Business vs. Personal TikTok Account: Which Do You Need?

When you sign up for the social media platform, TikTok automatically gives you a personal (also known as a Creator) account.

It’s all you need to do everything most TikTok users could want. A personal account lets you scroll your feed and watch, share, and bookmark TikTok posts. It lets you create content and upload it to the app. It lets you attend TikTok Live sessions, buy merchandise at the TikTok shop, and exchange DMs with family and friends.

A personal account isn’t good enough for most companies or brands, however. A TikTok business account gives users access to advertising tools, advanced analytics to track the performance of their TikTok videos and ads, and a royalty-free commercial sounds library that ensures they won’t run into copyright issues when creating sponsored posts.

Which account will work better for you? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Reasons to Keep Your Personal TikTok Account

The bottom line here is simple: unless you’re a business or building a commercial brand, you don’t need a business account. In fact, there are drawbacks to switching.

• Your TikTok content is less likely to go viral, and your organic growth will probably be much slower if you have a business account, because you have to use the app’s commercial music library. Why does that matter? You won’t have access to the main TikTok Sounds library, which is only licensed for personal entertainment use. You won’t be able to use all of the trending Sounds that can convince the TikTok algorithms to send videos’ audience and popularity soaring. Business accounts also can’t Duet or Stitch with any TikTok videos containing non-commercial Sounds.
• Business account owners can’t join the TikTok Creativity Program and earn money for the video views they receive.
• You can’t receive monetary tips (known as gifts) when you host TikTok live shows with a business account.

Many content creators believe that they can’t be a successful TikTok influencer with a personal account. The truth is just the opposite: the slower account growth and other limitations associated with business accounts can make it more difficult for would-be influencers to build a TikTok presence.

Reasons to Switch to a Business TikTok Account

If you’re a company that plans to advertise on TikTok, you don’t just want a business account, you need one. You’re not allowed to log into the TikTok Ads Manager with a personal account, and that’s where advertisers create, target, and manage their campaigns on the app.

You might also want a business account if you plan to promote a commercial brand on TikTok. The Ad Manager has more robust TikTok analytics tools that let you track your content’s performance and understand your audience’s behavior on the platform in much greater detail.

Additionally, you can have a more detailed TikTok profile, complete with a link to your website and contact information if you have a business account. You can also open TikTok shops for direct sales to the app’s users.

There are potential negative aspects to having a business account on TikTok, though, and we’ve already listed most of them. If you’re trying to earn money through the Creativity Program, TikTok Shops, or receiving Live show tips, or you want to quickly boost your account’s popularity and importance, a business account is probably not for you.

Hopefully, this information makes it clear which type of TikTok account is the right choice for your needs and goals — and debunks the common belief that once influencers become big names on the platform, they need to switch to a business account. For most, that would be the wrong decision.

How Do You Switch to a Business Account?

If you’ve concluded that you’d be best served with a TikTok business account, switching is simple.

1. Visit your profile page on the app by clicking the “Profile” icon at the bottom of the home screen.
2. Open the profile menu by tapping on the three-horizontal-line icon at the top right of your profile.
3. Choose “Settings and privacy.”
4. Tap on “Account” and find “Switch to Business Account” on the next menu.
5. Follow the prompts to complete the change.

That’s all there is to it. If you decide you’ve made a mistake in switching, though, you can revisit the same link on the “Account” settings page and change back to a personal account immediately.