TikTok Ads Integration

TikTok Ads works differently from Vector's native integrations like Google, LinkedIn, or Reddit. There's no live API sync here — instead, Vector exports your audience as a CSV file that you upload directly into TikTok Ads Manager. It's a quick manual step, and you can automate the export so the file lands in your inbox on a schedule. Here's how the whole flow works. 🎯

What This Integration Does

Vector generates a CSV export of your segment's contacts — formatted and ready to upload to TikTok Ads Manager as a Custom Audience. You can do this manually whenever you want, or set up a scheduled export so a fresh CSV is sent to your inbox daily, weekly, or monthly.

There is no direct API connection between Vector and TikTok. This means audiences don't sync automatically in the background — each update to your TikTok Custom Audience requires a new CSV upload. Setting up a scheduled export makes this as hands-off as possible.

Before You Start

✅ Make sure your Vector Pixel is installed on the site you're driving traffic to. Set it up here if you haven't already.

✅ You have a TikTok for Business account with access to TikTok Ads Manager. If you don't have one yet, you'll need to create it before you can upload audiences.

✅ Your segment in Vector is turned on and has been running long enough to populate with contacts. Segments don't backfill — they collect contacts from the moment they're switched on.

How to Export Your Audience from Vector

There are two ways to get your segment data out of Vector and into TikTok: a one-time manual export, or a scheduled automated export.

Option 1: Manual export (one-time or on-demand)

1. In Vector, open the segment you want to send to TikTok

2. Go to Integrations Actions

3. Select Export CSV

4. Download the file — it's ready to upload to TikTok Ads Manager

Option 2: Scheduled export (recommended)

Skip the manual step entirely by having Vector send a fresh CSV to your inbox automatically:

1. In Vector, open the segment you want to export

2. Go to Integrations Actions

3. Select Schedule CSV export

4. Enter the email address you want the file sent to

5. Set your preferred frequency: daily, weekly, or monthly

When exports are sent:

• Daily — by 10am ET

• Weekly — Mondays by 10am ET

• Monthly — the 1st of each month by 10am ET

Most customers choose weekly as their default. This gives you a regularly refreshed audience without over-uploading to TikTok.

💡 Naming tip: Name your segment something clear and date-friendly (e.g., "High Intent Visitors – May Wk1") so you can identify which file is which when it lands in your inbox and in TikTok Ads Manager.

How to Upload to TikTok Ads Manager

Once you have your CSV from Vector, here's how to get it into TikTok:

1. Log into TikTok Ads Manager and go to Assets → Audiences

2. Click Create Audience and select Upload a customer file

3. Choose your file type — select Email (Vector exports include hashed email addresses)

4. Upload the CSV file from Vector

5. Give the audience a clear name so you can find it later (e.g., "Vector – High Intent – May")

6. Click Confirm and wait for TikTok to process the audience

TikTok will process the list and match contacts against its user database. This typically takes 24–48 hours. Once matching is complete, the audience will be available to add to any campaign.

Audience Size Requirements

TikTok requires a minimum number of matched users before a Custom Audience can be used for targeting.

Important nuance: The matched user count will be lower than the number of contacts in your CSV. TikTok matches based on hashed email addresses, and not every contact will have a TikTok account tied to the same email. Plan your segment sizes accordingly.

What Match Rates to Expect

TikTok match rates vary depending on your audience type and data quality. Because TikTok skews toward consumer behaviour rather than professional identity, match rates for B2B audiences tend to be lower than platforms like LinkedIn.

For the best match rates:

• Use email addresses — TikTok's primary matching method for customer files

• U.S.-based contacts generally match at higher rates

• Younger demographics tend to have higher TikTok account penetration and match better

• Personal email addresses may actually perform comparably to work emails on TikTok, since many TikTok accounts are registered with personal emails

Common Issues & Fixes

❌ I uploaded my CSV but TikTok says the audience is "Too Small"

What's happening: Your uploaded list didn't match enough TikTok users to meet the 1,000-user minimum. This can happen even with a large CSV if TikTok can't match your contacts to active accounts.

Fix:

• Broaden your segment in Vector to include more contacts — a larger list gives TikTok more to match against

• Re-export and re-upload with the expanded segment

• If your audience is genuinely too narrow for TikTok's minimums, consider whether TikTok is the right channel for this particular segment

❌ My CSV from Vector isn't uploading correctly in TikTok Ads Manager

What's happening: TikTok has specific formatting requirements for customer file uploads. If the file structure doesn't match what TikTok expects, the upload may fail or produce an error.

Fix:

• Make sure you're selecting Email as the identifier type when uploading — Vector exports are formatted with email-based matching

• Don't modify the CSV file before uploading — opening it in Excel or Google Sheets can sometimes alter the formatting

• If TikTok rejects the file, check that you're uploading it as a .csv (not .xlsx or any other format)

• Try downloading a fresh export from Vector and uploading it directly without opening it first

❌ My scheduled export never arrived in my inbox

What's happening: A few things can prevent the scheduled export from arriving: the wrong email was entered, the email landed in spam, or the segment was turned off.

Fix:

1. Go to Integrations Actions on the segment and check the scheduled export settings — confirm the correct email address is entered

2. Check your spam or junk folder

3. Make sure the segment is turned on — exports only run for active segments

4. If the issue persists, delete the scheduled export and set it up again

❌ My TikTok audience is outdated — contacts from months ago are still in there

What's happening: Unlike native integrations where Vector removes contacts from the audience automatically, TikTok Custom Audiences need to be manually refreshed. The existing audience in TikTok reflects the last CSV you uploaded — it doesn't update itself.

Fix:

• Download a fresh CSV export from Vector and replace (not supplement) the existing Custom Audience in TikTok Ads Manager — you can do this by uploading a new file to the same audience, which TikTok will use to update the list

• Set up a scheduled weekly export to keep a fresh file coming to your inbox without having to remember to do it manually

Key Things to Know

Tips for Best Results 🚀

• Set up a weekly scheduled export from the start — it takes 2 minutes and means you'll never forget to refresh your audience

• Name your audiences with dates in TikTok Ads Manager (e.g., "Vector – High Intent – Apr Wk3") so you can track which version is active and retire old ones cleanly

• Upload to TikTok as soon as the CSV arrives — the fresher the data, the better your match rate

• Don't open the CSV in Excel before uploading — Excel can alter the formatting in ways that break TikTok's upload parser

• Layer TikTok's interest and behaviour targeting on top of your Custom Audience to boost relevance, especially when your matched audience is on the smaller side

• Build a Lookalike Audience from your best-performing Vector segment once it's in TikTok — this lets you reach net-new users who resemble your matched contacts

Questions? Reach out at support@vector.co — we're happy to help you get your TikTok audiences set up and uploading smoothly. 🙌