Before getting started: Only available in launched markets with Video Shopping Ads (Catalog) capabilities. For more information, please contact your sales representative.
This article will detail the process of creating and managing a catalog on TikTok Ads Manager, including:
Creating a Catalog
Uploading Products
Managing a Catalog
Connecting Event Sources
Generating Video Packages
To learn more about the benefits, best practices, and user roles of Catalogs in the Business Center, refer to Manage Catalog in Business Center.
Overview
To help you get started, we've prepared a walkthrough to show you how to create and manage a catalog on TikTok Ads Manager.
You can also create a catalog and sync your product directly from one of our partner platforms, including:
How to create a catalog and add products
Create a catalog
If you wish to manage your products, you'll need to create a Catalog.
Setup or log in to TikTok Business Center account. (https://business.tiktok.com/)
Go to Catalogs and click Assets.
Click Add Catalog.
Input basic information about your catalog and products including:
Catalog Name
Business Center account
Industry
Targeting Location
Default Currency
After entering all the information, click Create.
Note: By creating a catalog, you agree to the Product Catalog Terms and abide by TikTok Advertising Guidelines.
Add products to a catalog
After you create your catalog, you will need to add your products to it. Adding your products to your catalog will allow you to create Video Shopping Ads (Catalog) that feature relevant products to your target audience and display current product information, like availability, pricing, and more.
There are 3 different ways to add products to your catalog:
Manually Add Products: Fill out a simple form for each product you wish to add to your catalog.
Data Feed Schedule: Upload products from an online file.
Upload File: Use a template to upload product files.
There are a set of requirements and instructions to follow for each method of adding products. To add products to a catalog you will first need to:
Select the catalog you want to add products to.
You can do this by selecting the catalog from the catalog home page.
If you have already opened a catalog, you can select another catalog from the drop-down menu on the left side of the screen.
Under Manage click Products, then click the button Add Products.
After bringing up the Upload Product module, you can download a CSV, XML (RSS), or XML (ATOM) version of the standard product template.
Next, you will need to select how you want to add your products to a catalog.
In the following section of this article, we will explain the common methods used to add products to your Catalog. To learn more about product parameters and their guidelines, refer to Catalog Product Parameters.
Manually Add Products
To add products manually, you will need to enter the following information for each product you wish to add:
Product Image: Add an image of your product, upload a file from your computer or select one from your creative assets. Please ensure that the image meets the following requirements:
Image Size: Minimum 500x500 pixels (Ratio 1:1)
Format: JPG or PNG
Maximum File Size: 500KB
Title: Enter the name of your product.
Use only valid unicode characters, and avoid invalid characters like control or function characters.
Do not include promotional text (such as "free shipping").
Video URL (Optional): Include a link to a video featuring your product.
SKU ID: This is a unique identifier that you will use to reference each product.
Description: Provide a short description of your product.
Link: Add a URL where someone can view and purchase your product.
Price: Enter the price of your product.
Note: The price is displayed in the currency chosen when your catalog was created.
Brand: Enter the brand name of your product.
Availability: Select the availability of your product from the drop-down menu.
Condition: Select the condition of the product from the drop-down menu.
After completing the information for one product, you may choose to create another by clicking the Add button on the top right corner of the screen.
Click Import when you've created all the entries you wish to add.
Data Feed Schedule
Using Data Feed Schedule lets you connect your catalog to a Data Feed, which the system uses to automatically get your product information and regularly update your catalog.
After you select Data Feed Schedule as your method for uploading products, you will need to complete the following:
Data Feed Name: Choose an existing product source or create a new one.
Data Feed URL: Input the URL where your product file is hosted.
If your Data Feed URL is password protected, enter a username and password that the system can use to get the file.
Do not include sftp user name and password with the url.
This will cause an error. You will add username and password in the UI
Automatic Upload Frequency: Optionally, choose if you wish your catalog to be updated Hourly or Daily.
Hourly: Your catalog will be updated every hour.
For Hourly and Daily, you will need to choose the time your file will start to update.
