Your first TikTok ads campaign, step by step.

What you need before you start

Before your first campaign you need an ad account, a way to pay, a TikTok account for your brand and tracking on your store.

A TikTok Ads Manager account

Sign up for TikTok Ads Manager with an email address or phone number. TikTok asks for your country, industry, legal business name, time zone, phone number and currency. Enter your registered business name exactly, as a mismatch can delay or block approval. Accounts can be opened in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and most are reviewed in under 24 hours. You can build campaigns while you wait, but nothing runs until you're approved.

A way to pay

A new account chooses automatic or manual payment:

• Automatic. TikTok charges your card or PayPal when spend reaches your billing threshold or bill date, whichever comes first.
• Manual. You add funds first, and ads stop when the balance runs out: a hard ceiling while you learn.

In all five countries, both options accept bank cards and PayPal, in local currency or US dollars. Once an account moves to automatic payment, it can't go back to manual.

A TikTok account for your brand

Older guides tell you to type in a display name and upload a logo. TikTok is phasing that out: since January 2026, most new campaigns must be linked to a TikTok account, and your ads show its name and profile picture. Create a TikTok account in your brand's name, switch it to a Business Account and link it to Ads Manager, through Business Center (TikTok's recommended route, which lets your team share access) or with Connect Account while you build the ad. TikTok's help pages set no follower minimum.

Tracking sales: the Pixel and Events API

TikTok learns who buys from the events your store sends back. The TikTok Pixel sends them from the shopper's browser. The Events API sends them from your store's server, so fewer are lost to ad blockers. TikTok recommends using both.

On Shopify

1. Install the free TikTok app from the Shopify App Store. TikTok bills your ad spend.
2. Connect your TikTok for Business and ad accounts inside the app.
3. Pick a data sharing level: Standard (Pixel only), Enhanced (Pixel, Events API and Advanced Matching) or Maximum (Enhanced plus Shopify APIs and a checkout feature in beta). TikTok's Shopify guide says to use Enhanced or Maximum.

The pixel then appears in Shopify under Settings > Customer events as an app pixel. If your store asks for cookie consent, events from shoppers who decline may be restricted. That's expected.

On WooCommerce or another platform

In Ads Manager, go to Tools > Events Manager, click Connect Data Source, choose Web and enter your site. Pick Partner Integration if your platform or tag manager is listed, or Manual Setup. Then add the Events API, which TikTok supports through commerce partners such as WooCommerce.

The events that matter

Track at least View Content, Add to Cart, Initiate Checkout and Purchase. Purchase is the sale event in TikTok's current standard events. Older guides call it Complete Payment.

Check it works

• Browse your store with the TikTok Pixel Helper Chrome extension, which shows the events firing.
• Open Test Events in Events Manager and place a real test order (then refund it).
• Fix anything listed under Diagnostics.
• On Shopify, click the three dots next to the TikTok pixel in Customer events and choose Test.

Setting up your first sales campaign

A campaign holds your goal, an ad group holds the budget, audience and placement, and the ads are your videos. Use one of each for a first hook test. If a new account opens in a simplified set-up, click Switch to full options.

Campaign: Sales, to your website

Choose the Sales objective and set the destination to Website. Sales replaced the older Website Conversions objective and is still rolling out, so some accounts may show Website Conversions instead.

A Smart+ campaign toggle may be on by default:

• Smart+ automates targeting, creative delivery and placements: TikTok, the TikTok Ad Network (formerly Pangle), Search and, where available, Lemon8. Worth trying once your tracking is proven.
• Manual (toggle off) lets you choose the placement, audience and exactly which videos run, so a first hook test is easier to read.

Ad group settings

• Optimisation: Conversion, with your pixel's Purchase event. TikTok's earlier advice for new stores was to start on Add to Cart. That's worth considering if your budget buys only a sale or two a week.
• Bid strategy: Maximum results, which TikTok suggests for new ad groups. Older guides call it Maximum delivery.
• Placement: TikTok only. Your videos are made for its feed.
• Audience: your country, any age limit your product needs, otherwise broad. TikTok recommends starting broad so it can find buyers.

Budget

TikTok's minimums, quoted in US dollars: more than $20 a day per ad group, and more than $50 a day for a campaign budget if you set one. You can leave the campaign budget open and budget on the ad group. For a first sales campaign, TikTok has suggested at least US$30 a day per ad group in North America and Europe (including the UK), and US$20 in Asia-Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand).

Treat that as a floor. While TikTok works out who buys, results swing; TikTok says this learning phase usually settles after about 25 results or 7 days. So plan for at least a week, roughly US$150 to US$350, and only spend what you can afford to learn with. Results depend on your product, offer, price and budget.

Uploading your Savitar videos

Use the 9:16 files

Vertical 9:16 is TikTok's recommended format and the one your videos are made for. TikTok's in-feed specs: at least 540 × 960 pixels, MP4 or MOV among other formats, up to 500 MB, and 5 seconds to 10 minutes long. Upload the files as delivered.

The 4:5 versions aren't for TikTok: its video ads take 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9, on TikTok and the TikTok Ad Network alike. Keep them for Facebook and Instagram.

One hook, one ad

Each ad in your pack comes as three videos that differ only in the first 3 seconds. Make each video its own ad in one ad group, named clearly (“Ad 1, Hook A”). TikTok suggests 3 to 5 ads per ad group, so start with the three hooks of your favourite ad and keep the rest for later. Leave any Smart creative ads toggle, which mixes videos, text and buttons, off for this test.

