TikTok. From setting up your ads to measuring their success, we’ll give you all the information you need to get started. Ready to unravel the secret to boosting your reach and engaging millions of users? Then read on for our beginner’s guide to TikTok Spark Ads.

“Essentially, you can transform your organic posts into paid ads, retaining all your likes, comments, and views along the way. It’s kind of like a signal boost for organic content, allowing you to reach more users and amplify your message.”

What Are TikTok Spark Ads?

Picture this: you’ve got a fantastic organic post on your TikTok profile. It’s just waiting to be discovered by the masses. But how can you give it that extra nudge to reach its full viral potential? Enter Spark Ads, your new best friend.

So, what exactly are TikTok Spark Ads and how do they work? Well, they’re a clever way to fuse organic content with the power of paid advertising. It’s like giving your content a first-class ticket to the For You Page. Essentially, you can transform organic posts into paid ads, retaining all your likes, comments, and views along the way. It’s kind of like a signal boost for organic content, allowing you to reach more users and amplify your message.

What about user-generated content created by another TikTok creator promoting your brand? Perfect! You can turn it into a Spark Ad too. But to make this magic happen, you’ll need something called a Spark Code. They’re strings of code that you, or the TikTok creators you’re working with, can generate for specific posts. By plugging these codes into your ads manager, you can boost those very posts easily. This puts them straight in front of your target audience just like a normal paid ad. No more restless nights thinking “Why didn’t our team come up with that amazing organic content? It would have made the perfect ad!”. Thanks to TikTok Spark Ads, you can literally turn any organic post into an ad.

Why Use TikTok Spark Ads?

Ever since TikTok launched TikTok for Business in 2019, the platform has gained serious momentum as an advertising playground. As of 2023, TikTok offers a ton of different advertising options for marketers – and we mean a ton. Top View, In-Feed, Brand Takeover, Branded Hashtag, Branded Effects – the list goes on. So why go with Spark Ads? Well, they offer some unique advantages that you won’t find in other ad formats.

Retention of Engagement Metrics

As mentioned, one of the unique perks of TikTok Spark Ads is that they retain all the likes, shares, and comments from the original post. This means your boosted content reaches a wider audience while showcasing and holding on to all that glorious social proof. And as we all know, a little social proof goes a long way in boosting your brand’s profile engagement metrics.

Higher Completion and Engagement Rates

TikTok itself boasts some pretty impressive stats for Spark Ads. They claim a 134% higher completion rate and a 157% higher 6-second view-through rate compared to those run-of-the-mill In-Feed Ads. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder marketers are flocking to Spark Ads.

Enhanced Profile Landing Page UI

The new profile landing page UI for Spark Ads also delivers a jaw-dropping 69% higher conversion rate and 37% lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). It’s like TikTok went ahead and gift-wrapped the perfect ad format for marketers.

Expansive Reach

TikTok ads already reach a staggering 885 million people worldwide, making it an impressive advertising tool. With Spark Ads, you’re tapping into this vast audience and also boosting your content with the added benefits mentioned above.

How to Work with Creators for Spark Ads

Harnessing the creativity of other TikTok creators and brand fans is a veritable shortcut to marketing success. But negotiating the world of influencer marketing can be tricky. Here are some tips to help you get off on the right foot with Spark Ads:

1. Have clear goals in mind. Before you start working with creators, make sure to define your goals. This will help you avoid any potential miscommunication. It’ll also provide the creator with a clear understanding of what results are expected from their side.
2. Perform your due diligence. Take the time to research any creators you’re considering working with. Look at their past work and get a good understanding of what they can bring to the table. Make sure you’re not putting your brand at risk by working with people with shady post history or bad reputations.
3. Set expectations. Ensure both parties understand what’s expected from each other in terms of content delivery, payment agreement, and campaign duration. Creators often prefer a 60-day duration, and often going over 60 days isn’t worth it budget-wise. As such, see to it that you agree on a timeframe in advance.

Simple Guide to Setting up TikTok Spark Ads

Ready to get started with TikTok Spark Ads? Let’s walk you through the process step by step. It’ll help you to confidently set up your campaign and boost content like a pro.

Creating and publishing Spark Ads on TikTok Ads Manager can be done in two ways. It depends on the content you’re promoting. Are you using your own linked TikTok Business Account or using authorised accounts or posts from other creators? We’re going to break down both methods. Before we get started though, here are a few key things to keep in mind when launching your Spark Ads:

• Make sure to review the caption before granting authorization – it cannot be modified after this point.
• Remember that if you use a private video for a campaign, it will automatically become public. If you don’t want the video to appear on your account but you still want to promote it then you need to activate TikTok’s “Ads Only Mode”.
• If you want to use a video made by two creators as a Spark Ad, such as a duet or stitched post, then you’ll need to obtain video authorization codes from both creators.
• Some features, such as “Only show in ads” and ad authorization, require the most up-to-date TikTok app versions. Make sure your app is updated to access these features.

Method 1: Using Your Own Linked TikTok Business Account

Step 1. Choose “Use TikTok account to deliver Spark Ads”

Choose an Advertising Objective and fill out the Campaign and Ad Group settings. Then toggle Use TikTok account to deliver Spark Ads.

Step 2. Select “Use account owned by you”

This option enables you to utilise any posts from your linked Business Account. You can also push a video from Ads Manager directly into your linked Business Account with no need for any in-app operations.

