TikTok's Top-Tier Tips for Better Performing Video Ads

TikTok recently gave some general tips for content creators to help make their video ads perform better and threw in some extra advice for those in the gaming and ecommerce verticals.


So here are some best practices by TikTok's Creative Insights page to follow when you're launching videos and ads.

1. At a minimum, videos have to be at 720p or better. They found that 83.19% of top-performing videos had a resolution of at least 720p and a 5.39% lift in impressions.


2. They saw 93% of videos with audio of any kind had performed better than those without. So adding audio of any sort gives your videos' impressions a lift of about 16.05%.


3. Almost 98.63% of top-performing videos had an aspect ratio of 9:16 with a 60.45% boost in impressions. So make sure there are no black borders around the screen's edges.


4. Videos with a vertical orientation performed 82.13% better than those that were horizontal. Vertical videos had a 40.08% lift in impressions, so keep that in mind when you're recording.

TikTok's best practices for top-performing videos seem a little obvious. But if you're in the gaming and ecommerce space combining those best practices with our next set of tips per vertical may be worth sticking around for.

Here's what you should do if you're preparing video ads targeting gamers.

Adding captions and text CTAs to your videos will help boost their reach. TikTok saw an 11.13% lift in impressions for gaming-related videos.

TikTok recommends you also show the game in action. Top-performing videos doing this had a 12.63% impression boost versus those that didn't have gameplay featured. A little over half (52.47%) of well-performing videos showed some kind of gameplay so keep that in mind.

The last tip for those in the gaming niche, TikTok highly recommends adding an end-frame. They noticed that 62.18% of top-performing videos had an end frame summarizing key info about the game.

For ecommerce businesses, here are some characteristics that TikTok saw in videos that outperformed others in this space.

According to TikTok's Insights page, adding closed captioning text to your videos will give them a 55.68% lift in impressions. So when presenting an offer, use text, especially for CTAs since they saw 73.22% of videos outperform those that didn't use text CTAs.

Surprisingly, out of all the top-performing videos, only 3.21% had featured a person showcasing at least one offer. There's a 67.4% lift in impressions if your ecommerce brand features a person highlighting an offer/product in a video compared to those who don't do this.

TikTok recommends you add varied shots, angles, and scenes of your products in your videos. They said videos with multiple product shots, switching between close-up and in-situ (natural setting) did a whole lot better (99%) than a person selling their stuff on screen continuously. So add B-roll and cool transitions.

A piece of advice if you're creating your next video, whether it's an ad or it's organic, remember the company's mantra: "Don't make ads, make TikToks."

Even if it's an ad, make it feel like it's not.