How To Promote a Product on TikTok and Boost Sales

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Carolyn Howell

Last Updated: Sep 27, 2024

TikTok Tips

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TikTok is the best place for creators and brands looking to reach their target audience and build a solid social media presence! In addition to its powerful and satisfying algorithm, its video-centric format makes it the perfect avenue for marketing. Here’s your ultimate guide on how to promote a product on TikTok to boost awareness and sales! 

How To Promote a Product on TikTok

TikTok offers several ways to promote products on the platform. You can promote a product for your own brand or on behalf of a business via any of the following:

  • Running a campaign through TikTok Ads Manager
  • Using the Content Disclosure option for feed videos. 
  • Using Promote or Spark ads to turn feed videos into ads. 

Let’s explore each option. 

Run a Campaign Via TikTok Ads Manager

Using TikTok Ads Manager is the ideal marketing option for business accounts on the platform. Via Ads Manager, you can create campaigns based on specific marketing goals, manage multiple ads, optimize advertising, and track your ad performance. 

The great thing about ads on TikTok is that they have a similar look and feel as organic content. This means businesses can continue to leverage the power of organic posts while boosting optimization for specific goals. 

Ads can appear in For You feeds, Detail Page, Post-roll, and Story (collectively referred to as Placements), depending on your campaign goals. When you run a TikTok ad, the post will have the Sponsored or Ad label to properly identify it as an ad. 

Here’s a quick guide on how to get started on TikTok Ads Manager:

  1. Create a TikTok Ads Manager account. You can do this with either a Creator or Business account. Take note that it’s best to access Ads Manager via a computer. 
  2. Create your first campaign. Click Create ad on your Dashboard, choose an Objective, and set a Campaign name and a Campaign budget
  3. You can create an Ad group or go straight to creating an ad. 
  4. Under the Ad group or the campaign, click Create to create an ad
  5. On the Ad creation page, turn the Smart creative ads toggle on or off. 
  6. Enter the Ad name
  7. Turn the Identity toggle on or off. 
  8. Select your Ad format
  9. Add your media by uploading from your computer, from your Ads Manager library, or by creating a new video. 
  10. Choose a thumbnail for your video. 
  11. Enter your Display name, video text, call to action, profile image, and the URL you want to direct traffic to. 
  12. Add relevant tracking URLs. 
  13. Preview your ad, then click Submit to create your ad. 

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Use the Content Disclosure Setting

TikTok requires all commercial posts, i.e., posts that are promotional in nature, to turn on the Content Disclosure setting

This adds a label to the post to let users know that the content is 

promoting a brand, product, or service. It helps TikTok maintain transparency and build trust among users and advertisers. 

There are two Content Disclosure types:

  1. The Promotional content label is for any post that promotes a product for your own brand. 
  2. The Paid partnership label is for branded content or any post that promotes a product on behalf of a business. 

You can turn on the Content Disclosure setting before or after you publish a video. Follow these steps to turn on the setting before posting:

  1. On the Post screen, tap More options (if you’re not part of Creator Marketplace) and then tap Content disclosure and ads. If you’re in TikTok Creator Marketplace, tap Content disclosure and ads.
  2. Tap the toggle next to Disclose post content to turn it on. 
  3. Select whether you’re promoting for your brand or on behalf of a brand/third party.
  4. Tap Save
  5. On the Post screen, tap Post

To turn on the setting after publishing a post:

  1. On the video, tap the three dots in the bottom right corner. 
  2. On the bottom row of options, swipe left, then tap Ad settings.
  3. Tap the toggle next to Disclose post content to turn it on. 
  4. Select whether you’re promoting for your brand or sharing branded content on behalf of a brand. 
  5. Tap Save, then tap Post

Keep in mind that turning on the Content Disclosure setting will not affect how TikTok recommends your content. You should also remember that if you don’t use the proper disclosure label on your post, TikTok may remove/restrict your marketing content. 

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Use Promote or Spark Ads

TikTok’s Promote feature lets you convert a public organic post to an ad. This advertising tool can help you get more people to discover your content, drive website traffic, and gain more followers. Promote is a paid option to make your videos more visible on feeds. 

You can access the Promote feature via Creator Tools, the Business Suite, or directly from the video you want to promote. 

Follow these steps to set up Promote for a video:

  1. On the Promotions page, tap the video you want to promote. Take note that you can use Promote with public videos. 
  2. Choose a goal for promoting the video, then tap Next
  3. If your goal is More website visits, enter your website URL. Choose an action button, e.g., Learn More, Shop Now, or Sign Up. Tap Save. 
  4. Select your audience: Automatic or Custom. Then tap Next
  5. Set your budget and duration, then tap Next
  6. Add your payment information if you’re using an Android device, or recharge your coins if you’re using an iPhone. 
  7. Tap Start promotion.