For the next steps, you can either choose an existing post from your linked Business Account or create/upload new videos from Ads Manager. From there, you can publish them under your linked Business Account as Spark Ad creatives.

Step 3. Retrieve content using “+TikTok Post”

Under Ad Details, pick TikTok Post and select a post you wish to use in your Spark Ad. Once you choose the video, click the Confirm button. Complete the rest of the ad settings, and then hit Submit to publish your Spark Ad.

Under Ad Details, click +Video and select from these three options. These are Upload, Add from Library, or Create with our Creative Tools. When you’re done, your Spark Ads will be ready to launch.

Method 2: Utilising Authorised Accounts or Posts from Other Creators

Step 1: Authorise Advertising

To begin, it is essential to ensure that the video creator has turned on ad authorization. To authorise a post, the creator needs to go to ‘Me’. Then tap the three dots in the top right corner, and navigate to ‘Settings and Privacy’, then ‘Creator Tools’. At this point, they can turn on the ad settings toggle.

Step 2: Generate and Share Code

Once you’ve selected a video for promotional use, you can generate an authorization code by tapping on ‘Generate Code’. Then choose a length of time from 7 days up to 365 days. The creator can then tap copy code and share it with you. Spark codes look like a long random string of letters and numbers, starting with a hash symbol.

Step 3: Enter Code in Ads Manager

Once you receive the video code from a creator, you’ll need to enter it into TikTok Ads Manager like this:

• Navigate to Assets > Creative > Spark ads posts, and select Apply for Authorization.
• Paste the code into the search bar and click Search.
• Review the post’s details and click Confirm.

You’re now ready to create your Spark Ad.

Step 4: Create Your Spark Ad

After adding an approved post to your TikTok Ads Manager, creating Spark Ads is simple.

Go to your TikTok Ads Manager and do the following:

• At the Campaign Level, pick an Advertising Objective that best meets your needs.
• Finalise your Campaign and Ad Group settings.
• At the Ad Level, look under “Identity” and toggle on “Use TikTok account to deliver Spark Ads”.
• To create your Spark Ad, choose the TikTok account that has given approval for the post you will use.
• Under Ad details, select your creative by clicking the +TikTok post option.
• Finish configuring your Ad Settings and press Submit to launch your ad.

Now, you’re all set to create and publish TikTok Spark Ads. You can either use your own content or authorised posts from other creators!

Examples of Successful TikTok Spark Ads

It’s always helpful to see how other companies are getting it right. Here are a few examples of brands that have successfully leveraged Spark Ads to get the results they want.

Kiala Nutrition

Kiala Nutrition, a female-focused nutrition brand, aimed to increase awareness and scale business revenue among their target audience using TikTok. Their demographic is US females aged 18-34 and they already had an established organic community on the platform.

To promote their Super Greens supplement powder, Kiala Nutrition partnered with creators in their target demographic. They developed engaging and relatable content, which they then boosted using Spark Ads.

The campaign drove over 75.3 million video impressions, resulting in a 43% decrease in CPA for Kiala Nutrition. With a clear call-to-action in creator videos, they gained over 10.6k conversions and 301k clicks to their website. Pretty sweet!

@jayybaeeeeee use code: JAYY27 for 20% off the best greens you will find! 🤍 @kialanutrition #kialanutrition #kiala #kialagreens #supergreens #bloatingtips #im19 #ad ♬ Silence – gyu dae nai

Loora AI

Loora, an AI English tutor app, wanted to reach English learners in the US. They also wanted to capitalise on TikTok’s global reach and education content, and find the best product-market fit.

Loora decided to speak the language of TikTok’s Spanish-speaking community. They engaged creators like William (@spanishwmariandwilliam) and Kate Lokteva (@eslkate) to whip up content. The company let creators do their thing, making unique and engaging content that was boosted using Spark Ads.

The campaign was a game-changer, with 25K app instals in under 2 months. They also saw a 67% drop in CPI and a 41% reduction in customer acquisition cost.

@spanishwmariandwilliam @Loora – AI English Coach ♬ sonido original – spanishwmariandwilliam

The Essence Vault

The Essence Vault, an online retailer offering designer-inspired fragrances at low prices, aimed to rev up sales using TikTok as their new marketing channel. They hopped on the Spark Ads bandwagon, and with their limited resources, they started by recycling existing video assets.

TikTok Spark Ads allowed them to boost organic videos as TopView or In-Feed Ads. This made it easy for users to follow creators, check out profiles, and click on CTAs leading to landing pages.

The campaign was a smashing success, racking up over 1 million video views and 8,000 new followers. The real kicker? A 23% boost in return-on-ad-spend and 21% of sales coming straight from TikTok (up 11% from the previous period). Their conversion rate also jumped from 4.47% to a sweet 5.35%.

@ellieeewbu Don’t say I didn’t hook you all up😍🤩 @The Essence Vault ♬ Stereo Love – instrumental

Partner with a Top TikTok Agency to Get Your Spark Ads Off The Ground

TikTok Spark Ads are all about creating genuine connections and driving organic engagement. This makes them the perfect secret sauce for businesses looking to thrive in the digital arena.

If you’re not sure where to begin, don’t worry. You can partner with a leading TikTok agency like House of Marketers (that’s us) and watch the magic unfold. Our team is made up of TikTok experts with a wealth of knowledge in creating winning TikTok campaigns. We love nothing more than helping brands reach their full potential. So, get in touch if you’re ready to make some marketing magic together.