Running TikTok campaigns with impact — missed opportunities that make all the difference

Aug 18, 2026 06:00 PM - 1 day ago 1

Before Invisalign ever captured a lead connected TikTok, it generated pre-qualified liking pinch a Smile Quiz built correct into the ad. The payoff: nearly a 3rd much group vanished the form, astatine a little costs per lead. The run aimed and succeeded astatine going acold beyond the vanity KPI of “people liked it.” It created an existent pipeline.

Get Started pinch HubSpot's Marketing Software for Free

Anny Havercroft, TikTok’s world caput of merchandise trading communications and manufacture enablement, wants much marketers to deliberation this way.

“I’m helping advertisers study really to move TikTok into a request engine,” she says of her role. TikTok is simply a spot to beryllium discovered, but it’s besides an opportunity to adjacent the funnel, whether you’re moving a B2C run for illustration Invisalign’s aliases building B2B demand, and whether your leads onshore successful a spreadsheet aliases sync consecutive into HubSpot.

Havercroft has spent astir 5 years building TikTok’s B2B lead gen playbook, first crossed APAC, and now globally. Over the years, she’s seen communal patterns look crossed lead procreation strategies. Here are the astir impactful opportunities marketers whitethorn miss.

Opportunities That Transform Ordinary Campaigns Into Demand-gen Drivers

1. Focusing connected Readiness Instead of Reach

TikTok has much than a cardinal monthly users, and it’s tempting to dainty that number arsenic the full pitch. “It tin beryllium very easy to deliberation astir it arsenic a scope play erstwhile you’re generating demand,” says Havercroft, “but really it is astir the value of our organization and really the engagement of our audiences really turns into immoderate really well-qualified leads.”

That value comes down to signals, not impressions. A awesome tin beryllium thing from really acold personification watches a video, to a for illustration aliases a share, to what merchandise aliases class they hunt for by name. “That’s what we’re seeing — brands and businesses that tin publication the signals make those value leads done the actions our communities are doing connected an mundane basis,” she says.

Invisalign took this thought a measurement further and designed a run that generated its ain signal. With its Smile Quiz, alternatively than asking group to capable retired a shape cold, the marque built a card-layout quiz straight into its advertisement — thing that group could complete without ever leaving TikTok.

The quiz fto willing users reply a fewer questions to find if Invisalign was really correct for them, efficaciously pre-qualifying leads. The consequence was a 28% higher shape submission complaint and an 11% little costs per acquisition than erstwhile campaigns. The quiz besides had a 133% higher landing page load-and-finish rate, meaning acold less group abandoned the quiz partway through.

Pro tip: Start building successful mechanisms, for illustration quizzes, qualifying questions, and deep-funnel tracking. These checkpoints show you who’s really fresh to go a customer.

2. Leveraging More Than One TikTok Content Format

TikTok describes the customer travel arsenic “watch it, emotion it, want it,” reflecting really discovery, consideration, and action tin hap seamlessly wrong a azygous experience. The extremity is to create a seamless personification experience. To support the process frictionless, marketers should debar forcing users down a rigid, linear path. Instead of building for a azygous lead-gen format, Havercroft suggests that teams leverage TikTok’s wide scope of devices built for different points successful the purchaser journey.

At the astir basal level, businesses tin seizure leads done their ain website, utilizing pixels and APIs to way conversions. Or, they do it done TikTok’s autochthonal instant forms, which create a self-contained, in-app acquisition for illustration Invisalign’s quiz.

For businesses that request to pre-qualify aliases connection a consultation earlier a lead is genuinely warm, location are besides messaging ads and telephone ads. And, for advertisers who aren’t judge which format will execute best, TikTok offers a built-in test-and-learn solution that runs aggregate formats simultaneously and surfaces the winner.

Format besides depends connected wherever successful the chimney a marque is trying to play.

  • TopView video ads are shown erstwhile users first unfastened the app. These ads beryllium astatine the apical of the funnel, but Havercroft says it does double duty: By generating request early, it makes mid-funnel formats much efficient, since prospects get astatine a information advertisement already primed.
  • Consideration ads target the mediate of the funnel. They place audiences based connected really they’ve already interacted pinch a marque aliases category.
  • At the bottommost of the funnel, commerce devices for illustration catalog ads and TikTok Shop adjacent the loop wholly for advertisers trading online.

Spot Pet Insurance, 1 of the starring online pet insurers successful the U.S., utilized this scope to its advantage. Instead of optimizing conscionable for shape submissions, it tracked quote requests and completed payments — pursuing leads each the measurement to purchase. The consequence qA 23% much qualified leads and a 19% little costs per lead.

Spot Pet Insurance TikTok

Source

Pro tip: Match the advertisement format to the chimney stage.

3. Taking the Time to Nurture Leads

Havercroft compares letting leads spell acold to a modern making love faux pas. “You’re retired there, you’ve sewage someone’s number... and you are ghosted,” she says. “It is simply a baffling conundrum why group make leads and fto them spell cold.”

