How to use TikTok to promote your event - including examples
This in depth guide covers the basics of getting started on TikTok, to creative formats that work well, ads, audience refinement and working with creators.
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With almost two billion active users globally, TikTok is one of the most powerful discovery platforms on the internet. So it makes sense you’re considering it as a tool in your event promotion strategy. Whether it’s festival goers discovering new artists or wellness gurus getting their daily affirmation fix, TikTok is awash with potential event attendees. So… how do you find them, connect with them, and turn them into ticket buyers?
In this guide, we’ll walk through exactly how event creators can harness the promotional power of TikTok, helping you to understand:
How the platform works
How to create content that performs
How to build an audience
How to create ads
How to leverage influencers
How to turn views into ticket sales
Let’s go.
How to promote an event on TikTok
Using TikTok to promote your events is a smart move. But what does it actually involve? Firstly, you’ll need to get good at posting regular, algorithm-friendly content that appeals to your audience. You can also choose to work with influencers, utilize TikTok’s paid advertising options, and collaborate with other creators.
Whichever approach you take, your ultimate goal should be to see through these key stages:
Awareness: A new audience discovers your events, whether through seeing your organic content, paid ads, or the content of influencers you’re collaborating with.
💡Tip: In the world of social media marketing, organic content means content you create and post without paying to have it promoted in any way.
Engagement: Users start to engage with your event brand on TikTok by liking and commenting on your content, sharing your posts, and following your account. A community is born! 💫
Conversion: Some users decide to buy tickets to your event, whether after immediately seeing a promotional offer on one of your TikTok posts, or somewhere later down the line.
💡Key takeaway: Promoting your events on TikTok can be as simple as posting regularly and building up an engaged audience organically. Or it can involve a multi-pronged approach, with paid ads and influencer collabs.
How TikTok works
TikTok is built around a personalised, endless video feed called the For You Page (FYP). When users open the app, they’re immediately shown a stream of short videos selected for them by TikTok’s recommendation system.
Most time on TikTok is spent passively scrolling this feed rather than actively searching. Users might follow creators, visit profiles, or use search occasionally. But the core behaviour is swipe, watch, react, repeat. And the app learns from every tiny interaction. For example, how long someone watches a video, whether they rewatch it, like it, comment, share, or quickly skip past it.
TikTok’s algorithm uses these signals to predict what will hold a person’s attention next. Which means even brand-new creators can go viral if their content strongly matches what the algorithm has learned people enjoy.
💡Key takeaway: TikTok’s algorithm is built to show interesting content to the people who are most likely to enjoy it, regardless of who posted it. So you don’t technically need a huge following for your content to have an impact on your ticket sales. For this reason, TikTok is often viewed as a more lucrative marketing tool than other social media platforms, which don’t give new accounts the same level of opportunity when it comes to going viral.
Examples of For You content
👀Looks like this user is into wellness, live music, and exploring London.
TikTok event marketing fundamentals
It’s fine to just start creating content on TikTok with a view to seeing what sticks. But you’ll likely see greater success with your posts if you do a bit of strategic thinking first.
Start with the "who"
TikTok is full of niche subcultures (ArtTok, CookTok, MusicTok and more). Figure out where your ideal audience hangs out and create content that feels at home in that space.
Be realistic about your goals
Not every video needs to sell tickets. Some should build familiarity, show your personality, entertain, or grow your following. Track views, engagement, and followers, as well as ticket sales.
Think of your TikTok as a mini brand within your event brand. Explore relevant hashtags and similar events, then choose a consistent tone that fits your overarching brand personality. Calm, inspiring, comedic, zany; whatever works. Over time, people will start to recognise your TikTok personality.
💡Key takeaway: Defining your audience, setting clear goals for your content, and thinking about the overall tone and theme of your posts will make it easier to create more impactful content.
How to start creating content on TikTok – creative best practices
As an event creator, you’ve got no shortage of great material for TikTok, from behind-the-scenes moments to interviews and how-tos. But it’s crucial to know that how you present your content matters just as much as what you show. These creative best practices will help signal to TikTok that your content is worthy of its users’ attention:
Go for an unpolished feel
Aim to produce content that feels casual, spontaneous, and native to the platform. Think phone-shot clips, natural lighting, and an unpolished feel over highly produced edits.
Format it vertically
TikTok is built for vertical viewing. Always film and edit in a 9:16 format so your video fills the whole screen and feels natural to watch. Horizontal or awkwardly cropped footage tends to be offputting, as it clearly looks out of place.
Make it entertaining
TikTok is an entertainment-first platform. Even when you’re promoting an event, your content should aim to amuse, intrigue, or delight. Think behind-the-scenes snippets, relatable moments, mini stories, educational content, and trend-driven posts (more on this below) rather than straight promotion.