Spark Ads, on the other hand, lets you turn organic posts into ads and specify your campaign objectives. Do you want to increase video views, drive higher conversions, or maximize ROI from creator collaborations? Spark Ads lets you leverage enhanced ad performance for authentic, native posts. 

Various brands advertise their products on the side of a building.

How To Promote on TikTok Shop 

TikTok Shop is the platform’s e-commerce feature. It’s an all-in-one marketing solution for businesses looking to connect with customers and generate sales on TikTok. TikTok Shop allows business owners to upload products and sell directly from their posts. 

For customers, the marketplace gives them a convenient way to discover brands and products they’ll love and complete purchases via their phones. 

Currently, TikTok Shop is available in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

If you have set up your TikTok Shop, you can use TikTok Promote and Shop Ads to promote products. Keep reading to learn how to promote on TikTok Shop.

Use Promote for TikTok Shop

Sellers can set up Promote for product purchases on TikTok Shop to sell directly from your videos and LIVEs. Take note that the video/LIVE must feature the TikTok Shop products to enable product purchases via Promote. 

Here’s a quick guide on how to use Promote for TikTok Shop purchases:

  1. Create a Promote campaign in the TikTok app
  2. Under Choose your goal, tap More product purchases
  3. Select a promotion pack or customize your promotion. Choose Default audience or Create your own, then set your Budget and Duration
  4. Review your Promote campaign details. 
  5. Tap Pay

Use TikTok Shop Ads

You can set up Shop Ads via your Seller Center’s Ads section. Follow this quick guide to set up your Shop Ad:

  1. In the Ads section, click Create Campaign or Create Ads
  2. Select Product Sales as your campaign objective. 
  3. Select TikTok Shop as the product source. 
  4. Follow the rest of the ad creation process

Shop Ads are a great option if you want to promote a new product or boost sales for a specific item in your Shop. You can create video shopping ads, LIVE shopping ads, or advertise using product images from your Shop. 

A person reads a magazine article about growing a business.

How To Advertise Your Product on TikTok: Frequently Asked Questions

You can try various paid or unpaid options if you want to advertise on TikTok. If you want enhanced targeting solutions, however, paid ads are your best bet. Want to test the waters? Start with TikTok’s Promote feature. 

Here are a few more FAQ to help you decide what advertising option is best for your goals. 

How much does it cost to promote products on TikTok?

According to various reports, you need a minimum ad budget of $500 to run a TikTok campaign. The daily ad budget minimum requirement is $50 at the campaign level and $20 at the ad group level.

How do I sell my products on TikTok?

There are tons of options to explore if you want to sell on TikTok. Open a TikTok Shop, use Creator Marketplace for collaborations, or simply create organic posts! 

Take advantage of the platform’s e-commerce solutions via TikTok Ads Manager. Enroll in TikTok Academy and learn more about TikTok’s unique product solutions. Browse through TikTok Insights to discover how ads drive real business impact. 

How do I get TikTok influencers to promote my product?

The first step is to identify influencers and creators who are right for the job. If you want to leverage influencer marketing, you can join Creator Marketplace or conduct an influencer search via Creative Center

Learn the basics of influencer marketing on TikTok to make the most of your collaboration and creator-led, original content. 

Are there resources I can explore on TikTok to help me get started with ads?

Yes! TikTok also offers tons of resources to help brands, business owners, and marketers learn everything they need about running ads on TikTok. There’s the TikTok Ads Library, which you can explore to learn from top-performing ads. 

Four spotlights light up an empty platform.

Try Different Ways To Promote Products on TikTok

TikTok is not only friendly to content creators and regular users. It’s also the ideal option for businesses, marketers, brand ambassadors, and affiliates! 

Need to build brand awareness? Try hashtag challenges, user-generated content (UGC), contests, and popular trends. Want to boost sales? Collaborate with creators, open a TikTok Shop, and leverage TikTok ads. Do you want to know how to promote a product on TikTok? You can do it with organic posts via the Content Disclosure option or explore TikTok Promote! 

There are tons of options to explore to help you grow your brand on the video-sharing platform. And if you want an expert partner for accelerated TikTok growth, sign up for a High Social plan. 

High Social’s advanced, proprietary AI targeting solution is the perfect complement to TikTok’s own algorithm. Double your targeting capability and get more followers on board! Grow your TikTok community with genuinely interested and active users. 

Start growing your TikTok today!

TikTok Tips