TikTok Business Account vs Personal Account – What’s Better in 2024?

You don’t need to know all the differences between TikTok Personal and TikTok Business accounts to make a choice – all you need to know is if the key features meet your intended use. In this guide, I’ll show you the main differences between both account types and which is better for you.

If you just want to enjoy TikTok’s content and create content around your hobbies, a TikTok Personal account should do. But if you’re going to grow your brand and take advantage of TikTok’s highly engaged young audience for marketing purposes, you should go for a TikTok Business account.

Both account types let you create engaging content, build your followership, and access basic analytics. However, a TikTok Business account is better if you want to advertise on TikTok and grow your audience. Keep reading to learn all the differences between a TikTok Business account and a Personal account, or start advertising on TikTok right away.

TikTok Business Account vs Personal Account – A Brief Overview

TikTok offers two main types of accounts: personal and business. Personal accounts are for individuals looking to share their lives and hobbies or simply enjoy the platform’s content. On the other hand, business accounts are designed for businesses or solopreneurs who want to use TikTok for marketing, brand building, and engaging with a wider audience.

Both types allow you to create and share content with similar features. You can post videos, use filters, and engage with followers on both. However, they differ in their analytics and promotional tools. For instance, while you can explore basic engagement metrics on a personal account, a business account provides in-depth insights and the ability to run ads.

The key differences lie in the tools and features available. Business accounts offer access to TikTok’s Ads Manager, enabling detailed campaign tracking, audience targeting, and performance analysis. They also allow for commercial music and provide richer analytics than personal accounts.

Here’s a table comparing the standout features of both account types:

The Leap to TikTok Business Account – Why Make the Switch?

With over 1 billion monthly users, TikTok has become a home for brands to showcase their products, engage with audiences, and drive sales. If you run a business or sell online, you should opt for a TikTok business account. It will give you access to tools for reaching your marketing goals and engaging with your target audience.

Unlike personal accounts that don’t offer targeting options, a TikTok business account allows you to target users in specific locations.

When you sign up for a TikTok business account1, you’ll get access to advanced analytics, advertising opportunities, and the Business Creative Hub, which offers inspiration and trends to strengthen your marketing efforts on TikTok. Additionally, adding a link in your bio with a TikTok Business Account can drive traffic to your website or promotional landing pages, even before you run an ad.

Finally, TikTok business accounts offer detailed analytics and insights, which can help you understand which videos resonate with your audience the most. With these data-driven insights, you can quickly adjust your content strategy and optimize your marketing campaigns on TikTok.

Exclusive Benefits of a TikTok Business Account

With a TikTok business account, you can use commercially licensed music, set up an e-commerce storefront, access TikTok’s advertising tools, and more.

Advanced Analytics and Insights

Personal accounts give you an overview of your account’s performance metrics over time. These include the cumulative view count across all your videos, the total follower count for your account, and the number of times your profile has been viewed.

On the other hand, TikTok business accounts provide detailed insights that can improve your social media strategy. You can track growth, content performance, audience demographics, and LIVE engagement in the Business Suite. With these insights, you can know which videos resonate most with your audience.

TikTok analytics lets you view the number of plays, likes, comments, and shares on your posts. It also provides vital viewership metrics like total playtime, average watch time, traffic source types, and audience territories. On the account dashboard, you can explore data for video views, follower growth, profile views, and demographic information about your followers, including their most active times.

Direct Access to Advertising Tools

TikTok is an easy-to-use and budget-friendly advertising platform that provides ad options suitable for small campaigns and extensive promotions. If your brand focuses on Gen Zs and millennials, you’ll find TikTok ads helpful and affordable.

You can’t run ads with a TikTok Personal account. But with a Business Account, you get access to TikTok Ads Manager, which offers a variety of ad formats such as in-feed ads, sponsored hashtags, or branded effects. I recommend small businesses start with in-feed ads. These ads are displayed on a user’s “For You” page, blending with organic content in their feed. You can run these ads to drive website traffic, boost app installs, or increase brand awareness.

My experience with TikTok ads yielded notable results for my Agency. In less than two months, sales surged by 200%, and market share grew by 170%.

E-Commerce Integrations

TikTok business accounts allow for seamless integration with e-commerce platforms like Shopify. This lets you create a virtual storefront on TikTok, where followers can explore your products and purchase directly through the app. It leverages TikTok’s high user engagement to drive direct sales through social commerce, which offers your business more visibility.

