How to Run Your First TikTok Ads Campaign (2026 Tutorial)

TikTok is currently running a promotion for new advertisers. When you sign up through the partner link, TikTok will give you $1,000 in bonus credits if you spend $1,500 in your first campaign. You can claim your TikTok bonus credits directly from that page by entering your email and a password. TikTok will send you a verification code, and on the next screen you provide your business name, website URL, and phone number.

Once your account is created, you need to accept the anti-discrimination ad policy before you can do anything else. After that, click Campaign in the top navigation to reach the campaign dashboard where all setup begins.

For a more detailed walkthrough of the account creation process itself, see the step-by-step TikTok Ads account creation guide.

The first decision inside the Ads Manager is your advertising objective. TikTok groups objectives into three categories:

For most beginners, Traffic is the practical starting point because it does not require a pixel to run. If you want to run a Conversions campaign and track purchases or sign-ups, you first need to connect your TikTok Pixel. You do that under Tools → Events, where you can link a website, app, or CRM as a data source. Setting up the pixel is covered separately; for this tutorial, Traffic is the focus.

Select Traffic, choose Manual setup, and give your campaign a clear name—for example, Traffic to My Website 2026. You can ignore the split test and campaign budget optimization options at this stage; those are advanced features you can explore later.

After clicking Next, you land on the ad group level. This is where you control placement and targeting.

Naming Your Ad Group

Name the ad group after the audience you are targeting—something like Men 20–45 Germany. Descriptive names keep your account readable as you add more groups over time.

Placements

Under Placements, select only TikTok. The other options are partner sites and partner networks, which tend to deliver lower-quality traffic for most advertisers. Deselecting them keeps your budget focused on TikTok's main feed.

Targeting

TikTok recommends leaving targeting broad because its algorithm is effective at finding relevant users on its own. That said, narrowing a few key parameters makes sense when you have specific knowledge about your audience:

• Location – Select the country or region your offer serves.
• Age – Exclude age bands that are not relevant to your product or service.
• Gender – Restrict if your offer is clearly gender-specific.
• Language – Match the language of your video so only viewers who understand it see the ad.

For more granular control, Detailed Targeting lets you layer in interests (for example, watches) or purchase intent signals. If you are unsure, leave detailed targeting empty and let the algorithm optimize.

Budget and Schedule

The minimum daily budget on TikTok is €20—you cannot set a lower amount. Choose your start date, confirm the time zone matches your actual location, and set the ad to run all day unless you have a specific reason to daypart. Since the campaign objective is Traffic, the system optimizes for clicks rather than landing page views at this stage.

Click Continue to move to the ad level.

The ad level is where you add the actual video and copy.

Naming Your Ad

Give the ad a specific name such as Video 1 – UGC Course Ad. If you end up testing multiple creatives in one ad group, clear names prevent confusion later.

Adding Your Video

You have two options:

1. Upload from your computer – Supports standard video files directly from your hard drive.
2. Use an existing TikTok post – Connect your TikTok account under User Settings first, then select any post you have already published on your profile.

Either approach works equally well. If your creative is a talking-head or UGC-style video, upload it from your computer and preview it in the ad builder before finalizing.

Ad Text and Call to Action

Type your ad text in the copy field—this appears as the caption beneath your video. Keep it concise and action-oriented, for example: Sign up for my new course at JulianWeber.com.

For the call-to-action button, TikTok offers options including Learn More, Sign Up, Watch Now, Visit Now, and Interested, among others. You can select multiple CTAs simultaneously and TikTok's algorithm will test them and serve the one that drives the most clicks. Choosing a small set of relevant options—rather than a single one—lets the platform optimize automatically.

Landing Page URL

Paste your destination URL into the URL field and double-check it before proceeding. This is the page users land on after clicking your ad, so an error here wastes your entire budget.

Publishing

Click Publish All. If you have not added a payment method yet, a popup will prompt you to enter your credit card or PayPal details. Once payment is set up, TikTok submits the campaign, ad group, and ad for review. The review process typically takes a few hours before the ad goes live.

For advice on what makes a video creative perform well, see the guide on creating TikTok ad creatives that convert.

Once TikTok approves your ad, you will see the campaign structure in your dashboard: the campaign name at the top level, your ad group beneath it, and the individual ad inside that. Monitor click-through rate and cost per click in the first 24–48 hours. If performance is weak, the most common levers are the creative itself, the ad text, and the landing page rather than targeting—especially when you are running broad.

If you plan to scale toward sales later, use this traffic campaign period to confirm your landing page converts before adding the pixel and switching to a Conversions objective. For e-commerce specifically, the TikTok Ads for Shopify guide covers that next stage in detail.

For most beginners, the right starting point is a Traffic campaign with broad targeting, a single focused creative, and a minimum daily budget. Keep the setup simple, name every level of your account clearly, and review performance after the first full day before making changes. Once you are comfortable with the workflow, add the pixel and move toward a Conversions objective to optimize for actual sales or leads.

If you are just getting started and want to reduce your initial spend, claim your TikTok bonus credits before creating your account—spending $1,500 to receive $1,000 back is a meaningful offset when you are still testing creatives.