TikTok Ads work through a three-level structure inside TikTok Ads Manager — Campaign, Ad Group, and Ad. TikTok Ads Manager structures ads into three parts: campaigns, ad groups, and ads. You set your goal at the campaign level, define your audience and budget at the ad group level, and upload your creative at the ad level. Once submitted, your ad goes through a review process and then enters TikTok’s auction system to reach your target audience. Source: TikTok
The 3-Level Ad Structure Explained
Before diving into the steps, it helps to understand how everything fits together.
Each campaign contains multiple ad groups, allowing you to optimize ads and measure performance. At the ad group level, you set specific ad placements, audiences, budgets, schedules, optimization goals, and bids. Each ad group can contain one or more ads, enabling you to compare ad delivery and optimize based on performance.
Think of it this way:
- Campaign = your goal (what you want to achieve)
- Ad Group = your strategy (who sees it, where, and how much you spend)
- Ad = your content (the actual video or image the user sees)
Step 1: Create a TikTok Ads Manager Account
Go to TikTok Ads Manager’s signup page and fill in your email address (or phone number) and a password. Next, you’ll need to provide basic information about your business, including the country or region, time zone, and preferred currency for billing. You’ll also need to enter the legal name of your business and the industry it is in. Double-check that your information is correct, especially the time zone, because you will not be able to change it later.
Once your account is approved and your payment profile is set up, you’re ready to create campaigns.
Step 2: Choose a Campaign Objective
Your objective tells TikTok what result you want. TikTok Ads Manager offers three categories of objectives: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.
| Category | What It’s For |
|---|---|
| Awareness | Get your brand seen by as many people as possible |
| Consideration | Drive traffic, video views, or app installs |
| Conversion | Get purchases, leads, or sign-ups |
Pick the one that matches your actual business goal. The wrong objective wastes budget fast.
Step 3: Set Up Your Campaign
Under Campaign setup, choose Manual campaign, Search campaign, or Smart+ campaign. Manual campaigns allow you to use the standard workflow to maximize control for your ad settings. Smart+ Campaigns allow you to create a single campaign powered by AI for all your performance objectives, and TikTok will help you automate the process.
You’ll also set a campaign name and your overall budget here. The minimum budget is $50 at the campaign level and $20 at the ad group level.
Step 4: Configure Your Ad Group
This is where most of the real setup happens. At the ad group level, you define four key things:
Placement — where your ads appear. You can choose automatic placement, which includes all available placements for optimal results, or select placement manually to choose specific apps like TikTok, Global App Bundle, or TikTok Pangle. Note: your placement is selected when creating an ad group and cannot be changed after it has been created.
Audience Targeting — who sees your ads. Options include location, age, gender, interests, behaviors, and device. For most new advertisers, starting broad is recommended to let TikTok’s system learn.
Budget Type — how your spending is distributed. TikTok offers two main budget types: Daily Budget (the average amount you’re willing to spend per day, ideal for ongoing campaigns) and Lifetime Budget (the total amount over the entire campaign duration, best for time-sensitive campaigns like product launches or holiday promotions).
Bidding Strategy — how competitive your ad is in the auction. Maximum Delivery is a spend-based bid strategy that maximizes conversions within your defined budget without a target CPA. Cost Cap is a goal-based bidding strategy where TikTok optimizes delivery to achieve a specific cost per action defined by you.
Step 5: Create Your Ad
TikTok Ads Manager currently supports images and videos. Select your ad format — Single video, Carousel, or Collection Ads. Enter a Display Name, Text, and Call to Action to tell your audience what you’re promoting. Add the URL of the website you want your ad to drive traffic to. TikTok
A few things to get right here:
- Your Display Name should match your brand or product name
- Your CTA should match your objective (e.g., “Shop Now” for sales, “Sign Up” for leads)
- Use the Ad Preview Tool to check how your creative looks before submitting
Step 6: Submit and Pass Ad Review
Once you submit your ad, TikTok will review it. You can check your ad status in your TikTok Ads Manager account.
Based on various quality signals, including automated machine review, human review, and viewer engagement signals, your ad may be rejected, receive fewer impressions, or your ad’s cost-per-impression may increase if it does not meet TikTok’s Ad Format and Functionality requirements. TikTok
Common reasons for rejection include misleading claims, policy violations, low-quality landing pages, and prohibited content. If rejected, TikTok will notify you with a reason.
Step 7: Monitor Performance and Optimize
Once your ad is live, it enters a learning phase where TikTok’s system tests delivery. TikTok Ads Manager uses a Learning Phase where the system identifies the best audience for your ads, so you’ll need enough budget to pass this phase and get 10 conversions. TikTok
During and after the learning phase:
- Check your key metrics daily (CTR, CPM, CPA, ROAS)
- Only adjust one ad group or campaign setting at a time, and wait at least two days before making additional adjustments — making significant adjustments can restart the learning phase. TikTok
- Refresh creatives regularly to avoid ad fatigue (aim for 3–5 unique creatives per ad group)
Quick Reference: Full Campaign Workflow
| Step | What You Do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create Ads Manager account | ads.tiktok.com |
| 2 | Choose campaign objective | Campaign level |
| 3 | Set campaign type and budget | Campaign level |
| 4 | Define placement, audience, bidding | Ad group level |
| 5 | Upload creative and set CTA | Ad level |
| 6 | Submit for review | Ad level |
| 7 | Monitor and optimize | Dashboard / Reports |
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a TikTok ad review take?
TikTok typically reviews ads within 24 hours. In some cases, it can take up to 48 hours, especially if the ad contains sensitive categories or requires manual review. You can monitor your ad status directly inside TikTok Ads Manager. Ads are not delivered until the review is passed.
What is the minimum budget to run TikTok ads?
The minimum budget on TikTok is $50 at the campaign level and $20 at the ad group level. For conversion-focused campaigns, TikTok recommends setting your daily ad group budget at 10 to 20 times your target cost per action to give the system enough room to learn and optimize.
What types of ads can you run on TikTok?
TikTok supports single video ads, carousel ads, collection ads, Spark Ads (boosted organic posts), TopView, Top Feed, and Search Ads. The formats available depend on your campaign objective and buying type. Most self-serve advertisers use In-Feed video ads as their starting point.
What is the TikTok Ads learning phase?
The learning phase is a period after launching a campaign when TikTok’s system tests different audience segments to find who responds best to your ad. It typically needs around 50 conversions to exit. Avoid making major changes during this phase, as they can reset the learning process and delay results.
Can I target specific audiences with TikTok ads?
Yes. TikTok offers targeting by location, age, gender, language, interests, behaviors, device type, and more. You can also build Custom Audiences from your own data or create Lookalike Audiences based on existing customers. For new accounts, broad targeting is often the most effective starting point.
What’s the difference between Manual, Smart+, and Search campaigns?
Manual campaigns give you full control over placements, targeting, and creatives. Smart+ campaigns use AI to automate ad placements, audience targeting, and optimization for performance goals. Search campaigns let you target users based on specific keywords entered in TikTok’s search results page — a newer format suited for intent-based advertising.
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