How to create a TikTok Ads campaign and check it before launch

1. Prepare the account, destination and videos

Confirm the advertiser account, access, currency, time zone and funding status. Test the destination and prepare videos, copy and identity permissions. Permission to use an ad account is not automatically permission to use a creator’s post, music or TikTok identity.

• Choose a real business outcome and the person approving spend.
• Prepare usable creative and a matching mobile landing page.
• Check the Pixel or Events API source if optimizing for a website action.

2. Select the goal and the available creation flow

Start with Create ad. For a website-sales campaign, select Sales and the Website destination where offered. Older accounts may show separate Manual, Smart+ or Search options; the upgraded experience combines manual and automated choices in one flow. Availability varies by account and objective.

Review how much automation is enabled instead of assuming that a familiar campaign name means manual control. Use the current setup in your account to confirm the budget strategy, targeting and placement controls you need.

3. Review ad group delivery and measurement

Choose the website event source and optimization event appropriate to the goal. Review audience controls, placements, budget, bidding and schedule. In the upgraded flow, check custom targeting and placement controls if you intend to manage those choices manually.

A conversion event name in a dropdown does not prove that the event is being received. Test the website action in Events Manager before relying on it for optimization. Use an approved budget; do not copy a suggested bid or amount without considering your own limits.

4. Add the ad and check its identity

Choose the permitted identity and add the video or supported creative format, text, destination and call to action. For authorized posts or Spark Ads, confirm the relevant permission rather than downloading someone else’s content and treating it as yours.

Preview the ad on a phone-sized display. Check readable text, safe cropping, the offer, the landing URL and any approved measurement parameters. If the flow combines several videos and texts, inspect which combinations can be delivered.

5. Review all levels before publishing

Inspect campaign, ad group and ad settings, then obtain launch approval. After submitting, reopen the same objects to check their saved settings, review state and delivery. The upgraded flow may use Publish all; other interfaces use different submission controls.

• Confirm the correct account, event source and destination.
• Recheck budget, schedule, automation and creative combinations.
• Keep the IDs and launch decision so changes can be traced.

6. Check the signal, not just the publish message

Separate ad review, eligibility, delivery, event receipt and attributed results. For event problems, check Test Events and Diagnostics, then inspect browser/server deduplication if both channels are used. A successful test event is not automatically an attributed ad conversion.

Compare the same event and reporting period. If traffic arrives without completed outcomes, inspect the destination and actual customer journey before increasing spend or replacing the event source.