How are TikTok and Snapchat ads managed?
TikTok and Snapchat are advertising platforms built on vertical videos that fill the phone screen. Unlike search ads, people are not looking for something; they are scrolling a feed, so the first second of an ad often matters more than the targeting. In this guide we explain how campaigns are set up and measured on both platforms and what to watch out for.
- 01
The short answer
TikTok and Snapchat ads make sense if your product is easy to show on screen, your audience uses these apps heavily and you can produce vertical video. Snapchat reaches large audiences especially in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, and TikTok does so in many markets. The decision should be based on where your audience spends its time and whether measurement can be set up on your site.
- 02
Creative: vertical, with sound, in the first second
On both platforms the ad is shown full-screen and vertical (9:16) and is often watched with sound on. The message should appear in the first seconds, the product should be shown early and subtitles should be added. Videos that look like the platform's own content, as if shot on a phone, are often received better than studio work. That is why several versions of the same message are prepared and the one that works is chosen by looking at the results.
- 03
Targeting and campaign structure
The campaign objective (reach, traffic, conversions or app installs) is chosen at the start, because the platform spends the budget according to that objective. Audiences are built from age, location and interests, and from your site visitors and customer lists. At the beginning, letting the platform learn with broad targeting is usually healthier than splitting a small budget across many narrow audiences.
- 04
Measurement: pixels and server-side events
TikTok Pixel and Snap Pixel report events on your site, such as visits, add-to-cart and purchases, to the platform. To recover events lost to browser blocking, sending them from the server as well through the TikTok Events API and the Snap Conversions API is recommended. These tags should not run without the visitor's cookie consent. Optimisation without measurement goes no further than looking at likes and views.
- 05
Budget and ad accounts
Ad spend is paid directly to TikTok and Snapchat from your own ad account, and the accounts are opened in your name. The management fee is a separate item. Each campaign needs a meaningful budget for the platform's learning phase; splitting a small budget across many campaigns makes the results hard to read.
- 06
Ad policies and review
Both platforms have advertising policies, with restrictions in categories such as health, finance and alcohol and extra rules in some countries. Ads go through the platform's review before they run. The consumer and advertising laws of the target country also have to be taken into account.
- 07
How we work at Doki
We set up and manage TikTok and Snapchat ad campaigns: audience plan, creative versions, measurement setup and a monthly report. Ad visuals and copy are included in the management fee and are sent to you for approval before they go live; we also work with the videos you already have and adapt them to each placement. The ad accounts are opened in your name and Doki works with admin access. Calls are held in Turkish; correspondence and deliverables run in the language you prefer, with translation support. We make no promises about results; every month we report clearly what worked and what was stopped.
Related pages
Articles that complete this topic, plus the matching service page.
Let's talk about your project.
Tell us what you need; we will define the scope together.