Video Ad Hack: How to Use TikTok Trends to Boost Your “Stop Rate”

Today, I’m sharing a simple yet surprisingly effective trick to help boost your video ad results on Facebook, Instagram and other marketing platforms. 

It’s a quick tactic that anybody can use to refresh stale ad creative and create attention-grabbing video intros.

(This tip comes from my pal Ryan McKenzie during one of our Blue Ribbon Mastermind calls, so I hope you enjoy this sneak peek into my group for 7, 8 and 9-figure brands that are looking to scale to the next level.)

In this post, you’ll learn how to:

  • Refresh your video ads without producing all-new creative
  • Increase your ad “stop rate” to halt scrollers in their tracks
  • Leverage popular TikTok trends to boost your ad engagement 

Struggling with Facebook Ads? You’re not Alone.

POV: You’ve been struggling with Facebook Ads lately. Maybe it comes in the form of creeping CPAs… or dwindling conversion rates… or maybe you’re having trouble reaching your desired spend while remaining profitable.

Either way, you’re not alone. A lot of people are having trouble with Facebook Ads right now.

Obviously I can’t look through a crystal ball to see what might be holding your specific campaigns back, but I CAN give you a quick strategy that can help improve your results — especially with video ads.

The strategy involves a way of getting more people to stop scrolling and check out the first few seconds of your video. 

We call this your ad stop rate.

Why is this metric so important? Because you can have a great ad and an even better product, but if users don’t stop scrolling to consume your message, then it doesn’t mean squat! 

A Goldmine of Attention-grabbing Video Intros

If you want to improve your ad stop rate, here’s a quick tip: nobody does a better job of creating attention-grabbing video intros than the content creators on TikTok.

Here’s a simple 3-step process you can use to leverage popular TikTok trends to  create better video ads:

  • Step 1: Pick one of your existing video ads that’s already working. That’s right, you don’t need to create a brand-new video here. Instead, you’re just going to add a new 3-second intro to hook more users as they’re scrolling.
  • Step 2: Go to TikTok, search for topics in your market that will be relevant to your audience, and browse the top trending videos. Find an ad (or several ads) with a lot of engagement and a compelling opening.
  • Step 3: Copy the opening (most have a really low production level, so it should be easy), and stick it onto the front of your video ad. This can give you creative a quick refresh and bump up your ad stop rate.

And that’s it! This is so easy that you can even test a few different openings. You might be surprised how a really great opening hook can transform your ad results.

Let’s See That Trick in Action

Now that you know how it works, let’s give it a try.

Ryan McKenzie (who brought this trick up on the Mastermind call) is the Co-founder and CMO of Tru Earth, a brand of eco-friendly laundry strips. So in his honor, let’s search for some example videos with a topic around “laundry” or “laundry detergent.”

Here are few videos that caught my eye:

Video #1: What the Heck is That?

This video immediately caught my eye because of how bizarre it looks. I’m pretty sure no washing machine is ever supposed to look like that — and I’m sure a lot of people stop scrolling when they see this opening just to find out what the heck is going on here:

I don’t know that I would be too eager to recreate this exact oatmeal detergent situation in my personal washing machine…

But I could definitely imagine a video opening with a few seconds of a strange-looking laundry setup that would pique a person’s curiosity.

Video #2: The Viral Product

TikTok is known for launching certain products to bestseller status, and when I searched for laundry products, it was happening again with a laundry detergent called Enchanted Rouge that apparently smells great.
When this happens, you tend to see a handful of creators posting about the same product. This was no different. I saw at least 3 videos of this detergent, like this one:

Now, there’s no proven formula to make your products go viral. But you could create ads that help give the same impression of virality by focusing on native content delivered by a variety of different speakers.

Video #3: POV: Do Laundry with Me

It didn’t take much scrolling to spot a trend with all these “POV: Do laundry with me”-type videos. Each one has a slightly different take, but in each case, the appeal comes from getting a sneak peek into someone’s life.

This particular video caught people’s attention because of the fancy washing machine that can do two loads at once:

This would be an easy topic to create some interesting openings. The more unique the situation, the greater the curiosity factor: doing laundry in an unusual place, cleaning a rare sort of stain, that sort of thing.

*     *     *     *     *   

And that, my friends, is my easy trick to help your video ad results by improving your ad stop rates. 

Give it a try in your campaigns, and don’t be afraid to try something completely different from the videos you’ve run in the past.

Thanks for reading!

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