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Launching ads on TikTok

Last updated June 18, 2026

Launching to TikTok works just like launching to Meta — pick a source, choose where the ads go, add your copy, and launch. It runs through the same launch wizard; uplads just switches to TikTok's wording: you launch into ad groups (TikTok's equivalent of Meta ad sets) under an identity.

Before you start

  • Connect your TikTok account in Configuration → Connections.
  • Have at least one campaign + ad group already created in TikTok Ads Manager. uplads launches ads into your existing ad groups; it doesn't create campaigns for you. (You can, however, duplicate an existing ad group from inside the wizard — see below.)

Steps

  1. Pick a source on the Creatives step:
    • Media Library — upload or select your own videos and images to launch in bulk.
    • Spark — promote a creator's existing organic post via a Spark ad code (no upload, no copywriting). See Spark ads below.
  2. In TikTok targeting, choose:
    • Advertiser account — which TikTok ad account to launch into.
    • Campaign → Ad group(s) — one or more ad groups to receive the ads.
  3. On the Ad copy step, set the identity (the TikTok account the ads run under), your caption(s), the landing page URL, optional UTM parameters, and a call to action.
  4. Review and click Launch. By default ads are created paused so you can check them in TikTok Ads Manager before they spend.

Captions, identity and call to action

The Ad copy step mirrors Meta's:

  • Identity — the TikTok account the ads post under. uplads loads your authorized identities automatically.
  • Caption variants — add up to 5 captions and TikTok rotates them across your ads to find the best performer. TikTok hard-caps captions at 100 characters, so uplads blocks Continue until any over-length caption is trimmed.
  • Landing page + UTM — your destination URL plus optional utm_… parameters appended to every ad.
  • Call to action — pick from TikTok's CTA list (Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Download, and more).

You can also load a saved template or generate copy with AI right from this step — the same template library and AI dialog used for Meta launches.

Smart+ campaigns

uplads detects Smart+ (Upgraded Smart+) campaigns and labels them with a Smart+ badge in the campaign picker. They're fully supported — uplads launches into them through TikTok's dedicated Smart+ flow.

One difference: TikTok doesn't allow setting a call-to-action per ad on Smart+ via the API, so Smart+ ads inherit the campaign's call to action automatically. The Ad copy step shows a note explaining this instead of the CTA dropdown. Captions still rotate (Smart+ ACO supports up to 5).

Spark ads — promote a creator's post

Spark ads (TikTok's branded-content / partnership format) put paid spend behind a creator's existing organic post, keeping their handle, caption, comments and engagement intact. You don't re-upload the video or rewrite the copy.

  1. On the Creatives step, open the Spark tab.
  2. The creator generates a Spark ad code from their post and shares it with you. Paste it into the Spark ad code field. (uplads doesn't create the code — it comes from the creator's side.)
  3. Click Continue with spark ad. Because the post is the ad, Spark mode skips the Ad copy step and jumps straight to targeting — pick the advertiser, campaign and ad group(s), then launch.

This is the same source mechanism as Meta's partnership ads; TikTok just calls it "Spark."

Duplicate an ad group

Need a fresh ad group to launch into without leaving the wizard? On the Targeting step, click Duplicate ad group. uplads clones an existing ad group's settings (status, budget, targeting) into a new empty ad group — no ads — and selects it for you, ready to receive this launch's creatives. If the source campaign sets its budget at the campaign level, the copy inherits it.

Automatic 9:16 resizing

If a video isn't already vertical (9:16), uplads automatically reformats it to TikTok's 1080×1920 with a blurred background fill — no manual editing. Videos that are already vertical are uploaded untouched. Images are uploaded as-is.

Naming

Your account's naming convention is applied to every TikTok ad, exactly like Meta launches — so names stay consistent across platforms.

Tracking progress

Each ad's status (queued → uploading → created, or failed with the reason) appears live on the launch progress view, the same as Meta.

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