Fospha and TikTok’s advertising specialists joined forces for an exclusive masterclass at SXSW 2025, exploring how brands can leverage TikTok to drive real, measurable growth. The session was packed with insights from Fospha’s Ultimate TikTok Playbook, offering a clear roadmap for creating effective TikTok ad strategies.
🎯 Key Takeaways
✅ Full-Funnel Tactics for Sustainable Growth
Jamie Bolton, VP of Growth at Fospha, emphasized the importance of a full-funnel approach to TikTok advertising:
Brands that allocate at least 20% of their budget to upper-funnel awareness and consideration campaigns consistently outperform their competitors.
Focusing solely on lower-funnel conversion limits scale and leads to rising customer acquisition costs.
The key to success? Investing in building brand awareness to unlock future growth potential.
🔎 New Customer Acquisition: Why TikTok Stands Out
Matthew Barbarasch, Head of North America SMB Marketing Science at TikTok, shared compelling data on TikTok’s power for new customer acquisition:
70% of TikTok-driven purchases come from new customers — outperforming other social platforms where retargeting dominates.
Broad targeting works best. Let TikTok’s algorithm identify and optimize toward the most valuable audiences.
Campaigns that embrace broad targeting initially drive faster learning and better long-term results.
🎨 Creative Optimization: Native First, Platform-First
Creative was highlighted as a key driver of success on TikTok:
Don't repurpose Instagram ads for TikTok — create platform-native content that reflects TikTok’s organic style.
Trends matter: The most successful brands lean into TikTok’s culture, using trending sounds and formats.
The ideal creative mix: Start with 5 creative assets per ad group and refresh weekly to avoid fatigue.
TikTok One now provides AI tools to quickly generate new creative assets and optimize performance.
💥 The TikTok-Amazon Halo Effect
Fospha’s measurement data shows that TikTok drives more off-platform sales — particularly on Amazon — than any other channel:
TikTok increases Amazon sales by up to 80% — outperforming Meta, Google, and other platforms.
Once TikTok's impact on Amazon is included in the data, return on ad spend (ROAS) can jump from 1.0 to 1.8 — changing the economics of TikTok investment.
The takeaway? Measuring TikTok’s full impact — including off-site activity — is critical to scaling effectively.
🏆 Peak Period Tactics for Q4
Planning for Q4 starts now — and TikTok should be a central part of your strategy:
Competition on Meta spikes during Q4 — but TikTok CPMs remain stable, creating an arbitrage opportunity.
Successful brands build momentum by increasing awareness and engagement in Q2 and Q3 to drive better conversion rates during Q4.
Use Spark Ads, Branded Effects, and Top of View placements to maximize Q4 visibility and engagement.
🔥 Real-World Results
Andy Swim – A swimwear brand that scaled TikTok spend by 80% after Fospha uncovered that TikTok’s impact was underrepresented by 10x.
Result: 5x increase in revenue and a 65% increase in new customer acquisition.
Thunder Outfit – A lingerie brand that was only capturing 10% of TikTok’s actual value.
Result: Scaled TikTok spend, lowered CAC, and saw an immediate boost in profitability.
📘 Unlock the Full TikTok Opportunity
Fospha’s TikTok Playbook distills all of these insights — measurement strategies, budget allocation recommendations, creative best practices, and more — into a single resource.
Fospha will be hosting a series of exclusive masterclasses at Shoptalk Spring in Las Vegas from March 25–27, 2025. Learn more about full-funnel measurement, cross-platform impact, and the latest TikTok strategies.
👉 Explore Fospha’s Shoptalk Spring events → See the Schedule
Stay tuned for more insights from Fospha’s SXSW Masterclass Series,
The Unofficially SXSW Team
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