TikTok is announcing today the global launch of Spark Ads, a native ad format that allows advertisers to use organic user posts as part of their ad campaigns on the app, making it easier to leverage trending content and supplement larger campaigns.
Spark Ads also allows marketers to amplify their own organic posts from their own TikTok accounts and upload Spark Ads creative directly to Ads Manager to post to a TikTok account with the user’s approval.
The new approach is a twist on how influencer branded content or user-generated content is traditionally conducted, where a brand or agency reaches out to an influencer agency or creator directly to develop content that could work for an upcoming campaign.
The Spark Ads appear in the app similarly to how regular TikTok ads do, but naturally, advertisers cannot change the content in the ad itself, change the display name or the text of the original post.
“Removing friction is a good thing for the creator economy,” says Ryan Detert, CEO and founder of influencer agency Influential.
When a creators’ post is selected for a Spark Ad, the content becomes highlighted with a “sponsored” alert and obtains a call-to-action button encouraging viewers to take an action such as “learn more” or “download,” that when pressed, directs them to landing pages or app install pages.
Marketers are able to see insights from the ads, just as they would with traditional TikTok ads, including paid clicks from the button and ad caption, the number of likes, shares and followers the video received within a day of a user seeing a paid ad, and the number of paid profile visits the ad drove.
Unlike with regular TikTok ads, users can click on the name of the song that is playing or the music disc that appears on the right side of the screen to go to a designated music page through Spark Ads.
A 2020 annual survey report from influencer marketing agency Takumi found that 32% of consumers find influencer content more relatable than brands’ own advertising.
Last week, TikTok surpassed 3 billion downloads globally, the first non-Facebook mobile app to do so, according to data from mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower.
In May 2021, Snapchat announced a new Creator Marketplace, a directory of its top creators and AR Lens makers that is rolling out to all creators by 2022.
She has covered the advertising industry for Ad Age since 2019 and has previously covered brands and agencies at Digiday and digital platforms at Campaign U.S.