Social media marketing is dominated by platforms like Facebook and TikTok.
It’s no surprise that advertisers all over the world favour these platforms. Both have the ability to reach massive audiences, provide sophisticated means of targeting those audiences based on collected data, and provide an abundance of effective advertising resources.
Facebook and TikTok can be great paid social options, but only if you take the time to familiarise yourself with the differences between the two and learn how to use them together.
This post will focus solely on that topic. First, let’s take a moment to familiarise ourselves with each service.
When do you use Facebook ads?
Beginning with the basics of advertising on Facebook. Advertisements on Facebook consist of images and captions, and are distributed through the social networking service.
Ads can be displayed in a number of different locations, including Facebook Stories, Facebook Messenger, the Facebook homepage, and more. They can also be found in a wide variety of formats, with some of those formats being tailored to the achievement of particular campaign goals.
TikTok commercials are defined as
It’s time for an introductory course on advertising on TikTok. Ads on TikTok can take many forms, just like those on Facebook.
While Facebook ads can appear in a number of places within the app (including Reels, Stories, and Messenger), the vast majority of TikTok ads are displayed in and around the main feed.
Businesses of all sizes, from startups to multinational conglomerates, have found success with the standard TikTok video ad formats (such as In-Feed ads, Top View ads, etc). (more on why you should advertise on TikTok here).
Formats such as Branded Effects and Branded Hashtag Challenges can also have a significant impact on TikTok users and on brands that are trying to make a statement on the platform.
Many brands have become household names thanks to the use of such innovative advertising formats, which are meant to encourage widespread user engagement and incremental reach.
Advertising on TikTok can be very profitable for online businesses, especially if you capitalise on current cultural phenomena (like Stitching) and produce material that appeals to your intended audience.
Competition between Facebook ads and TikTok ads
A social media showdown has become necessary. In the past, we compared TikTok ads to Instagram Reels ads; now, we’ll do the same with Facebook and TikTok to see how these two paid social giants fare in a few key marketing areas.
Costs
Let’s begin by taking a look at the typical prices of TikTok ads:
- Price per thousand impressions (CPM) for TikTok: $10.00
- A typical CPC (cost per click) on TikTok is $1.00
- Advertisements on Facebook tend to cost around the average of what we’ve listed below:
The median CPM on Facebook is $7.
One dollar Facebook CPC (Cost Per Click).
The average cost per click (CPC) is about the same on both platforms, but the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is much lower on Facebook. Therefore, Facebook triumphs in this respect, allowing brands to expand their audiences at lower cost.
Demographics
Let’s take a look at the differences between Facebook and TikTok users by demographic category.
The data confirms TikTok’s reputation as a teen phenomenon by demonstrating its massive audience base among young people. A large percentage (41.7%) of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24; 31% are between the ages of 25 and 34; and only 24.1% are over the age of 35.
Alternatively, Facebook users span a wider range of ages. The youngest demographic on Facebook is between the ages of 18 and 24, making up just 22.6% of the site’s audience, while the oldest, between the ages of 25 and 34, accounts for 31%.
Facebook also has a larger percentage of users over the age of 35 (41% versus 24.1% on TikTok), proving its continued relevance to the senior population.
Formats
Let’s see how the various advertising options on TikTok and Facebook stack up against one another.
As ad formats, Facebook offers the following to its advertisers:
- Picture Ads
- Commercials in video format
- Ads that rotate in a carousel
- Commercials that Play While a Video Is Being Watched
- Articles and Commercials
- Publicity for a set of items
- In-App Commercials
TikTok offers the following ad sizes and formats:
- Ads that appear in the feed
- Most Prominent Ads
- Brand-centric ads
- Promotional Hashtag Messages
- Promoted Branding Ads
- Advertisement collection and targeting
TikTok and Facebook are similar in that they both provide basic options for targeting an audience, such as:
- Audience segmentation
- Adhering to an Interest
- Conditional Reinforcement
- Analytics for Targeting Devices
Success in paid social media advertising requires constant vigilance, analysis, and fine-tuning.
How to Combine Ads on Facebook and TikTok
Businesses of all sizes, both new and established, can benefit from using TikTok and Facebook ads together.
The effectiveness of Facebook and TikTok ads can be increased by working together, so let’s look into that.
Collect data from various sources and use it effectively
You need a cross-channel advertising strategy if you want to expand your business in the modern marketplace. This entails not only spreading your ads across broad categories like “search” and “social,” but also across narrower ones like “TikTok” and “Facebook” within the latter category.
Improve your company’s brand recognition
In my recent post about Facebook trends, I emphasised the significance of maintaining a consistent brand identity.
The best way to achieve this is to consistently engage with your audience on both platforms while using the same voice, branding elements (colours, fonts, imagery, vibes), and content.
Final Reflections
TikTok and Facebook are both powerful social media platforms that, when used independently, can generate impressive outcomes, but when combined, the possibilities are truly limitless.
You can make your paid social marketing into a well-oiled, conversion-driving machine by taking advantage of the benefits offered by each platform and adopting some of these best practises.