Select an Update Method: Choose whether you want to Update your data feed or Replace your data feed.
Updating your data feed: Upload a file to add new items to your data feed or update existing items
Existing items not found in your new data feed will not be deleted.
Replace your data feed: Upload a new data feed to replace your existing one.
Existing items not found in your new data feed will be deleted.
Click Import when you've completed all the information for your Data Feed Schedule.
Requirements
Supported Format: CSV, XML (RSS), XML (Atom), TSV, or GZIP
Note: GZ files compressed with the tar command are not currently supported.
For Zipped Files: Please ensure that compressed files contain one file.
Supported Protocol: FTP, HTTP, HTTPS.
Data Feed URL: The link should include the file name, for example:
http://tiktok.com/tiktok_exapme.csv
https://tiktok.com/tiktok_exapme.csv.zip
ftp://tiktok.com/tiktok_exapme.csv.zip
FileSize: <=50GB.
Number of Products: <=20 Million.
Upload File
When you select Upload File as the method to add products to your catalog, you will simply upload a template with entries for each of the products in your catalog.
After you select Upload File as your method of uploading products, you will need to complete the following:
Data Feed Name: Choose an existing product source or create a new one.
Before you upload your file, we recommend the Check Files tool to determine if your file is properly structured.
Click Check Files, then copy and paste the rows from your file. Click Check to continue.
When you review your file, you can view any found errors, along with suggestions to fix them in the Check Result module.
Upload your file.
You can drag and drop your file, or select the file path to upload.
If you are uploading to an Existing Product Source, you can choose between Update your data feed or Replace your data feed.
Requirements
Supported Format: CSV, XML (RSS), XML (Atom), ZIP, GZ.
Note: GZ files compressed with the tar command are not currently supported.
For Zipped Files: Ensure that compressed files only contain one file.
File Size: <100MB. If your file is over 100MB, we recommend using Data Feed Schedule to upload your products.
Pixel Upload
Using Pixel Upload enables you to connect your catalog to a specific pixel event, which allows product information to be automatically uploaded and updated to your catalog each time the selected user event is triggered. This is an effective method to achieve high match rates, while minimizing product information discrepancies by having products updated in real time. Before you select Pixel Upload as your method for uploading products, you will need to -
1. Configure the following mandatory pixel parameters to automatically transmit product information to TikTok.
Catalog Parameter Name | Pixel parameter Name | Description | Requirement | Value type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
sku id | content_id | Enter a unique ID for the item, such as a SKU. - Use only valid unicode characters, avoid invalid characters like control or function characters. | Either contents or content_id is required | Must be an array of objects (content parameter, id sub-object and quantity sub-object). |
sku id | contents | Only used when clients have multiple content IDs. If this parameter is used, client must also include the following in a sub-object: - product id or ids - quantity (number of items added to cart or purchased) | Either contents or content_id is required | string |
title | content_name | Name of the page/product | Required | string |
price | price* | The price of the item | Required | number |
description | description | A short description describing the item. | Required | |
availability | availability | The current availability of the item in your store. Out of stock will not be able to be advertised. | Required | Supported values: in stock, available for order, preorder, out of stock, discontinued |
image | image_url | The image link of the product, which will be used for the creative generation of the advertisement. | Required | - For square (1:1) aspect ratios in the carousel ad format, your image should be ≥500x500. - All images should be in JPG or PNG format. |
link | product_url | The URL of the product landing page, or the website where you can buy the item. | Required | |
currency | Refers to currency used as a means of circulation in social and economic activities such as USD | required, recommended to include for ecommerce customer | enum(string) | |
value** | The total price of the order | required, recommended to include for ecommerce customer | number | |
quantity | The number of product which is added to cart or bought by users | Optional | number | |
content_type | The content_type object property's value must be set to either product, or product_group, depending on how you will configure your data feed when you set up your product catalog. If you will be tracking events associated with individual products, set the value to product. If you are tracking events associated with product groups, set it to product_group instead. | Optional | Must be either product or product_group. | |
content_category | Category of the page/product | Optional | string |
2. Upload products using Pixel Upload
Select Add Products then Pixel upload
Select the Ad account to which the pixel has been connected and installed.
