Spent $500 on a 'viral' TikTok ad package and got maybe 3 sales

The agency promised a million views but the traffic was all bots from click farms. Anyone know a legit way to actually reach people on that platform?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscark152mo ago

See this happen all the time, and it reminds me of buying cheap tools. You pay for a shiny promise but get a broken product that does no real work. The platform is crowded with these services selling empty numbers instead of actual people. In my experience, you have to ignore the big view promises and just talk to one real person at a time in the comments of posts you genuinely like. It's slow and feels small, but that's how you find the real customers who actually want what you're selling.

tarareed2mo ago

Reminds me of when my uncle bought a fancy riding lawnmower from a late night TV ad. Looked amazing in the commercial, showed up in a box with half the bolts missing and a motor that sounded like a dying animal. He spent more time trying to fix it than he ever did mowing. The shiny promise is always the trap.

abby_martin281mo ago

The click farm problem is real and it kills your account's algorithm score too. Once TikTok figures out you're getting bot traffic it actually punishes your future reach. @tarareed's lawnmower story is exactly right - the flashy promises always hide the broken parts underneath. You have to treat TikTok like a networking event instead of a billboard. Lurk in comment sections of accounts your actual customers follow. Answer questions genuinely and link your product only when someone directly asks what you use. It takes weeks instead of hours but those sales stick around and bring referrals.