TikTok's latest machine learning advertising solution is evidence that the platform wants to automate advertising as much as possible.
The product, called “Performance Automation,” was announced today at the platform's fourth annual TikTok World Product Summit, its first official summit since President Biden signed TikTok's “divest or divest” bill last month and the entertainment app subsequently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government.
It's fair to say that TikTok wants advertisers to believe that it's not going to be kicked out of the U.S. anytime soon. If that wasn't clear at the NewFront earlier this month, this latest announcement makes it even clearer that the platform is currently running business as usual. At the very least, Advertisers can put their contingency plans on hold and continue spending on TikTok.
“TikTok is working aggressively to attract and keep marketers on the platform despite regulatory challenges,” said Tracy Asbury, social investment leader at Goodway Group. [TikTok] The company remains confident in the upcoming litigation and actively encourages marketers to adopt best practices and leverage the platform's capabilities to positively impact their businesses.”
What is Performance Automation and how does it work?
You may already be familiar with TikTok's Smart Performance Campaigns, which launched last year and use “semi-automated features” such as auto-targeting, auto-bidding and auto-creative.
But performance automation, which is still in early testing, takes it a step further by automating much of the process, including the creative. In these campaigns, advertisers input the assets they want, their budget and goals, and TikTok's predictive AI and machine learning select the best creative assets, The best campaigns are presented to the right customers at the right time. As a TikTok spokesperson confirmed, the platform is moving towards a “performance automation vision,” and this latest product is the next step on that journey.
But that's not all. The platform has also launched a similar feature for TikTok Shops called TikTok Shop Marketing Automation. Similar to performance automation, this works by automating bidding, budgeting, ad management, and creative for TikTok Shop products. As TikTok Shops are only available in select regions, this latest offering is currently rolling out in Southeast Asia and is being tested in the US.
Ohio-based health and wellness brand Triquetra Health is one of those early testers: Within a month of starting to use the new automation product, the brand saw a fourfold increase in return on investment in its TikTok shop and a 136% increase in sales on the platform, according to Adolfo Fernandez, global product strategy and operations at TikTok. Fernandez declined to share exact figures.
To be clear, Performance Automation and TikTok Shop Marketing Automation are not official names – they are just temporary names used by the platforms until they officially launch their products.
Still, does this all sound familiar? Because it is. Performance automation is similar to what other tech giants have been doing for a while now, and what TikTok started doing last year with its Smart Performance campaigns. Think Google's Performance Max, Meta's Advantage+, and now Amazon's Performance+, all of which play similar roles on their respective platforms. TikTok's inclusion just confirms that automation is the direction the advertising industry is heading.
In many ways, this was inevitable. Meta, Google and others have amassed billions of dollars in ad spend over the years by making it as easy as possible for marketers to spend on ads. From programmatic bidding to attribution tools, the platforms have tried to give marketers less reason to spend their money elsewhere; machine learning technology that essentially monitors campaigns is the latest manifestation of this. Sooner or later, it was inevitable that TikTok would make a move.
Still, there are many concerns about how this technology will work. After all, these are the ultimate “set it and forget it” type of campaigns. Marketers hand over the assets and data they want the platform to use, and the technology takes over from there. And that's it. Marketers have no way of knowing if these campaigns are doing what the platform says they are, because there's no independent verification. It remains to be seen whether TikTok's own efforts will take a similar stance or break with tradition.
Speaking of measurement, TikTok is also launching Integrated Lift, a new product that uses brand and conversion lift research to measure the performance of TikTok campaigns across the entire decision-making process. Fernandez says KFC Germany has already tried it and seen a 25% increase in brand recall and an 81% increase in app installs, though he declined to share exact figures.
What else is new?
Additional announcements include:
- TikTok One: A centralized home for advertisers to access TikTok's nearly 2 million creators, agency partners and creative tools.
- TikTok Symphony: A creative AI suite aimed at providing marketers with greater efficiency through scripting, video production, and asset optimization.
- Additionally, there are several entertainment experiences available, including an interactive add-on from TopView, which allows advertisers to add pop-out elements and countdown stickers to their TikToks. There is also a duet feature with Brand Missions, where brands can invite TikTok creators to duet with them on their brand mission videos.
Where is it in a marketer’s mind?
For now, not much has changed. Marketers are putting contingency plans in place, but it's just standard business practice. Other than that, everything is pretty much business as usual as far as TikTok is concerned.
Colleen Fielder, group vice president of social and partner marketing solutions at Basis Technologies, said her team isn't actively encouraging clients to stop spending on TikTok, even though the platform continues to be included in their recommendations.
“We knew TikTok would sue the U.S. government, which could further delay this nine-to-12 month timeline, giving us more lead time to continue operating on TikTok or identify an alternative platform if necessary,” she said.
It's a similar story for Markusie: “We have a loose partnership with Attn, a digital media company that's invested heavily in TikTok,” said Attn's co-CEO Tucker Matheson. “They're still getting big job offers, which is a good sign.”
