Introduction: Why TikTok Isn’t Just for Dances and Teens

When people think of TikTok, the first thing that often comes to mind is teenagers performing dance routines or lip-syncing to trending audio clips. While that was true in the app’s early days, the platform has since evolved into something far more powerful – a business opportunity hiding in plain sight.

TikTok is no longer just a space for viral entertainment. It has become a serious marketing tool with a global user base and an algorithm that delivers content with pinpoint accuracy. For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), it represents an accessible and cost-effective way to connect directly with customers who are already in discovery mode. Whether you’re running an independent coffee shop, a growing fashion brand or a digital service, TikTok offers a chance to build your presence, grow your audience and convert views into revenue.

Reaching Audiences Where They Are

With over one billion active users globally, TikTok offers reach at scale, but what makes it even more valuable is how users behave on the app. People aren’t just scrolling aimlessly; they’re actively engaging, searching, and buying. The platform blurs the line between entertainment and commerce, and that’s where SMBs can thrive.

Crucially, TikTok doesn’t operate like traditional advertising channels. Users expect content to feel real, not rehearsed. This shift has created a unique environment where smaller brands, often with limited budgets, can outperform larger competitors by simply being authentic, creative and consistent.

Why Ad Format Matters

The key to success on TikTok isn’t just showing up; it’s showing up in the right way. TikTok offers a variety of ad formats, each designed to serve different objectives – from brand awareness and community building to direct conversions. Choosing the right format can mean the difference between being skipped over or being shared by thousands.

That’s what this guide is here to help with. Whether you’re experimenting with your first campaign or looking to refine your strategy, we’ll walk through the most effective TikTok ad formats for small and medium businesses. You’ll discover how to maximise visibility, engagement and ROI using tools that were once reserved for global brands but are now open to everyone.

In-Feed Ads: Seamless Storytelling Within the Scroll

If you’re looking for a way to advertise on TikTok without feeling like you’re advertising, in-feed ads are your starting point. These are the videos that appear naturally in a user’s ‘For You’ feed – the endless scroll that keeps TikTok users glued to their screens. They don’t interrupt the experience in the way a traditional pop-up might, which makes them less intrusive and more likely to be engaged with.

Why In-Feed Ads Work for Smaller Budgets

For small and medium businesses, one of the key attractions of in-feed ads is cost-efficiency. You don’t need a celebrity endorsement, a production studio, or even a polished script. What you do need is a message that catches attention quickly, ideally within the first two to three seconds, and feels native to the platform. TikTok users are savvy. If something feels like a hard sell, they’ll scroll right past it. But if your ad looks and feels like the kind of content they’re used to watching, they’re much more likely to pause, watch, and even click.

This is where storytelling comes into play. In-feed ads give you a vertical canvas to showcase your product or service, often with music, movement, and personality. It’s your chance to show what your business does best in a way that feels personal, relatable, and shareable.

Built-In Tools for Conversion

TikTok makes it simple to turn attention into action. In-feed ads can include a call-to-action button that links directly to your website, app, or product page. Whether you’re driving sales, collecting email sign-ups, or encouraging app installs, this ad format supports a wide range of business goals.

You can also take advantage of TikTok’s targeting options. You can hone in on specific demographics, interests, or behaviours to make sure your ad reaches the right audience. And with the built-in analytics dashboard, you’ll be able to track performance and fine-tune your campaigns as you go.

Tips to Make It Count

• Keep it short and sharp – Aim for 15 seconds or less, and lead with your hook.
• Use captions and text overlays – Many users watch on mute, so make your message clear even without sound.
• Test different creatives – A/B testing can help you see what resonates most with your audience.

In-feed ads are a brilliant entry point for businesses new to TikTok advertising. They’re flexible, affordable, and most importantly, effective when done right. If you’re serious about reaching people where they’re already spending their time, this is where to begin.

Spark Ads: Let Your Best Content Do the Talking

One of the smartest ad formats on TikTok isn’t about creating something new at all – it’s about amplifying what already works. Spark Ads allow you to take an existing TikTok video, either from your own account or from a creator who has mentioned your brand, and turn it into a paid ad. This might sound simple, but it’s incredibly powerful when done strategically.

Built on Trust, Not Just Reach

Users trust content that looks and feels organic. Spark Ads maintain all the elements of a native TikTok post – comments, likes, shares, even the original creator’s profile link. This makes it feel less like an ad and more like a post that’s gaining momentum because people actually care about it.