Professional Branding Features

Upon reaching 1,000 followers or registering your business in the Business Suite, you get additional exclusive features, such as a link-in bio, app download link, video geo-targeting, lead generation, and a dedicated business page.

The business page lets you showcase business information and contact info and curate a photo gallery with a new in-app profile tab.

Creative and Content Support

TikTok’s Creative Hub lets you find content inspiration and industry trends. It offers guides, case studies, and best practices to enhance content creation and advertising efforts​. With the Post Scheduler, you can schedule TikTok posts up to 10 days in advance. And there’s the Commercial Music Library that offers access to over 1 million songs and sounds for commercial use.

Interaction Management

Here are a few more user interaction features available to TikTok Business users:

• Auto Messaging Suite: Automatically greet users, suggest FAQs, and send predefined messages based on keywords.
• Web Comment and Messaging Interface: Reply to interactions and create downloadable contact cards on the TikTok desktop.
• Profile Contact Attributes: Highlight business information, including your email, location, and phone number.
• Organic Geo-Targeting: Attract specific geographic audiences by selecting a country under targeted audiences before posting (available in select markets only).

Making the Most of Your TikTok Business Account

Creating original content that resonates with your audience is key to engaging users on TikTok. I recommend experimenting with different types of videos to see what your audience responds to the most. Engagement is not just about views – it’s about creating a community around your brand. Ensure you respond to comments and participate in trends to stay connected with your audience.

Running ads on your TikTok Business Account can significantly amplify your reach. You can target specific demographics and interests and create campaigns that speak directly to your intended audience. TikTok advertising offers a low entry point, with initial budgets as low as $500 capable of generating substantial impressions. Thanks to the platform’s algorithm, which promotes viral content, your business can achieve considerable returns on investment with TikTok for Business ads.

Tracking and analyzing your campaign performance on TikTok gives you valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. Checking the analytics provided by TikTok will reveal patterns in user engagement and content preferences. This knowledge is crucial for refining your strategy over time.

Transitioning to a Business Account – A Simple Guide

Switching your TikTok account from personal to business is straightforward and unlocks a suite of advanced features for your brand. First, access your profile settings through the TikTok app and select “Switch to Business Account” under the “Manage Account” option.

You’ll then select a category that matches your business to improve discoverability. After that, you can add business information like your email, location, and phone number to make it easier for potential customers to connect with you. Once you’ve done that, create a TikTok for Business account with your existing account to use TikTok ads and reach a broader audience. You can also create a new TikTok Business account separate from your personal one.

It’s Super Easy To Create a TikTok Business Account

Comparing TikTok Business Accounts to personal accounts, it’s clear that each serves distinct objectives. While personal accounts are ideal for individual expression and casual use, business accounts are excellent for strategic growth, audience engagement, and monetization. So, if you want to create an account on TikTok for your needs, you know which to go for now.

Ultimately, creating a TikTok Business Account is a simple yet powerful move for brands and creators who want to grow their business. TikTok business accounts provide content performance analytics, e-commerce integration, business branding features, and support ads, which you can run to grow your brand and drive sales.

FAQs

Is it better to have a personal or business TikTok?

A TikTok Business account is better if you want to advertise on TikTok and grow your audience. But if you wish to create content for fun, share your hobbies, or simply enjoy the platform’s content, you should go for a TikTok Personal account.

What is the downside of a TikTok business account?

The primary downside of a TikTok business account is the restriction on using copyrighted music, limiting content creators to a library of commercial music. This can impact the creative process, as trending songs are significant in viral content.

What is the difference between a Creator and Business account on TikTok?

The key distinction between TikTok’s personal (formerly Creator) and business accounts is their features and purpose. Personal accounts cater to individuals posting non-commercial content, offering access to popular music and basic analytics. Business accounts, designed for commercial content creation, provide detailed analytics, advertising tools, professional branding options, and commercial music licenses but limit access to the full music library due to copyright restrictions.

Does a Business account on TikTok get more views?

Having a TikTok business account won’t automatically get you more views. What matters most is how good your content is and whether people interact with it. But, having a business account gives you tools for analytics and ads, which can help you get more visibility and grow your audience if used wisely.