9 Ways to Use the TikTok Ad Library to Make Better Ads (2024)

Sorry, reading nerds: this is no ordinary library. TikTok’s Ad Library, part of the TikTok Creative Center, is an excellent resource for advertising on TikTok. Using the Ad Library, you can get inspiration from successful ads, learn more about popular songs, hashtags and keywords, and compare your content to the best of the best.

Let’s go. Read quietly, this is a library after all.

What is TikTok Creative Center (a.k.a. TikTok’s ad library)?

The TikTok Creative Center is a resource for businesses and creators who advertise or are looking to advertise on TikTok. The Ad Library and Top Ads Dashboard are the main parts of the Creative Center.

On this platform, anyone with a TikTok Business Account can access analytics on top-performing ads, songs, hashtags and products, plus keyword insights, creative strategies, marketing tools, and an audio library.

How to use the TikTok ad library to make your ads better

1. Get creative inspiration from top ads

Being able to see the most successful ads on Tiktok in real time is one of the most useful parts of the TikTok Creative Center.

You can search top-performing ads and filter by country, industry, and objective (examples of objectives are video views, product sales, or app installs) and also by likes, video length, and date posted.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

For example, this is a search for the highest-reaching “Cooking & Recipes” ads in Canada in the last 7 days.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

And here’s a search of the ads with the most conversions in Japan in the “Pets” category, posted in the last 30 days.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

Because there are so many ways to filter what kinds of ads you’re seeing, there are endless possibilities for inspiration. Take a scroll through the top ads and note which ones grab you. There might be a certain trending song, camera angle, transition technique or goofy filter that you want to use in your own ads.

2. Spy on your competitors

Thanks to those nifty filters, the TikTok Ad Library makes it easy to see the most successful ads in your specific industry. That means that you can see what the pros are doing (and hopefully, use the same strategies to improve the performance of your own ads).

For example, say you are the owner of a beauty brand (say it!) and your number one goal is to get American TikTokkers to buy your newly launched product. Simply use the appropriate filters in the TikTok Ad Library…

Source:TikTok Creative Center

And you can see exactly the kind of ads that find success in your specific industry. These are your competitors (respectfully) and their tactics are working—see what you can learn from them to create your own successful ads.

Hot tip: Get inspo from your competitors, but don’t copy them directly. Put your own brand’s twist on it or risk getting #cancelled (or, you know, having your own personal ethical dilemma).

3. Compare your stats to other ads

Time to ignore that self-help podcast you’ve been listening to: sometimes, it’s good to compare yourself to others. First, check on your own ads via TikTok analytics, then see how they measure up to the top-performing ads in your industry and region.

From the main Ad Library page, you can hover over any TikTok and click See analytics for more details.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

When comparing yourself to other brands, make sure to not get bogged down by certain metrics (for example, like count). An ad that was made by a huge brand or a super popular creator will almost always have more likes than an ad created by a small brand or micro-influencer.

Engagement is more important than sheer number of likes and comments: what percentage of the people seeing your video are actually interacting with it, or buying what you’re selling?

Source: TikTok Creative Center

The above ad for Subway has over 15 thousand likes, but also has a good click-through rate (in the top 30% of the industry average), which is the percentage of viewers who clicked on the ad.

4. Save the most inspiring ads to a Collection

TikToks are notoriously difficult to locate once you’ve scrolled past them. So, as you’re perusing the TikTok Ad Library and getting life-altering inspo for your social media marketing, make sure you save the best ads to your Collections.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

To save an ad from the TikTok Ad Library to your Collections, tap on the star icon in the top right corner of the video. From there, you can save the video to a current collection or create a new Collection.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

To find your saved TikTok Ads, go to the profile icon in the top right corner of the Creative Center and click My Collections.

5. Find sounds for TikTok commercial use

We hate to be the blog that breaks this to you, but here’s an annoying truth: there are only certain sounds that TikTok allows brands to use in ads (or as the platform officially defines it, “marketing, advertising, sponsorships, endorsem*nts or publicity”).

Don’t waste time designing an ad around a song that isn’t approved for commercial use: instead, use the Creative Center for a complete library of all songs that can be used in ads.

To access this library, go to the menu at the top of the Creative Center, select Audio Library and then Music.

