Compare TikTok and Facebook

Facebook is a giant in the social media marketing industry with a worldwide user base of 3.3 billion people, accounting for 43% of the world's population. However, in recent years, a new platform that has grown into a giant competing with Facebook is TikTok. Over the past 6 years, TikTok has demonstrated to businesses the potential growth in its ability to advertise and reach users. So, what is the difference between Facebook Ads and TikTok ads and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

1. Overview of TikTok Ads

1.1. What are TikTok Ads?

TikTok is currently considered a popular video platform globally, with a user base ranging from 12 - 45 years old, an extremely potential market for all types and sizes of businesses. Currently, TikTok is also equipped and supported with a variety of features and advertising forms and detailed performance tracking tools, giving advertisers the necessary convenience when using TikTok Ads as a communication channel. information for the brand.

With TikTok advertising , you can achieve direct goals such as increasing sales, or increasing brand awareness, increasing brand connection (brand love) and many other goals.

1.2. TikTok statistics on user demographics

Surveyed user gender on TikTok: 60% are female, 40% are male.

• Nearly 50% of global users on TikTok are under 34 years old.
• 26% of all TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24.
• TikTok has a huge reach worldwide: 466 million users are from India; 173 million users from China; 123 million users from the US and in other countries
• The average TikTok user spends 52 minutes a day using the app.

1.3. Types of TikTok ads

1.3.1. In-feed Ads

The most popular type of ad on TikTok, appearing in the For you section, one In-Feed Ads will appear for every 3 videos, during the user's time surfing TikTok posts. In-Feed Ads have a duration of up to 60 seconds, have an interface similar to regular posts, and have CTA buttons attached to drive traffic to landing pages.

This is the only type of ad that TikTok users can set up themselves without having to contact TikTok. The remaining 4 advertising formats will have more stringent requirements, forcing businesses to discuss and cooperate with TikTok to be able to deploy advertising.

1.3.2. Brand Takeover Ads

Is the first ad that appears when users first open the TikTok app of the day. Brand Takeover ads often cover the entire screen, viewers cannot like or comment, advertisers can send messages without viewers ignoring them in the first 3 seconds. However, a skip button will appear later so viewers can choose whether to browse other content or not.

This is considered the most optimal form of advertising on TikTok, because TikTok users will only see one Brand Takeover of a brand per day, but the cost for this form is not small.

1.3.3. Top View Ads

After the Brand Takeover ad ends, the next ad that appears will be the Top View Ads ad. Basically, Top View ads are similar to In-feed ads, but with In-feed ads, you will not be able to know the order and time of ad display. With Top View ads, you can completely know your ad will appear first as soon as the user opens the TikTok app, second only to Brand Takeover ads.

Top View ads still allow users to skip, but showing them early as soon as the user decides to access the app allows the ad to receive higher attention.

1.3.4. Brand Hashtag Challenge

This is one of the forms of TikTok advertising that brings high levels of interaction and encourages viewers to use the business's hashtag to create their own video but still have the style the business wants.

Hashtag Challenge begins when a brand posts a video containing their own hashtag, and fans support their creativity. Typically, the Hashtag Challenge will be found at the top of TikTok's Explore Page.

1.3.5. Branded Effect Ads

A form of advertising that stimulates users to create video content with the use of stickers, filters and special effects from the brand. This format is often combined by brands with other forms of Branded Hash advertising.

Creators on TikTok can freely use effects, 3D formats and create their own content, contributing to increasing the reach of that brand's campaign.

2. Potential of TikTok Ads

2.1. Exploiting audiences with great buying potential and purchasing power in the future - Gen Z

Based on research in Vietnam, Gen Y (also known as Millennials aged 27 - 40 years old) and Gen Z (18 - 26 years old) are often called the Zillennials group. This group of people accounts for 47% of the country's population (45 million people) and is becoming one of the main subjects helping to develop the country's economy.

In addition, according to world research, Gen Z also affects more than 40% of global consumers with a spending ability of up to 143 billion USD.

The above two figures can show us that Gen Z is the largest customer group that businesses need to target. If your business does well in communication and reaches Gen Z, with its huge purchasing power, this customer group will be an expected step forward for your business to develop.

However, you should not ignore the Gen Alpha generation. Although this group of people currently does not have the ability to generate large cash flows, their purchasing and consumption power is no less than today's Gen Z. This generation will open a challenging but equally attractive period for entrepreneurs and businesses.

2.2. Good interoperability

According to 2023 statistics, users spend an average of 43 minutes per day using TikTok and 40 minutes per day on Facebook. This figure shows that, although TikTok has only been born for 6 years, the average time users use the application is on par with Facebook, even slightly more than 3 minutes. Thus, we can see that if we compare TikTok and Facebook in terms of time spent using the application, there really is not much difference. If the platform is attractive enough to attract users, it will quickly receive a lot of interaction and feedback.

