TikTok Spark Ads: What They Are & How They Work

Social Media
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TikTok Spark Ads are gaining in popularity, and for good reason. This ad format utilizes real videos from your TikTok account, which has many benefits for your brand. If you have a solid organic and paid TikTok strategy and a TikTok Shop account, Spark Ads can be an integral part of your holistic strategy.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes Spark Ads different from non-Spark Ads, how they work, and if they’re right for your brand, look no further — the TikTok advertising experts at Blue Wheel are here to help.

What are Spark Ads?

Spark Ads are an ad format on TikTok that utilizes organic posts from your account or another creator’s account (such as an influencer).

Spark Ads vs. Non-Spark Ads

With Spark Ads, you’ll use an existing TikTok post as your ad. Whether that post is from your own account or an influencer partner’s account, you can natively turn it into a Spark Ad on TikTok.

Non-Spark Ads require you to create your own video for advertising use. You can use a video you’ve already posted on TikTok, but you’ll have to upload it separately into the ad platform. So, unlike Spark Ads, the ad video is not connected to the corresponding video on your profile.

source: TikTok

How Do TikTok Spark Ads Work?

Within the feed, TikTok Spark Ads appear similarly to organic posts — from the ad, users can view your landing page (if applicable), follow your account, view your profile, or view the music page associated with your audio. With non-Spark Ads, anything users click on the ad will take them to your landing page.

Spark Ads can help you with a variety of advertising objectives, including:

  • ​Reach
  • Video Views
  • Community Interaction
  • Traffic
  • App Installs
  • Conversions
  • Lead Generation
  • Shop Purchases (Alpha)

Because the video is connected to your original TikTok post on your account, you can more easily reach your video views and engagement goals for a specific video. You can also take advantage of already-viral content by boosting influencer posts (with their permission).

Benefits of Spark Ads

Natively Integrated

Spark Ads appear nearly identical to organic content within a user’s feed, which can make them feel more native and less intrusive. And, because it’s the original video from your profile or a creator’s profile, comments and likes are consistent across the boosted post and original video.

And, as previously mentioned, users can take a variety of actions from the video like they would on an organic post (follow your account, view the audio page, etc.).

Boost Influencer Content

Influencer or UGC content is queen on TikTok — this type of natural, relatable content is what tends to see success, not highly-produced content in a studio. Because of this, many brands partner with influencers on TikTok to create hauls, reviews, and more. Boosting this influencer content with TikTok Spark Ads is a great way to capitalize on that viral content.

If you want to turn one of your influencer partner’s videos into a Spark Ad, you need to have the influencer give you authorization on their video for you to use it in an ad. After that, you can easily turn that post into a Spark Ad!

Want help creating TikTok Spark Ads? Reach out to the social team at Blue Wheel.

Hannah Hansen

Hannah Hansen is a freelance copywriter and brand designer. She's passionate about distilling complex ideas, crafting brand narratives, and making good design accessible to all. She currently lives in Oceanside, California, with her husband and their golden retriever.

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