TikTok Carousel Ads: A Guide to the New TikTok Ad Format

Popular for its short video format, TikTok introduced a few months ago a novelty to its platform: the image format. Formerly more present on Facebook and Instagram, this format has blossomed thanks to the use of a multi-image carousel on these social networks, especially for advertisements, where it massively seduced their audience. By readapting this engaging format, TikTok allowed its user base to concoct engaging visuals to captivate their audience, with some posts even surpassing tens of millions of views.

Following its meteoric success, TikTok introduced a new advertising tool effective: TikTok Carousel Ads. This tool offers businesses the opportunity to design more powerful visual campaigns that effectively target their audience. Even more interesting, it is proving to be a great way to reuse content generated on other platforms, while providing the audience with an improved shopping experience.

If your brand plans to incorporate this advertising format into its future campaign strategies, then it is important to know its specificities. 😎

What is TikTok Carousel Ads?

Les TikTok Carousel Ads are multi-image ads that integrate fluidly into the news feed of users of the platform. In detail, this advertising format allows advertisers to share between 2 and 10 images, while associating each image with a specific caption, all grouped into a single ad.

Advertisers have the freedom to choose whether to display their Carousel Ads by occupying a portion of the screen or by using all of its height and width. In addition, it is possible to add a soundtrack or music to the carousel to make the advertising more lively. The announcement will also include a brief description, where including a CTA (Call To Action) can be effective.

Technical characteristic of carousel advertising:

Like every TikTok Ads format, your carousels must meet certain specifications techniques.

• Campaign objective : Traffic, Conversion, App Download
• Number of images : from 2 to 35;
• Accepted formats : .jpg, .jpeg, .png;
• Image resolutions : 1200x628px (horizontal image), 640x640px (square image), 720x1080px (vertical image);
• Maximum image size : up to 100 MB;
• For an optimal display of content, The text must be between 12 and 40 characters. Longer text may not be displayed correctly or incompletely.
• The emojis are not supported in TikTok Carousel Ads;

Note: Access to the format TikTok Carousel Ads is not available for all brands, only a few agencies specializing in TikTok advertising, such as Sleeq, have the possibility of using this new advertising format on the platform.

What are the benefits of TikTok Carousel Ads?

The Carousel Ads format on TikTok offers multiple benefits that can boost the performance of your brand. It not only allows minimize your advertising expenses by reusing existing content, but also to present your products effectively, which can boost your sales via TikTok.

Improving product presentation

Visual storytelling is essential for establishing an effective brand strategy. By choosing and arranging images and captions wisely, brands can build a story that resonates with their target audience, encouraging engagement and improving brand recognition. Using TikTok Carousel Ads can definitely help brands stand out in a video stream while highlighting the unique aspects of their campaign.

A conversion lever to boost sales

You can even use the carousel to display several products and turn it into an online catalog. In her latest TikTok campaign, Sephora For example, used the carousel to present all the shades of her new lipstick.

In addition, integrating interactive elements such as CTA buttons, links to your product pages, or promotion banners can simplify the buying journey for consumers.

It is therefore a particularly effective format for improve your conversion rate and boost your sales. Carousel Ads can also be very effective for your retargeting campaigns. You can target users who have already viewed a product on your site or who have abandoned their shopping cart. You can reach them again with personalized ads, by highlighting the benefits of these items, or by presenting complementary products.

The carousel format also allows you to gather very accurate data on consumer preferences. You can collect more user signals and understand which images and products appeal to platform users the most.

Reduced advertising production costs

Creating video ads on TikTok can be expensive for brands, while the creative aspect has a significant impact on the performance of your campaigns.

The introduction of Carousel Ads allows your business to reduce production costs by using images (not videos) that are generally less expensive to produce.

Les TikTok Carousel Ads also allow you to reuse existing content from other platforms (like Instagram, Pinterest, or Snapchat). You can easily adapt this content to the new format, thus ensuring greater visual consistency across all of your communication channels.

How do I create a TikTok Carousel Ads ad?

Ready to launch your first Carousel Ads on TikTok? Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to your TikTok Ads account and click on the “Campaigns” tab.
2. Choose from the 3 traffic goals, conversion or application installation.
3. Select the “Ad Groups” tab and create a new carousel.
4. Add your creations, including images or videos you want to include in your carousel.
5. Fill in the editable fields in each image: text, website URL, and TikTok deeplink.
6. Write your ad text, then choose the call to action.
7. Define your ad targeting options, including audience characteristics, location, budget, and more.
8. Preview your ad to make sure it's displayed correctly;
9. Click on “Submit” to have your ad validated by the platform before it is broadcast.

Our tips for launching successful TikTok Carousel Ads

For maximize the performance of your TikTok Carousel Ads campaigns, it is crucial to make good use of this format and its advantages. Here are some tips for optimizing your ads:

• Take care of your visuals and make sure they highlight the unique characteristics of your products.
• Create unique and compelling legends that provide additional information about your products and encourage the user to keep scrolling through the carousel.
• Include a call to action (CTA) clear in your ad, whether it's to direct users to your online store, download your app, make a purchase, etc.
• Test and optimize your campaigns to determine what elements (image, caption, CTA) work best.

TikTok Carousel advertising is an innovative advertising format that allows your brand to present its products in a more engaging way and effectively increase its conversion rate on the platform. However, please note that this format is currently only available in beta, and your brand will only be able to experience the potential of Carousel Ads by partnering with a TikTok partner agency.

Sleeq is there to support you in the production of your creations and the optimization of your TikTok Carousel Ads. To find out more, do not hesitate to contact our experts!