With more than one billion active monthly users, TikTok is the fastest growing social media app on the planet. In 2022, it was the most downloaded app in the world, too.. Are you wondering how you can leverage this to drive app downloads using TikTok? Well, unlike many others, TikTok values user-generated content above all else. Naturally, there are some guidelines, but they are not as strict as in some other cases. That allows for maximum creativity with an organic content as the driving force behind the platform.

Not only does TikTok have a huge number of users, but the real power behind it can be found with the engagement that brands can establish with their mobile users. TikTok is also unafraid to grab every possible chance to further promote their services to the broad masses. That explains their meteoric rise in recent months, but also implies that they are here to stay for the long run.

What makes TikTok the ideal choice to drive your app downloads?

Video content is now the driving force that has become a vital component of all social media apps. Just like Twitter, that created a massive hit worldwide by forcing the users to express their thoughts in the shortest form possible.

TikTok is doing that right now by focusing on mobile friendly videos that last no more than three minutes (although ideally the video should be shorter: available formats are 15 seconds, 60 seconds and three minutes).  Plus, video ads in vertical format have a 90% better conversion rate than horizontal ones.

This is a blessing in disguise to all of those who are trying to use the platform for marketing. It basically forces the creative teams to come up with short, but highly effective and mobile first campaigns that resonate with the audiences. With mobile apps, there is usually just a short window of time during which the idea is considered trendy and current. Because of that, TikTok, with its fast-resulting marketing plans is the ideal tool to drive your app downloads in a hurry.

In addition, TikTok has a feature-rich Ads Manager platform that offers a remarkable range of features for app developers to promote their product and send the users directly to the app store. This streamlines the funnel, making the journey shorter and more direct. Once you create a TikTok ad likely to convert, the platform provides you with a great set of tools to send the users straight where you want them.

TikTok makes it very easy to reach your targeted audience for your mobile app

Reaching a huge number of people is important, but reaching your ideal target app user is even better. TikTok allows you to target potential users of your app by age, gender and interest categories. That is a truly important asset and a shortcut that allows brands to establish successful campaigns in the shortest time possible.

In addition to these targeting dimensions, TikTok also allows targeting by purchase intent, which means leveraging the users looking specifically for what you have to offer. 

Why is this important? Well, if you bring your products and services right to the person who is already in the need for it, the chances of driving an app download and install grow substantially. 

TikTok has the tools to streamline your app downloads

TikTok In-Feed ads are perhaps the most suitable format for driving app downloads. They’re short, engaging and viral, and can feature a call-to-action button with a link to your website, landing page or directly to your app in the app store. 

In addition, the platform has a set of add-ons designed to boost conversions, among which the Download Card is particularly suitable for app marketers. With this add-on, you can add a download card to your video content to showcase the most important info and features of the app you’re promoting – the industry, the rating and the review count. You can also choose to display additional info that will help you drive downloads.This is an interactive element that, when clicked, leads the viewer straight to your app store. 

How to create a proven strategy?

As we mentioned in the section above, targeting the right audience is important, but turning those TikTok users into app downloads is essential. Having the right marketing team by your side, with expertise and a proven track record of success is the best way to succeed. 

Because there are so many factors that come into play, including age, demographics, and language, as well as their interests and desires, it is necessary to create an all-capturing plan which will cover most of these points.

Adopting a phased approach is something that is highly recommended if you want to successfully launch and scale your app installs. 

Phase 1 – Setting up 

Make sure to set up events most relevant to you and ensure that you’re tracking Lifetime Value (LTV). Use custom audiences, an option that allows you to create an audience of users who have completed certain events within your app. Available events are: Install, Activate, Register, Purchase, Day 2 Retention, Checkout, Add to Cart, and View Content.

Phase 2 – Creating Campaigns 

Choose the right bidding strategies, creatives, and targeting for your goals. The App Installs objective is designed to drive more people to install your app by taking them directly to your app store page.

Make sure to have quality content for your ads and to refresh creatives regularly. The better the videos the better will perform. 

The content can include short gameplay clips, influencers using your app, creator reviews, sneak peeks of new features and so on.

Of course, when creating your content and setting up your campaigns, don’t forget to follow the TikTok ads policy guidelines. 

Phase 3 – Optimizing 

Many businesses invest huge amounts of money in the marketing department, but they are not quite sure about the results they are getting from it. Collecting the results is not only vital because of the financial side of things. It will allow you to focus on customers that are driving the most value for your business.  By precisely determining what works and what doesn’t, you’ll be able to change and adapt your marketing plan at any given time.

