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TikTok Troubleshooting and FAQ Guide

Use this guide to set up your TikTok integration, understand how audiences map and sync, and troubleshoot the most common issues. You’ll learn where your audiences appear in TikTok and how to ensure everything stays up to date.

📘 What the TikTok Integration Does

  • Pearl Diver lets you sync your web and intent data audiences directly to TikTok Ads Manager.
  • Once connected, your selected audiences appear under Tools → Audience → Audience Manager in TikTok.

🔁 Audience Mapping Options for Web Data

Pearl Diver offers two mapping options:

  • 1️⃣ One-to-One - Each web audience becomes its own TikTok audience.

  • 🔀 Many-to-One - Multiple web audiences combine into a single TikTok audience.

⚠️ Note: Intent audiences always sync one-to-one and cannot be combined.

👀 Where to Find Your Audiences in TikTok

  • You can find synced audiences under Assets → Audiences → Customer File in TikTok Ads Manager.
  • Audiences created from Pearl Diver will include the “PDV” tag so you can identify them at a glance.

🌐 Difference between Web and Intent audiences

  • Web Audiences - Created from website visitors tracked by your Pearl Diver pixel.

  • Intent Audiences - Built from intent topics and buyer signals.

⚠️ Note: Intent and Web audiences cannot be combined.

🔒 Why mapping may be locked to One-to-One

If you’re working with Intent Audiences, mapping is intentionally restricted to One-to-One.

This ensures:

  • Clear differentiation between intent topics

  • Accurate targeting

  • Integrity of intent-based signals inside TikTok

🔐 What data Pearl Diver sends to TikTok

  • Pearl Diver sends hashed identifiers (emails and phone numbers) using SHA-256 encryption.
  • TikTok receives hashed values only - never raw personal data.

🚫 Reasons an audience may not appear in TikTok

Check the following:

  • Make sure you have created an audience in Pearl Diver and selected TikTok as the action.
  • Check that TikTok is connected and authorized properly in Pearl Diver.
  • Double-check you’re logged into the correct TikTok ad account, especially if you manage more than one.
  • The user who connected TikTok must have the right access (they need to be an Admin or Account Operator on the TikTok ad account).
  • You may need to re-authorize if permissions or tokens have expired.
  • If all looks correct, reconnecting the integration often resolves the issue.

🔄 Why an audience may not update

  • Pearl Diver syncs audiences regularly (i.e. daily). Check the last sync time in Pearl Diver.

  • TikTok shows audience update history in the Audience Details panel. If you don’t see recent updates, recheck the sync setup.

  • Reauthorize TikTok in Pearl Diver if syncing has stopped unexpectedly.

If your TikTok token expires, Pearl Diver will pause data flow and a “Reauthorize TikTok” button will appear in your Pearl Diver account . Once you reauthorize, data flow resumes automatically without duplicating audiences.

⏳ Why an audience may show “Not Ready” or “Populating”

  • TikTok may still be processing the audience. Processing typically takes 24–48 hours.
    • The status will automatically update from “Populating” to “Ready” once matching is complete.
    • If recently uploaded, wait and recheck the audience status later.
  • Sometimes, the audience size may be too small - TikTok requires around 1,000 matched users before an audience becomes usable. 
    • You’ll see a “Below minimum threshold” message and the audience won’t be created until it grows.

📉 Why audience sizes may be smaller than expected

  • TikTok only includes users it can match by hashed email or phone number.
  • Lower match rates naturally lead to smaller audience counts.

  • Differences in audience size in TikTok vs Pearl Diver are normal and depend on match rates.

📋 Checklist for a smooth TikTok sync

✅ Audience created in Pearl Diver

✅ TikTok integration connected and authorized

✅ Correct TikTok ad account selected

✅ Audience meets TikTok’s size requirements

✅ 24–48 hours allowed for processing