TikTok has more than a billion active users and is expanding quickly. If you’re a small business, marketer, or creator wanting to tap into that large audience, you’ll need to learn how to use TikTok Ads Manager. This tool allows you to plan and grow ad campaigns based on your budget and goals, helping you build your brand, increase traffic, or boost sales. Here’s what you should know to begin.
What Is TikTok Ads Manager?
TikTok Ads Manager is a web-based tool that allows marketers to handle their TikTok ad campaigns. You can use it to establish your ad budget, identify your target audience, adjust your goals, and start campaigns. It also provides in-depth analytics to help you monitor results and enhance your strategy.
Who Should Use TikTok Ads?
TikTok is an effective marketing platforms for all kinds of businesses – from dropshippers and other e-commerce pros, to small businesses, creators, and enterprises. However, some businesses will find more success on the platform than others. Here are some stats worth noting about TikTok’s users:
- TikTok’s biggest user locations are the US and Indonesia.
- 53% are female.
- Almost 40% are aged 18-24 and nearly 33% are aged 25-34.
How Do TikTok Ads Work?
TikTok ranks ads based on a bidding system whereby advertisers bid to maximize their reach. TikTok also uses an algorithm to determine which ads are relevant to a particular user.
The most common type of TikTok ad is in-feed video ads. These ads appear as a user scrolls through their feed. They are indistinguishable from organic content except that they are tagged “Sponsored” or “Ad” and can include a call-to-action button linked to an external landing page. Users can engage with in-feed ads by liking, sharing, or commenting. They can also scroll past if they’re not engaged.
In addition to in-feed ads, TikTok offers:
1. TopView ads – Organic-style videos that appear when users open the app and cannot be skipped for the first 3 seconds. Users are 1.5x more likely to recall a brand from TopView than other ad types.
2. Brand takeover ads – Videos or images that play automatically for 3-5 seconds when users open the app.
3. Branded effects – Custom stickers, AR filters, and lenses which can be used in user-generated content e.g. the WordArt filter from Microsoft 365.https://www.tiktok.com/@j3s1cab330tch/video/7235522229247708462?q=wordart%20filter&t=1723570389914
4. Branded mission – Advertisers invite users to create content to fit a brief and then share that content as an ad.
To understand how these different ad types can be combined in a single marketing strategy, take a look at some of TikTok’s case studies, like this one.
TikTok Ads vs. Promoted TikTok Videos
TikTok users can pay to promote a video from their organic feed. You can also promote organic content created by other users using what’s called a Spark Ad. When you promote a video, you can select an objective, target audience, and budget.
However, setting up an ad campaign using the TikTok Ad Manager will give you access to more sophisticated targeting and analytics and make it easier to manage your ad strategy. If you’re serious about TikTok advertising, this is the platform for you.
Campaigns, Ad Groups, and Ads
Every ad you launch on TikTok will be part of an ad group made up of one or more ads. Every ad group is part of larger campaign. You can run multiple campaigns simultaneously.
For example, you could launch a campaign to promote a new product. Within that campaign, you could have one ad group targeting existing customers and one ad group targeting users who have never heard of your brand. Within each group you could make several ads, each highlighting a different product feature or using different music.
As a beginner, try starting with one campaign, one ad group, and around three ads. Remember to label everything carefully so it’s easy to track your results when you scale your advertising efforts.
How to Set Up a TikTok Ads Manager Account
If multiple users will co-work on an ad account or you’ll have multiple ad accounts, start by creating an account with TikTok Business Centre as explained below.
Otherwise, go to ads.tiktok.com and click “Get Started”. Create a log in then enter your business information. Your account should be approved within 24 hours.
Next, set up billing using either PayPal or a debit or credit card. You can choose between:
- Automatic payments – You’ll be charged on a set date or when your account balance drops to a set threshold.
- Manual payments – Add money to your TikTok account manually.
Create Your First Ad Campaign on TikTok in 6 Steps
When you start using TikTok Ad Manager, the platform can be a little overwhelming. There are lots of tools and metrics to get used to but you’ll soon master it. Here are the basics to help you get started.
Step 1. Create an Audience
An audience is a group of TikTok users that a campaign targets. You can set different audiences for different campaigns and ad groups.
For example, you may want to target a customer who abandoned their cart with an ad focused on product features, while simultaneously targeting a broad audience with ads that highlight your brand values.
You can select parameters like age, location, and interests when you create an ad group. TikTok will use this information to decide which users will see your ad. You can also create preset audiences.
To do so, go to TikTok Ads Manager > Tools > Audience Manager > Create Audience. You’ll see two options: custom audience and lookalike audience.
1. Custom Audiences
You can create a custom audience of known or engaged users based on different criteria like:
- Engagement – Users who have watched, clicked, or liked your ads or organic content.
- App or website activity – Users who installed your app, made a purchase, or performed another action on your app, website, or Shopify store. You can share data from your website and app with TikTok by setting up TikTok Pixel and Events API.
- Existing customers. If you’ve got a database of customers, you can upload a CSV or TXT file of their IDFAs and GAIDs from your CRM.
