Dennis Yu

How Tiktok's Ads Manager Markets for You

Beware the Secret Formulas

Every Facebook ads consultant out there is now suddenly a TikTok ads expert, right?

Watch for the flood of courses with the “secret” formula to massive viral success and $1 leads.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, reached out to me last year, asking for help in building a proper course on TikTok ads.

We’ve been testing hundreds of campaigns and looked at the results shared by our friends in real estate, e-commerce, agency, legal, and so forth.

It’s the stuff you do before you upload to social’s business manager that matters most.

I’ll save you the $2,500 course and tell you the “secret” right here: It’s in your simple, vertical video shot from your phone– that doesn’t look like an ad, has a “hook” in the first second to capture attention, has big text so people know what it’s about, and tells a “story”. No crazy targeting or sophisticated campaign setup is necessary

The super smart algo uses your content’s performance. Same for spark ads, where you boost someone else’s post (called “creators” no longer “influencers”).

Hiring an agency makes ZERO sense unless they can actively coach you through making 15-second videos. The campaign set-up is relatively easy, so long as you already have your digital plumbing (pixels, tracking, data) in place.

The frothy white waves of hype about TikTok being the next tsunami of traffic is true — just like we saw with Google and Facebook. Traffic is about 1/4th the cost on Facebook on the paid side (because base CPMs are about $2.50, meaning CPC, CPL, and CAC are correspondingly lower).

Optimize to Your Objective

Of course, you’re optimizing to the objective (algo is so smart), using base traffic cost as one of many diagnostic measures.

But make you’re not jumping in just because of FOMO…..but because you’re shoring up the fundamentals of collecting your client stories in 15-second videos, have a process to process these within your operations, have your digital plumbing properly in place, and are putting money on the winners.

I was at Jake Paul’s house making 15-second videos for the social media marketing course we have for young adults. One of the videos leaked out and got half a million likes. It had nothing to do with our course and wasn’t even on his TikTok account– but one of the guys helping film. But TikTok also recognized it was Jake Paul’s house in the background of the video, showed it to fans of Jake Paul– and then it went viral.

You’ll see more stuff like this blow up out of nowhere on TikTok, almost exclusively on the organic side. But these are unlikely to be the posts you will be boosting as an extension of the Dollar-a-Day strategy.

Same Algorithm, Same Themes–Still a Dollar a Day

Instead, you’ll find that the same themes that worked for you on Facebook will work on TikTok, adapted to their format of storytelling via 15-second videos. It’s the same algorithm as Facebook and Google (fight me on this), which seeks to optimize to your chosen objective based on conversion data you allow it to see.

TikTok didn’t want me to tell you that you can absolutely reuse Facebook strategies– since they want you to make TikToks only for their platform and know that most existing videos suck too badly to be repurposed.

But if you’ve found success with the fundamentals of the Dollar a Day strategy, I’m pretty sure you’ll find success on TikTok– when you repurpose videos, extend your conversion tracking/remarketing, and start testing at $10/day.

There’s no better time to implement or refine your Dollar-a-Day process across Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and all social networks. We are seeing a growing convergence on the data and ads side of social platforms– since they are all dependent upon the same optimization algorithm that balances user experience with ad monetization.

Remember this each time you see a breathless pitch on how you need to jump on TikTok ASAP– to buy their secret before you forever miss the boat.

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

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