Havercroft praises Toyota Germany for making love to marry. Prospective car buyers move done a agelong travel that looks for illustration online browsing, watching videos, and yet booking a trial thrust — and each shape calls for different content. Rather than ghosting, it built its TikTok lead-gen strategy astir that journey. Then, the squad fed each lead into its existing CRM nurture programs alternatively than treating TikTok arsenic a standalone channel. The consequence was a 38% alteration successful costs per acquisition.

Toyota Germany TikTok

Source

This is erstwhile the integration betwixt TikTok and HubSpot shines. It syncs information successful some directions: Campaign-level insights from TikTok travel into HubSpot, and HubSpot’s ain customer lifecycle information flows backmost to thief TikTok optimize toward the audiences astir apt to convert, not conscionable the audiences astir apt to click.

“That is what a awesome handoff looks like,” Havercroft says, “that loop that benignant of feeds the 2 parts of those systems.”

Pro tip: Plan for relationships, routing each lead into a nurture programme based connected wherever it sits successful the customer lifecycle.

4. Recognizing Creator-led Growth arsenic a Lead Gen Lever

“Creators are really the superpower and the leader of our community,” says Havercroft. Yet, immoderate marketers scope for them last. That’s a missed opportunity. Creators supply “relevancy and connectivity to our audiences,” according to Havercroft. Because creator contented sounds arsenic integrated alternatively than promotional, it tends to gain the benignant of engagement that really converts.

Gana Energia, an power supplier based successful Spain, succeeded successful testing this theory. The marque wanted to amended its assemblage connected managing power costs and switching providers. In summation to brand-produced assets explaining the basics, it originated creator-led contented done TikTok One.

Gana Energia past ran an A/B trial betwixt the 2 approaches, scaling whichever format and messaging drove the strongest results. The creator-led contented won. The run arsenic a full drove a 632% summation successful full lead measurement and trim costs per lead by 64.5%.

Gana Energia TikTok

Source

Havercroft’s proposal for brands intimidated by creator partnerships: “Brief them arsenic you would a imaginative partner,” she says. That intends giving them clear discourse astir the business problem and run objective, trusting them to construe that connection successful a measurement that’s autochthonal to their ain audience.

Havercroft besides notes that the strongest creator-led lead gen campaigns brace authenticity pinch a clear telephone to action. Routes for illustration connection incentives springiness engagement location actual to go.

Pro tip: Brief creators connected the business objective, springiness them imaginative flexibility, and trial their contented straight against brand-produced assets.

Putting It All Together: A 5-step Framework

The 4 opportunities supra tin level up trading campaigns. Building them into your trading tin thief your squad build bully habits from the start. Here’s the five-step model Havercroft recommends for immoderate marque building a TikTok lead-gen strategy from scratch:

  1. Start pinch a clear business outcome. Define what a qualified lead looks for illustration from the outset. Then, marketers tin settee connected a run objective, prime the correct formats, and optimize settings.
  2. Build a existent imaginative supply. Savvy marketers build campaigns that harvester marque assets, authorized creator content, and TikTok One collaborations pinch creators. A divers imaginative operation allows teams to trial different formats and spot what performs best.
  3. Establish high-quality signals. Connect pixels, APIs, and CRM platforms for illustration HubSpot truthful the run is optimizing against genuinely qualified leads.
  4. Follow level champion practices. Set regular budgets and support imaginative fresh. Then, harvester AI-powered automation pinch quality expertise to thrust amended results while reducing manual effort.
  5. Measure, analyze, and scale. Continuously reappraisal capacity reports and displacement walk toward what’s really working.

TikTok’s Smart+ automates overmuch of the optimization activity that utilized to require manual testing, notes Havercroft. Marketers tin now attraction connected imaginative and strategy alternatively than tedious, spreadsheet-level run management.

How TikTok and HubSpot Native Ad Integration Can Help

HubSpot’s native TikTok integration lets you sync, manage, and measurement some TikTok ads and integrated contented straight wrong Marketing Hub. That intends campaigns aren’t starting from scratch. Marketers tin target audiences based connected lifecycle stage, woody history, and acquisition behavior.

Beyond ads, you tin schedule and people integrated TikTok contented alongside each different channel. Users besides get entree to Breeze AI, which tin make captions, negociate comments, and build unified run reports.

Earning Attention connected TikTok

There’s a thread moving done these missed opportunities, and it points to 1 underlying need: a cleanable relationship betwixt run information and a brand’s CRM.

HubSpot’s TikTok integration is designed to thief marketers understand what ads are working. Campaign-level insights sync pinch HubSpot automatically, and HubSpot’s lifecycle and nurture information feeds backmost into TikTok’s optimization. Advertisers aren’t choosing betwixt platform-native signals and their ain customer data.

Information flows some ways, truthful teams tin tally campaigns that thrust existent results.

More