Focus on the hook
The first few seconds decide whether someone keeps watching or scrolls on. Start with movement, a bold statement, a question, or an enticing visual. Give viewers an immediate reason to stay.
Use captions and overlays
Whether out in public or having a sneaky scroll at work – lots of people watch TikToks with the sound off. Text overlays and captions ensure they can still engage with your content, while also making your posts more accessible and easier to follow at a glance.
TikTok niches in action – from crafts to live music and cooking.
💡Key takeaway: TikTok rewards content that adheres to certain creative best practices because ultimately these are what drive more engagement. Using these creative best practices is essential if you want your content to have the best chance at showing up in users’ feeds.
How to build an audience on TikTok
Some people build up an audience on TikTok by accident, but for many, it’s a carefully orchestrated process that involves posting the right type of content consistently over time. It’s also crucial to engage with your TikTok community by interacting with them via comments. Note that building an audience is not the same as building a following. You can have an audience – i.e. people who regularly see and engage with your posts – that’s made up of people who don’t actually follow you.
Here are some of the top tactics for building up a lively, engaged audience on TikTok:
Identify your event's niche
As we touched on above, TikTok is made up of many, many subcultures. So it’s important to define which of these your content belongs to. The clearer your niche, the easier it is for your content to find the right people. As an event creator, this part should actually feel pretty easy, as your events already likely fall into a specific niche – e.g. wellness, the arts, business, sustainability.
Post hight quality content consistently
Consistency is crucial when it comes to building up an audience on TikTok, as it helps signal to TikTok that your account is active. Aim for two to three posts per week of well thought-out content. And don’t worry, “high quality” doesn’t mean Oscar-worthy direction!
It just means content that satisfies your audience, either by tapping into a trend, or offering something genuinely funny, insightful, educational, or entertaining.
get to know your audience
It’s important to understand what your audience wants and how they behave on TikTok. To do so, aim to interact with them as much as possible in the comments section, and pay attention to which videos get the most views, saves, and shares.
It’s worth using TikTok’s analytics features too, which show you how your content is performing. Use these insights to guide what you make next.
Use formats and trends that TikTok already rewards
Certain formats perform better than others on TikTok. For example:
Talking-to-camera explainers
Quick behind-the-scenes clips
Before-and-after transformations
Reaction videos
Storytelling voiceovers
Adapting these formats to your event theme gives your videos a familiar structure that viewers are more likely to watch all the way through.
Tapping into current trends can also give your content a visibility boost, as trending formats and themes tend to get more engagement. A trend could be anything from a particular lip syncing theme to a certain caption used for comedic effect.
Create TikTok-first content
Content made specifically for TikTok usually performs better than content recycled from elsewhere. Vertical video, text overlays, native sounds and platform trends all help your videos feel at home in the feed.
Use trending sounds
TikTok plays a big role in music discovery. Using trending sounds or songs can increase the chances of your video being picked up by the algorithm.
Collaborate with relevant creators
Working with creators in your niche exposes your event to an already engaged audience. Even small creators with a few thousand followers can have engaged, loyal communities.
Use TikTok's built in features
Features like LIVE, Q&As, and interactive stickers give viewers more ways to engage with your content and your event. And features like Duet and Stitch allow you to respond directly to someone else’s video, which can be a powerful way to join conversations already happening in your niche and get your content seen by a wider audience.
TikTok’s Duet feature
🎤Matt Barnes and Will Smith discuss that particular Oscars night event as the scene plays below.
💡Key takeaway: Building an audience on TikTok is all about producing TikTok-first content that fits clearly within a defined niche, and posting regularly. The more you get familiar with the type of content that does well on TikTok, the easier it’ll get to fire out consistent, relevant posts – all the better for accruing an engaged audience over time.
How to create TikTok ads
Putting spend behind your campaigns can be a smart move. TikTok’s paid ads have earned a reputation as a powerful way to spark discovery and drive real action. You don’t need a huge budget to get started, just a small daily spend to test your creative and audiences. You then might choose to increase your budget behind the ads that generate clicks or sales.
Here’s what you need to do to weave paid TikTok advertising into your strategy:
Set up in Ads Manager
Head to TikTok Ads Manager and create a campaign. You’ll choose an objective – usually Traffic or Conversions for event creators – set your budget, and decide whether it runs continuously or within your on-sale window. If you’re tracking purchases, make sure your pixel is installed before you hit go.
Define who should see it
Next comes targeting. You can build audiences using location (handy for local events), age, interests, and behaviours. You can also upload your own data or retarget people who’ve already visited your ticket page.
💫 Example: a food festival might target nearby users who engage with restaurant or recipe content.
