TikTok is adding new targeting and boosting features for its Promote advertising tool, the company announced on Wednesday. Promote first launched in 2021 as a way for creators to turn vertical videos into ads. The company is now introducing more ways to make it easier for creators and small businesses to target their desired communities and choose how they can interact with their ads.
The company is adding a new feature that allows advertisers to drive traffic back to their TikTok page in order to show off a range of products or services. With this new Promote update, viewers will be presented with a call to action driving them directly to the advertisers TikTok profiles. There’s also a new “more messages” Promote goal that allows small businesses that rely on interactions with customers to make their sales directly drive traffic to their TikTok inbox.
In addition, Promote now gives small businesses that work with creators the option to promote the creators’ videos or LIVE videos to help increase views to their target audience. TikTok has also expanded the audience targeting for Promote to include location as well as gender, age and their interests, allowing small businesses with physical locations to directly target their local community.
“We are committed to expanding our suite of features to empower advertisers of all sizes to grow and meet their goals, whether it’s to build your audience on TikTok or engage with potential customers,” TikTok said in a blog post. “Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to expand advertising opportunities for the TikTok community.”
The new updates come as TikTok has been furthering its push into the field of advertising. Last August, the company launched a new commerce ad suite called “Shopping Ads” to make it easier for brands to advertise on the platform. In May, the company launched an ad product called “Branded Mission” that allows creators to connect with brands and possibly receive rewards for videos. Also in May, TikTok launched a contextual ad solution called TikTok Pulse to lure advertisers to its platform by giving them the ability to showcase their brands’ content next to the best videos on TikTok.
Given TikTok’s interest in asserting itself as an e-commerce platform, it’s no surprise that it’s looking to woo advertisers and build out its advertising suite.