Here are the 10 easy steps to set up your first TikTok ad campaign, it looks so similar to Facebook ads manager!
TikTok has launched its self-service advertising platform - TikTok for Business for all eligible advertisers. It is no longer limited to selected brands and advertisers via manual ad bookings.
We have given it a try on behalf of our clients and it is quite similar to the Facebook ad platform! This is probably just another thing that China copied from the world.
In return, Facebook is the one who cloned TikTok recently with the launch of Instagram Reels. So, who is the bigger "theft" here?
"Steal like an artist", they said.
Without further ado, read on and check out the 10 easy steps to set up your first TikTok ad campaign. Do take note that unlike Facebook, your TikTok ad account needs to be reviewed and approved first before setting up the ad campaign.
#1. Set Advertising Objective
- Awareness: Reach
- Consideration: Traffic, App Installs, Video Views
- Conversion: Conversion
#2. Campaign Settings
The budget can be set by "Daily" or "Lifetime" with a minimum of RM50 per day or campaign.
You can also set "No Limit", as the ad budget can be defined at the ad group level later (instead of campaign level here).
#3. Select Placements
Choose either "Automatic Placement", or manually select your target placements from these options:
- TikTok: TikTok platform itself.
- News Feed App Series: TopBuzz/BuzzVideo/News Republic/Babe
- Vigo: Advertising is currently only available in India.
- Helo: Advertising is currently only available in India.
- Pangle: Premium global publisher network, available in Japan, Korea and Taiwan
#4. Set Ad Details
- App Install
- Automotive
- Luxury Goods
- Education & Training
- Finance & Insurance
- Food & Drink
- Home Appliances
- Internet & Technology
- Entertainment
- Tourism
- Internet Services
- Home Furnishing & Decor
- Real Estate
- Local Services
- Daily Necessities
- Mother & Child
- Sports & Outdoors
- Apparel
- Cosmetics
- Legal Services
- Business Services
- Safety & Security
- Advertising & Marketing
- Franchising
- Industry & Agriculture
- Lottery
- Energy Conservation & Environmental Protection
- Dating
- Public Wellness
- Adult Products
- Medical
- Government Organizations
#5. Set Creative Type
Automated Creative Optimization will automatically generate combinations of your creative assets (images, videos, and ad texts), and deliver high-performing combinations. Read more here.
#6. Set Ad Targeting
Here, you are able to select "Audience" if you have prior saved audience.
Under demographics, you can easily check and uncheck the states in Malaysia. This is probably the only feature that is better than Facebook (where you need to manually type the states one by one).
The audience targeting is pretty basic with "Interest Category" as below:
- Apparel & Accessories
- Appliances
- Apps
- Automobiles
- Baby, Kids & Maternity
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Education
- Financial Services
- Food & Beverage
- Games
- News & Entertainment
- Pets
- Sports & Outdoors
- Tech & Electronics
- Travel
- Operating System
- Connection Type
- Carriers
- Device Price
#7. Set Budget & Schedule
This is where you can set your budget on the ad group level. Similar to the campaign budget, you can set the budget by "Lifetime" or "Daily".
#8. Set Bidding & Optimization
#9. Create / Upload Ad Creative

This is where you are supposed to upload your ad creative, best using a vertical video to optimize for the TikTok experience.
- Aspect Ratio: Horizontal(16:9) / Square(1:1) / Vertical(9:16)
- Resolution: Horizontal(1280*720) / Square(640*640) / Vertical(720*1280)
- Bitrate: 516kbps or more
- Duration: 5-60s
- Safe Zone: From left: 44px; From right: 140px; From top: 130px; From bottom: 483-484px
#10. Ad Preview & Set Ad Copywriting
In the last step, write your text copywriting and select a Call-to-Action (CTA).
Here is the list of CTAs for you to choose from:
- Download
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Contact Us
- Apply Now
- Book Now
- Play game
Summary
Unlike Google and Facebook, TikTok operates on a pre-paid model, which means you need to first top-up balance into your ad account before running any ads.
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