TikTok brings its own AI magic to digital marketing

TikTok is stepping up its efforts in the advertising industry.

The social media giant plans to integrate generative AI into its advertising products and launch a suite of AI tools called “TikTok Symphony.”

These tools are designed to assist marketers with tasks such as script writing and video production.

The announcement was made at the TikTok World product summit, where the company revealed that its “Symphony Creative Studio” uses machine learning to generate TikTok videos based on a few instructions from advertisers, and also offers pre-made videos that advertisers can use in their campaigns.

The suite's AI “assistant” is designed to enhance advertisers' campaigns by refining scripts and providing best practice recommendations, including highlighting current platform trends.

The suite also includes an Ads Manager integration to help brands optimize their existing TikTok videos. Additionally, the company unveiled a new hub of creative tools, TikTok One, that will give brands access to nearly 2 million creators and insights from the TikTok Creator Marketplace and UGC platform TikTok Creative Challenges.

Building on last year's Smart Performance Campaigns, TikTok also launched “Performance Automation,” a feature that uses AI to select the best creative assets to deliver the most effective campaigns at the right time.

In line with this vision, TikTok has announced “TikTok Shop Marketing Automation,” which provides automated bidding, budgeting, ad management, and creative for TikTok Shop products.

The company said 61% of users have made a purchase on TikTok either directly or after seeing an advertisement, 59% of users also use TikTok to decide which game to download next, and 52% of users have looked at TikTok content to research cars.

TikTok is expanding its advertising business despite potential challenges in the U.S. The company has said it will fight a bill signed by President Joe Biden last month that could lead to a ban or sale of TikTok in the U.S.