Select Pixel associated with your selected Ad Account that you wish to bind the catalog to.
Add trusted websites that are connected to your Pixel to retrieve information from specific or trusted sources.
Requirements
Only Pixels in Active state can be selected. If your Pixel does not post a new event within 7 days, it can not be used.
Each website URL must be within 100 characters, and only up to 20 domain names are supported.
Trusted websites listed are read as a "contain" condition. This means the product landing page of your products must contain any of your listed website URL in this field in order to be ingested into the catalog.
Each time an event is triggered, products may take up to 15 minutes to appear in the catalog.
Add New Product Sources
You can add new product sources once you have created your catalog and added an initial product source.
Select your catalog.
Under Configure, click Product Sources, then click Add Products.
Choose between Manually Upload, Data Feed Schedule, or Upload File to add new products to your catalog.
Note: We suggest using only one data feed per catalog to ensure that your ads are reviewed quicker.
How to manage a catalog
After you create a catalog and add your products, there are several ways you can manage, edit, or update the products in your catalog. In this section, we will cover how you can:
Manage & Add Products
Create Product Sets
Setup Catalog Rules
Connect Event Sources
Create Video Packages
Manage & Add Products
After you add your products to your catalog, you may wish to edit information about your products, add new products, or connect new product sources.
Log in to TikTok Ads Manager and click Catalog, and go to Assets. Then choose the catalog you wish to adjust.
To View Products: Click the link under the Products column to view the Product Details page.
To Delete a Product: Click the checkmark and then select Disable from the drop-down menu.
To Edit a Product: Hover your mouse over the product name and click Edit.
From the Edit Product module, you can edit all fields about your product except the SKU ID.
To Add Products: Click the Add Products button and choose how they are added to the catalog.
When adding new products, you must use a unique SKU ID to identify each product, even if you are uploading them from different data sources.
To Manage Product Sources: Under Configure, select Product Sources. This lets you view details about your catalog's product sources, including Product Source Name, Number of Products, Last Update Time, Last Update Method, last Update Status, and Next Update Date.
For more details about your Product Source, click the link under the Product Source Name column.
Once you've selected a specific product source, you can open the following tabs to view information about your product source:
Overview: You can view the number of products owned by that source, an upload log showing the details about the upload history, and set up an upload schedule for that source.
Products: You can view all the products contained by that source, review the product details, or delete specific products from that source.
Settings: You can create rules that change how product information is displayed in your catalog, as well as select an upload schedule.
Setup Catalog Rules
Note: Catalog Rules are applied at the Product Source level.
Creating Catalog Rules allows you to quickly make small changes to your product information. For example, you can create a Catalog Rule that will replace one value with another or map the inputs from one column to a different one.
To create Catalog Rules, you will need to access your catalog and then select Product Sources under Configure.
On the Product Source module click the Product Source Name.
Then select the Settings tab and click Add Rules, then choose the type of rule you wish to create, choose from:
Value Replacement: To replace specific Inventory info in your feed file with a new value.
Set Default Value: Set up values to replace empty cells in a specific column.
Mapping: Map a value from one column in your file into one of our supported columns.
Change Capitalization: Select a convention to capitalize the words in particular column.
Use Regex Replace: Replace inventory info in your feed file with a new value that is defined by using regex.
Once you've selected the rule you want to create, you will need to define how it works.
To Make a Value Replace Rule: Select the column to apply the rule to, then enter the Existing Value and New Value. To add more values to the rule, click the + button.
To Make a Set Default Value Rule: Select the column to apply the column and enter a Default Value.
To Make a Mapping Rule: Type the name of column in your Data Feed File and select the Supported Column you wish to map it to.
You may use Mapping if you have a column in your Data Feed File that is not supported by the Catalog, for instance you may have a column in your file named SKU that you wish to map to the SKU_ID column.
