TikTok has announced some improvements to its AI-powered Smart+ ad options, along with its ad performance tracking tools, as it seeks to refine its ad systems to help brands maximize their campaigns this holiday period.
First off, TikTok is giving advertisers more control over their Smart+ campaigns, including the capacity to customize the level of automation in their targeting, budget, and creative elements, module-by-module.
As you can see in this example, you’ll now have explicit control options in each section of your Smart+ campaign set-up, which will enable you to manually set each element, if you choose.
Or you can let Smart+ automate each aspect for you, which will lean on TikTok’s improving AI targeting to drive results.
TikTok’s Smart+ campaigns learn from in-stream conversions and activity to then optimize your ad performance. As such, it could be worth trusting the process, and seeing what results you get, but these new qualifiers will give you more control, if you need it.
TikTok’s also looking to improve its Smart+ measurement elements, with advertisers able to customize split tests “on a granular level” to glean more insight into what’s driving results.
It’s also integrating new Symphony creative tools within Smart+, which will give advertisers more ways to create and optimize their performance content.
- Recommended Creatives: allows advertisers to quickly select historical or Symphony Gen AI videos created based on what TikTok predicts will perform best for their campaign.
- Automatic Enhancements: enables advertisers to optimize the performance of their videos with Gen AI by resizing the video, refreshing the music, translating and dubbing, or improving the overall video and image quality.
So overall, more options for running your campaigns, with automated and AI tools built in as options in every aspect. The additional control options could make it easier to maximize your results, depending on your inputs, though again, you can fully automate each element, and reduce the manual workload.
Of course, results will vary, but many ad buyers are finding that trusting AI targeting and automation is delivering improved results over time.
Either way, you’ll have the option to consider.
TikTok’s also rolling out a new GMV Max dashboard, which will give sellers more visibility into which creative and creators are driving the best results for their business.
TikTok’s GMV Max campaigns aim to optimize performance based on TikTok Shop info, and drive more attention to your product promotions.
The improved dashboard will show more granular, streamlined and customizable reporting on performance across campaigns, products and creators, “helping to improve overall sales while optimizing spend.”
Finally, TikTok is also rolling out new ways to measure ad impact beyond last-click conversion, via third-party data integration (beginning with Google Analytics) and “Assisted Conversion” tracking.
- Third-Party Optimization: to drive performance results in the reporting tools advertisers already trust, we’re enabling seamless integrations with third party tools, starting with Google Analytics. Early testing shows that advertisers who saw performance improve noticed, on average, a 54% increase in conversions and 27% decrease in Cost per Action in Google Analytics results.
- Assisted Conversions: helps understand which last click channels users convert in after being primed for purchase by TikTok. More than one in four TikTok-attributed conversions happen after a user views an ad, then navigates directly to the website to purchase the same day – conversions that would otherwise go uncounted.
These new elements will display an expanded overview of conversion metrics, which could help you optimize your TikTok performance understanding.
Some handy updates, on the more technical side to some degree, but which could be of benefit in your strategic approach.
Bonus: TikTok also recently shared some tips on how to maximize your Smart+ campaigns within the first 7 days of launch:
Some additional pointers for your strategy.