6. Discover trending songs

From the main TikTok Creative Center page, go to Trending and then Songs to see which tunes are the most popular on TikTok.

Note: This is a list of all trending songs on the platform, not just the ones that are approved for commercial use. (Hold tight, we’ll explain why this is important).

Source: TikTok Creative Center

You can view both the most popular and breakout (“growing at a significant rate”) songs, and filter them by country and by time period. Click See analytics to get more information about each trending song.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

On that same page, you can also learn more about the audience range and related interests for that song…

Source: TikTok Creative Center

…and see which regions the song is most popular in.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

Now, most of TikTok’s trending songs won’t be approved for commercial use—and that means that you can’t use them in ads. So does this make the Trending Songs section totally useless?

Source: TikTok Creative Center

No. Because the TikTok gods kindly offer “similar ready-to-use music” (AKA songs that are approved for commercial use) so you can get the same vibe. You may not be able to use the exact trending song, but you can use songs like it in your TikTok ad.

7. Learn about top keywords

Just like trending songs, you can use the Ad Library to find the top keywords on Tiktok. To see keyword insights, go to the Creative Center’s top menu, select Inspiration and then Keyword Insights.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

You can filter keywords by region, industry, objective, keyword type and time frame, and get more information about each keyword by hitting the Details button.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

Those details include keyword insights like examples, how they’re used, click-through rates and related videos.

Note what the top keywords are and incorporate them into your ads whenever you can.

8. Use the best hashtags

The TikTok Creative Center gathers all of the top-performing hashtags in one place (find them by going to Trends in the top menu and then selecting Hashtags. Just like songs and keywords, you can filter by region, industry and time posted.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

To learn more about each hashtag, click See analytics. For example, here are some metrics on #nostalgia.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

In the analytics section, you can see how much that keyword has been used in a certain region or time frame.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

You can also see the age range that the hashtag is popular with (unrelated, but it’s funny that “nostalgia” is most popular with the youngest demographic, who arguably have the least to be nostalgic about) and related interests.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

Hashtag insights also show you regional popularity.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

And finally, hashtag insights recommend related hashtags and creators who have posted using that hashtag.

Using this information, you can find the best hashtags for your industry and brand—and get some inspiration from creators who are getting it right.

9. Find top products

In early 2023, TikTok introduced a new feature to the Creative Center. The Top Products page shows trending products that can be filtered by country, category and time frame.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

From the above, we can see that products like perfume, trousers and headphones are all trending on the app. Scroll a bit to the right and see metrics on likes, shares, comments and impressions.

Now, getting stats on the top products in your region doesn’t mean you need to create the products (and social media trends move so fast, it’s likely that by the time you made the product, it wouldn’t be trendy anymore, anyway) but you can use this information to decide what kind of ad to make.

@meicrosoft

Passionate, sensual and more intense than ever ~ Scandal Le Parfum. Dressed in red with the iconic legs. One of my V-Day favourites! @JeanPaulGaultier @The Bay #bescandal #jpgpartner

♬ Drift Night – Alfianie

This might be a great week to make an ad for your brand’s headphones, even if they’re an older product. Or maybe you want to provide styling tips for trousers. Or promote that photoshoot you did with a perfume brand.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

If you click on the Details button on the right side of your screen, you can see more information and creative insights about the specific product, including the click through rate, conversions, impressions and likes, plus the total amount of money that has been spent on ads for that specific product.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

If you’re not sure what a specific metric means, hover over the question mark for more information.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

In the Audience Insights tab, you can also learn more about the audience for a specific product, including their age range and related interests.

Source: TikTok Creative Center

TikTok ad library FAQs

Is there an ad library for TikTok?

There is! The TikTok ad library, otherwise known as the TikTok Creative Center or Top Ads, allows you to see the most successful ads on the platform. You can also search for ads by region, and get inspiration for ads of your own.

How do I access the TikTok ad library?

In order to access the Creative Center, you need to first have a TikTok Business account. Once you do, go to ads.tiktok.com on a desktop computer or tablet to launch the Creative Center and access the TikTok ad library.

How do I find top TikTok ads?

You can find top TikTok ads in TikTok’s Creative Center, located at ads.tiktok.com. From the home page, hover over Inspiration, then select Top Ads Dashboard to see top-performing ads.

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