For small and medium businesses, this is a huge advantage. Instead of starting from scratch with a traditional ad format, you can identify a piece of content that already has traction – maybe it’s a customer review, a behind-the-scenes video, or a creator using your product – and put some spend behind it to extend its reach. This approach leans into social proof, which is especially valuable if your brand is still growing its credibility.

More Than Just a Boost Button

While Spark Ads might resemble boosting a post on other platforms, TikTok takes things a step further. You can still target your ideal audience, set objectives like conversions or traffic, and measure performance with clear analytics. But you also get the benefit of engagement momentum. If the original video had great traction, that social energy carries through into the ad itself.

Another key benefit is that Spark Ads keep the engagement on the original post. This means you’re not just running a campaign; you’re building a permanent presence and growing your profile with every view and interaction.

How to Use Spark Ads Effectively

• Start with content that resonates – Look at your past posts or UGC that’s performed well. That’s your low-hanging fruit.
• Collaborate with creators – If someone talks positively about your product, ask for permission to promote their post as a Spark Ad. TikTok makes this easy with creator authorisation tools.
• Be strategic with timing – Promote content while it’s still fresh and relevant to maintain momentum.

Spark Ads are ideal for any business that’s already producing short-form content but wants to make more of it without reinventing the wheel. They work because they feel authentic, build on what’s already proven, and keep your brand visible in a way that users appreciate. For businesses with limited resources but a strong message, this format is hard to beat.

TopView Ads: Premium Placement with Maximum Visibility

If your goal is to make a bold first impression, TopView Ads are TikTok’s version of a red carpet entrance. These are the full-screen videos that appear as soon as a user opens the app. You get uninterrupted attention, prime positioning, and high-impact exposure – which is why this format is often seen as premium real estate.

Why It Works So Well for Awareness Campaigns

TopView Ads are not designed to blend in. They are about capturing attention immediately and making a brand moment impossible to miss. While this format does come with a higher price tag, it also delivers serious impact. For businesses launching a new product, pushing a limited-time offer, or building brand awareness in a competitive market, this can be a very effective strategy.

The key benefit here is guaranteed visibility. Unlike in-feed ads which compete with user-generated content, TopView Ads dominate the screen with no distractions. That means more focus on your message, more time spent watching, and stronger brand recall.

Can Small Businesses Really Use TopView?

The short answer is yes – but it depends on your timing and targeting. While large corporations may book TopView placements for national exposure, small and medium businesses can still benefit by narrowing the focus. TikTok offers geo-targeting and audience segmentation, allowing you to run a TopView campaign to a specific region or interest group. This makes it feasible to promote a new service in your local area or reach a niche customer base without spending like a global brand.

You can also explore short-term campaigns. Running a TopView ad for just one or two days, particularly around peak moments like holidays or events, can create a buzz without exhausting your budget.

Tips for Making the Most of It

• Lead with impact – Your first few seconds should deliver a strong visual or message that encourages viewers to stay with the video.
• Include a clear call to action – Whether it’s “Shop now,” “Learn more,” or “Download today,” guide your viewer to the next step.
• Make it worth watching – This is your brand’s spotlight moment. Use it to showcase what makes you different, not just what you sell.

TopView Ads are about presence, clarity, and timing. When used correctly, even smaller businesses can use this space to punch well above their weight. If you have a message worth shouting about, this is your loudspeaker.

Branded Hashtag Challenges: Let Your Audience Join the Story

If you’ve ever seen a TikTok trend that seemingly took over overnight, chances are it started as a hashtag challenge. These campaigns invite users to create their own videos in response to a prompt or concept, usually linked to a product or brand. For small and medium businesses, this format offers something incredibly valuable: the chance to turn everyday users into enthusiastic promoters.

Why Engagement Beats Impressions

Traditional advertising often focuses on reach, but a branded hashtag challenge shifts the emphasis to participation. Instead of simply showing your ad to as many people as possible, you’re encouraging them to take part. That changes the dynamic completely. Users are no longer just watching content – they’re actively creating it, sharing it, and associating their own identity with your brand.

This user-generated content is authentic, relatable, and shareable. It also feeds TikTok’s algorithm, which thrives on trends and engagement. As more people join the challenge, your brand becomes a talking point. That kind of exposure is something money alone can’t buy – and on TikTok, it’s possible to achieve it without a massive ad budget.

How Smaller Brands Can Make It Work

You don’t need a global slogan or celebrity partner to launch a successful challenge. What you do need is a clear, simple idea that people can easily recreate. Think about how your product or service fits into a lifestyle or routine, and craft a challenge around that.

