TikTok Ads for a Small Business

Start with Business Center

TikTok's help page About TikTok Business Center describes it as "a central place to handle your business and advertising activities on TikTok". You can add advertiser accounts, TikTok accounts, Pixels, catalogues, audiences and leads to it, invite people as members or partners, and manage billing, payments and invoices in one place. It also offers 2-Step Verification and an allowlist of approved email domains.

For a small business the practical point is ownership. Create the Business Center under your own company and invite your agency or freelancer as a partner, rather than letting them own the ad account and Pixel. TikTok's page on roles and permissions explains the two basic roles: Admins have full access, while Standard members work only on the accounts and assets assigned to them. Viewing or managing finances needs an extra role, Finance Analyst or Finance Manager, even for Admins.

Campaign, ad group and ad

TikTok's ads structure page says Ads Manager organises ads into three levels:

• Campaign: you choose the objective and the campaign budget (daily, lifetime or no limit). Each campaign contains one or more ad groups.
• Ad group: you set placements, audience, budget and schedule, optimisation goal and bidding. Each ad group can hold one or more ads, so you can compare them.
• Ad: the format, the video or images, the display name and profile image, the text and call-to-action button, and tracking.

This is close to Meta's campaign, ad set and ad; our Meta ads guide covers that side. A simple first set-up is one campaign, one ad group with a clear audience, and a few ads that differ in one thing each, so the results tell you something.

Choosing an objective

TikTok's Choose the right objective page groups objectives into three categories:

• Awareness: Reach, to show your ad to as many people as possible.
• Consideration: Traffic (send people to your website or app), Video views, Community interaction (followers, profile visits, livestreams) and Branded Mission.
• Conversion: App promotion, Lead generation and Sales (from TikTok Shop, your website or your app).

Pick the objective that matches what you will judge the campaign on. If success means enquiries or sales on your website, Traffic will find people who click, not necessarily people who buy. TikTok's Events API page notes that a Pixel or Events API set-up is a prerequisite for the web conversions objective, so tracking comes before a conversion campaign.

The TikTok Pixel

TikTok's set-up page, How to set up and verify TikTok web data connection, describes the Pixel as "a piece of code that you can place on your website that allows you to share website events with TikTok". You create it in Events Manager (Tools > Events Manager > Connect Data Source > Web), either through a partner integration such as Shopify or Google Tag Manager or by installing the base code yourself. TikTok recommends tracking events across the whole user journey.

The same page lists three ways to check it works: the TikTok Pixel Helper extension for Chrome, the Test Events feature in Events Manager, and the Diagnostics tab. Like any advertising tag, the Pixel should load only in line with your cookie consent banner.

The Events API and deduplication

The Pixel runs in the visitor's browser. TikTok's About Events API page describes the Events API as a connection from your own systems, covering web, app and offline channels such as stores and CRMs. TikTok says connectivity issues and browser differences can affect conversions reported by the Pixel, and that with the Events API more conversions are reported. For websites it recommends running both together, with event deduplication.

Deduplication stops one sale being counted twice. TikTok's event deduplication page says you must send the same event_id through both the Pixel and the Events API when they report the same conversion. TikTok then keeps the first event it receives, for matching events that arrive within a 48-hour window. Deduplication is not needed if each channel sends different events, for example add-to-cart from the Pixel and purchases from the Events API.

The Events API needs a developer or a platform that supports it, because it sends data from your server. It is the same idea as Meta's Conversions API, so if your site already sends server events to Meta, that event list is a useful starting point.

Ad review and restricted industries

TikTok's Advertising on TikTok: First Things to Note says "you are responsible for your ads", including following the laws and advertising codes of the regions you target; for the UK it names the CAP Non-broadcast Code. Its review looks at:

• whether the product or service is allowed;
• the ad content: caption, text, images, audio and anything else in the ad;
• the target market and age group;
• consistency between the ad and the landing page;
• whether the landing page works and is eligible.

TikTok says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, though some take longer. Its ad review FAQs add that some products and services are prohibited in all markets, each country or region has its own list of prohibited or restricted ones, and age limits on some ads depend on the product and the region. Check TikTok's advertising policies for your sector before producing videos; financial services, healthcare, gambling and alcohol each have their own policy pages. If an ad is rejected, the reason is shown on the ad group and ad lists in the Campaign tab.

Where the ad sends people

Because review checks that the ad and the landing page match and that the page works, the page matters before launch as well as after. Send people to a page about the exact offer in the video, fast on a phone, with one clear next step; our landing page guide covers the details. Add UTM parameters to the destination link so TikTok traffic shows up correctly in Google Analytics alongside your other channels; see our guide to UTM tracking links.

Frequently asked questions

What is TikTok Business Center?

TikTok describes it as a central place to handle your business and advertising on TikTok. You can add ad accounts, TikTok accounts, Pixels, catalogues and audiences, give members Admin or Standard roles, and manage billing in one place. Set it up under your own company and add agencies as partners.

Do I need both the TikTok Pixel and the Events API?

TikTok recommends both for websites, with event deduplication. It says a Pixel or Events API set-up is required for the web conversions objective, and that the Events API captures conversions the Pixel can miss because of connectivity issues and browser differences.

How long does TikTok ad review take?

TikTok says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, though some take longer. Review covers the product, the ad content, the target market and age group, and whether the landing page works and matches the ad.

Can every business advertise on TikTok?

No. TikTok says some products and services are prohibited in all markets and each country or region has its own list of prohibited or restricted ones, with age limits for some ads. Check its advertising policies for your industry before you produce videos.

Need a landing page that loads fast on phones and tracking set up properly before you advertise? See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].