Text, button and link

• Text: paste the ad copy from your pack. TikTok's spec pages suggest about 100 characters so nothing hides behind “See more”. Links in the text aren't clickable.
• Call to action: Shop Now or similar.
• URL: the product page the ad shows, not your home page.
• Tracking: Auto-attach adds UTM tags (source TikTok, medium Paid, campaign name), so your store's analytics can show TikTok visits by campaign.

Ads only, or on your profile

Your ads now run through your TikTok account, and TikTok calls both of these Spark Ads:

• Upload in Ads Manager with your linked account as the identity. Show through ads only is on by default, so the video runs as an ad but stays off your profile. Ideal for testing hooks.
• Post first, then promote. Post the video on TikTok, then pick it from the TikTok posts tab when building the ad. Likes, comments and follows stay with the post. Finalise the caption first: it can't be edited once the post is used as an ad.

A sensible split: test hooks as ads-only uploads, then post your winner and promote it, so the likes it earns stay on your profile.

Sound

Your videos come with their own soundtrack. If you add or swap music on TikTok, use only the Commercial Music Library: TikTok says businesses can't use its general music library for ads.

Labelling AI-generated content

Every person and scene in your Savitar videos is AI-generated. TikTok's ads policy allows that when it's disclosed, with TikTok's AI label or a clear disclaimer, caption, watermark or sticker of your own. Undisclosed AI content that TikTok spots gets rejected or restricted.

The Ads Manager toggle

When you build the ad, look for This ad contains AI-generated content and switch it on. TikTok then shows a text label at the bottom of the ad, outside your video. It's mandatory for fully AI-generated video. Note that:

• after you submit, it stays on unless you change the video;
• a new or duplicated campaign resets it;
• TikTok says it's for non-Spark ads, and may not be available to every advertiser.

If you don't see it

Spark Ads can't use the toggle; they follow TikTok's Community Guidelines, which require a label on realistic AI-generated scenes or people. As most ads now run through a linked account, you may not see the toggle. Then:

• for a video you post to your profile, turn on TikTok's AI-generated content label when posting;
• for an ads-only upload, add a clear disclosure to the ad text, such as “Made with AI”.

Never write ad text that presents an AI-generated person as a real customer.

Getting through ad review

TikTok checks the video, text, audio, landing page and the product itself. Most ads are reviewed within 24 hours. Editing an approved ad's video, text or link sends it back for review.

Common reasons for rejection

• Exaggerated claims. Ads and landing pages must not promise or exaggerate results. Absolute claims are restricted, and before-and-after comparisons aren't allowed.
• Undisclosed AI content. See above.
• Landing page problems. A broken page, a product that doesn't match the ad, or missing business details: who owns the store, prices in local currency, policies and terms. It must work on phones.
• Restricted products. Supplements and health products have country rules. In Australia and New Zealand, supplement ads must target over-18s.
• Length. Videos under 5 seconds or over 10 minutes aren't approved.

If your ad is rejected

1. In the Campaign tab, hover over the ad's status and click View more to see why.
2. Fix the text, link or landing page and save to resubmit. If the problem is in the video, use your free remake from Savitar Global.
3. If you think it's wrong, click Appeal there. The whole ad group is re-reviewed, and TikTok aims to reply within 24 hours. Appeal once per problem; you can't edit the ad group meanwhile.
4. If the appeal fails, contact customer service from Ads Manager.

Testing hooks and reading results

Let the ad group run for a week without edits or pauses, which TikTok says disrupt learning. Spend won't split evenly between hooks: TikTok leans towards the early favourites. That's normal.

The numbers to watch

Judging a hook

Your three hooks share the same body, so most of the difference comes from the first 3 seconds. Check the 2-second rate and CTR first, then let sales decide: a hook with great views but no sales may attract the wrong viewers.

Set a target cost per sale before you start: your average order value minus product, shipping and fees. A common rule of thumb is to switch a hook off once it has spent two to three times that with no sale while another hook is selling. Switch losers off rather than editing them, and leave winners alone.

TikTok and Shopify rarely agree exactly. TikTok counts sales within an attribution window after a click or view, fixed per ad group. Watch the trend in both.

When ads get tired, and when to scale

Ads can wear out quickly on TikTok. Its own Smart Creative tool checks new videos for fatigue within 3 to 5 days.

Signs of a tired ad

• Frequency (how often each person has seen it) keeps climbing.
• CTR and the 2-second rate slide.
• Cost per purchase rises with nothing else changed.

Refresh with new hooks

Add new videos as new ads in the same ad group rather than editing the tired one: the hooks you held back, or another ad from your pack. A new hook on a body that already sells is often the quickest refresh. Switch the tired ad off once the new ones deliver.

Scale slowly

When an ad group sells at a cost you're happy with, raise its budget by no more than 40% at a time during learning and 30% after, at most every two days. Once it has at least 5 conversions over 3 days, you can switch to Target cost per result, set at its average cost per sale for those 3 days, to hold costs steadier as you spend more.

Your first-week checklist

1. Ad account approved, payment set, brand TikTok account linked.
2. Pixel and Events API live; Purchase fires on a test order.
3. One manual Sales campaign, one ad group: Website, Purchase, Maximum results, TikTok placement, broad audience.
4. About US$30 a day (from US$20 in Australia and New Zealand), for at least 7 days.
5. Three ads, one per hook: 9:16, your ad copy, Shop Now, product page URL.
6. AI label on: the toggle, or a clear line in the ad text.
7. Approved? Hands off for a week.
8. Day 7: compare cost per purchase, ROAS, 2-second rate and CTR. Switch off losers and add new hooks.

Stuck at any step? Message Savitar Global and we'll help.

Questions