Sud 1

Sana Sud

Dr. Taylor

ENC 1102

25 March 2024

Reflective Cover

For my research, I plan to explore the advertisement genre, more specifically in a media

platform like TikTok. My research, “What tactics do advertisements on social media sites such

as TikTok use to gain attention,” is intended for my professor and classmates. I chose this

audience because many of my classmates are college students who are users of TikTok, and are

familiar with TikTok and its advertisements. Many of my classmates might have experience with

the TikTok ads and might have even purchased something from TikTok. Therefore, I hope that

after reading my research proposal, my audience can better understand what tactics catch their

attention or influence them to purchase something shown on an ad. TikTok is a public platform

and is very famous for its short reels of people dancing, singing, or just going about their daily

lives. Tiktok also advertises and promotes many famous brands and they even have their own

Tiktok shop to allow users to sell their items. I’m interested in knowing exactly how this process

works. In a place where people are continuously swiping, liking, sharing, and commenting on

videos, how do short ads catch their attention?

To determine an answer, I’ll be doing observations and surveys. I’ll first observe what

tactics advertisements use to grab consumers’ attention. Do they use celebrities to promote their

products, or do they use bright colors, loud noises, etc. I’ll then see what feedback they receive

based on what tactic they use. For example, people tend to trust and buy more products that are

recommended by celebrities or people of “importance” such as doctors, versus people who don’t
 Sud 2

have any significant title. I’ll observe this type of feedback by reading comments and reviews of

the product, seeing how many likes it got and how much of that product was sold. After this, I

plan to send out surveys to people who use TikTok to see how they react to advertisements.

Some questions that I’ll be asking are: how likely are they to buy a product they see on TikTok,

what tactics prompt them the most to purchase an item and what do they like or dislike about the

ads. I will do this by sending out surveys in the form of a “Google form” to my friends and

classmates. A way that I can get many responses in a short amount of time would be to send out

the form on group chats and social media widely used by UCF students. I will send out my form

on GroupMe chats, discord servers, and Snapchat stories that include UCF students. My target

audience is UCF students, as most of them have or use TikTok. These students are also in touch

with recent trends and news trending on TikTok, so I believe they will be able to provide me

with the most accurate information. I want my sample to contain a range of ages, preferably from

the ages of 18-22 as most TikTok users are usually around this age. Therefore, a college setting

would be the best place to send out my form as students will be the appropriate age and I’ll be

able to survey a diverse population. When it comes to surveys, consent and anonymity are very

important, and so all responses will be kept anonymous, no personal or controversial information

will be asked or revealed. I’ll only be asking questions strictly related to TikTok advertising. I’ll

also be performing my observations and observe and record any information for a few weeks to

get the most accurate data.

This research project has been very beneficial to me, as I’ve been able to explore the

different sides of TikTok and learn more about how people interact with this app. This project

has also helped me apply the English course outcomes. While I’ve made use of all the course

outcomes, some specific ones that I found myself using a lot were Course Outcomes three, four,
 Sud 3

five and six. Throught these outcomes I learnt about proper MLA formatting and the effects of it

on the audience, how to analyze and find relevant sources to cite in my research and the

importance of revisions and peer reviews. Overall, I hope that my research can answer my many

questions about what tactics, writing, and communication skills advertisements use on TikTok to

get the public’s attention. My annotated bibliography has been formatted in MLA.

Introduction

We encounter advertisements every single day, seeing an ad about a new pair of jeans

while shopping, scrolling on Instagram and seeing a new ad about a pizza oven, driving home

and seeing a billboard advertising a company. Every single day we may see up to 10,000 ads.

Without even realizing it, many of the things that we do or like or buy might have been

influenced by an ad. The influence of advertisements on our daily lives is very large. This is why

I focused my research on ads, specifically in TikTok, to find out just how much influence these

ads hold. TikTok is one of the largest social media platforms, it is a place where everyone from

every part of the world can unite and share their daily lives. It is a place where we can laugh or

cry or relate to something. Due to the app’s popularity, it launched an online shopping centre

known as “The TikTok Shop,” around September 2023. According to the company, “TikTok

Shop empowers brands and creators to connect with highly engaged customers based on their

interests, and it combines the power of community, creativity, and commerce to deliver a

seamless shopping experience” (Mehta). This feature of the app soon became very popular, and

it was a place where people or companies could advertise their products and gain some revenue.