Because TikTok has features such as Duet, Stitch or advertising formats that can "attract" users to interact with the business's videos. With TikTok, advertising is always two-way, TikTok's advertising methods will motivate users to turn on the camera to interact with the business's "challenge" videos or "games". This advertising method will help both sides benefit, users can participate in the game, and the business's brand will be known to many people.

2.3. Video Marketing outreach strategy

Nowadays, people tend to be easily attracted to vivid videos and more attractive sounds. If your video provides value, it's essential that people remember and share it strongly. From the viral effect, your video becomes "viral" and thereby increases brand recall from customers.

Although the feature of running video ads on Facebook has been around for a long time, TikTok Ads is the place to help you develop your Video Marketing abilities. With TikTok's optimal capabilities, as soon as users turn on the app, there is already a video playing in front of their eyes. If the video is attractive enough and brings high value, they will be willing to spend time learning about your business's products or services. TikTok is the tool that helps you reach the maximum customer group and achieve the desired conversion rate with a potential and ever-growing video format.

2.4. TikTok has a creative edge over all platforms

If comparing TikTok and Facebook in terms of content, users will find the content on TikTok more creative and attractive than on Facebook. Creative, full of ideas and attractive are the words that describe TikTok's difference compared to the other platforms, it can also be called TikTok's ideal, when creativity is put first, that is not true. This means far-fetched ideas that are present in everyday life but no one pays attention to them.

Even TikTok's slogan is “Don't make ads. Make TikToks", meaning "Don't make ads. Let's do TikTok" has also affirmed and urged creators and users not to just follow one path but to diversify content, giving viewers new experiences, and this reason has made TikTok became a popular video social media platform in a short period of time, and its presence spread to other platforms in the form of short videos .

2.5. Competitive costs

Comparing TikTok and Facebook is certainly indispensable in terms of analyzing costs on both platforms. According to the current survey, TikTok will bring effective communication for campaigns that target brand recognition, traffic and interaction. Because content on TikTok usually has to be attractive to retain viewers because they have a lot of choices, so if they feel curious and interested in the message you convey, they are more likely to find it. understanding your account channel is very high. Therefore, with the goals mentioned above, the content transmitted is very important and can affect advertising costs. The more attractive the content, the lower the advertising costs, but the effectiveness is highly appreciated.

However, with sales goals, TikTok will hardly be as effective as other platforms. Because the TikTok algorithm has been set up to expose users to content from new creators, they will have more options and more opportunities to be exposed to new content. It is very difficult for TikTok users to regularly engage with a creator account, while creating a conversion rate needs to give them more trust, unless your product very attractive and can make customers quickly "close the order".

2.6. KOL/Influencer Hub and easy-to-viral content network

TikTok is a platform that helps local creators freely express themselves on a variety of topics. Using costs to hire KOLs/KOCs/ Influencers is a necessity. People who have good influence in their community will have ways to make their videos more "natural" making it difficult for you to recognize it as an advertisement or you will accept listening to the advertisement. That's because this is a content creator you like.

When your brand continuously appears with KOLs/KOCs/Influencers and attractive video content, users will tend to be more attracted by resonance. At first, they may not be interested in your video, but the more times they appear, the more they will pay attention to your video. After a certain period of time, they will stop and listen to your brand story. your business

3. Compare TikTok and Facebook

3.1. Advertising account

TikTok Ads:

There are 2 types of TikTok advertising accounts:

• Personal account
• Business account (authorized by TikTok)

Setting up a personal account is quite easy. All the ways you register for a TikTok Ads account (via phone number, email, etc.) are to create a personal advertising account, even though the website is displayed as TikTok Business . Although convenient and easy to set up, personal accounts are more likely to encounter account verification problems, or the ad review process will be more difficult than business accounts due to strict censorship of policy violations. of TikTok. Because it is difficult to manage, the cost of running ads in personal accounts is difficult to control and is not as effective as a business advertising account.

On the contrary, although the setup is more complicated, the business account is more stable, has faster review time and avoids interruptions while running ads.

When encountering problems, personal accounts need to contact TikTok themselves via email and receive support entirely in English. As for business accounts, the business side will work directly with the TikTok team in Vietnam, so the problem will be resolved quickly.

Facebook Ads:

Similar to TikTok, Facebook also has 2 types of advertising accounts:

• Personal account
• Business account

However, unlike TikTok, both types of Facebook advertising accounts will be created and set up by users on Meta Business Suite without intervention from Facebook. For Facebook, business accounts will of course still have priority over personal accounts in terms of advertising management and operations similar to TikTok.