The platform offers a great tool called TikTok Analytics, available to anyone with a TikTok Business account, available under Creator Tools. Here you’ll find stats about profile views, video views, follower count, reach, engagement rates, comments, likes, shares, etc. 

You should also consider A/B testing or split testing, a method that involves creating two versions of marketing material (TikTok ad, webpage, etc) to determine which one works better.

Tips and tricks for successful campaign

Do not narrow down your target audience too much

TikTok creators are proud of the algorithms they have created, and for a good reason. This app truly feels more intuitive than most others. Therefore, there is no need to narrow down the target audience for your campaign too much, the app will do it for you.

By narrowing down your focus audience more than you have to, you risk of losing a ton of potential app downloads. So, put your trust in the developers’ hands, and they will make sure that your content reaches those who will be interested in seeing it.

Build specific campaigns for clicks or conversions

While increasing your app downloads through TikTok needs to remain the primary focus, you would also want to create a clear separation between the things that you are trying to achieve. On one hand, you can use TikTok campaigns to increase the app awareness by scoring as many clicks as possible. Similarly, if you aim to create as many conversions as possible, you can do that instead, while still sticking to your original budget.

Create at least 5 unique videos for each campaign

After just one hour of using this app, you will quickly find out that creativity is the driving force that sets this entire thing in motion. That is what you’ll always have to work on if you want your business to stand out from the rest.

According to guidelines from TikTok, the best results can be expected if every campaign relies on at least 5 different videos. If you are struggling to find a way how to express yourself, don’t be afraid to reach out to a few content creators, as they always have plenty of fresh ideas and tricks up their sleeve.

Team up with influencers

Influencer recommendations have an incredible impact on user behavior and can significantly drive your app downloads. Being something of a next-level user-generated experience, influencer marketing combines word of mouth with the viral potential of TikTok, all spiced up by the engaging, fun and dynamic nature of TikTok videos. 

To make the most out of this potential, check out the TikTok Creator Marketplace, where you can discover the ideal creators and influencers to team up with, using the platform’s in-built capabilities and streamlined processes. 

Make use of hashtags and challenges

TikTok is all about viral content, and oftentimes the very vehicle that carries the virality are the hashtags. People use trending hashtags to discover new and hot content to enjoy, and brands often leverage precisely those hashtags, as well as various challenges, to promote their product. Hashtag targeting is a simple and cheap method that can drive more people to your app store and increase your conversions.  

Engage users with giveaways and prizes

Everyone loves freebies, right? Perhaps you don’t have to necessarily give free subscriptions or copies of your app, but you can entice people to check out your app by offering a little discount. You can also organize a contest in which the participants are required to download your app and then use it to create viral content for TikTok. The creator with the most likes will get a nice prize, and you’ll get a surge in app downloads. 

Develop a cross-platform strategy

TikTok is ideal for you if the target audience for your app falls into the younger demographic bracket. If, however, you want to target other groups, too, you should definitely cover other social media to assure you have the widest possible reach. Your TikTok content can easily be shared on other platforms, like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, perhaps even LinkedIn. Just be aware that each social network has its own specific traits and specific audiences, and tweak your cross-platform strategy accordingly.

Be careful about the number of changes you make to your campaigns

A lot of people tend to be too fiddly when it comes to their campaign management. It’s not that they don’t have trust in their creativity, but they somehow always seem to find a detail or two that requires editing.

Because of that, they tend to change their approach way too often, without letting the campaign to truly develop. We aren’t claiming that you shouldn’t try to stay on top of things whenever you can, but know that it takes time before you can look at the data and determine whether your videos have boosted the overall app downloads or not.

Allow yourself some space every week to make the necessary changes, but don’t push it longer than that. If you are satisfied with the way your campaign has been performing, don’t be afraid to leave it as is, as there’s no need to fix something that is not broken.

Choose a right partner

Monitoring conversion rates and driving app installs that will increase revenue is not a simple task. There are many unique complexities to TikTok and there is a whole sweet science behind succeeding on it.

At GrowMojo Advertising Agency, we always keep an eye open for the latest trends, so that you and your business get the best possible chance to thrive ahead of the competition. If our years of experience have taught us anything, it’s that you always have to perfect your knowledge if you want to remain at the top, and that is why we focus on constant growth and development.

In case you want to find out some more ways in which you can drive app downloads through TikTok, get in contact with us and we will open the doors to a whole new marketing funnel that is highly effective. Why waste any more time?