As AI reshapes search, TikTok turns discovery into a performance pitch

TikTok’s argument is that discovery on its platform endures because it moves faster, compared to other platforms. A user will search for a product, be inundated with related creator content, see comments and make a purchase, more often than not within the same app session. That process is being increasingly identified internally as a “collapsed funnel,” where discovery, consideration and conversion happen at the same time.

It’s this “deep affection”, Sita-Lumsden argued, that drives conversion, which ultimately underpins TikTok’s full-funnel argument. Because the more searches that take place on the platform leads to more discovery, which ultimately strengthens TikTok’s pitch for more performance ad dollars. It’s an ambition the platform made explicit when it launched Smart+, its automated buying tool built to rival Meta’s Advantage+.

“We’ve seen budget shift towards TikTok where it has demonstrated an ability to drive lower-funnel outcomes, particularly in categories where product discovery and purchase intent happen close together,” said Mark Byrne, director of paid performance at Brave Bison. “In practice, more of that budget has tended to come from Google than Meta.”

It’s a small but telling shift in how TikTok sits on more media plans. 

“We’re seeing clients test TikTok as a complement to search particularly for categories where intent signals on TikTok are strong,” said Jellyfish’s chief solutions officer, media activation, Jai Amin. “The full-funnel story is most compelling when we stop asking ‘is TikTok a performance channel?’ and start asking ‘what does performance look like specifically on TikTok and what is TikTok’s role in our objectives?’”

Despite making this case for years — and building products like Smart+ and GMV Max, its AI-powered campaign tools for TikTok and TikTok Shop — TikTok still finds itself having to convince a lot of marketers that it is as much a performance platform as a brand one.

“The biggest misconception is that we are just a brand platform and not a performance platform,” said Sita-Lumsden.

As she put it, TikTok is the “victim of its own success”, having built such a strong reputation around cultural relevance, trends and brand building, that its performance capabilities have been somewhat overshadowed.

“If a brand thinks TikTok is just brand awareness, they must be stuck in 2020,” said Shamsul Chowdhury, svp paid social at Zeno Group.

Which is one reason TikTok is launching a new global campaign, “TikTok Funnel HQ”, built around fictional “chief funnel officers”, as a way to demonstrate the breadth of TikTok’s ad products across the full marketing funnel.

The campaign aims to drive home the point that TikTok is more than a brand awareness platform, highlighting how discovery, consideration and conversion happen within a single app experience, while showcasing its advertiser suite of tools available across the funnel.

“We’ll be communicating the breadth of measurement products that we have plugged into our performance products, and how marketers are able to effectively track ROAS,” said Sita-Lumsden.