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I deleted TikTok off my iPhone. Here's why...

Mac

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I am intrigued by how fast people are able to grow followings on TikTok. I am hoping to get someone that has built a nice following to come on the radio show. I would like to talk about how they built that following and how the consumers interact with what they post.

I think it would be useful for us to learn more about the business uses of it.

That said, I would just get a junker phone for it at this point.

Running TikTok ads to sell eCommerce products is one business use that I've been using. Only spent around $19K promoting my products on there. I think it has the potential to reach Facebook's level of effectiveness, but they still need to work on their algorithm because my ads get cheap sales but then stop spending.
 
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Sanj Modha

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Running TikTok ads to sell eCommerce products is one business use that I've been using. Only spent around $19K promoting my products on there. I think it has the potential to reach Facebook's level of effectiveness, but they still need to work on their algorithm because my ads get cheap sales but then stop spending.

How quickly did you get approved for the ads? They're taking ages with us.
 

Xeon

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Running TikTok ads to sell eCommerce products is one business use that I've been using. Only spent around $19K promoting my products on there. I think it has the potential to reach Facebook's level of effectiveness, but they still need to work on their algorithm because my ads get cheap sales but then stop spending.

Maybe because majority of TT's demographics are still kids with no money to spend?
Speaking of which, I need to ask those TT's kids for lunch money.
 
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Andy Black

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Ok, i admit, good answer
Just be careful of justifying spending time as a consumer on platforms. I did 30 days on Instagram to try to figure it out, and decided the slow killing of my brain cells wasn’t worth it.
 

Sanj Modha

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Just be careful of justifying spending time as a consumer on platforms. I did 30 days on Instagram to try to figure it out, and decided the slow killing of my brain cells wasn’t worth it.

Selling to Insta girls pays for my lifestyle. God bless them.
 

Sanj Modha

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Maybe because majority of TT's demographics are still kids with no money to spend?
Speaking of which, I need to ask those TT's kids for lunch money.

You would think that but we're running some hair extension campaigns to < 18 yo on IG Stories and it's converting like fire.

There's nothing quite like the bank of mum and dad.
 
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The-J

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TikTok is Chinese spyware. Full stop.

I mean, Facebook is American spyware, but I'm not ashamed to proclaim where my sympathies lie and where they don't lie.

No real interest on buying ads on it, either. Unfortunately, people follow the money.
 

Xeon

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You would think that but we're running some hair extension campaigns to < 18 yo on IG Stories and it's converting like fire.

What's the cost per click for those IG stories ads you run? Also, what's your budget?
For the demographics, did you do broad (everyone in US/CA/AU/NZ/UK etc.) or narrow (age + country + multiple interests)?
 

Ing

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Edit: ( no value)
OP thanks for sharing.
 
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Mac

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How quickly did you get approved for the ads? They're taking ages with us.

Took a few months, I was approved back in January. They also gave us NET 90 day payment terms, but honestly I haven't cracked the platform and would rather spend on Facebook because their system is fine tuned. TT ads don't spend, has nothing to do with the demographics. There's definitely buyers on there, but if you select a traffic campaign, it just spends and gets low value users that don't convert.

Conversion campaigns bring in high value users, but don't spend or get impressions. The reps at TT basically told me that there's nothing that can be done, they're still working on the platform to fix the bugs. They recommend doing traffic, then re-target with conversions but that performs terrible as well.
 

daniel_m

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It just got banned in India for security reasons.

Even if it wasn't banned, still everyone should uninstall it.
There are many reasons,but one most important one would be :
It just kills your ability to focus for a long time.

From books (few months to finish)we shifted to movies(2-3 hours),then to YouTube videos(10-20 min),and now tiktok (10-30 sec).

It is just killing our attention span.

No Fastlaner should use it.(at least not by consumer side)

hm, what about 2 hour long podcasts and 4 hour long video game streams? I'd argue that surprisingly, there is a shift in the opposite direction and people are consuming a ton of long form content nowadays.
 

Sanj Modha

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Took a few months, I was approved back in January. They also gave us NET 90 day payment terms, but honestly I haven't cracked the platform and would rather spend on Facebook because their system is fine tuned. TT ads don't spend, has nothing to do with the demographics. There's definitely buyers on there, but if you select a traffic campaign, it just spends and gets low value users that don't convert.

Conversion campaigns bring in high value users, but don't spend or get impressions. The reps at TT basically told me that there's nothing that can be done, they're still working on the platform to fix the bugs. They recommend doing traffic, then re-target with conversions but that performs terrible as well.