Lookalike Audience
A lookalike audience helps you reach people who are similar to your existing customers. TikTok uses algorithms to identify the attributes (e.g. location or interests) of a custom audience, then finds similar people. You can choose to create a narrow, balanced or broad lookalike audience. The narrower the audience the more it will have in common with your custom audience, but the smaller your reach.
Step 2. Set Objectives
TikToks uses your objectives to determine who sees your ads. You can choose from goals in three categories.
Awareness
- Reach: Show your ad to as many people as possible.
Consideration
- Traffic: Send more people to your website, app, or TikTok shop.
- Video views: Maximize views and engagement from a targeted audience.
- Community interaction: Increase profile visits, followers, and page visits.
- Branded Mission: Collaborate with creators to boost engagement.
Conversion
- App promotion: Get more people to use your app.
- Lead generation: Attract potential customers.
- Website conversions: Get more people to use your website.
- Product sales: Drive sales through your app, website, and TikTok shop.
Step 3. Set a Budget
You can set your budget at the campaign level or you can set individual budgets for ad groups.
If you choose the “Campaign budget optimization” option, TikTok will decide how much of your campaign budget will be allocated to each ad group to maximize efficiency.
If you do not choose this option, you’ll need to manually adjust the budget for each ad group. This is a good idea for beginners because it forces you to pay attention to the data and track which strategies are succeeding.
You can set your budget at the minimum allowed while you’re learning. Later, work backwards from your business goals. For example, the average cost per click on TikTok is around $1. So you’ll need to spend around $1k for 1k clicks. You can also make use of TikTok’s budget recommendation feature.
Step 4. Set Other Parameters
You can set the dates and hours that the ad will run. To start with, let your ads run all day so you can gather data about when your audience is online. You can experiment with ad frequency.
There is an option called “Bid control” which allows you to set a bid for your ad. If you ignore this, TikTok will use machine learning to automatically bid for you based on what it thinks is most efficient. This means you don’t have to worry about figuring out what to bid.
Based on your parameters, TikTok Ad Manager will estimate the number of users in your audience and the reach of your ad group (see above to the right).
Step 5. Upload an Ad
There are lots of different ways to engage your audience. For inspiration, trend intelligence, and all the creative tools you’ll need to make great ads, visit the TikTok Creative Center.
The next step is to upload your video or image and:
- give your ad a name
- add your TikTok handle
- upload a logo
- add a caption
- add a CTA
TikTok gives you the option of a standard CTA (which you select from a dropdown menu) or a dynamic CTA which means TikTok will display a different CTA for different users based on their past behavior. Using a standard CTA gives you a chance to learn more about what drives actions most effectively.
Step 6. Scale and Iterate
The rule of thumb is simple: ditch unsuccessful ads and increase the budget for the most successful ad groups. You should also look for patterns that help you understand what works for your audience.
As you progress, study the data more closely. In the Campaign tab, you can view metrics like CPC, CPM, impressions, clicks and conversions for every campaign, ad group, and ad.
Attribution Analytics (in the Analytics tab) shows what actions users took after clicking or viewing an ad. There are three pages that you can toggle through.
- Performance comparison – Compares actions taken across different windows (e.g. web, shop, offline).
- Time to conversion – The average time it takes a user to convert after the last ad interaction.
- Touchpoints to conversion – Shows which campaigns users saw (and how frequently) before conversion.
Under Analytics you can also view Audience insights which shows demographic information for ad viewers who went on to click or convert.
Use these insights to refine your audiences and objectives and inform your creative choices for future campaigns. Remember, however, to stay true to your brand identity.
Top Tips for Using TikTok Ad Manager
- Get your audience right. The best ads in the world won’t sell a product to the wrong audience. Use TikTok’s insights as well other methods, like customer surveys, to get to know your audience.
- Understand the marketing funnel. To set and achieve your objectives, get familiar with the journey a customer makes from first impression to sale. Keep track of strategies that work for customers at different stages of that journey.
- Make use of TikTok’s Creative Center. Its educational resources and creative tools will help you create attention-grabbing ads that leverage trends and tried-and-tested formats.
- Use TikTok Pixel to link TikTok Ads Manager to your app, Shopify shop, and website. This allows you to view the analytics for the full customer journey in one place.
- Embrace UGC. Users are more responsive to user generated content. Set up a branded mission or create Spark Ads to engage potential customers through other creators.
- Don’t forget organic. Organic content helps build trust and establish a community. It’s also a cost effective way to test content ideas before you try them as an ad. Plus, posting regularly can give you a boost from the TikTok algorithm.
- Use a strong CTA. Good CTAs drive conversions. Keep them clear and simple and test different phrases to to see what works best.
TikTok Ads Manager Guide TL;DR
TikTok Ads Manager offers a powerful platform for businesses and creators to tap into a massive, engaged audience – especially if your target audience is US-based and aged 18-34. By mastering its tools, you can create compelling ad campaigns that resonate with users and drive meaningful results.
To set yourself up for success, set clear objectives and carefully consider your target audience. Start small, iterate based on data, and continually refine your strategy to make the most of this dynamic platform and maximize your cost efficiency. With a little hard work, you’ll soon be able to plan and scale campaigns that build brand awareness, generate traffic, and drive sales.