This shop also increased the amount of ads on people’s “fyp” so that products could gain

attention and sell. This is why I have written this paper, in order to understand what methods ads

choose and use to gain views, and also this paper provides my audience with a deeper
 Sud 4

understanding of advertising/ marketing strategies on TikTok. To help me in my research, I read

and reviewed 6 scholarly articles. These secondary sources helped me in my research by

providing me with the proper knowledge about advertising, media tactics, and what roles these

play when it comes to consumer buying intention.

The secondary source by Azpeitia, “Social Media Marketing and its Effects on TikTok

Users,” talks about whether social media marketers were reaching their target audience

successfully by generating sales through TikTok. This research tells us whether advertisement

tactics work or not and do they generate enough sales. The author also performed a survey, and

the purpose of the questionnaire was to understand the relationship TikTok influencers have with

companies and TikTok users to get items to sell. The data supported the theory that TikTok does

hold many opportunities for businesses to market their products and reach their target audience.

Data shows that businesses should collaborate with TikTok influencers to sell their products as

some people do buy products that their favorite influencer might have recommended. The author

concludes that a business can build their relationship with consumers on social media by using

smart marketing tactics. A difference in this article compared to the others was that it talked

about the importance of a target audience. For example, if you want to sell Barbie dolls, your

target audience would be girls under the age of about 8, and not older women or boys. This is

important to remember when advertising something, make a plan before and determine your

appropriate target audience.

The secondary source by Haberland and Dacin, “The Development of a Measure to

Assess Viewers’ Judgments of the Creativity of an Advertisement: A Preliminary Study” talks

about the reaction of viewers when it comes to creative and less creative advertisements. The

author's arguments were to determine the best way to make a creative ad that gained a lot of
 Sud 5

views. The author used a questionnaire in his study and also asked his subjects to judge an ad on

a scale of 1-10 and measured the responses by seeing whether the ad made the viewer smile or

was it funny/serious, dry/entertaining. The data from the surveys can be used by companies to

choose the best advertising campaigns and what tactics to employ in their ads. This article helps

me in my research by explaining the importance of creativity in ads, and what techniques to use

to incite a positive emotion from the viewers. This article was different from the other articles as

it focused on the work that goes into advertising. Creativity in ads is important as you want

something bright and entertaining to catch the eye of the people.

The secondary source by Hirose and Step Guide, “The 2024 Guide to TikTok Marketing:

Tips, Examples, & Tools,” purpose is to explain to brands wanting to advertise on TikTok how

to start. This blog goes through a step-by-step process on how to create a business account, what

types of videos to post, how to reply to comments, etc. It also gives a few tips and tricks to

businesses such as using viral sounds or doing TikTok dances. This article is very helpful for

creators who need some starters on how to put their business out there. This article is also useful

to me, as it shows what tricks businesses on social media platforms use to advertise themselves.

The secondary source, “The Effect of Social Media Marketing TikTok and Product

Quality Towards Purchase Intention,” purpose is to determine the effect of social media

marketing and product quality on purchase intention. The author mentions how social media can

greatly influence responses to a brand and its products, increase consumer awareness, create

brand images, etc. She also talks about the importance of product quality, she notes that

consumers want attractive products with “aesthetic” packaging. The author argues that product

quality is very important as this is the first thing consumers consider when purchasing a product.

How aesthetic the packaging is, or how long the product can last, the brand, and the advertising
 Sud 6

are all important factors considered. She also argues that increasing awareness about the product

is essential. This will increase consumers’ interest in the product and get them to spread the word

about it which can drive up sales. This article helps me in my research by showing that product

quality is very important to consider when trying to sell a product. Overall, this source is

different from my other sources, because it talks about the importance of product quality, vs the

other articles which talked mostly about social media tactics. The paper tells us that the way a

product and its packaging look can determine a person’s decision to buy it.

The secondary source by Boxin, “Study on Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy

-- TikTok and Instagram” talks about the impact of social media marketing on platforms such as

TikTok and Instagram and how it affects consumer buying behaviors. The main argument is that

before brands employ a marketing strategy, they should research and dive deeper into what

products can go viral on social media. The more the product goes viral, the more consumers will

react to it, which will ultimately drive sales for the companies. The author also notes that it is

important that brands set out a decent budget for marketing so that their products gain proper

attention. The author concludes that sponsoring celebrities and influencers with a large following

is very important if they want their products to gain more attention. Her findings show the

amount of power and persuasion celebrities hold toward consumers. If the right tactics and

strategies are used, companies can sell out all their products. This article helps me in my research

by explaining the different tactics influencers use to gain the most views. All my sources had

one common goal, which was to determine what techniques should brands use to get the most

viewers and drive up their sales.