For example, a local bakery might invite people to share their most creative sandwich combinations using a specific audio track. A fitness coach could challenge followers to film a one-minute workout using their programme. It’s about tapping into the creativity of the platform’s users and making them feel part of something fun.

Plan Your Challenge Like a Campaign

• Keep the prompt simple – The best challenges are easy to understand and quick to replicate.
• Choose a distinctive hashtag – Make sure it’s unique, memorable, and clearly tied to your brand.
• Seed content early – Work with a handful of creators or customers to post the first few videos. This sets the tone and shows others how it’s done.
• Monitor and engage – Comment on entries, share your favourites, and keep the energy going throughout the campaign window.

Branded hashtag challenges give your audience a voice. Instead of telling people why they should care about your business, you’re inviting them to show the world themselves. It builds community, drives conversation, and leaves you with a bank of real content that can be repurposed in future marketing. For brands looking to grow with authenticity and energy, this format delivers both.

Branded Effects: Invite Your Audience to Play With Your Brand

Sometimes the best way to get people to remember your business is to let them interact with it. Branded Effects are TikTok’s answer to immersive marketing. These are custom filters, augmented reality (AR) elements, stickers or animations that users can apply to their own videos. Think of it as digital dressing-up for your brand – but with a very real payoff.

Why Interactive = Memorable

We all remember things better when we’re involved in them. That’s exactly what branded effects deliver. Instead of being a passive viewer, the TikTok user becomes part of the experience. Whether they’re trying on a virtual pair of sunglasses from your collection, placing your product in their living room via AR, or dancing with a branded overlay, your business becomes embedded in the moment.

This format works particularly well for sectors like fashion, beauty, food, fitness, and entertainment – but almost any business with a bit of imagination can find a way in. It’s about designing something people want to try, and more importantly, want to share.

Big Branding Without Big Spend

You might assume that creating branded effects is only within reach for large corporations, but TikTok has made it easier than ever for small and medium businesses to get involved. Through the TikTok Creative Exchange, you can connect with approved production partners who specialise in creating branded effects. They’ll work with you to design something on-brand and budget-appropriate.

What matters most is clarity. Your effect needs to be visually appealing, easy to use, and clearly linked to your brand identity. That could be through a logo, a distinctive colour palette, or a custom animation tied to a campaign or product.

How to Make It Work

• Keep it intuitive – Users shouldn’t need a tutorial. The effect should be self-explanatory and fun from the first second.
• Tie it into a wider campaign – Branded effects work best when paired with other formats like Spark Ads or hashtag challenges. Think of it as a tool to boost creativity within your community.
• Test before launch – Use a soft launch or creator previews to gather early feedback and refine the effect before promoting it widely.

Branded effects are a brilliant way to make your business part of the TikTok experience rather than simply an advertiser on it. They encourage play, creativity, and participation – which is exactly what the platform’s culture is built around. For business owners, it’s a chance to stand out not with more words, but with a moment users won’t forget.

TikTok Shopping Ads: Turning Scrolls into Sales

If you’re running an e-commerce business or selling physical products, TikTok Shopping Ads are one of the most direct ways to turn interest into income. They allow you to integrate your product catalogue with the TikTok platform, so users can browse, learn, and even purchase without leaving the app. For small and medium businesses, this is a clear pathway from visibility to conversion.

From Discovery to Checkout – Without the Friction

TikTok users are highly engaged and open to discovering new products, especially those that feel like personal recommendations. Shopping Ads streamline the process by placing product details right where your audience is already watching. With just a few taps, users can move from interest to checkout, reducing the number of steps and potential drop-off points in the customer journey.

There are several formats under the TikTok Shopping umbrella. Product Showcase Ads allow you to highlight items with prices, images, and direct links to purchase. Live Shopping lets you sell in real time via livestream, while Dynamic Showcase Ads automatically promote relevant products to users based on their interests and behaviours.

This kind of flexibility means you don’t have to guess what your customers might respond to – the algorithm helps you tailor the experience based on real engagement data.

Perfect for Product-Focused Brands

If you’re selling anything that looks good on camera – whether it’s beauty products, clothing, gadgets, or home décor – Shopping Ads give you the tools to show them off. You can demonstrate how your product works, share testimonials, or run mini tutorials that educate while entertaining.

For example, a small skincare brand might show a simple morning routine using its top three products, with each item linked directly below the video. A local artisan selling candles could use a Spark Ad to promote a creator’s video, paired with clickable shopping links. It’s about making the buying process feel natural and native to the platform.

