Using social media has always been one of the most effective ways to promote events. From Instagram and Facebook to LinkedIn, social media marketing offers countless opportunities to reach your audience, boost engagement, and increase ticket sales.

For this reason, it’s worth exploring how TikTok — the fastest-growing social network of the moment — can be used strategically for event marketing. Whether you want to sell more tickets, build brand awareness, or reach new customers, TikTok and events are now a powerful combination.
Whether you’re new to TikTok or already experimenting with its features, here are seven actionable ideas to help you grow your audience and create stronger engagement.

1. Run Paid Ads on TikTok

TikTok offers a wide range of paid advertising options for businesses looking to promote their events. Whether you’re launching a new campaign or reinforcing an existing one, these ads can help expand your reach and visibility.

To start, all you need is a TikTok Business Account — setting it up takes just a few minutes. You’ll only need a name and a valid email address, and your account will be verified within 24 hours.

There are five types of ads on TikTok, each designed for different goals:

• TopView and Brand Takeover ads are perfect for ticket sales, as they take over the full screen and capture maximum attention.
• Branded Hashtag Challenges and Branded Effects are ideal for increasing engagement during live or hybrid events.
• In-Feed Ads help keep the “hype” alive around your upcoming event and maintain audience curiosity.

2. Join Popular Trends

Another effective way to promote your event through TikTok is to join trending challenges or audio tracks.

By sharing videos that include popular hashtags or sounds, you can make your event go viral, reach new audiences, and boost your brand visibility.
Following trends helps your content appear on more For You Pages (FYP), maximizing exposure with minimal cost.

3. Launch Your Own Challenge

Finding a suitable trend for your event — especially for B2B events — isn’t always easy. That’s why creating your own branded challenge can be a winning move.

Launching a challenge encourages your followers to interact with your content and even feature on your page.
To make it successful:

• Create a unique hashtag.
• Keep the challenge open to participants from all locations.
• Repost submissions frequently to keep engagement high.

Even if you don’t create a formal challenge, you can use a recurring sound or theme in your event videos to build recognition. Participants will enjoy recreating or sharing these clips, creating a sense of inclusion and community.

If you need inspiration, look at popular trends and adapt them with your own creative twist to make them fit your event identity.

4. Collaborate with Influencers

It’s no coincidence that certain TikTok profiles reach millions of views and record-breaking engagement rates. Most of these creators owe their success to authentic storytelling and a close relationship with their audience.

Partnering with influencers aligned with your brand values can significantly boost visibility for your event. Choose collaborators who share your vision or target audience — and involve them actively in your event activities, both physical and digital.

Influencer partnerships are particularly powerful for event awareness, as they add credibility and help you tap into new audience segments.

5. Keep It Authentic and Organic

The most successful content on TikTok isn’t always perfectly produced — it’s authentic, spontaneous, and relatable.

Instead of polished corporate videos, consider sharing clips filmed from the participant’s point of view. Short, organic videos showing real interactions, reactions, or highlights from your event perform much better on TikTok.

You can include text overlays, quick cuts, and minimal graphics — this approach often attracts more engagement than professionally produced videos, which might work better on platforms like YouTube or LinkedIn.

6. Use TikTok Live Streaming

TikTok Live is a game-changer for event organizers. It allows you to increase interactions and even generate revenue directly through the app.

Live streaming lets you sell tickets, event merchandise, or offer exclusive behind-the-scenes access.
Even if your company doesn’t sell physical products, you can use live events to connect directly with your audience in real time and build stronger relationships.

7. Reach Your Target Audience

Finally, one of the most powerful aspects of TikTok is its ability to connect your content with highly specific audiences.

To help the algorithm understand your target group, explore subcultures through relevant hashtags. This strategy helps associate your content with communities that share your values or interests.

Search for keywords to see which topics and trends are performing well, and then adapt your strategy accordingly.
Focus on your audience’s interests — not just their age, gender, or location — to reach niche communities that you wouldn’t connect with on other platforms.

Conclusions

Even if you’re a small organization, investing in TikTok event marketing can be a smart, cost-effective strategy.

As these seven ideas show, TikTok can help you boost visibility, engagement, and ticket sales with relatively low investment. Despite its fast-paced environment and diverse content types, this platform offers endless creative potential.

If you haven’t tried TikTok yet — now is the perfect time to start exploring how it can take your event promotion to the next level.