The secondary source by Rezek, “How Brands Go Viral: An Analysis of Successful

Brand Marketing on Tik Tok with Gen Z" purpose is to examine the relationship between
 Sud 7

Generation Z and TikTok. The data shown in this article shows that TikTok is highly used and

trusted by Gen Z, therefore companies who advertise their products on such platforms might

become successful. Gen Z spends most of their time on their phone, so this behavior is beneficial

for brands who want to use TikTok as their advertisement platform because if they use the right

tactics, they can gain popularity and get many sales. The author’s main argument was to see the

success of branding with Generation Z on TikTok vs other apps such as Instagram, Facebook.

The surveys and interviews conducted showed that many people use TikTok, and it was given a

high rating based on how many people would trust the platform and buy a product because of an

ad they saw. This tells us that if companies smartly use TikTok as an advertisement platform,

they can drive up their sales. This article is beneficial to my research because it shows the target

audience for TikTok advertisements and what tactics brands can use to gain Gen Z’s trust.

Methods

To begin my research, I first conducted some observations about ads on TikTok. TikTok

has a FYP or “For-You-Page” which is an algorithm that provides people with videos of their

interest. This algorithm is developed by people liking or commenting on certain videos. For

example, if I were to like videos about dogs and cats, my FYP would mostly show me videos

about dogs and cats. This FYP also has many ads, and this specifically is what I observed. My

observations were typed and I observed the ads for a week. I did this by scrolling normally

through TikTok, and if an ad popped up, I would record what tactic they used, any specific

things they did, and most importantly how did the viewers react to it. Most ads also had a link to

the TikTok shop, which is a shop that TikTok companies can use to sell their products. I went to

this shop and also recorded how many items the companies were able to sell.

Besides the observations, I also performed a short survey on UCF students. This survey
 Sud 8

was a very important method, as it gave me a deeper insight on how people feel about ads on

TikTok. I sent out the google form on GroupMe chats, discord servers and Snapchat stories that

contained only UCF students. I received 49 responses in all, though not every question received

exactly 49 responses, some were less or more than others. My questions that I asked are listed

below:

● Do you use TikTok?

● How long have you been using TikTok for?

● Do you know about the TikTok shop?

● How likely are you to purchase something from the TikTok shop?

● If you have purchased an item on TikTok, what has motivated you to do so?

● What do you like and dislike about the ads you see on TikTok?

● If you can think of any, what is one TikTok account (brand, company, etc) that you think

has good TikTok content, and why?

● How likely are you to recommend the TikTok shop to someone else?

When sending out the google form, I also made sure that everything was kept anonymous, and

no personal information was asked. It is very important that participants are participating

voluntarily and that their private information is being kept private. The questions I asked were a

mixture of long and short free responses, yes/no questions, scale-based questions and multiple

choice. I made sure to ask a variety of questions so that I could receive the most accurate data,

and also avoid any biases or vague questions. My data that I received was then organized in pie

charts and bar graphs so that I could made the most appropriate conclusions.
 Sud 9

Results

I received 49 responses in about 10 days. I sent out a total of 9 questions. Some of my

questions received fewer responses than the others, but overall there was a similar theme in the

answers. Some people haven’t even heard of the TikTok shop or some people don’t even use

TikTok. The ones who do use TikTok said that they have purchased a few products from the

shop. 29 out of 47 responses showed that people are very little likely to purchase a product from

the shop. The people who did purchase an item explained that they did so because of someone

promoting the product and complimenting it, or that the product was cheap. Some people even

said that the product was trending on TikTok and that they wanted to try it out. Other responses

said that they were browsing the shop when a product caught their eye, and a few other responses

read that the product was cheaper on TikTok, had good reviews, and was highly rated.

I also asked a question about what people liked and disliked about the ads. Most people

were frustrated over the amount of ads that pop up and how similar they are to other ads. They

said that the ads are boring, repetitive, mindless, etc. Some things they liked about the ads were

that they used popular songs or participated in popular trends. Some people also said that the ad

was relatable to them. Some responses also said that they believe the TikTok shop is a scam and

shouldn’t be used. One response even read that someone’s bank account was hacked after buying

a product from the TikTok shop. 28/47 responses showed that on a scale of 1-5, they are 1(very

less likely) to recommend the TikTok shop.