Getting Set Up

• Link your store – TikTok Shopping integrates with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. Syncing your product catalogue is usually straightforward.
• Optimise your product pages – Make sure descriptions are clear, imagery is strong, and pricing is competitive.
• Use organic content to test ideas – Before putting spend behind a Shopping Ad, trial product-focused videos to see what performs best.

TikTok Shopping Ads are more than just a shortcut to sales – they’re an opportunity to build long-term customer relationships by showing your products in context, in action, and in a format your audience actually enjoys. For any small or medium business looking to boost online sales, this is a format well worth investing in.

Conclusion: Now Is the Time to Make TikTok Work for Your Business

If you’ve been thinking TikTok is just a platform for dance trends and teen humour, it’s time to rethink. The truth is, it’s now one of the most dynamic, creative, and commercially effective platforms available to small and medium businesses. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness, spark engagement, or drive real sales, there’s a format that can support it.

From the subtle storytelling of in-feed ads to the wide-reaching power of TopView, TikTok provides an advertising toolbox that’s far more flexible than many realise. Add in the authenticity of Spark Ads, the community-building strength of branded hashtag challenges, the immersive potential of branded effects, and the direct selling power of TikTok Shopping Ads – and suddenly you have a full-funnel marketing solution built for the mobile-first generation.

What matters most is that you tailor your approach. Choose formats that align with your brand’s voice, objectives, and capacity to create content. You don’t need a blockbuster budget or a viral hit. What you do need is a clear message, a willingness to experiment, and an understanding of what makes TikTok tick.

If you’re ready to take your business to where your customers are spending their time – scrolling, watching, buying – then TikTok isn’t just an option. It’s an opportunity. One that’s ready to be seized by brands that are bold enough to step forward and smart enough to make it count.

TWV Media’s Checklist: Making TikTok Ads Work for Your Business

Before you launch your next TikTok campaign, use this checklist to ensure you’re making the most of the platform’s advertising potential:

✅ Define your objective
Are you aiming for brand awareness, engagement, conversions, or sales? Choose the ad format that best supports your goal.

✅ Start with In-Feed Ads
Keep videos under 15 seconds, hook your audience early, and use text overlays to support silent viewing.

✅ Amplify with Spark Ads
Promote organic content that already performs well. Leverage UGC or creator content to build trust and extend reach.

✅ Consider a TopView campaign
If you have a key message or launch, use TopView ads for maximum visibility. Time it around events or peak seasons.

✅ Launch a Hashtag Challenge
Create a simple, repeatable concept with a clear branded hashtag. Encourage participation and share top entries to build momentum.

✅ Design a Branded Effect
Make it fun, intuitive, and clearly linked to your brand. Pair it with a challenge or other format to boost interaction.

✅ Set up TikTok Shopping
Sync your product catalogue, optimise product pages, and integrate clickable links into your content to drive direct purchases.

✅ Test, tweak and track performance
Use TikTok’s analytics tools to monitor what’s working. Refine your creative, targeting, and calls to action based on real data.

✅ Stay consistent with your brand voice
Make sure all your content – paid or organic – feels like you. Authenticity wins attention on TikTok.

✅ Start now, refine as you go
You don’t need perfection. What matters is showing up, testing ideas, and building your presence step by step.

TikTok Advertising FAQs

Q. Do I need a large budget to advertise on TikTok?
A. No. TikTok is highly accessible for small and medium businesses. Formats like In-Feed Ads and Spark Ads allow you to start with modest budgets while still achieving strong results. With careful targeting and engaging content, you can compete effectively without high spend.

Q. What’s the difference between In-Feed Ads and Spark Ads?
A. In-Feed Ads are traditional paid adverts that appear in the ‘For You’ feed, while Spark Ads promote organic content – either from your account or others – and keep the engagement linked to the original post. Spark Ads are ideal for amplifying content that’s already gaining traction.

Q. How do I know which ad format is right for my business?
A. It depends on your goal. If you’re launching a new product, TopView Ads or Shopping Ads might suit. For ongoing engagement, Spark Ads or branded hashtag challenges can build community. The key is to align your format with the outcome you want, whether that’s reach, interaction, or conversions.

Q. Can I run TikTok ads without having a TikTok presence?
A. Yes, but it’s highly recommended to have an active presence. TikTok is driven by authenticity, and having your own content helps build trust. You don’t need to post daily, but a few well-crafted videos will support any paid campaigns and boost overall results.

Q. How can I track performance and improve my campaigns?
A. TikTok provides detailed analytics within its Ads Manager. You can monitor impressions, clicks, engagement rates, conversions, and more. Regularly review this data to refine your creatives, adjust your targeting, and improve ROI over time.