TikTok Ads Tutorial: A Quick Start Guide to Scaling Sales

This is a quick-start tutorial, not an advanced scaling framework. In the video, Julian demonstrates a first campaign build inside TikTok Ads Manager and uses a watch product as the example offer.

The flow is straightforward:

1. Sign up for TikTok Ads Manager
2. Set up website conversion tracking
3. Create a manual sales campaign
4. Choose placements, audience, and budget
5. Upload a video ad and publish

That makes this guide most useful for beginners who want their first campaign live without getting lost in unnecessary settings.

Before creating a campaign, you need a TikTok Ads Manager account. In the video, Julian says to sign up with email and password, then enter business information on the next page to finish setup.

He also notes that TikTok sometimes runs partner promotions for new advertisers. In the walkthrough, the offer shown was up to $6,000 in ad credits when spending $10,000, with smaller tiers starting at $200 spend for $200 in credits. He also mentions terms applied, including a 30-day spend window, and that signing up through Shopify was excluded from that specific promotion.

Because promotions can change, treat that as an example rather than a permanent offer. If bonuses matter to you, this guide on how to claim up to $6,000 in free TikTok Ads credits adds more context.

Once the account is ready, TikTok takes you into Ads Manager, where you can start building campaigns.

This is the most important part of the process. Julian does not start with campaign settings first. He goes to Tools > Events and opens TikTok's Events Manager so the account can track conversions properly.

From there, he clicks Connect data source and chooses a source type. The options mentioned are:

• Website
• App
• CRM system

In the demo, he chooses Website, enters a site name, and continues to the integration step.

Shopify setup shown in the video

Julian says most viewers likely use Shopify or WooCommerce, but the actual example he demonstrates is Shopify. The workflow he describes is:

1. Open your Shopify store
2. Go to the Shopify App Store
3. Search for the TikTok app
4. Install it
5. Connect it to your TikTok Ads Manager

He describes this as fairly simple, and after the connection is complete, he says you should give it a little time and browse your own store so events begin appearing in Events Manager.

If you want the platform-specific steps in more detail, read this tutorial on how to install the TikTok Pixel on Shopify.

Which event should you optimize for?

At the ad group level, Julian selects the pixel data source and then chooses an optimization event. The examples he mentions are:

• Click button
• View content
• Add to cart
• Purchase

For ecommerce, he suggests Add to Cart or Purchase are usually the better choices. In his own example, the event selected is Click Button.

The key takeaway is simple: do not launch a sales campaign until the pixel or partner integration is in place and receiving events.

After tracking is connected, Julian goes back to Campaigns and clicks Create. The setup he chooses is:

• Objective: Sales
• Destination: Website
• Campaign type: Manual

He specifically recommends the manual option because it gives you full control over campaign settings.

Give the campaign a clear name before continuing. In the example, he uses a watch offer and names the campaign accordingly.

Core settings shown in the walkthrough

This is a good beginner structure because it limits complexity while keeping the most important controls visible.

At the ad group level, Julian's approach is moderate rather than extreme. He says TikTok recommends broad targeting because its AI is good at finding the right people, but he still suggests setting a few basics yourself.

Settings he adjusts first

He recommends at least choosing:

• Location
• Age range
• Language if you speak in the ad

In the example, he selects Germany as the location and uses an age range from 18 to 55+ for a watch offer.

His gender targeting advice

He specifically warns against narrowing gender too quickly. Even if the product seems male-oriented, he points out that wives or girlfriends may also buy watches as gifts, so he leaves gender set to All.

That is a useful beginner lesson. Narrow targeting can feel logical, but it can also remove buyers you did not initially consider.

Interest targeting in the example

Julian also shows how to add interest targeting. He types in watches and includes people interested in watches as well as users showing purchase intention for watches.

In his example, that produces a balanced audience of more than 5 million people, which he considers large enough to proceed.

One of Julian's clearest preferences in the tutorial is placement selection. Rather than leaving everything enabled, he deselects the other options so the ad runs only on TikTok.

His reasoning is simple: he wants the ad on TikTok itself and does not want it distributed across the TikTok Business Partner Network.

That does not mean broader placement is always wrong. It just means this tutorial's approach favors control and simplicity for a first launch.

TikTok requires a minimum daily budget above $20 or €20 in the setup Julian shows. He even calls that out directly because the platform will not accept less.

For a first campaign, that budget floor matters for planning. If you are still testing product-market fit or do not yet have tracking set up properly, it is better to solve those basics first than to rush into spend.

After the budget is entered, he keeps the optimization goal on Conversions and does not set a target CPA because there is no conversion history yet.

That is a sensible starting point for a new account: gather initial data before adding stricter efficiency constraints.

The last step is the ad itself. Julian names the ad, then clicks Add video.

TikTok gives two options here:

• Use an existing TikTok post after connecting your TikTok account
• Upload a separate video file directly for the ad

In the tutorial, he uses an already uploaded watch video for the campaign. If you plan to use existing posts, Spark Ads may be the better format. For deeper creative advice, see how to create TikTok ad creatives that convert.

Ad text and call to action

For the caption text, Julian enters a simple promotional line like summer sale save 25% off and notes that TikTok's AI can suggest alternative copy options.

He also opens the CTA dropdown and points out that some choices simply do not fit every offer. His takeaway is that TikTok will test different CTA options for you, which is a helpful feature when you are unsure which label suits the ad best.

Product card and destination URL

TikTok also offers a product card element, which appears like a banner over the video. Julian decides not to use it in this example because he prefers to let viewers watch the video and then click the main CTA if they want to buy.

He does, however, stress one detail that is easy to overlook: preview the destination URL before publishing. In the video, he warns that many advertisers accidentally paste a broken or incorrect link, which sends traffic to the wrong page.

That single check can save wasted spend.

Once the ad is ready, click Publish. Julian says first-time advertisers will usually see a payment pop-up where they add credit card details or PayPal before the campaign can run.

After submission, the campaign appears in the dashboard with a pending status while it is under review. According to the tutorial, approval can take up to six hours or about half a day, though he says TikTok is usually quite fast.

Once approved, performance data starts showing inside the campaign view.

Even though the walkthrough is quick, it quietly prevents several beginner errors:

• Launching before pixel tracking is connected
• Optimizing for the wrong event
• Over-narrowing audience targeting too early
• Sending ads to non-TikTok placements unintentionally
• Forgetting to preview the final landing page URL
• Setting a target CPA before the account has any data

That is why this setup works well as a first campaign blueprint. It is basic, but it covers the decisions that most directly affect whether early spend is useful or wasted.

If you are launching your first TikTok ad, this is a strong beginner workflow to follow. Set up tracking first, keep the campaign manual, stay reasonably broad with targeting, and use a simple video creative with a verified destination URL.

If you are ready to get started, sign up for TikTok Ads Manager here. From there, build one clean sales campaign before adding more complexity.