TikTok’s added a new goal for its Promote ads, which is its own version of Meta’s “Boost” option, with brands now able to optimize for DMs from potential customers via third-party messaging apps, and not just the TikTok inbox.

As you can see in this explainer (posted by social media expert Matt Navarra), now, you can aim to drive DM leads to other messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, LINE, and Zalo.

In order to do this, instead of using the “More TikTok messages” Promote goal, which aims to prompt consumers to send you a message in the app, you can also drive message traffic to other DM providers.

The option is available for lead generation campaigns, via Promote, and will target your ads to TikTok users who have an alternative message app installed on their device.

Only LINE, Zalo, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger links are currently supported, so you can’t use any messaging app. But it provides another option to engage potential customers via their DM platform of choice, which could help you generate more direct engagement from your TikTok lead gen campaigns.

And with DMs becoming a more popular form of connection, that could be valuable, adding more flexibility to your outreach approach.

The value of this will be relative to how you use each platform, and where you drive leads to, but it could help to get more interactions coming to a single inbox, as opposed to managing multiple query surfaces.

Either way, it’s an interesting addition.

You can read more about TikTok’s “Other messaging apps” goal for Promote campaigns here.