Build the ad
TikTok has a range of different ad types, but most event creators will use In-Feed ads (the ones that appear in the For You feed). To use this feature, you’ll upload a vertical video, add your caption, and include a clear call to action like Book Now or Learn More. When creating the content for your ad, aim to keep in mind the same creative best practices as you would with organic content. Although lots of big brands do create sponsored content that has a definite ‘ad’ feel, ads that look more like native content may be less likely to get swiped past.
Once approved, keep an eye on the performance of your ads and tweak. Even small adjustments can make a big difference to sales.
TikTok Ad for London Zoo
✅ See how the CTA is initially grayed out before being filled in with a bold color. This lets the story hook viewers first, before bringing the action to the foreground once attention has been earned.
How to leverage TikTok influencer marketing
Partnering with an influencer can be an impactful way to grow your reach, landing your content in front of a new audience. The idea is that the audience already trusts the influencer you’re working with, making the promotion feel less like an ad and more like a recommendation from a friend. Here’s how to give it a go:
Find creators in your niche
You’ll want to find creators that are highly relevant to your own event brand. This is much more important than follower count. For example, a local food reviewer might shift more tickets to your street food festival than someone with a huge but general audience. Look for people whose content, tone and community line up with your event.
Give them a strong angle
Creators know what works for their viewers. Instead of handing over a script, offer a hook: exclusive access, a behind-the-scenes look, early entry, a discount code, or the chance to document their experience. The more natural it feels, the better it's likely to perform.
Think beyond one post
Aim to work with the influencer across a sequence of posts, rather than a one-off. For example, an announcement, reminder, and final call. This mirrors how real people talk about plans and keeps your event front of mind.
Make it easy to track
Use unique links or codes so you can see who’s driving sales. This is the best way to learn which partnerships are worth repeating.
💡Key takeaway: It’s much better to look for highly relevant influencers that feel closely aligned with your events and brand than those with huge follower counts. Once you’ve found someone great to work with, trust their content-making expertise, providing them with loose guidelines rather than strict content creation briefs.
An influencer reviews a conference as part of a paid partnership
💸Note how the TikTok is marked as a ‘Paid Partnership’ for transparency. Also – see how the influencer promises an honest review, signalling that users can trust the content despite being a paid promotion.
Deploying your TikTok marketing strategy
Now you’ve got a good understanding of how TikTok promotion works, it’s time to pull it all together for your events:
Plan content around your event timeline: For example, before tickets go on sale, during the main promo period, and in the final run-up to the event.
Repurpose TikTok content elsewhere: Good TikToks can be reused as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or website content, giving you more value from each video.
Measure, measure, and measure some more: Look for patterns in your most viewed and most engaged videos. Put more effort and spend (if running paid ads) into what works and definitely don’t worry too much about the occasional flop.
TikTok content ideas for your events
TikTok content ranges from playful trends and lip syncs to tutorials, storytelling and educational clips.
You can either create content that is light and trend-led, or focus on sharing posts that are more insightful and educational.
A few examples:
Festivals and music events: Artist announcements, crowd shots from previous years, stage build-ups, playlist teasers.
Creative workshops: Time-lapse clips of projects, quick tips, participant creations.
Wellness events: Short guided practices, calming venue shots, instructor introductions.
Business events: Speaker highlights, venue prep, key takeaways from past talks.
Comic conventions: Cosplay spotlights, prop making, fan reactions.
Comedy nights: Quick crowd reactions, snippets of atmosphere, performer intros.
Turning TikTok views into ticket sales
Finally – time to turn all that engagement into ticket sales. To do so, make sure your ticket link is easily discoverable through your bio and pinned comments. And include clear calls to action in videos that are designed to promote sales.
Urgency can help, but don’t overdo it. Focus on what makes your event worth attending rather than constant pressure.
A smooth, simple ticket checkout experience is also important. If someone is excited enough to click through from TikTok, you don’t want friction getting in the way.
💡Tip: Ticket Tailor lets you design a fully branded, pro-feeling event page and has a super simple checkout process for customers. Helping to make the journey from browsing TikTok to buying tickets seamless.
Final thoughts: TikTok as a long-term channel for events
Ultimately, using TikTok to promote your events requires playing the long game. But that’s not a reason to be put off. While there are no instant wins, the potential for growing a loyal community and reaching a vast new audience is huge.
Think of TikTok as a way to genuinely connect with fans rather than just a place to advertise. Experiment, pay attention to what resonates, and prioritise interacting with your growing TikTok community above all else.
It can definitely be a bit daunting to put content out into the TikTok ether at first, but the more you get used to posting, the more you’ll get a feel for what works. If a post doesn’t resonate, it’s really no big deal. Try something else, and keep practicing.
