TikTok Channel Launch On Shopify Opens Door To Easy Ads & Sales 

TikTok has expanded its social commerce offering through a new partnership with Shopify, now making it easier for Shopify’s massive base of merchants to reach a younger, more engaged audience.

Merchants will now be able to use the Shopify dashboard to create, run and optimise TikTok marketing campaigns – provided that the TikTok channel app has been installed via the Shopify app store, granting access to the TikTok For Business Ads Manager.

Shopify

“The TikTok channel allows merchants to create and connect their TikTok For Business account and deploy In-Feed shoppable video ads directly within Shopify.”

The latest TikTok integration works along similar lines to deals which Shopify has inked with Pinterest and Facebook this year. However, the latest TikTok deal has the potential to become more expansive in time.

The TikTok channel is now available in the US and will become available in other select markets throughout North America, Europe and Southeast Asia in early 2021. To learn more about the TikTok channel, visit apps.shopify.com/tiktok.

What Can Shopify Merchants Now Do?

Shopify merchants will now be able to tap into TikTok’s audience, even if they don’t have a large following on the platform.

But content will still be king; therefore, this isn’t an excuse to be lazy with your marketing efforts, and we’ve seen that TikTok is one of the most egalitarian apps out there. If your content can connect with the audience and fits with the vibe of TikTok, it’ll swim. If it doesn’t, it’ll sink.

Who knows, you might even fluke it like Ocean Spray…although probably not.

Creating marketable, sharable content is the name of the game here – as it always is on TikTok.

Merchants will be able to choose which product they want to feature in their adverts, which are automatically generated to drive customers towards their Shopify store.

Those without natural technological inclination need not despair, as TikTok will provide templates that’ll allow all of Shopify’s merchants to take advantage of the new integration.

Ads will also be highly targetable, and merchants will be able to target users by:

• Gender
• Age
• User behaviour
• Video category

Shopify merchants will also be able to track performance over time via the installation of TikTok Pixel, which will enable users to see conversions driven by TikTok ad campaigns.

Further tests over the next couple of months should result in new commerce features that expand the relationship between Shopify and TikTok, helping merchants to grow their organic and paid reach across video and profiles.

What should Shopify merchants do next, how do they get on-board?

1. Log in to your TikTok for Business account, or create one.
2. Install Pixel
3. Promote your products and track conversion campaigns
4. Target your audience
5. Create content with the video generation tool
6. Take advantage of the $300 ad credit Shopify are offering when you sign up for a new business account.

Social Ads & Commerce Solutions

For a start, this move should help TikTok raise the amount of advertising revenue they receive. The threat of US action against the platform scared brands off using TikTok, but now that threat is receding faster than Donald Trump’s hairline, spending is up.

Brands are finding that advertising on TikTok is cheaper than Facebook, and many have increased their spend. TikTok still isn’t a major weapon in their arsenal, but it’s trending that way.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Facebook and Instagram are still destinations of choice for brands. Nevertheless, this new update will make TikTok more attractive and will help it continue to drive further revenue growth.

Blake Chandlee, Vice President, Global Business Solutions, TikTok

“As social commerce proliferates, retailers are recognising that TikTok’s creative and highly engaged community sets it apart from other platforms.

“We’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to connect brands with our users, and Shopify is the perfect partner to help us grow and expand our commerce capabilities globally.”

TikTok has around 700 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide, with 100 million of those in the US, where the Shopify partnership is initially rolling out.

There is little concrete evidence on TikTok’s user base outside of the US, however, given TikTok’s domination of app download charts in markets like the UK, AU, NZ etc. SMK would estimate broad usage levels around Snapchat type levels. Which in Australia, for example, we would estimate to be 5 – 7 million MAUs.

The audience on TikTok is still young and the platform can be thought of as a means of discovery for an audience, rather than the final destination where they make a purchase.

However, the proposed additions to TikTok’s social commerce offering should help to offset that – although these in-app additions are yet to be confirmed or have a release date.