Another question I asked was what TikTok page they like. Most people responded

Duolingo, because of its funny mascot, Scrub Daddy, because they have a unique way of

showcasing their products. Other responses included popular TikTok influencers such as Monet

McMichael, Nmillz, Fannita. These creators are funny and make relatable content that many
 Sud 10

people enjoy.

Lastly, I also performed observations on the app, and my results were very similar to the

responses of my Google Form. My observations showed that funny and relatable videos received

many more likes than generic advertisements. My observations also showed that creators who

were famous such as Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, ScrubDaddy, Sofia Richie received many

likes, comments and reshares. People seemed to enjoy their content or what they were

promoting. Other videos with regular people promoting products also did fairly well. Their

comments were also positive and influenced people to buy the product.

Conclusion

My conclusion is that videos that participate in famous trends and are relatable and funny

do better in selling the product than ads that are too repetitive and boring. My conclusions and

results may vary for each person since the TikTok fyp is specific for each person. What might

come on my feed may not appear on someone else’s. But, the theme overall is the same, positive

and amusing ads do better in catching viewers’ attention. I don’t feel that my topic calls for extra

research since I conclude that the final answer will remain the same, though advertising and

marketing strategies should be researched more since it is such a broad area and has so much

more to it. Overall, when researching my topic, “What tactics do advertisements on social media

sites such as TikTok use to gain attention,” I was able to easily conclude and there weren’t any

such limitations or difficulties I faced.

 Sud 11

Works Cited

Azpeitia, Janell. “Social Media Marketing and its Effects on TikTok Users.” Theseus,

Opinnäytetyöt (Avoin kokoelma), 1 Jan. 1970,

http://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/494757.

Haberland, Gabriele S., and Peter A. Dacin. “The Development of a Measure to Assess Viewers’

Judgments of the Creativity of an Advertisement: A Preliminary Study.” Advances in

Consumer Research, vol. 19, no. 1, Jan. 1992, pp. 817–25. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,shib&db=buh&AN=9301106618&site=eh

Hirose, Alyssa, and Step Guide. “The 2024 Guide to TikTok Marketing: Tips, Examples, &

Tools.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, Hootsuite, 8 Feb. 2024,

blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-marketing/#How_to_get_started_with_TikTok_marketing.

MeliawatiT., GeraldS. C., and Akhmad Edhy Aruman. “The Effect of Social Media Marketing

TikTok and Product Quality Towards Purchase Intention ”. Journal of Consumer

Sciences, Vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2023, pp. 77-92, doi:10.29244/jcs.8.1.77-92.

Mou, Jessie Boxin. “Study on Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy -- TikTok and

Instagram.” Study on Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy -- TikTok and

Instagram, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1 Jan. 1970,

dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/127010.

Rezek, Alyssa, "How Brands Go Viral: An Analysis of Successful Brand Marketing on Tik Tok

with Gen Z" (2022). Honors Theses. 2645.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2645

 Sud 12

Appendices

The pictures below represent how some of my data was organized. There are pie charts,

bar graphs and long answer questions. This is how I was able to analyze my results and make my

conclusions.
Sud 13
 Sud 14

The notes below are a few pictures of the observations that I made when studying the

TikTok ads on my fyp. Keep in mind, the notes are made about the advertisements shown on my

fyp. This might be different from someone else’s; this is because TikTok makes sure that

whatever is shown on your page is relevant to you. This is also why you might be seeing some

ads more often than others, for example, you search for makeup brushes on TikTok and as you

scroll through TikTok, five ads pop up advertising makeup brushes.

The words highlighted in yellow show how many likes the videos received or how many

products were sold. Video with famous/important people such as “Duolingo” and Sofia Richie

received likes in the hundreds of thousands to a million. Video with “normal” people received a

few ten thousand likes. However, all the videos promoted the companies, had positive comments

and were eventually able to influence people to purchase the specific product.
Sud 15
 Sud 16

Below are a few pictures of some videos and how they appear on a fyp.

The picture above shows Duolingo’s green mascot. It is participating in a very popular

trend, and the video has received 6.2 M likes. The reshares on the video are about 117.5K, and

many people have also favorited and commented on the video. Because the video shows the

mascot saying that he is sad people ignore his notifications on the Duolingo app, many people in

the comments are replying that they are sorry or that they will get right back to studying on the

app.
 Sud 17

The video above shows a dentist explaining how to use a water flosser to removed tonsil

stones. The likes are 1.4 M.

 Sud 18

This video shows how to use a wrap maker. The creator explains that she bought this

product from TikTok shop and that she loves it. She also linked the company’s TikTok username

so that people can easily click on it and reach the company’s page.