To Make a Change Capitalization Rule: Select the column you wish to apply to rule to, and then select the way you want to capitalize the words, choose from : Title Case, Sentence Case, Lowercase, and Uppercase.
To Make a Regex Replace Rule: Select the column and enter the existing value you wish to replace with the new value. To add more values click the + button.
After you create the rules for your catalog, you will need to choose how to apply them:
Apply now: Only apply on the latest updated catalog once rules are created.
Save and apply: Apply on every catalog which is updated from then on.
Apply now and to future upload: Apply on the latest updated catalog and future catalogs updates.
While there are many scenarios where creating catalog management rules, one of the most practical use cases is using them to fix uploading errors:
Using the Value Replacement rule to fix an invalid value error.
Using a Mapping or Set Default rule to fix a required field is missing error.
Create Product Sets
Product Sets allow you to build sets, or groups, of specific products within your catalog. Making Product Sets will allow you to create ad groups that promote specific products instead of your entire catalog. There are multiple ways to create a Product Set:
Option 1: Using Filters
Access your catalog.
Under Manage select Product Sets.
Select Create Product Set then Use Filters
Enter a Product Set Name
Select the Condition you wish to identify the items for your Product Set.
For example: If you wish to create a product set for products that are a specific color, under Conditions select Color, enter the keyword of the color and click Create.
Option 2: Upload a bulk SKU list
This method is recommended if you have a large range of products in your catalog.
Download template in CSV file.
Insert list of SKU IDs into CSV file.
Note: Only 5,000 SKUs can uploaded with each file.
Reupload CSV template file and select Create.
Connect Event Sources
Note: Before binding user events to your catalog, ensure that you have:
Sent your view content, add to cart, and purchase events to your Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) platform.
Enabled content id on your Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) platform.
Created your app or pixel on Events Manager before connecting Event Sources.
To connect your catalog to an event source:
Access your catalog.
Under Configure, click Event Sources.
Choose whether you want to connect your Catalog to:
App Event Sources: Track your in-app events with our measurement partners, and connect them with your catalog.
Pixel Event Sources: Connect your catalog with the events that occur on your website.
When you are connecting your event source, you're shown if the volume of events passed back to the platform will support retargeting. Volume indicators include:
Sufficient: Event volume is sufficient for retargeting.
Insufficient: Event volume could be used but low.
None: No event could match this catalog.
Once you connect an event source, you can click each event source card and check the volume of events being passed back for the three mandatory events: View Content, Add to Cart, and Purchase.
Clicking into your event source will also allow you to debug any products with your events by showing any issues with events or content ids.
For more information on how to connect a catalog with app event sources, watch the video below.
Create Video Packages
A key benefit of managing your products with a catalog is the ability to instantly generate custom videos for all of your products within it.
Access the catalog you wish to create videos for.
Under Configure, click Video.
There are four ways to create videos for your products:
Dynamic Templates
TikTok Templates
Custom Templates & Fonts
External Templates
Dynamic Templates
Dynamic Templates are the easiest way to get started with Catalog Videos. When you select Dynamic template, you can choose from the following:
Smart Template: Automatically match each product image to the most suitable background and visual style
Standard Video: Automatically generate standard video ads for each of your products
Beat Sync: Synchronize your product image transitions in your ad with the beat of the music
Select the Dynamic Template alternative that you wish to use, and click Edit Settings. You'll be presented with the opportunity to edit the following settings:
Add an Opening Scene and/or an End Scene. These are videos of your choice that play either before or after the template of the product. File formats can be MP4, MOV, FLV, MKV, WebM, and the duration is between 1-10 seconds.
The end scene can also be dynamically generated in select languages.
Background Music can be either system generated, uploaded from your device, or you can select a track from TikTok's vast library of available music.
Note: Beat Sync videos require you to select a Soundtrack from the Library.
Brand Logo (1:1) Optional
Price Sticker which fetches Price and/or Sale Price from your Catalog information
Text Overlay (Custom font upload and Color options are available)
Once you've chosen the elements to be included in your video, click Create.