This sounds like the early days of Pinterest - I just couldn't get the ads to spend money.
 
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Sanj Modha

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hm, what about 2 hour long podcasts and 4 hour long video game streams? I'd argue that surprisingly, there is a shift in the opposite direction and people are consuming a ton of long form content nowadays.

India's reasons are political - they banned 60 Chinese apps in total.
 

Sanj Modha

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What's the cost per click for those IG stories ads you run? Also, what's your budget?
For the demographics, did you do broad (everyone in US/CA/AU/NZ/UK etc.) or narrow (age + country + multiple interests)?

I don't measure CPC with FB/IG - we only track CPA and ROAS.

Targeting = worldwide (FB will optimize it) and we have conversions in US, CA, AU, UK, DE, ES, IT, Nordic countries, Switzerland, Austria etc.

CPA = $26.

ROAS is amazing: 10+ with some campaigns converting at 20+.

Targeting = we started with interests (competitor brands, hair magazines, forums, blogs etc). Now the account is seasoned and doesn't need any interest or demographic targeting. When you spend $300K/month - FB knows what to do.

There's no doubt about it for me: IG Stories is the greatest social media ads platform in the world.
 
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Sanj Modha

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TikTok is Chinese spyware. Full stop.

I mean, Facebook is American spyware, but I'm not ashamed to proclaim where my sympathies lie and where they don't lie.

No real interest on buying ads on it, either. Unfortunately, people follow the money.

TikTok is Facebook before the Cambridge Analytica scandal and with less oversight.
 
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Sanj Modha

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Why would you even have it on your phone really

It's a great spy tool to get ideas for my Snap, Pinterest and IG Stories ads.
 

Tom J

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Hello,

Tik-Tok was made in China - and it is one of the reasons I don't trust it or use it. To be quite frank, I don't understand the appeal of Tik-Tok at all.

Tik-Tok tracks everything about you - and when you launch this app you probably don't know this, and you probably have no idea where and who all of this personal information goes to.

Putting ads on platforms such as Tik-Tok is not something I would do - the money goes to these companies. Sorry, but these companies do not deserve my hard-earned cash; ads only support them.

Thanks,

Tom
 

Sanj Modha

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Hello,

Tik-Tok was made in China - and it is one of the reasons I don't trust it or use it. To be quite frank, I don't understand the appeal of Tik-Tok at all.

Tik-Tok tracks everything about you - and when you launch this app you probably don't know this, and you probably have no idea where and who all of this personal information goes to.

Putting ads on platforms such as Tik-Tok is not something I would do - the money goes to these companies. Sorry, but these companies do not deserve my hard-earned cash; ads only support them.

Thanks,

Tom

All apps track everything you do. They are, after all, tech companies.

There's a reason why FB is worth $500bn with $54bn sat in the bank and as someone who's been running FB ads since 2012 - it was AMAZING! The level of targeting we had access to was unparalleled.

Unfortunately for FB (and us), that all came crashing down after the Cambridge Analytica scandal when they removed some of the best targeting options.

The real question people need to ask is: who do you trust more with your data - China or the West?
 
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Tom J

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All apps track everything you do. They are, after all, tech companies.

There's a reason why FB is worth $500bn with $54bn sat in the bank and as someone who's been running FB ads since 2012 - it was AMAZING! The level of targeting we had access to was unparalleled.

Unfortunately for FB (and us), that all came crashing down after the Cambridge Analytica scandal when they removed some of the best targeting options.

The real question people need to ask is: who do you trust more with your data - China or the West?

Hello Sanj,

These days you can't trust any social media company whatsoever.

This is the exact reason I do not use any form of social media. Social media is not social but anti-social; for me, personally, it's a waste of my time.

China or the West? Who do I trust more? I don't trust either of them with my information to be honest with you. But if I had to pick over the two I would choose the West.

Again, every social media platform tracks you, but many parents of Tik-Tok users are blissfully unaware that their kids' information is being tracked. This is a serious problem.

Thanks,

Tom
 

ATipster

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Again, every social media platform tracks you, but many parents of Tik-Tok users are blissfully unaware that their kids' information is being tracked. This is a serious problem.

Then they're unaware about many more things that are possibly more dangerous and worrisome than this.
TikTok is a Chinese company. Chinese government = surveillance and abuse of privacy. Chinese companies = Chinese government. No ifs or buts. If there's anybody concerned with privacy, installing app like TikTok should be the last thing they do.
 

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