How to Add a TikTok Account to Business Center

Adding your TikTok account to the Business Center is the first step toward centralizing your marketing efforts and collaborating effectively with your team or agency. This guide provides a straightforward walkthrough of the entire process, explaining what permissions to grant and how to handle common issues without any headache. We'll cover everything you need to get your account properly connected and ready for action.

What is TikTok Business Center, and Why Bother Using It?

Think of TikTok Business Center as your brand's central command hub for all things advertising and management on the platform. While you can run ads directly from a TikTok Ads Manager account, the Business Center adds a layer of organization and security that's essential for anyone taking marketing seriously. It's not just another dashboard, it’s a powerful tool designed to streamline your workflow.

So, why is it so important? The benefits boil down to three key areas:

• Centralized Asset Management: It’s the single source of truth for all your TikTok assets. This includes your TikTok accounts, Ad Accounts, pixels, catalogs, and audiences. Instead of having these scattered and tied to individual employee accounts - which can become a major problem if someone leaves the company - everything lives securely in one central location owned by the business itself.
• Seamless Team and Partner Collaboration: You can grant specific permissions to team members, agencies, or contractors without ever sharing login details. Someone needs to run ads but not see your analytics? No problem. Need an agency to manage your campaigns but not have access to billing? You can do that. It provides granular control, allowing you to give people access only to the assets they need to do their jobs. This is far more secure than passing passwords around.
• Organized Billing and Administration: When you're managing multiple campaigns or clients, billing can become chaotic. The Business Center allows you to consolidate a payment method that can be shared across multiple ad accounts, or you can keep billing separate for different projects. It keeps finances neat and tidy, which your accounting team will love.

In short, using the Business Center shifts your workflow from functioning as a solo creator to operating as a professional marketing team. It lays the organizational foundation that scales with your business, saving you from major administrative headaches down the road.

Before You Start: A Quick Pre-Flight Checklist

Getting your account connected is simple, but you'll need a few things in place first to ensure the process goes smoothly. Take a moment to confirm you have the following ready:

• An existing TikTok account: This is the account you want to connect to a Business Center. It can be your primary brand account or a client's account.
• A TikTok Business Center account: If you don’t have one yet, you can create it for free at business.tiktok.com. Setup only takes a few minutes.
• Admin access to the Business Center: You must be an Administrator in the Business Center to add assets like TikTok accounts. If you're a standard member, you won't see the option to add new accounts.
• Login access for the TikTok account owner: Someone will need to approve the request from the TikTok app on their phone. This means the person who manages the TikTok account will need to be ready to scan a QR code or tap a notification.

How to Add a TikTok Account to Your Business Center: Step-by-Step

Once you’ve confirmed you have everything on the checklist, you’re ready to connect your account. The process only takes a minute or two. Let's walk through it.

Step 1: Navigate to the Assets Section

First, log in to your TikTok Business Center. On the left-hand navigation menu, look for the Assets section. Underneath it, click on TikTok Accounts. This page displays all of the TikTok creator and brand accounts currently associated with your Business Center. If it's your first time, this list will be empty.

Step 2: Start the Connection Process

On the TikTok Accounts page, you'll see a prominent blue button labeled Add TikTok Account. Click on it. This will open a pop-up window presenting you with two options for connecting an account: Request access and Claim ownership. It's important to understand the difference.

Understanding Your Options: Request Access vs. Claim Ownership

• Request Access: This is the most common option and the one you'll use 99% of the time, especially if you're an agency or a social media manager. It allows your Business Center to use the TikTok account for advertising and reporting without taking full ownership of it. The original owner retains control and can revoke access at any time. This is the perfect choice for managing client accounts or collaborating with different departments.
• Claim Ownership: This option is a permanent transfer of the TikTok account into your Business Center. Use this only for accounts that your company fully owns. Once an account is claimed by a Business Center, it cannot be claimed by another one. This is generally used by larger organizations consolidating all their brand properties under a single corporate entity.

For this guide, we'll proceed using the Request Access method, as it’s the most flexible and widely used approach.

Step 3: Generate the Authorization Request

After selecting "Request Access," you'll be asked what level of access you want. You can request access for running Spark Ads (using the account's existing content in campaigns) or LIVE ads. Select what you need and click Generate QR code.

Step 4: Authorize from the TikTok Mobile App

A QR code will appear on your screen. Now, the owner of the TikTok account needs to complete the final step on their phone.

1. Open the TikTok app on the phone that is logged into the correct account.
2. Go to your Profile tab.
3. Tap the menu icon (three lines or dots) in the top right corner.
4. Select Settings and privacy.
5. Tap QR Code, then tap the scanner icon in the top right.
6. Scan the QR code displayed on the Business Center screen on your computer.

Once scanned, a notification will pop up on the phone asking to authorize the Business Center's request. After tapping Authorize, the account is officially connected! You can refresh your Business Center page, and the TikTok account will now appear in your list of assets.

Granting Permissions to Your Team

Connecting the account is only half the battle. Now, you need to assign access to the right people on your team so they can actually use it for their work.

Step 1: Select the Account and Assign Members

Back in your Business Center under Assets > TikTok Accounts, find the account you just added. Select its checkbox and click the Assign a new member button that appears above the list.

Step 2: Choose Your Team Members and Assign Roles

A list of all the members in your Business Center will pop up. Select the people or partners who need access to this TikTok account. Once you've selected them, you’ll need to assign them a permission level.

TikTok offers a few different roles:

• Operator: Can view the account details, create Spark Ads using the account's posts, and view LIVE content stats. This is the most common role for ad managers or agencies.
• Analyst: Can only view the performance analytics of the account. They can't create ads or make any changes. Perfect for team members who just need to see the data for reports.

Choose the appropriate permission level for each person, click Assign, and you’re done. Your team members now have the access they need to do their jobs without ever holding the account's password.

Common Hitches & How to Fix Them

Connecting accounts sometimes runs into snags. Here are a few common issues and their quick fixes:

• The QR code expired. The authorization QR code is only valid for a limited time. If it expires, simply close the pop-up and generate a new one.
• I don’t want to use a QR code. If you can’t get the QR code to scan, TikTok Business Center often gives you an option to switch to a direct notification method. This will send a request directly to the notifications in the owner's TikTok app - just have them go to their Inbox > All activity > From TikTok to find and approve it.
• The authorization failed. Double-check that the person approving the request is logged into the correct TikTok account. This is the most frequent cause of failure.
• I can’t see the account after adding it. First, try refreshing the page. If it's still not visible, you may have been authenticated into the wrong Business Center account. Check you're logged into the correct one before trying again.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your TikTok account to the Business Center is a simple but powerful move that professionalizes your workflow. By centralizing your assets and using permission-based access, you create a marketing ecosystem that is secure, organized, and built to scale as your brand or agency grows.

At Postbase, we know that managing social media is about more than just one platform. Once you’ve centralized your TikTok operations in Business Center, the next logical step is to centralize your entire content workflow. Instead of jumping between TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, we provide one clean, visual calendar to plan and schedule everything. Our focus has always been on making social media management less chaotic, starting with a design built for video-first platforms and providing the rock-solid reliability you need to run your business with confidence.