This process uses the TikTok campaign brief, the marketing campaign brief, the three naming conventions, the UTM standards, the TikTok creative specs, the TikTok copy templates, and the TikTok pre-launch checklist.
What you’ll end up with
Three things that point at each other:- A completed TikTok campaign brief, filed in the campaign library under the TikTok folder.
- A live campaign in TikTok Ads Manager, named per the three naming conventions, pointing at a tagged landing page, optimizing toward a conversion action defined in the event tracking plan.
- Links back from the marketing campaign brief to this campaign’s brief, finished creative, and finished copy.
Before you start
Every input below has to exist, or be deliberately marked as not applicable, before the build starts.The process at a glance
1
Confirm the campaign has a parent
Every TikTok campaign belongs to a marketing campaign brief.
2
Gather the inputs
Work the table above. Pick what exists, brief what doesn’t.
3
Fill in the TikTok campaign brief
Objective, optimization event, budget, bid strategy, structure, targeting, creative count.
4
Clear Spark Ads authorization, if you're using it
Get the code and record its expiry before the build.
5
Assemble names and UTMs
All three naming levels and the tagged URLs.
6
Register an experiment, if you're testing
Only if there is a control.
7
Build the campaign, ad groups, and ads
Copy the decided values in.
8
Run the pre-launch checklist
The last pass before spend starts.
9
Launch and link back
Set live, then link the campaign and its assets into the marketing campaign brief.
10
File the brief
Into the campaign library, TikTok folder.
1. Confirm the campaign has a parent
Open the marketing campaign brief this spend belongs to and confirm TikTok is listed in its channels table, with a reason and a budget line.2. Gather the inputs
Work down the table in Before you start. Customer profiles. Link them from the customer profile library and note how each is built on TikTok. Be honest in the brief about whether the campaign is relying on targeting or on creative, because on TikTok the second is usually doing more of the work. Conversion action. Find the event in the event tracking plan and confirm both the pixel and the Events API are firing. Running the API alongside the pixel matters more than the setup effort suggests: signal loss on a pixel-only setup shows up as weak optimization rather than as a tracking error anyone spots. Destination. Check the landing page library first. TikTok traffic arrives colder and faster than search traffic, so a page that opens by establishing the problem usually outperforms one written for high intent. Creative. Brief it through the creative brief process, and check the video drive for cuts that already exist. Decide the number of variants at launch here. Creative has to meet the TikTok creative specs, including the safe areas, which move with caption length.3. Fill in the TikTok campaign brief
Copy the TikTok campaign brief and work down it. Every campaign gets its own. The brief fixes objective, optimization event, budget, bid strategy, and structure. Creative rotation and in-flight bid adjustments stay with the media buyer.4. Clear Spark Ads authorization, if you’re using it
Spark Ads run against a real organic post, yours or a creator’s, and need an authorization code with an expiry date. Request the code, record it in the brief, and record when it expires. An expiry that lands mid-flight will take the ad down without warning, and it is usually the best-performing one.5. Assemble names and UTMs
Write all three names and the tagged URLs into the brief before opening Ads Manager.6. Register an experiment, if you’re testing
Only if there is a control. Follow creating an experiment.7. Build the campaign, ad groups, and ads
Build from the brief. Work down the levels:- Campaign: objective, budget level, campaign type, campaign name.
- Ad groups: one per row of the brief’s structure table. Placements, audience, optimization event, budget, bid strategy, ad group name.
- Ads: video from the approved files, copy from the filled copy template, destination URL with UTMs attached, ad name.
8. Run the pre-launch checklist
Run the TikTok pre-launch checklist with the campaign built and paused.9. Launch and link back
Set the campaign live, then:- Paste the finished creative and finished copy links into the marketing campaign brief.
- Add the campaign to the reporting dashboard named in the brief.
- Record the launch date and the mid-flight review date in the brief.
10. File the brief
File the completed TikTok campaign brief in the campaign library, under the TikTok folder, named per the file naming conventions.Exceptions
- The campaign is a creator test with no conversion goal. It still gets a brief, but the conversion action and landing page rows may not apply. Record what the test is meant to prove instead.
- You are adding a creative variant to a live ad group. Skip steps 1 to 6. Confirm the video and copy are approved, name the ad per the ad naming conventions, attach the UTMs, and run the ad-level rows of the pre-launch checklist.
- The campaign is cancelled before launch. File the brief with a short note on why it stopped.
Related resources
- TikTok campaign brief The workbook this process runs on.
- TikTok pre-launch checklist The pass before spend starts.
- Campaign brief process The parent process, one level up.
- TikTok creative specs Including safe areas and caption interference.
- Creative brief process and copywriting process