TikTok Promote: Eligibility, Steps and What It Costs
In short: Promote is the ad tool built into the TikTok app. You pay to boost a public video, photo post or LIVE, typically as an ad. To use TikTok Promote you must be 18 or older, and the post must use original sound or sound cleared for commercial use. TikTok’s help pages publish no minimum budget, and the results it estimates aren’t guaranteed.
The sections that follow take it in the order you’d hit each question: who passes TikTok’s eligibility rules, the setup steps, what you pay and which payment methods add a fee, why a post can’t be promoted, and the label brand content needs. If you’re still finding your way around the app itself, start with our beginner’s guide to TikTok.
Table of Contents
- What is TikTok Promote?
- Who can use TikTok Promote?
- How to promote a video on TikTok (app and web)
- How much does TikTok Promote cost?
- Does TikTok Promote actually work?
- Why can’t I promote my TikTok?
- Do promoted posts need a paid-partnership or promotional label?
- TikTok Promote FAQ
What is TikTok Promote?
An in-app advertising tool that boosts your videos, photo posts or LIVEs, typically as an ad. It works on short and long videos and on photo-mode posts, but not on Stories, and the results it estimates, such as views or clicks, aren’t guaranteed. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience
You start by choosing a goal. TikTok’s Business Help Center lists four: Boost account, Get leads, Get sales and Boost LIVE. Checked against TikTok Business Help Center: How to find Promote in-app and on web (last updated July 2026)
Who can use TikTok Promote?
Anyone 18 or over promoting public content with original or commercially usable sound, unless the account or the content falls under TikTok’s restrictions. Personal and business accounts both qualify: TikTok lists Promote among the features of General TikTok Accounts and of Verified Business Accounts. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Account types on TikTok — General TikTok Account features Checked against TikTok Help Center: Account types on TikTok — Verified Business Accounts
Run your post through this checklist before you pay:
| Check | You can promote if… |
|---|---|
| Age | You’re 18 or older |
| Visibility | The content is public |
| Sound | It uses original sound, or sound that can be used for commercial purposes |
| Terms | You agree to the Promote Terms |
| Format | It’s a video, a photo post or a LIVE, not a Story |
| LIVE only | Your account has at least 1,000 followers |
| Account type | It isn’t a government, politician or political party account |
| Content | It isn’t political content, or tobacco or nicotine content |
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience.
Checked against TikTok Business Help Center: About TikTok Advertising Policies for Promote (last updated February 2025).
How to promote a video on TikTok (app and web)
In the app you can start from four places: the profile menu (TikTok Studio, or Business suite on a Business Account), a post’s More options, a LIVE, or the Share button on someone else’s post or LIVE. Then you choose a goal, pick a promotion pack or build a custom one, and pay. TikTok’s steps:
In the app:
- In the TikTok app, choose one of the following options: tap Profile at the bottom, tap the Menu ☰ button at the top, then select TikTok Studio or Business suite (you must have a Business Account to access the business suite); tap the More options ... button on your post; tap the Add post + button at the bottom, then tap LIVE (you can also tap Share at the bottom during your LIVE); or tap Share on someone's post or LIVE.
- Tap Promote.
- Choose a promotion goal. Depending on the goal you choose, you may have to follow additional steps.
- Select a promotion pack or choose a custom one. If you choose a custom promotion pack, follow the steps to adjust your promotion details.
- Tap Pay. We'll notify you after your post is approved.
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience.
Three things TikTok adds about these steps:
- Promoting someone else’s post from Share may not be available for every post or LIVE.
- You can stop early. End a promotion at any time from its order details page, and the remaining budget goes back to your Promote balance. You can’t delete the post while the promotion is active.
- On a computer, Promote has its own web address: tiktok.com/promote/web/main. Checked against TikTok Business Help Center: How to find Promote in-app and on web (last updated July 2026)
How much does TikTok Promote cost?
There’s no published price. TikTok’s Help Center and Business Help Center give no price list and no minimum budget. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audienceNot verified Instead, TikTok says the cost depends on the duration and budget you set and may change with market demand, so the promotion packs in the app are where you see current prices for your post.
You pay in local currency or Coins, by card or other methods that vary by location, and how you pay changes the total:
| How you pay | Extra fee |
|---|---|
| In the app with Coins, Apple Pay or Google Pay | May add a service fee set by Apple or Google, typically around 30%, plus taxes |
| On the web with Coins, a card, bank transfer, e-wallet or Promote balance | No additional mobile fee |
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience.
One more money rule: a coupon used on an order isn’t returned once the promotion starts running, even if you close it early.
Does TikTok Promote actually work?
