Guide: TikTok Business Center for Marketing Agencies

With over 2.21 billion active users, TikTok has seen tremendous growth in engagement, making the popular app a rapidly growing social media giant.

The combination of short-form videos, hoards of trendsetting creators, and the opportunity to go viral (even without followers) has made it highly attractive for marketers to tap into a diverse audience.

Whether you are thinking of advertising on TikTok or are already managing ad accounts there, this ultimate guide will explore what TikTok Business Center is, and how you can leverage its advertiser-centric features to impress clients 😄

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What is TikTok Business Center?

TikTok Business Center is a centralized hub for agencies to manage TikTok Ads, eCommerce, and business assets collaboratively. Anyone can sign up for a free account to grow a TikTok following, improve ads, and analyze results.

The platform comes with valuable marketing-centric features such as:

1. Performance Tracking

Get an overview of campaign analytics and patterns for an accurate understanding of how your content is performing. Use the flexible reporting feature to analyze ad spend, trends, and overall performance (even across ad accounts!).

2. Enhanced Collaboration 

Add or grant access to multiple ad accounts in bulk so you can delegate and work with various people on ad campaigns, billing, and payment. 

3. Permission and User Management

Invite other Business Center accounts as partners, or add members to your team. Set permission levels for different workflows and assets while keeping access secure.

4. Asset Centralization

Increase efficiency by accessing multiple TikTok advertiser accounts, audiences, catalogs, and Pixels from the same place. Remember, you can decide who sees what!

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Who can sign up for TikTok Business Center?

Business Center features are best suited for businesses or agencies who manage multiple ad accounts at once, but anyone with a TikTok for Business account can sign up @ https://business.tiktok.com/. It is recommended that agencies create their own TikTok Business Center account to connect with clients at the partner level.

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The difference between Business Center, Ads Manager, and Business Account

Commonly confused with a TikTok Ads Manager account, the Business Center account is in fact, different! 🫢

Here is a quick summary of their key differences:

You can create a TikTok Ad Account without a Business Center account, but there are good reasons to use the business-centric features available only in the Business Center. 

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Benefits of using TikTok Business Center

Even with a serious-sounding name, TikTok’s Business Center is accessible and built for businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and creators to big brand names and agencies.

Marketing agencies will find this all-in-one platform particularly useful for managing their clients’ TikTok accounts without additional software or tools.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these features and functionalities:

1. Access multiple TikTok Ad Accounts in one place

TikTok Business Center provides a unified platform for managing multiple ad accounts. This means that a single sign-in can access all your client’s ad accounts. No more requesting or granting permissions for dozens of accounts separately!

2. Control Over User and Asset Management

With various roles to assign, you can work with up to 4000 team members with peace of mind to manage access to client assets and different ad accounts. 

Both agencies and clients can view who made any changes to the ad accounts, creating an environment of mutual trust, collaboration, and transparency—arguably the most important qualities of a successful client-agency relationship!

3. Access to Insights and Reports

The Overview tab provides in-depth ad performance and finance reports across all ad accounts. Users can also filter results to focus on specific client ad accounts. 

Agencies can benefit from the analytics under ‘Creatives’ to make data-driven decisions to optimize campaigns. You’ll see your six top-performing videos along with metrics such as clicks, conversions, CTR (click-through rate), and impressions.

4. Get inspiration and keep on top of the latest trends

💡 The Planning Inspiration feature is only available to selected managed clients.

Business Center goes beyond KPIs and reporting. The Planning Inspiration page is a treasure trove of rich data to help you create better, more engaging ads. Use the global insights to forecast how your ads might appeal across different audiences and regions. Stay updated on the latest TikTok trends and creative best practices to create relevant ads.

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How to create a TikTok Business Center Account

Setting up a TikTok Business Center Account is free and easy! 

1. Start by signing into your TikTok business account @ https://business.tiktok.com/
2. Click ‘Create new”
3. Select the option that describes you (either advertiser or agency)
4. Provide your business information
5. Add billing and contact information

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Managing ad spending and payments

The Finance section within TikTok Business Center is where you manage all things payment (and invoices). 

Source

Admins and users with financial manager or analyst roles can: 

• Adjust balance for ad accounts (i.e., top-up credits)
• Set budgets and spending caps
• Access to payment information for ad accounts managed by the corresponding Business Center
• View transactions, total and historical account balance 
• Check on the payment status of invoices
• Pay or create an invoice group
• Manage payment methods

NOTE: Finance Management is only available for managed accounts that use monthly invoicing and automatic payment.

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Billing Sharing

This flexible feature enables clients to manage payment and billing responsibilities for ad accounts not owned by their Business Center.

This means that clients and agencies can share payment liabilities while maintaining access to their ad campaigns.

NOTE: New Billing Sharing requests are no longer possible in the US, EU, and Israel (updated July 2024).

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Managing Assets in TikTok Business Center

Assets refer to different resources that are crucial for the activation of marketing campaigns. 

Under the Assets tab, you will find a centralized space for all the assets you will need for successful marketing strategies. 

The Business Center’s extensive asset management system is ideal for agencies looking to utilize effective tools to grow their campaigns.

Assets refer to different resources that are crucial for the activation of marketing campaigns. Admins can grant access to assets and assign user roles such as Operator or Analyst.

Types of assets

• Ad accounts
• Ad campaigns
• Leads from lead generation
• Pixels
• Audiences
• TikTok accounts
• Shops (and TikTok Shopping ads)
• Catalogs (product images and descriptions)

Source

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Let’s take a look at the functions of Ad accounts and Pixel Sharing:

Ad Accounts

As discussed earlier, setting up an Advertiser Account is possible outside of the Business Center. However, agencies will greatly benefit from having the power to manage and gain access to multiple Ads Manager and TikTok for Business user accounts. 

The best part? All on the same platform!

You are advised to set up your Ads account through the TikTok Business Center to access those benefits in just a few clicks. 

However, if your client already has a TikTok Ad account set up, you can add it to your Business Center by requesting access. 

BONUS: Spark Ads is an ad service that boosts organic TikTok posts as paid ads, increasing engagement for your clients. 

To access this feature, you must have a TikTok Ads Manager AND a TikTok business account.

To deal with the complications that arise from individually requesting access to dozens of accounts, the Business Center allows you to get authorization to many business and ad accounts from one platform—eliminating the unnecessary back-and-forth admin work that comes with new clients.

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TikTok Pixel Sharing

A TikTok Pixel is a small piece of code that tracks user actions and measures the effectiveness of your ads.

In other words, it is a must for agencies looking to optimize their ad campaigns!

If you don’t already know how to install a TikTok Pixel, make sure to check out the following step-by-step guide:

What Is a TikTok Pixel and How to Install it.

Pixel Sharing is a Business Center feature that allows you to link a single TikTok Pixel to multiple Ad and Business Center accounts. 

This offers several advantages:

• Simplified campaign tracking, as user behavior is monitored from a single location
• Improved page loading speed, as multiple Pixels for different accounts can cause your page to slow down