Northern Kentucky University
The Key Factors for a Successful Social Media Advertisement
Grade Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
Marketing & Management
Minor
Business Administration
2nd Grade Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
2nd Student Major
Marketing
2nd Student Minor
Business Administration
KY House District #
41091
KY Senate District #
41091
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Anh Dang
Department
Marketing
Abstract
Businesses and non-profit organizations are spending billions of dollars on social media advertising every year. Among different advertising formats, videos are gaining popularity recently. Despite their prevalence, there is limited research that provides guidance on how to design an effective video advertisement. The purpose of our research is to determine whether certain factors can make a video advertisement successful or not on social media. Since TikTok is currently the most downloaded app and the advertisements on the platform are exclusively videos, we decided to use it to collect our data. We did a content analysis for a thousand of advertisements across eight industry categories including higher education, real estate and home rentals, finance, job recruitment and searches, tourist information, men and women apparel, and pet accessories. Particularly, for each video, we coded emotions, the use of trends (e.g., a popular song/sound), organic versus platform-generated voice, and visuals. We then tested the effects of these factors on audiences’ reactions to the advertisement, measured by the number of likes, comments, and shares. We found that high performing categories were in higher education and apparel, and the low performers were real estate and tourist information. As we expected, videos following TikTok trends had significantly more engagement compared to those that did not. In addition, certain positive emotions, such as approval and happiness, were more impactful than others. In contrast to what most advertisers believe, there was no significant difference in advertisements that looked casual and conversational versus those professionally filmed. Furthermore, robotic voices generated by the platform did not make the videos less engaging than those created with organic voices by the advertisers. In conclusion, our research findings will benefit commerce and non-profit organizations, especially those in Kentucky, in generating more engagement and a higher public audience to accomplish target needs and goals.
The Key Factors for a Successful Social Media Advertisement
Businesses and non-profit organizations are spending billions of dollars on social media advertising every year. Among different advertising formats, videos are gaining popularity recently. Despite their prevalence, there is limited research that provides guidance on how to design an effective video advertisement. The purpose of our research is to determine whether certain factors can make a video advertisement successful or not on social media. Since TikTok is currently the most downloaded app and the advertisements on the platform are exclusively videos, we decided to use it to collect our data. We did a content analysis for a thousand of advertisements across eight industry categories including higher education, real estate and home rentals, finance, job recruitment and searches, tourist information, men and women apparel, and pet accessories. Particularly, for each video, we coded emotions, the use of trends (e.g., a popular song/sound), organic versus platform-generated voice, and visuals. We then tested the effects of these factors on audiences’ reactions to the advertisement, measured by the number of likes, comments, and shares. We found that high performing categories were in higher education and apparel, and the low performers were real estate and tourist information. As we expected, videos following TikTok trends had significantly more engagement compared to those that did not. In addition, certain positive emotions, such as approval and happiness, were more impactful than others. In contrast to what most advertisers believe, there was no significant difference in advertisements that looked casual and conversational versus those professionally filmed. Furthermore, robotic voices generated by the platform did not make the videos less engaging than those created with organic voices by the advertisers. In conclusion, our research findings will benefit commerce and non-profit organizations, especially those in Kentucky, in generating more engagement and a higher public audience to accomplish target needs and goals.