Pay attention to me: Report shares brand tips for catching users’ interest on TikTok

It’s no secret that people’s attention spans are shrinking in the era of social media. (Please don’t stop reading to check your notifications.) On TikTok, brands have mere seconds to make an impact on users: Internal TikTok analysis found that most recall and awareness impact happens within the first six seconds of an ad.

Marketers have been on the hunt for the secret to capturing attention in that precious window of time, especially as TikTok budgets continue to grow. Some use adorable pets, catchy songs, or pop culture references. While there might not be one surefire way to make sure TikTok users pay attention to branded posts, the platform dug into the data to offer a few tips for brands working with creators on TikTok.

Hook: Given social media users’ collectively short attention spans, “an effective hook is critical” for marketers that don’t want their content to be skipped over, according to a new report from TikTok and creator marketing platform CreatorIQ.

• Showing the creator—or any person—within the first couple of seconds “increases hooking power” by 50%, and also leads to 32% higher ad recognition, per the report.
• TikTok and CreatorIQ also advised brands to be “careful about being too promotional” early on in their ads.

The report praised this post from creator couple Matthew and Paul promoting Walmart+ as a “particularly effective, and, frankly, charming” example of best practices:

The opening line, “I’m blind, and I’m surprising my husband with a home-cooked meal”—“hooks the viewer from the outset,” according to the report, and the video landed in the top 1% of all TikTok ads in terms of viewer retention.

Line: After reeling viewers in, the report suggests that brands can look to establish a personal connection with their audience by doing things like:

• Asking the creator to greet viewers directly, which, according to TikTok and CreatorIQ, can result in a 112% uplift in brand recall.
• Having the creator say “you” within the first five seconds, which can lead to a 128% boost in purchasing intent.
• Showing the face of the creator or including their voiceover in the ad.

The report found that creator ads on TikTok that include shots of the product in action can lead to positive results. (Think unboxing videos, which result in a 31% boost in attention, the report found.) One Redken ad where a creator demonstrated the effectiveness of the hair-care brand’s products landed in the top 2% of TikTok ads in terms of retention and the top 6% for conversions, according to the report.

And while more lo-fi ads generally perform well on TikTok and other social platforms, editing in certain “high-impact creative elements” like sound, text overlay, and “seamless transitions” can result in more effective ads, the report says.

Sinker: Last but not least, a call to action could mean “the difference between an engaged fan and a paying customer,” TikTok and CreatorIQ found.