Your post, a creator post, or a Push upload can all be Spark Ads.

A Spark Ad is paid distribution of an organic TikTok post. TikTok's business blog describes Spark Ads as a native format for boosting organic content. On the ad, people can comment, like and share. They can open the profile by swiping left or by tapping the handle or profile photo, and they can follow from the + icon. A call to action can send them to a landing page, as it can on a regular In-Feed Ad.

Which post you are buying

There are three buys. One is a post on your own linked TikTok account. One is a post on a creator's account: TikTok's Smart+ article allows an account authorised through Business Center, or a post authorised with that video's code and an authorisation period. One is a file you upload. The same article documents Push Spark Ads, which publish an uploaded file under the linked account, so that kind of upload is still a Spark Ad.

A video code has a set authorisation period. TikTok's Smart+ help article lists four: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days, and it does not name a default. JoinBrands tells creators to select the 365-day option. Treat that as the marketplace's instruction, and set the authorisation period in the contract.

The performance claim does not choose the post

TikTok's business blog says Spark Ads deliver enhanced ad performance compared with non-Spark Ads, and it mentions efficient buying options. That is TikTok's own claim about its format. Decide on the caption, the profile that keeps the engagement, and any fee in the creator contract.

Your account or the creator's

The first identity in TikTok's Smart+ article is your own linked TikTok account. On a post the brand already published, profile clicks and a swipe left go to the video owner's profile, and the + icon follows that account. New follows are a reason to use this buy. TikTok's business blog offers that scenario: boost the brand's organic posts when you want to build social presence and grow the following. A file pushed under the same linked account is the upload route below, and it is still a Spark Ad.

The second identity is a creator's post. Archive, a UGC platform, describes it as authorised creator content, through Business Center or an individual video code. TikTok's Smart+ article has the creator open the video, tap the three dots, open Ad settings, and generate the TikTok post code. That article requires this authorisation before you run someone else's organic post.

On that post, the follows and the likes stay with the creator. The call to action can still send people to your page. Judge the creator buy on orders, and on whether people reach your page, not on likes.

TikTok's business blog describes how Isle of Paradise sourced creators. The brand had organic traction with Glow Drops, then approached creators from the TikTok Creator Marketplace who had already made organic testimonials, which is a reason to find a post that already exists and then ask for a code.

Upload when the code blocks the change

Archive says the caption cannot be edited after authorisation. DeepClick says Ads Manager takes the display name and text from the chosen organic post and will not let you edit them during ad creation. If you need a different caption and the setup screen will not take it, upload a file you control.

When two creators made the video, TikTok's Smart+ article requires an authorisation code from each. On a Duet or Stitch, Archive has you search with the secondary creator's code first, then enter the primary creator's code. If the second code is missing, that video-code route stops. Upload a file you control only if it leaves out the unauthorised creator's content, or you already have the rights to use that content.

A private video becomes public once it is used in a campaign, and the privacy status cannot be changed during promotion, though you can turn on TikTok Ads Only Mode. That rule is in TikTok's Smart+ help article. Archive describes an "Only show as ad" option that keeps the content off the profile, out of search, and out of organic recommendations.

Each Spark code belongs to one video. Home From College contrasts that with Instagram whitelisting, where a brand can approve a creator more generally, so a new video on this route needs a new code. TikTok's Smart+ help article also lets Identity Type 2 use accounts authorised through Business Center, so permission is not only per video.

Apply the code, then write the missing terms

In TikTok's Smart+ article, the advertiser path is Tools, then the Creative tab, Creative library, Spark ads posts, and Apply for Authorization. Paste the video code, search, and read the authorisation period under the post before you turn the ad on. You can apply up to 20 codes in one batch, and each post shows a period to review. Use this path for Smart+ campaigns. The Smart+ help article does not cover manual or search campaigns.

The Spark Ad setup does not set what the creator is paid. TikTok's Smart+ help article does not say whether TikTok pays the creator, so do not treat that silence as proof that no payment exists. Put any agreed fee in the contract, along with the terms the product will not settle for you:

• The creator generates the code for that specific video.
• The authorisation period is one you both accept.
• The caption and display name are final, and you have read them.
• A Duet or Stitch has both codes, and you know which code to search first.
• The fee is stated, and the contract says what that fee covers.
• The contract names who removes the ads and un-authorises the video. Archive and Kurve both say the video has to be un-authorised as a Spark Ad before it can be deleted from the organic account.

Ask the creator to turn on Anchor Authorization in TikTok Disclosure and Ads settings before they generate the code. JoinBrands gives creators that instruction. Confirm it is on before you pay for the code.

A hypothetical with a creator fee

The figures below are assumed, not a fee to offer, so the arithmetic is easy to see. The currency is pounds. Swap it if you do not trade in pounds, and keep one unit all the way through.

Assume contribution after product cost, fulfilment and payment fees is £20 an order. Assume media spend is £1,000 over 30 days whether you run the creator post or an upload. Assume the creator's fee for a 30-day authorisation period is £400. The upload has no creator fee. If that upload is pushed under the linked account, it is still a Spark Ad. The comparison here is the fee, not whether the file is a Spark Ad.

At £20 contribution per order, £1,000 of media on the upload is covered at 50 orders. The creator post costs £1,400 in this test, media plus the £400 fee, so it needs 70 orders in the same 30 days. Those extra 20 orders are the licence. Plan as if they have to land while the authorisation period is still valid. The TikTok pages cited for the code rules do not price that fee into the buy, and the Smart+ help article does not say whether delivery stops when the period ends.

If a 7-day authorisation period still costs £400, do not reuse the 30-day, £1,000 media schedule. The fee is still 20 orders at £20 contribution. Count those orders against the seven days you are paying for. The Smart+ help article does not say whether delivery stops when the period ends, so treat that week as the planning period rather than a confirmed cutoff. The media spend in that test is whatever you actually run during those seven days, not £1,000 spread over 30. Tie the fee to the authorisation period you selected, if the contract lets you.

Keep the creator post and the upload apart

Plaid Testing says Spark Ads and non-Spark ads can sit in the same Smart+ ad group. Smart+ can allocate spend across the ads in that group. A Push upload under the linked account is still a Spark Ad, so it is not the non-Spark ad in that comparison. Keep the creator post apart from a non-Spark ad, and apart from a separate Push upload, until each one has its own result.

Short code to test, long code to keep

Match the authorisation period to the run you will pay for, and count the creator fee against the media you actually run in that period. TikTok's Smart+ help article does not say whether delivery stops when the selected period ends.

When the contract lets you pick the authorisation period, use 7 or 30 days for a test you plan to stop, and 60 days if you need longer than a month without holding the post for a year. Choose 365 days when you already intend to keep that post for the year. Agree the period before you apply the code, and do not plan on a later code for the same live video.