The social media marketing goldmine: TikTok advertising revenue surges 155% in a year

TikTok was the company with the fastest-growing digital advertising revenues in 2022 with a 155% growth rate – four times more than Apple and seven times more than Amazon.

With the potential to reach millions of people practically overnight, marketers have spent billions on TikTok promotions over the past years.

Last year alone brought $9.9bn in ad revenue, which is expected to rise to around $13.5bn in 2023, according to predictions by OnlyAccounts.io.

Thanks to its impressive growth, TikTok ranked as the company with the fastest-growing digital ad revenue in the world, and the only social media platform on the list made of tech and retail giants.

Why TikTok is crucial for SMEs

One recognised as a digital space colonised by TikTok dances and short comedic video material, TikTok has now become an obligatory ingredient of the social media strategy of SMEs.

This is despite recent scandals surrounding data privacy that have drawn a question mark around the stability and reliability of the social media platform.

TikTok was the most downloaded app in 2022 and the current number of TikTok users in the UK is 23.38 million per month. This degree of exposure is vital for SMEs that want to source new customers through social media.

In fact, some 47% of users say TikTok is the platform they use most to engage with SMEs. 77% also noted they came across a small business on TikTok before discovering them anywhere else.

The exposure TikTok offers is unparalleled by other platforms. According to statistics from a Nielsen Survey, TikTok provides Return on Advertising Spending (ROAS) that is 3.5 times higher than any other media.

Moreover, businesses employing multiple TIkTok ad formats generate 10% more ROAS than other brands that focus only on one type of ad format.

The goldmine that TikTok embodies has been widely recognised by SMEs. 73% say TikTok has helped them reach new customers and 78% saw a positive ROI after integrating the platform into their strategy.

55% of businesses say TikTok ads are important for their company’s overall marketing performance and 52% of SME owners plan to increase their TikTok marketing budgets.

The numbers clearly point to how invaluable TikTok has become for marketing teams, and for those not yet on the platform, the question is not if but when they’ll join the other SMEs marketing on the social media giant.

How to become TikTok famous

Crafting the correct strategy on TikTok can be the make or break between going viral and between getting stuck at a stalin 300 views per video.

Kim Innes is chef and founder of the world’s first Crumble bakery, Humble Crumble. Between user generated content (UGC) and Humble Crumble’s own accounts, the crumble maker has gathered millions of views and nearly 200,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

According to Innes, the key to TikTok success is to find ways to make products organically shareable.

“I can only speak for us, but anytime we’ve done anything like professional photos or videos, they do not share as well as user generated content,” she explains. .

“And I think it’s just more personable and a nice relatable thing for our followers, that they feel ‘I could take this video and post it on my Instagram or TikTok and it will look great.”

Besides making a personable product experience, Kim also recommends finding the right influencers, which TikTok has no shortage of.

“I would say find influencers that are within your market. We’ve actually had experiences where celebrities will post about our crumbles and it’s just not the right demographic.”

Those seeking to foster TikTok fame will need to find a marketing strategy that is personable to audiences and that uses the right promoters and tools.