You have a great brand TikTok presence and you’re creating excellent content, too. 

However, you’re noticing that your engagement and reach aren’t as high as they used to be. You’re looking up ways to “hack the algorithm” while searching the latest growth tactics. 

We have an easier solution for you: Boosted TikTok posts. 

While it’s possible to grow organically on TikTok, especially given the platform’s viral trends, boosting an organic post can help your brand further reach the people it’s looking to serve.   

Below we discuss what boosted TikTok posts are, how it’s different from a TikTok ad and how to boost a TikTok post.

What is a Boosted TikTok Post? 

Boosting a TikTok video increases your post reach to a wider audience by utilizing your ad budget towards ‘boosting’ the video. When you boost a post, it shows up in your audience’s For You page as an ad. This is the simplest way to advertise on TikTok. 

Available to anyone with a Pro account (Creator or Business type), boosting a post offers an easy way of advertising on TikTok without having to be familiar with TikTok Ads Manager. You simply generate an ad authorization code (more on this below) and then select the TikTok post you want to boost. 

Boosting a TikTok post allows your content to be seen by an extended audience, including people who don’t follow your page but may be interested in your product or service.

What’s the Difference Between Boosted Posts and TikTok Ads?

Deciding between posting a TikTok post and creating a TikTok ad can be tricky if you don’t know the key differences. To help you make a decision, we outline these differences below.   

As a general rule of thumb, businesses should decide on their goals before advertising on TikTok as some goals can be reached by boosting a post and others can be reached by creating a TikTok ad.

A boosted organic TikTok post combines the best of both worlds – the look and feel of a native TikTok video with the benefit of amazing reach and engagement from an ad. One of TikTok’s most unique qualities is it’s authenticity. People don’t have to be perfect on TikTok. Everyone belongs to a TikTok community and is in fact celebrated for being themselves. A Nielsen study even showed that 60% of TikTok users said they felt a sense of community while on TikTok. By boosting your brand’s content, you can quickly expand your reach and connect with users in an authentic way. 

1. Authenticity in Marketing

“Being real is the new cultural currency as today’s influence comes from the authentic ideas and imagination of everyday people,” said Sofia Hernandez, Head of U.S. Business Marketing, TikTok. “This opens up a new opportunity for brands to take a more meaningful approach to marketing by truly connecting with our community.” 

Therefore, an organic post promotes the authenticity that an ad may not have, even if users perceive the platform to be ad-friendly. TikTok’s values of creativity and authenticity has given brands and marketers the ability to be creative storytellers and meaningfully engage with the TikTok community, which is a key advantage of organic posts. 

2. One-off Events

One-off events often don’t require full-blown campaigns. With just a little boost, you can get the word out and get more people to attend an event or purchase a sale item. This also applies to special offers and promotions. For instance, a retail brand can use TikTok’s Boost Post whenever they are sharing discounts and special offers.

3. Results

When deciding between boosting a post or running a TikTok ad, it really comes down to your goals. If your goal is to increase engagement or develop your brand awareness, on TikTok to a broad audience, then boosting a video that is performing well can be a great way to maximize visibility and grow your audience. 

If your goals are lead generation and sales-focused, then it’s best to take the time to set up a well thought-out TikTok ad campaign for the best results.

While boosting a post is still considered an ad, TikTok ads are created through Ads Manager and offer more advanced customization solutions.

How to Boost a TikTok Post 

When you boost a post, 3 things are involved:

  1. Who you want to reach: Your target audience 
  2. Your budget: The spend over the course of your entire campaign
  3. How long you want to run your ad: People in your target audience will see your ad in their For You page for the allocated duration

What objectives can we choose from? 
When boosting a post, you have 5 available objectives: Video Views, App Installs, Reach, Traffic and Conversions. 

What features are available in a boosted TikTok post? 

  • Engaging full-screen, sound-on, 3-60s video
  • Reservation and auction ready (Auction in Beta) 
  • Reach new, diverse audiences
  • Real-time campaign management

Getting started with Boosted TikToks

To start, there’s a two-steps process that users must complete. 

Step 1
Generate an Ad Authorization Code
To boost your posts, you first need to authorize your account for advertising. If you have a Creator or Business account, go to your privacy settings to toggle on the “Ad Authorization” button. 


Step 2
Add Creator Video to Your Library

Within your TikTok Ad account, select TikTok Posts.

• Select Library in nav bar

• Select Creative from drop-down menu

• Click the TikTok Post tab


Enter the promotional code(s) for each video you’d like to promote.

• Click Initiative Authorization

• Enter the code

• Click Search for details about video(s)

• Click Submit to add to your library

Tracking Video Authorizations
Once you’ve initiated authorization as outlined above, you can now track the authorization status in the TikTok Posts tab.

Video Authorization Status

  • Authorized: Eligible too traffic 
  • Authorization Expired: Permission have expired – need to issue a new code
  • Authorization Duration (Days): The number of days the video(s) have been authorized
  • Valid Period: The exact date range which the video(s) are valid to traffic

Setting up your Campaign

You’re now ready to set up your campaign! Generally, follow the normal steps to set up any TikTok Ads campaign, with a few important distinctions:

  1. Creating Your Campaign: Note that TikTok is the only supported Ad Group Placement.
  2. Creating Your Ad
    1. In the Ad Format menu, select Use Existing Post
    2. Choose Select Posts From Library
    3. Select the authorized creator video you intend to traffic.

Note: If your authorization for a video expires during the campaign, the ad will be paused. You can request to renew the authorization via the same creator request process. Once authorization is reinstated, the ad can be trafficked without going through ad review again.

If you’re looking to grow your social media presence and grow a diverse following, TikTok’s ad results speak for themselves.

According to Alex Judge, AdParlor’s Account Director, “TikTok has provided some of the highest View Through Rates (VTR) outside of non-skippable placements we’ve seen for paid social. When looking at a recent campaign we ran for one of our larger advertisers we saw 5x higher view through rates and 10x higher video completion rates in comparison to Facebook & Instagram placements.”

Furthermore, boosting a TikTok post is a great way to gain exposure outside of the regular interactions received with organic posts. However, before boosting a post or two, remember to check in with your business goals, understand your target audience and the budget involved to set yourself up for success. Happy advertising! 

If you are looking to improve your TikTok campaign results or have questions regarding the latest platform updates, we’d love to chat!

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