How to get and use a TikTok Spark Ads code

A Spark Ads code lets a brand or an agency run someone's organic TikTok post as an ad. The creator opens the post in the TikTok app, taps the three dots and Ad settings, turns on Ad authorization, generates a code for 7, 30, 60 or 365 days and taps Copy Code. The advertiser then enters the code in TikTok Ads Manager under Tools > Creative library > Spark ads posts > Apply for Authorization, or with Add post while building the ad.

This page covers both sides: the creator, or the client who owns the TikTok account, who makes the code, and the brand or agency that uses it.

What a code does

TikTok's Spark Ads article describes Spark Ads as ads made from organic TikTok posts, either from your own account or from other creators with their authorization. The views, comments, shares, likes and follows the ad gains are attributed to the original post.

A code authorizes one post. TikTok's creation guide names three ways to get posts into Spark Ads:

• A creator's code: the creator authorizes a single post and sends the code. This page covers this route.
• A linked TikTok account: you pick from the posts of an account that is linked or authorized for your ad account.
• Pushing a post: you publish a new post from TikTok Ads Manager to an account authorized through TikTok Business Center.

If the client's own TikTok account should run as ads regularly, linking the account avoids a code for each post. TikTok's linking article says a TikTok account linked to ad accounts in Business Center appears automatically during Spark Ads setup, that linking needs Admin access to the Business Center, and that another Business Center, such as an agency's, can link the account to its own ad accounts. The agency's access to the client's ad account is covered in the TikTok Ads guide.

Creator: generate the code

TikTok's Smart+ Spark Ads article first asks that authorized posts are allowed in the creator's profile, and points to Settings and Privacy > Privacy, or Me > Creator tools, in the TikTok app. It then gives these steps in the app:

1. Open the post you want to authorize.
2. Tap the three dots.
3. Tap Ad settings.
4. Agree to the Advertising Content Terms of Service.
5. Turn on the Ad authorization toggle.
6. Generate a video code, and choose the authorization duration: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days.
7. Tap Copy Code and send the code to the advertiser.

Before you authorize a post, know what TikTok says about it:

• You cannot edit the post's caption after it has been authorized as an ad.
• A private video becomes public once it is used in a campaign, and its privacy status cannot be changed during the promotion.
• To delete the video from your account, it must first be un-authorized as a Spark Ad.

Brand or agency: add the code in TikTok Ads Manager

You can add the code before you build the campaign, or while you build the ad.

From the Creative library, as TikTok's Smart+ article describes:

1. In TikTok Ads Manager, go to Tools.
2. On the Creative tab, click Creative library.
3. Click Spark ads posts.
4. Click Apply for Authorization.
5. Paste the code in the search bar and click Search.
6. Review the post and click Confirm.

The post is then available at ad level: under ad details, click + Add existing and choose the TikTok posts tab.

While building the ad, in a manual or search campaign, as TikTok's creation guide describes:

1. In the Ad creatives section (or Creative assets), click + Add videos or images.
2. Choose the TikTok posts tab.
3. Click Add post and enter the code. You can authorize up to 20 codes at a time.
4. Select the post and click Confirm, then complete the ad and click Publish all.

TikTok shows the authorization period beneath each post, so you can check it against the campaign's end date.

Duets and Stitches

For a post made by two creators, TikTok asks for both codes. Enter the code from the second creator's post first. When TikTok confirms it is a dual-creator post, enter the code from the first creator's original post.

How long a code lasts

The creator chooses the duration when generating the code: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. Ask for a duration that covers the whole campaign, including any extension you may want. If the authorization ends before the ad does, TikTok shows an error (below), and its fix is to ask the creator to adjust the authorization.

A video code can only be deleted from TikTok Ads Manager once every ad that uses the video has been deleted.

Spark Ads code errors

These messages and fixes come from TikTok's error notifications article, with TikTok's error code in brackets.

"Authorization expired."

(4025, auth_code_expired) The authorization period has ended. TikTok's fix: contact the creator to extend the authorization.

"Authorization ends before the ad's end time."

(900010, calculate_intersection_time_error) The code runs out before the ad's scheduled end. TikTok's fix: contact the creator to adjust the authorization.

"The post code is incorrect."

(4013, auth_code_format_error) Check the code with the creator, or ask for a new one. For the related message "Post can't be used for Spark Ads due to an incorrect code." (auth_code_error), TikTok's fix is to select a different post or make sure the codes match.

"The code has been deleted."

(auth_code_not_found) Ask the creator to generate a new code.

"The post is not public."

(not_public_video) Ask the creator to change the post's visibility to public.

"You don't have permission to create ads."

(user_permission_missing) TikTok's fix is to contact your account manager about ad permissions. If the agency works in the client's ad account, it needs a permission there that allows creating ads: Operator and Admin both do, as the TikTok Ads guide shows.

"An error occurred processing the code."

(-500, call_rpc_fail or call_db_fail) TikTok's fix: refresh the page or try again later.

The post itself cannot be used

For these, TikTok's advice is to choose another post. For the first three, it also suggests contacting the creator, and for the last one, contacting support.

• "The video is not available due to community guidelines violation." (4002, video_unavailable)
• "The video has been deleted and cannot be used to create ads." (4002, video_deleted)
• "The post is unavailable due to a community rule violation." (900012, illegal_item_status_error)
• "This post can't be used for ads because it tags multiple posts." (930002, mention_multiple_videos)
• "Story videos can't be used for Spark Ads." (4027, story_video_not_supported)
• "Duet carousels can't be used for Spark Ads." (4042, carousel_duet_not_supported)
• "This post can't be used for ads due to duet or restrictions on multiple people involved in the post." (900003, multi_duet_stitch_refused or duet_stitch_region_limit)

"This link is not authorized for a post. Post's anchor status does not support Spark Ads."

(900011, anchors_status_error) TikTok's fix: check the anchor's audit status, or choose a link that is authorized for posts.