The eCommerce realm of Paid Social is saturated with many platforms, causing the constant battle for attention, especially concerning the advertising channels these platforms offer. As the decision making strategists and advertisers, we are often faced with the question of ‘Where should I put my budget to maximise ROAS?’. The obvious two platforms when it comes to running paid activity are Meta and TikTok. While both offer fantastic tools for reaching vast audiences, they have their unique quirks and toxic traits.

The Green and Red Flags

Just like people, TikTok and Meta advertising have different ‘personalities’, with green flags that make us want to marry them and red flags that scream ‘swipe left!’. The fundamental to running successful eCom activity is understanding the balance between the two, creating a strategy that utilises the strengths of both platforms, depending on the objective, creative, target audience and budgets.

Pros and Cons of Meta Advertising

Facebook and Instagram are ‘’the household names’’ and one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 3 billion active users each month. They offer many advertising options, with new ones being rolled out regularly. Some of the best tools that Meta Ads offers:

  • Targeting options – Meta’s advantage+ targeting can show your ads to audiences that are best suited to your product with minimal input required.
  • Lookalike Audiences – Meta allows you to create lookalikes of past-purchasers, whether it’s through customer lists or your pixel data. This allows you to reach people that match the same persona as people who already purchased your products.
  • A/B Testing – You can test variants of your ads or campaigns against each other with the click of a button, which allows you to see instant results and see what works best for your activity.
  • Gold Standard Tracking – Meta offers the some of the most advanced tracking and analytics solutions, allowing advertisers to access countless insights regarding performance.

While Meta has a lot of green flags, there are a couple of red ones to be aware of too:

  • Audience Demographic – It’s no secret that with the rise of other social media platforms, Gen Z and younger audiences haven’t been as interested in Facebook. While Instagram remains a strong platform among young people, a big chunk of them is missing from Facebook.
  • Initial Setup Requires Time – When setting up activity on Facebook, it requires quite a lot of manual work to get everything set up and connected.
  • Increasing Costs – Due to competition gaining momentum, the CPCs and CPMs can sometimes jump up during busier periods, causing big jumps MoM.
  • Integration Compatibility – As an established platform, Meta Ads Manager is easy to integrate with external platforms like Klaviyo, Fospha, Hunch, Shape and more.

Pros and Cons of TikTok Advertising

TikTok, ‘’The Cool Kid on the Block’’, has experienced massive growth over the past couple of years, with its advertising capabilities expanding continuously and offering some great tools for eCom. It’s the combination of accessibility, great content and fast pace that contributes to TikTok’s ability to capture millions of people’s attention on the daily. Among the great things TikTok Ads offers are:

  • Younger demographic – TikTok is the place to be for Gen Z and Millennials. This vibrant community is the perfect consumer for lo-fi, fun and organic looking content promoting your product.
  • Lower costs – TikTok is often on the cheaper side when it comes to CPMs and CPCs, offering you more for less.
  • Influencers – Similarly to Instagram, TikTok is saturated with content creators catering to many different audiences, giving advertisers the opportunity to collaborate with them and reach new audiences.
  • Creativity – Content on TikTok is often less traditional, encouraging eCom brands to be creative and to think outside of the box, setting new standards and not just following trends.
  • TikTok Shop – This in-app marketplace is growing constantly and is a great place to list your products, allowing the customers to buy with one click.

TikTok is a great tool for eCom brands, offering lots of exciting tools. However, it is still a growing platform, and some things are not perfect:

  • Analytics Aren’t Amazing – TikTok’s analytics are not as insightful and detailed as Meta’s. Granted, there are constantly new updates, but it’s still got a way to go before it reaches Meta’s level.
  • Format Compatibility – When using multiple ad formats, sometimes these can’t be used in one campaign. Say you want to run a single image ad alongside a catalogue video, you might have to create a separate campaign for this (which creates other issues regarding budgets etc.)
  • Placements – Depending on the campaign type, some placements might not be available for your ads. For example, when running Spark ads, you can only place your ads on organic-style placements (no TopView placements for Spark Ads!)

Looking to Invest your Marketing Budget into Meta and TikTok?

TikTok and Meta ads are both great platforms for eCommerce, but honestly, the choice depends on your brand and who your target market is. Meta is useful when targeting a broader scope of demographics while TikTok is more effective targeting the younger generation. Ideally, you want to take the strengths of both platforms and combine them into a well-rounded marketing strategy. We recommend you use Meta’s wider targeting abilities to reach your audience and use TikTok’s potential to go viral and reach younger audiences at a lower cost.

Looking to start paid activity for your eCommerce brand? Get in touch with us to discuss how you can get started and start generating revenue!