TikTok Templates
TikTok's creative teams have created unique templates for you to use. Here you can often find seasonally specific templates, or templates that are created specifically with your industry in mind.
To use a TikTok Template, follow the steps below:
Find a template you'd like to use for your Catalog Video ads.
You can use filters to facilitate your search by clicking on the Funnel icon to the left.
Each template shows underneath how many changeable texts and images the template can facilitate.
Once you've found a template, click Create.
Template settings:
Images
Carousel Style - Choose to either Repeat Main Product Image in all product image slots (Image_Link in your Catalog) or Rotate all Images (this will show Additional_image_link_1, _2, etc.).
Choose Fill Screen or Fit to Screen.
Choose Gaussian Blur or Background Color to fill potential empty space around images.
Text
Select certain text to be taken from the Catalog, and the column the information will be taken from.
Change the font and color of your text. You can also upload your own custom font.
Music
Select music from the Library or upload your own background music.
Scene
Optionally, add an Opening Scene and/or an End Scene to the template. Only MP4 and MOV formats are supported.
Stickers
Add TikTok-style stickers to your template.
Modifiable: You can change the text, time of appearance, and placement of the sticker.
Unmodifiable: You cannot change the time of appearance and placement of the sticker.
Once you've chosen the elements to be included in your video, click Create.
Custom Templates & Fonts
Custom templates let you create your own templates and upload them to TikTok. Templates should be created in Lottie File format.
Custom Template Restrictions:
File Type: Lottie Zip
File Format: Zip
Duration less than 16s / fps ≤ 30 / Resolution: 720 * 1280
To upload a Custom Template:
Click Upload.
Upload the zip file you have created.
Choose the images that you wish to replace with images from your Catalog.
Choose the text that you wish to replace with text from your Catalog. Specify which column from the catalog should be fetched for each text box.
For some text fields, such as Title, select the amount of visible text with Character count.
Click Confirm.
Once the Template is uploaded, hover over it and click Create.
Complete the remaining steps to finish the template creation.
Custom Template settings:
Images
Carousel Style - Choose to either Repeat Main Product Image in all product image slots (Image_Link in your Catalog) or Rotate all Images (this will show Additional_image_link_1, _2, etc.).
Choose Fill Screen or Fit to Screen.
Choose Gaussian Blur or Background Color to fill potential empty space around images.
Text
Select certain text to be taken from the Catalog, and the column the information will be taken from.
Change the font and color of your text. You can also upload your own custom font.
Music
Select music from the Library or upload your own background music.
Scene
Optionally, add an Opening Scene and/or an End Scene to the template. Only MP4 and MOV formats are supported.
Stickers
Add TikTok-style stickers to your template.
Modifiable: You can change the text, time of appearance, and placement of the sticker.
Unmodifiable: You can change the time of appearance and placement of the sticker.
Once you've chosen the elements to be included in your video, click Create.
External Templates
If you use Adobe After Effects to create your own templates, you can upload them directly from After Effects to the Catalog using the TikTok AE Creative Plug-in. Simply download and install the Plug-in and allow access to upload video templates.
How to use
When uploading a template to TikTok from the Plug-In, you can:
Choose images from the project to be changed in Catalog.
Choose the text to be changed within the text fields in Catalog.
Select a Catalog destination to upload your video. Then, upload to TikTok Ads Manager directly from After Effects.
Benefits versus Custom Templates
Some After Effect features are not supported when uploading as a custom template because of Lottie file format restrictions. The TikTok AE Creative Plug-in offers designers more creative freedom with Adobe After Effects features, such as:
Use any video in your template; not just as an opening scene or end scene.
Leverage 3D rendering and 3D masking.
Use Blending Modes for more attractive designs.
Create animations with the Puppet Tool.
Make animations come to life with Motion Blur.
Use .psd or .ai files to easily integrate your design process.
To learn more about the TikTok AE Creative Plug-in, refer to TikTok Creative Plug-in Guide.
For more information on how to use Dynamic Video Generator, see the video below.