Instead of following standard performance marketing playbooks, Ladder's CEO learned TikTok from scratch. He treated it like a trading desk, making 7-10 budget changes a day—a strategy that baffled even TikTok's own team but proved highly effective by challenging established platform heuristics.
Actively coach the algorithm by following top creators in your niche, engaging with their viral content, and marking irrelevant videos as "not interested." Within minutes, your feed will transform into a curated stream of high-performing content ideas to model for your own channel.
Unlocking TikTok at scale requires an immense volume of ad creatives. Palta's growth machine produces around 1,000 creatives weekly, not by inventing new ideas, but by systematically creating permutations of proven hooks, bodies, and CTAs. Static images are a key, cost-effective part of this strategy.
Platforms like TikTok have shifted the paradigm where success is tied to each post's individual merit, not the creator's follower base. A single viral video can generate massive reach and sales, even if other posts have low engagement, a trend now adopted by LinkedIn, YouTube, and others.
Don't waste money testing ad creative from scratch. First, post content organically across platforms. When a piece performs exceptionally well, use that as a clear signal to put paid advertising spend behind it. The algorithm and audience have already validated its appeal, de-risking your ad budget.
Social platforms want to acquire new advertisers. By boosting your best-performing organic posts with micro-budgets (even just $5), you can achieve disproportionately large reach as platforms "make it rip" to encourage future spending. Don't boost underperforming content.
Frame marketing strategy not as managing channels, but as "day-trading attention." Identify platforms where user attention is high but advertising costs are low due to a lack of saturation from major brands. This arbitrage opportunity allows smaller players to achieve outsized results before the market corrects.
Instead of large ad spends, marketers can achieve disproportionately high reach by applying very small budgets—as little as $5 on YouTube—to boost organic posts that are already showing traction. This tactic is effective across multiple platforms.
To succeed on TikTok, Ladder's team obsessively analyzed their winning organic content on whiteboards, breaking down every variable: the hook, the creator's clothing, the gym setting, the specific words used. This deep qualitative analysis was crucial for understanding what the algorithm would amplify.
Standard top-of-funnel campaigns like "video views" often target low-quality audiences that Facebook's algorithm has already identified as non-buyers. True top-of-funnel marketing requires a unique method for capturing attention, like viral TikTok content or major creator partnerships.
Unlike platforms with longer content shelf lives, TikTok's algorithm needs a constant stream of new videos on popular topics. This creates an opportunity for new creators to succeed by identifying and producing content that fills this immediate, algorithm-driven demand.