"Should we be on TikTok?" is one of the questions we hear most. The honest answer is that it depends on who you sell to, what you sell and what kind of content you can make. Both Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok can bring in customers profitably. They just get there in different ways.
If your budget only allows one platform to start with, here is how we help clients choose.
Who are you trying to reach?
Start with your customers, not the platform. Meta reaches a very wide range of ages and is especially strong for audiences over 30. TikTok skews younger, although its audience has broadened a lot.
Look at who actually buys from you today. If most of your customers are business owners, parents or professionals over 35, Meta is usually the safer first test. If they are students and young adults, TikTok deserves a serious look.
What kind of content can you make?
This is often the deciding factor.
- TikTok rewards native-looking vertical video: real people, quick hooks, trends and an unpolished feel. Ads that look like ads tend to be skipped.
- Meta works with a wider range of formats, including images, carousels, short video and longer video, and polished creative can still perform well.
If you can regularly film short, authentic videos, TikTok becomes much more realistic. If you mainly have product photos and designed graphics, start with Meta.
Can you produce at least four new short videos a month? If not, TikTok ads will be hard to sustain, because creative tires quickly there.
How do people buy what you sell?
Impulse buys and visual products, such as fashion, beauty, food and gadgets, often do well on TikTok. Considered purchases and services, such as education, healthcare, property and B2B services, usually do better on Meta, where lead forms, retargeting and detailed audiences make it easier to nurture people over time.
How mature is your tracking?
Both platforms optimise best when they receive accurate conversion data. Meta's tools are more established, and its pixel and Conversions API are well supported by most website platforms. TikTok's tracking has improved a lot, but it can take more work to set up properly.
Whichever you choose, set up conversion tracking before spending, or the platform will optimise for clicks instead of customers.
Our usual recommendation
For most businesses that are new to paid social, we suggest starting with Meta. It is more forgiving of different creative types, reaches a broad audience, and has strong lead and retargeting tools.
We add TikTok when the audience is younger, the product is visual, and the business can keep up a steady supply of short video. For some brands, TikTok becomes the stronger channel within a few months.
"The best platform is the one where your customers already spend time and where you can keep making content that fits."
How to run a fair test
If you want to test both, give each one a fair chance:
- use the same budget and the same goal on each platform;
- make creative that suits each one, rather than reusing the same ad;
- run the test for at least three to four weeks;
- compare cost per lead or cost per sale, not clicks or views.
What to do next
List who your customers are, what content you can make and how they buy. In most cases the answer to "Meta or TikTok?" becomes clear quickly.
If you would like an outside view, our free audit includes a recommendation on which channels to prioritise for your business.
Mountics is a digital marketing agency in Kathmandu, Nepal. We write about the paid ads, SEO, social and conversion work we do in client accounts every week.