It buys reach, not a result. Asked whether the results of its promotion packs are guaranteed, TikTok answers no: the views or clicks it shows are estimates. A promotion also has to pass review. Its status reads pending review, active, paused or rejected, it usually starts after approval, and TikTok publishes no review time for Promote. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience
Whether it’s worth it for you comes down to a few checks:
- Match the goal to what you want. Boost account, Get leads, Get sales and Boost LIVE are separate goals, so pick the one you’ll judge the spend by.
- Give the post a fair organic run first. Post when your audience is active (our best time to post on TikTok guide has the timing) and work through the free fixes in how to get more views on TikTok before you pay.
- Fix eligibility before you pay. Make sure the post is public and its sound is original or cleared for commercial use, so Promote doesn’t stop to ask you to change it.
- Selling from a website? Set up a link in your TikTok bio too, so people who tap through to your profile can reach it.
Why can’t I promote my TikTok?
Either the post or the account misses one of TikTok’s Promote rules, or something in the app is blocking the order. If the Promote icon is grey, tap it: TikTok shows the details in a notification. If the icon has disappeared, TikTok asks you to send feedback with screenshots. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Use Promote to grow your TikTok audience Everything else is in this table, drawn from the TikTok Promote pages cited on this page.
| What you see | TikTok’s rule | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| You meet the rules but can’t place an order | — | Check your internet connection, then close and reopen the app |
| The post isn’t public | Only public content can be promoted | Make the post public, or promote a public one |
| Promote asks you to change the sound | Sound must be allowed for commercial use, or fully yours | Swap in a commercial sound or your own original sound |
| It’s a Story | Promote isn’t available for Stories | Promote a video or photo post instead |
| It’s a LIVE and you have under 1,000 followers | Promoting a LIVE needs at least 1,000 followers | Promote a video or photo post instead |
| You’re under 18 | Promote is for ages 18 and over | None |
| It’s a government, politician or political party account | These accounts can’t use Promote | None |
| It’s political, tobacco or nicotine content | This content can’t be promoted | None |
| The promotion was rejected | Posts that break the Community Guidelines or ads policy may be rejected | Read TikTok’s notification, and promote a post that follows both |
Why the sound rule catches personal accounts
TikTok gives Verified Business Accounts the Commercial Music Library but not the general music library, because those songs aren’t cleared for commercial use. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Account types on TikTok — Verified Business Accounts A General (personal) account can have both libraries, so a post set to a track from the general library may not meet Promote’s sound rule, and Promote may ask you to change it. Our TikTok audio guide covers finding and switching sounds.
Do promoted posts need a paid-partnership or promotional label?
If the post promotes a brand, product or service, yes: TikTok requires the content disclosure setting. It labels the post Promotional content when it’s your own brand, or Paid partnership when it’s a third party’s, and TikTok says turning it on won’t affect the post’s distribution. What “sponsored” means, and what a paid post must disclose, is in our sponsored post guide. Once the post is published, the label can’t be changed, so a mistake means removing the post and posting it again. TikTok’s steps, for a new upload on a computer and for an existing post in the app:
On a computer:
- Click Upload on the side panel.
- Click Select videos, then choose the file you'd like to upload.
- Click Show more. You may have to scroll down.
- Turn the Disclose post content setting on, then select whether you're promoting Your brand or Branded content, such as a third-party brand, product, or service.
- Adjust other settings, then click Post.
In the app: From your post:
- Go to your profile and select the post.
- Tap the More options … button on the side of the post.
- Tap Ad settings at the bottom. You may need to scroll across.
- Turn the Disclose commercial content setting on.
- Select whether you are promoting Your brand or Branded content, such as a third-party brand, product, or service.
- Tap Save, then tap Continue to confirm.
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Promoting a brand, product, or service.
And on TikTok ads, here’s where Outfeed AI stands:
TikTok Promote FAQ
If I promote a TikTok, will it show as an ad?
Typically, yes. TikTok describes Promote as a tool that boosts your video, photo post or LIVE, typically as an ad. A promotion usually starts after TikTok approves it, and the views or clicks TikTok estimates for it are not guaranteed.
Is there a minimum budget for TikTok Promote?
TikTok’s Help Center and Business Help Center don’t publish one. TikTok says the cost depends on the duration and budget you set and may change with market demand, so check the promotion packs in the app for current prices. Paying with Coins, Apple Pay or Google Pay may add a service fee set by Apple or Google, typically around 30%, plus taxes.
Can I promote a Story or a LIVE on TikTok?
Not a Story: Promote isn’t available for Stories. A LIVE, yes, if your account has at least 1,000 followers. TikTok’s steps start a LIVE promotion from Add post + and then LIVE, or from Share during your LIVE.
Can I pay for TikTok Promote with Coins?
Yes. Promote costs are shown in local currency or Coins. In the app, paying with Coins, Apple Pay or Google Pay may add a service fee set by Apple or Google, which TikTok says is typically around 30%, plus taxes. On the web, paying with Coins, a card, bank transfer, e-wallet or Promote balance carries no additional mobile fee.