Solved: Increase USA Viewership on Automotive TikTok Content

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I saw your post and it's a common problem a lot of creators face when they're starting out on a new platform. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance from my experience running paid advertising campaigns. It's a bit of a long one, but I wanted to be thorough for you.

We'll need to look at who you're really trying to reach...

First off, it's good you're thinking about the US market. For automotive content, it's massive and you're right not to want to miss out on it. But "the USA" is a huge, diverse audience. The key thing before you even think about ads or strategy is to get really specific about who your ideal viewer is. Is it a teenager in California obsessed with Japanese import cars? A middle-aged guy in Texas who loves classic American muscle? A track day enthusiast in Florida?

The more specific you can get with this "viewer persona," the easier everything else becomes. Think about:

-> What car brands do they love?
-> What other YouTube channels or TV shows (like Top Gear or The Grand Tour) do they watch?
-> What magazines or blogs do they read?
-> What events do they go to (like car meets or specific race series)?

Thinking about this first is so important because it dictates the kind of content you should make and, crucially, how you target your ads later on. You want to speak directly to a specific community first, get a foothold, and then expand. Trying to appeal to everyone at once usually means you appeal to no one. It's a classic mistake I see a lot of brands make. They just want "more views" but they haven't thought about who those views should come from to actually build a loyal community.

This also ties into your goal. Right now it seems to be getting more views, which is a good start. But is the ultimate goal to grow your TikTok following, drive subscribers to your YouTube channel, or something else? Your main objective will change what kind of campaigns you run and how you measure success. For example, a campaign to get video views is very different, and usually cheaper, than a campaign designed to get someone to leave TikTok and subscribe to you on YouTube. We'll need to be clear on that to set things up properly.

I'd say you need to think beyond the organic algorithm...

What you're seeing with your viewership being 95% from Canada is perfectly normal for a new account. TikTok's organic algorithm is trying to figure you out. It sees you're in Canada, so it pushes your content to other Canadians first to see how they react. It's a black box, really, and trying to 'game' it can be a frustrating and unpredictable process. You might post one video that hits the US audience by pure luck, and the next ten go right back to just Canadians.

This is where paid advertising comes in. It takes the guesswork out of it. Instead of hoping the algorithm shows your video to Americans, you can pay to force it to show your video to a very specific group of Americans that you've defined. It's about control and predictability.

Of course, the downside is that it costs money. But it gets you results quickly and, more importantly, it gives you data. You can see exactly which videos resonate with your US target audience, what hooks them in, and what makes them watch until the end. This is information you can then feed back into your organic content strategy. I've seen it time and time again with clients; a small, smart investment in paid ads can massively accelerate the growth of your organic presence because you learn what works so much faster.

I remember a campaign for a luxury brand launch where the objective was to get as many views as possible for their new product. We used Meta ads to generate over 10 million views. We couldn't have achieved that by just posting organically and hoping for the best. We had to be deliberate about who saw the content, and paid ads was the only way to guarentee that.

You probably should focus on the right ad platforms...

You're already on TikTok and Instagram, which is great. Both have powerful advertising platforms. Given your situation, here's how I'd think about them:

TikTok Ads: This is the most obvious place to start. You're creating short-form content for the platform anyway, so you already have the creative. You can run campaigns with the simple objective of getting more video views, and you can target those views specifically to users in the USA based on their interests (cars, specific brands, other creators, etc.). This is the most direct solution to your problem of breaking into the US market.

Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram): Don't neglect this. You have an Instagram account, so you can run ads there and on Facebook. The targeting options on Meta's platform are incredibly detailed, sometimes even more so than on TikTok for specific niches. You could, for instance, target people who are members of specific car club groups on Facebook, or who follow certain automotive pages on Instagram. It's a great way to find highly engaged communities. I've worked on many campaigns where Meta ads were the main driver of growth. I recall a B2B software client where we got 4,622 registrations just from Meta ads, which shows how powerful it can be when you get the targeting right.

I remember working with a software client in the sports and events space. They needed to get a massive number of signups quickly. We used a mix of Meta, TikTok, Apple, and Google Ads to get them over 45,000 signups at under £2 per signup. The point is, different platforms reached different segments of their audience. For you, starting with TikTok ads to solve your immediate problem makes sense, but scaling on Meta is probably your next step to really grow the YouTube channel.

You'll need to get your targeting spot on...

This is the most important part of making paid ads work. Bad targeting means you're just showing your cool car videos to people who don't care about cars, and that's just a waste of money. Here’s how I would structure your approach, thinking about it like a sales funnel but for viewers. This is a structure we use for almost every client, from eCommerce stores to software companies, and it works because it matches the ad to where the person is in their journey with you.

1. Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Finding New US Viewers:
This is your cold audience. These are people in the US who have never heard of you. Your goal here is just to get your videos in front of them and get them to watch. You'll do this using 'Detailed Targeting'.