When encountering problems with advertising accounts, both personal accounts and business accounts must contact Facebook via the Support Inbox page and will receive a response within 24 hours and in English or Vietnamese depending on language when you send messages.

3.2. Advertising position

TikTok advertising

TikTok advertising focuses on two locations: the For you page and the Explore page. Short-form videos of 15-60 seconds displayed full screen on TikTok help convey the message most effectively.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads support display in many locations, with diverse options such as News Feed, Story, Messenger,...

Besides, with the development of Facebook Audience Network , Facebook advertising not only helps advertisers reach customers present on the platform but also the community of other linked social networks such as Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp ,... Just choose the right size and format, your ad can widely reach target customers with just a few simple clicks.

3.3. Ad formats

TikTok advertising

Although it only appears in two locations, the platform supports many TikTok ad formats to serve different campaign goals, including:

• In-Feed ads
• Top View ads
• Brand Takeover ads
• Branded Hashtag ads
• Branded Effects ads

In particular, TikTok Ads allows brands to use videos previously created by creators to run ads, so it is very difficult for users to realize if they are watching an ad or a regular video, avoiding the situation of ads being abandoned. through, creating opportunities for advertising to reach many potential customers.

In addition, brands with business advertising accounts will be allowed to create their own filters with special, unique effects, only for businesses so that users can use those filters. Create brand support videos. This is a special point that only TikTok advertising has.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads supports an extremely diverse range of different Facebook advertising forms listed below:

• Image ads
• Video ads
• Carousel ads
• In-Stream Video ads
• Stories ads
• Collection ads
• Messenger ads
• Collection ads

Thanks to so many options, businesses will easily create content in advertising, from images, to videos, to carousel formats, bringing something new to viewers without being limited to just video formats. Like TikTok, it can be said that Facebook Marketing forms will be more diverse.

3.4. Advertising costs

Advertising costs are a factor that cannot be ignored when comparing TikTok and Facebook. Both platforms are comparable when it comes to average CPC, but Facebook is significantly cheaper than TikTok in terms of CPM . Therefore, Facebook allows brands to be more cost-effective.

What you need to remember is that the cost of your advertising campaign will be influenced by many factors, including your industry, target audience, ad format and bidding strategy. Therefore, this is only for reference and is not completely correct in all cases.

If you compare TikTok and Facebook in terms of advertising costs, both platforms allow you to set a daily budget or lifetime budget for the campaign. However, the minimum daily budget required by TikTok is approximately 300,000 VND, while Facebook allows advertisers to manually enter the amount they accept to pay. Therefore, Facebook advertising costs will be more optimal, but in terms of advertising coverage, it may not be as good as TikTok.

3.5. Advertising policy

If comparing TikTok and Facebook in terms of advertising policies, Facebook's Advertising Policy and TikTok's Advertising Policy have the same level of strictness. In terms of content, both platforms are similar. However, in case an ad violates the policy and the ad account is disabled, neither Facebook nor TikTok will specify the reason or violation information in detail.

To be able to resolve this situation, as shared above, for Facebook, both personal and business advertising accounts will be contacted via the Support Inbox page. As for TikTok, personal advertising accounts need to be contacted via email in English, business accounts will be directly supported by the TikTok department.

3.6. Aim to choose a target

Facebook Ads

Facebook is excellent at targeting potential users . The platform offers a variety of targeting options by optimizing each customer persona metric , such as age, gender, marital status, interests, location, behavior, device, etc. ... Facebook algorithms are always updated to optimize Facebook ads in terms of their ability to deliver to appropriate customers based on the characteristics set by the advertiser.

However, in recent years, Facebook has upgraded information security to avoid hacking and information theft, protecting the safety of users using the application. This reduces the accuracy of targeting and delivering ads to the right audience, but is still acceptable.

TikTok advertising

Although Facebook has more precise targeting capabilities than TikTok, TikTok Ads can reach a broader audience of potential customers. Similar to Facebook, TikTok still has customizations for demographics, behavior, devices, etc., and supports automatic targeting based on user behavioral data such as screen time. ), interactive activities (likes, shares, comments, etc.) to distribute content to the right customers.

3.7. Effective Reporting/Analysis

Comparing TikTok and Facebook in terms of reporting analysis, both platforms are well equipped with advertising effectiveness analysis tools. Each platform offers analytics dashboards built into Facebook Ads Manager and TikTok Ads Manager , allowing brands to track performance, create custom itemized reports, and track conversions of the campaign, on TikTok also known as TikTok Analytics .

In addition to basic analytics, Facebook and TikTok also offer options like Brand Lift research and pixel deployment (for Facebook it's Facebook Pixel , for TikTok it's TikTok Pixel ) to track and use data. data from the website, helping advertising campaigns to be optimized more effectively.

4. How to coordinate the use of TikTok and Facebook?

4.1. Collect and deploy insights across platforms

If you want to develop your business in the current era of digital transformation technology , implementing a multi-channel advertising strategy is a must. This means running ads on different channels, for example using TikTok and Facebook to run a media campaign.

Running advertising campaigns across multiple media channels helps gather clearer insights. Regularly analyzing campaign reports on both TikTok and Facebook is also important to identify opportunities to combine the best from multiple channels together.

For example, Facebook has great ability to target audiences, while TikTok is better at distributing content, you can apply it in the following way. You use the audience set up on Facebook that you find most effective to run ads on TikTok, this will help the ads reach exactly potential customers but also bring efficiency in advertising coverage.

4.2. Strengthen your brand recognition

Enhance and maintain the same brand identity elements (colors, fonts, images, tone of voice) and regularly engage with customers on both platforms.

Consistency in communication is an effective way to build customer trust, so make sure you deliver your campaign consistently across different media channels, including TikTok and Facebook.

4.3. Expand your campaign reach

Make sure you're using Facebook and TikTok to effectively increase your reach. Both platforms offer detailed targeting and potential ad placements, so take full advantage of these features. Besides, you can also test A/B testing with different audiences or content to find effectiveness as well as increase your reach to new potential customers.

5. So should you choose TikTok Ads or Facebook Ads?

After comparing TikTok and Facebook, to be able to make the most suitable choice for your business's advertising campaign, you need to consider all aspects including: goals, what you can do, time. running time,... In short, comparing TikTok and Facebook there really isn't too much difference. Both media channels are fully integrated with smart features to help run ads smoothly. What businesses need to do is plan in detail their media campaign and choose the most suitable advertising form.

TikTok Ads will be a reasonable choice if the business:

• Able to create videos continuously
• Want to reach a wide range of customers in a short time
• Want to increase brand recognition
• The target customers are young people
• Especially suitable for B2C industries such as F&B, fashion, cosmetics, entertainment, learning,...

Facebook will be a better choice if businesses want to:

• Content production is images and Carousel advertising
• Stable, long-term growth
• Promote and boost sales
• Expand customer base
• Lower budget level
• Suitable for customers of both B2C and B2B industries

With the above information, the most optimal choice is to combine both TikTok and Facebook media channels if the business has enough budget and wants to optimize efficiency. You can use Facebook to analyze target customers, then bring them to TikTok to increase brand awareness and lead them to your website or Facebook to create conversions. Thanks to that, you can take full advantage of the benefits of multichannel marketing.

6. Notes for brands wanting to start TikTok Ads

6.1. Which industry is suitable for TikTok Ads?

Depending on the brand's goals, audience and strategy, it can be concluded whether TikTok is suitable for that industry or service or not. If you compare TikTok and Facebook in terms of advertising on both platforms, Facebook will be more diverse than TikTok. However, in the process of running ads, the business may have partly built its brand in the minds of viewers. In terms of business goals, the following areas are considered to effectively generate revenue on TikTok ads:

• F&B industry (restaurants, food services)
• Fashion and lifestyle industry
• Cosmetics and beauty industry
• Consumer products, household appliances

Some other fields, especially B2B, will be more suitable for brand goals, such as real estate, cars, technology platforms, etc. because these products have high value and the ability to build sentences. very good story. In addition, because TikTok is mainly used by young people, you should also choose a business product to suit the user's tastes.

6.2. Advertising materials

• Advertising video content

Content is an indispensable factor when comparing TikTok and Facebook. Determine the goal of the video, such as promoting sales or increasing brand awareness, then come up with creative ideas in a way that is closest to your target audience to meet the original goal. .

For videos to easily trend on TikTok , you need to carefully research the popular trends at that time. TikTok advertising video content should catch trends, be natural and understand customer psychology.

To increase the effectiveness of advertising, TikTok encourages brands to cooperate with KOLs/Influencers. The content can be reviews, product introductions or fun, friendly clips to help make advertising more natural and accessible so that the TikTok algorithm can easily distribute content.

• Ad landing page

Landing page also means Landing Page, is a sales website, product ordering or application download screen, depending on the campaign goal you have set up.

The ad's landing page is closely related to the call to action at the end of your ad video. Pay attention to the Landing Page with the ad attached because that is the page where customers will convert or make purchases.

6.3. Notes on account issues

If you use a personal account, make sure you can handle setup issues, manage ads, troubleshoot issues, and contact TikTok support yourself overseas. If you don't have enough experience above, use a business account to receive the fastest help.

7. Conclusion

The article has compiled and compared TikTok and Facebook to help you get an overview of both platforms serving the brand's communication process. Hopefully the useful information that EQVN provides in the article will help you choose the most suitable media channel to deploy your advertising campaign.