For a lot of brands, it’s one of the easiest places to get discovered fast. The big win is that you don’t need a huge follower count to reach new people.
If your videos answer questions your audience is looking for and make the next step obvious, TikTok can drive steady leads for both B2C and B2B.
It’s important that you don’t stop at getting views, regardless of how many you have or how much you have been scaling.
Any high-performing TikTok advertising funnel needs a place to store, track, and follow up with leads, which usually happens outside TikTok.
No matter how much you’ve perfected your understanding of how to generate leads on TikTok, you still need to know what happens after. If your leads sit in a spreadsheet or your inbox, they eventually lose interest in what you have to offer.
In addition to your lead generation strategy, you’ll want to automate your data management. And that’s exactly what this article is about.
With LeadsBridge workflows, you can connect TikTok lead gen to the tools you already use (CRM, email, SMS, project management). Hence, every new lead triggers the right next step automatically.
Benefits of using TikTok to generate leads
TikTok isn’t just a place to get views. It’s built for discovery, and it now has a pretty direct lead-gen setup.
- You can get found without an existing audience. TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed can push your content to new people fast, and users also search on TikTok as they would on a search engine, especially Gen Z.
- The audience isn’t only teenagers anymore. A big chunk of users are 18–34 (including the 25–34 group), which matters if your content offers anything with a price tag.
- Lead capture can happen inside the app. With TikTok’s Lead Generation objective, the CTA can open an instant form (instead of sending people to a slow landing page).
- Instant forms can convert better than a website form. Instant forms load a lot faster and can pre-fill fields, which usually means fewer drop-offs.
- You can still send people where you want. After the form, you can redirect to your site or app. Depending on your funnel, this can be done even in TikTok DMs or messaging apps.
- You can act on leads faster. TikTok explicitly supports syncing leads into a CRM (your customer database) using tools like LeadsBridge, so sales or follow-up emails can start right away.
There are also niche-specific benefits. If you run an ecommerce brand, for example, TikTok Shop is scaling fast in some markets, so you can run lead gen and direct sales depending on the offer.
But to tap into these advantages, you need to first learn how to generate leads on TikTok using scalable strategies.
10 ways to generate leads on TikTok
Yes, your TikTok videos can go viral, and you can get a ton of followers and leads from that type of exposure.
But TikTok is now built for consistent marketing because it allows for discovery and setting robust marketing workflows.
People use the platform to search for ideas, services, and products, then make decisions quickly.
The key is to meet them with the right message, capture their info with as little friction as possible, and follow up fast before they lose interest.
Below are 10 strategies for those wondering how to generate leads on TikTok by essentially turning views into qualified leads.
1. Build a profile that sells the next step
Your profile should answer three things fast:
- Who you help
- What do you help them do
- Where to go next.
Use a clear bio, a simple CTA like “Get the checklist”, and pin two to three videos that explain your offer. Most successful content creators do this because it works.
2. Lead with an offer people actually want
Most TikTok viewers aren’t opening the app looking for a consultation. The platform offers quick wins, and people using it are accustomed to those wins.
Depending on your main agenda, give your audience something helpful. It can be a template, a quote tool, a mini-audit, a shortlist, or a “before you buy” guide.
Then match your CTA to it in a way that makes sense to what you are offering and where your funnel is headed. For instance, Comment ‘GUIDE’ and I’ll send it, or Grab it from the link, etc.
3. Get discovered through trends and keywords (not just vibes)
Being a creator doesn’t mean creatively inventing things. You need to build on trends instead.
Use TikTok’s Creative Center to see what’s trending (hashtags, songs, creators, top ads), then adapt the trend to your niche.
For paid, TikTok also has Keyword Insights to surface common keywords and phrases used in ads. This gives you a ton of handy information for scripts and angles.
And if you’re running Search Ads, TikTok’s keyword tools and keyword guidance help match your ads to what people search.
4. Turn comments into leads and content
Comments are your free market research.
When someone asks a question, reply with a video and point to your next step with something like I made a free checklist—link in bio.
Being a video-focused platform, TikTok also supports replying to comments with a video, which is a neat way to keep the conversation public and scalable.
5. Use creator-style content (even if you’re not a “creator”)
Lead gen works better when the video feels like a real person sharing something useful. You can do this in-house or with creators/UGC (user-generated content). Keep the brief simple:
- The problem
- The quick insight
- The offer
- The CTA
Need more inspiration? Here are the top 11 TikTok content ideas for businesses.
6. Boost what already works with Spark Ads
Spark Ads let you turn an existing organic post (yours or a creator’s, with permission) into an ad. This way, you can keep your likes, comments, and social proof attached to that post.
This is one of the easiest ways to scale leads without making ad-looking ads, which works wonders for TikTok audiences.
7. Run lead generation ads (the direct route)
If you want consistent leads, you want to use TikTok’s Lead Generation objective.
TikTok can open an in-app instant form, send people to your website, or even route to TikTok DMs and messaging apps.
Learn about all the do’s and don’ts of TikTok lead generation here.
8. Make your Instant Form do more than collect names and emails
TikTok Instant Forms have multiple templates (Simple, Rich Content, qualification-focused layouts, and more).
A few high-value strategies can include:
- Using Rich Content Form when people need context (pricing range, what happens next, proof).
- Adding Logic Settings to qualify leads (different paths for different answers, or end the form for people who don’t fit).
- Trying the Form Card if you want faster submissions. It can add a simple form experience directly in the in-feed ad CTA (with tight limits like three questions and personal info fields).
- Not skipping compliance. For instance, you need a privacy policy URL to run lead ads.
Learn how to create a TikTok Instant Form here.
9. Retarget to engage and re-engage your crowd
Most people won’t convert on the first touch. You need to retarget viewers who engaged, visited your site, or already showed intent.
Here are some ways you can do this:
- Use the TikTok Pixel to measure site actions and optimize campaigns.
- Build custom audiences from website and app activity, TikTok engagement, file uploads, etc. Then connect your CRM to TikTok to create more accurate custom audiences via integrations.
If you want more reliable tracking (including offline and CRM events), TikTok Conversions is built for that server-to-server connection.
Learn more about the best TikTok integrations to enhance your lead generation.
10. Manage them fast and sync them automatically
TikTok gives you access to the Leads Center to view, filter, label, and download leads (with statuses like raw, contacted, qualified, and converted).
You can also connect leads straight to a CRM. How should you do this?
TikTok explicitly recommends automating TikTok data management by syncing your data to and from CRMs using partner tools like LeadsBridge.
Once you connect your lead ads to your CRM and other data management systems, every new lead triggers a trackable next step right away. This can be an email, a text, a sales call, a task, or whatever your process is.
One important detail to keep in mind. Leads collected on your website aren’t synced into Leads Center the same way as instant-form and DM leads are, so plan your workflows accordingly.
Final thoughts
TikTok is hard to ignore if Gen Z is a real part of your market. A lot of teens use both TikTok and Instagram, but TikTok’s big advantage is discovery: your content (and ads) can reach people who don’t follow you yet.
This is especially important to consider for small brands trying to figure out how to generate leads on TikTok.
That said, the platform doesn’t make leads convert. Your follow-up does.
If you’re collecting leads with TikTok Instant Forms, you cannot really rely on memory or manual downloads and still meet your audience’s expectations for fast follow-ups.
You need automation for that.
Discover all LeadsBridge integrations for TikTok lead generation here.