The trick is to be specific. As I mentioned, targeting a broad interest like "Cars" is a bad idea. It's too big. You'll reach mums driving minivans and people who just happen to like a car page ten years ago. You need to layer interests to find the real enthusiasts. Think about what only a true car nut would be interested in. For example:

You would create a few different ad sets, each testing a different 'theme' of interests. One could be focused on media brands, another on performance car brands. After running them for a week or so, you'll see which audience is giving you the cheapest views and the highest watch time. You then turn off the losers and put more budget behind the winners. It's a constant process of refinment.

2. Middle of Funnel (MoFu) - Re-engaging People Who've Watched:
This audience is made up of people who have already seen one of your ads but haven't followed you or subscribed yet. They are 'warm'. They know who you are. Your goal here is to get them to take the next step, like visiting your TikTok profile or watching another video. You do this with 'Retargeting'.

You'd create custom audiences of people who have, for example:

• -> Watched 50% or more of one of your video ads in the last 30 days.
• -> Engaged with any of your ads (liked, commented, shared) in the last 60 days.

To this audience, you might show a different kind of ad. Maybe it's your absolute best video, or one that specifically asks them to check out your profile for more content like it.

3. Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) - Driving Subscriptions:
This is your 'hot' audience. These are the people most likely to become a proper fan. They've watched your stuff, they've maybe even clicked on your profile. The goal here is to convert them into a YouTube subscriber or an Instagram follower. This is often the smallest but most valuable audience.

Your BoFu custom audiences would include people who have:

• -> Visited your TikTok profile in the last 14 days.
• -> Clicked the link in your bio in the last 30 days.

The ads you show them need a very clear Call to Action, like "New video just dropped on YouTube - Tap to watch now!" or "Follow on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content". Because you're asking them to leave the app, these clicks will be more expensive, which is why you only want to show these ads to your most engaged viewers.

We'll need to think about what 'success' looks like and what it might cost...

This is the question everyone asks: "what will it cost me?" The honest answer is, it depends. But I can give you some ballparke figures based on what we see across thousands of campaigns. For you, a 'conversion' isn't a sale, it's more like a 'signup' or a 'lead' in traditional marketing terms. It could be a new follower, or someone clicking through to your YouTube. These are generaly cheaper than getting someone to buy something.

Let's look at the maths for a developed country like the USA, using figures I see regularly. Costs are in pounds here as I'm in the UK, but the numbers are very similar for USD.

The cost per click (CPC) on platforms like TikTok and Meta in a country like the US often falls between £0.50 and £1.50. This is the cost for someone to simply tap on your ad.

From that click, you need them to take an action, like following your profile. A decent conversion rate (the percentage of people who click and then follow) would be somewhere between 10% and 30%. It's a wide range because it depends heavily on how good your profile looks and how compelling your ad was.

So, if we do the maths, your Cost Per Follower (or Cost Per Action - CPA) could look like this:

As you can see, there's a huge potential range. A well-optimised campaign with great creative and sharp targeting will be at the lower end. A poorly set up one will be at the higher end, or even worse. This is why professional management makes such a difference. I remember a client, a medical job matching SaaS, where we reduced their cost per user acquisition from £100 to £7. That was achieved through a methodical process of testing and optimisation, not by luck.

I’d usually recommend a starting test budget of around $1,000-$2,000 per month. That's enough to gather meaningful data on what's working without breaking the bank. From there, you scale what's working.

I'd say you have to test and optimise constantly...

Running ads is not a 'set it and forget it' activity. It's a constant cycle of testing, learning, and optimising. Your goal should always be to lower your costs while increasing the quality of your viewers.

The main thing you'll be testing is your creative. That means your videos. For every one video you post organically, you should be prepared to test 3-5 different versions of it as an ad. You could test:

• -> Different hooks in the first 3 seconds (this is the most important part).
• -> Different music or text overlays.
• -> Different captions or calls to action.

You also need to watch your metrics like a hawk. Where are people dropping off? If you're getting a lot of clicks (a high Click-Through Rate or CTR) but very few followers, it might mean your ad is great but your TikTok profile page isn't convincing enough when people land on it. If you have a very low CTR, it probably means your video ad itself isn't grabbing attention in the feed. You have to diagnose the problem to find the solution. This is something we do for all our clients, from eCommerce brands to B2B services. The principles are always the same. I recall a home cleaning company where we managed to get their cost per lead down to just £5 by relentlessly optimising their ads and landing page. It's this process that gets results.

This whole process can seem like a lot, and honestly, it is. It's a full-time job for many. But breaking into a market as valuable as the US for your niche is definatly worth the effort. It's the difference between having a small, local channel and building a proper, global automotive media brand.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. As you can probably tell, it's about understanding your audience, building a proper strategy, creating compelling ads, and constantly fine-tuning everything based on data. It requires a lot of expertise and, just as importantly, a lot of time to manage properly.

This is where working with a professional can make a huge difference. We can help you build the strategy, implement the campaigns, and manage the entire optimisation process for you, making sure every pound or dollar you spend is working as hard as it possibly can to grow your channel.

If you'd like to chat through this in more detail, we offer a free initial consultation where we can look at your channels and discuss a potential strategy. Feel free to get in touch if that sounds helpful.

Hope that helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh