The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Influencer Marketing | Socialinsider

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The popularity of TikTok has been nothing short of extraordinary.

TikTok became a preferred platform for users to share and watch short entertaining video content during the worldwide lockdown and it continues to be the best-performing app in 2022.

TikTok, similar to Instagram in the early days is a platform especially populated by content creators rather than brands, where creativity is the reigning demand.

Given this, it makes sense why brands would want to use TikTok influencer marketing. Influencers on TikTok can help brands in creating more authentic content, increasing exposure, and gaining the trust of their audience.

But how does TikTok influencer marketing work exactly?

Hopefully, this ultimate guide to TikTok influencer marketing can clarify everything for you.

TikTok influencer marketing uses well-established social media profiles to advertise a brand's products and services to its engaged TikTok followers.

Digital marketing, on the other hand, involves a brand promoting itself on TikTok or its other channels.

That being said, which strategy should your brand leverage?

There isn't really a right or wrong response to this question.

Suppose you already have a well-established social media presence. In that case, you should consider dipping your toe into the TikTok influencer marketing industry to enhance your brand's online profile and attract new clients.

If you're new to TikTok or other platforms, it would be good to build an online presence first. Otherwise, influencers won't have anything to base their promotion on or anything to link back to.

Ultimately, your brand will experience constant success if you can strike the ideal mix between using influencer marketing and digital marketing.

Brands frequently publish branded content or sponsored ads on their own TikTok accounts. Although this is a good strategy, influencer-generated content typically receives more interaction.

And with an average engagement rate by views of 6.72%, TikTok is currently the highest performing social media app in 2022 and, without a doubt, the best platform to use for influencer marketing.

But how does TikTok influencer marketing work?

Influencers provide native content, and by integrating them into your TikTok marketing plan, you can leverage them to produce additional native content that appeals to your target audience, increasing brand awareness and, ultimately, sales.

Influencers on TikTok are also well-versed in the main topics of conversation on the platform and can help you understand what matters to your target audience.

If you’re looking to boost your digital marketing efforts and reach new clients and niches, you may want to consider the advantages that TikTok influencer marketing can have for your brand:

Influencers are best aware of what their audience responds to. And because of this, they will probably want to create and publish content that is consistent with their personal brand—with your consent, of course.

By allowing key opinion leaders (KOLs) to create engaging content themselves, your team will be able to unwind a little more from content creation and focus on other aspects of your campaign.

Even marketers acknowledge that scrolling through our feeds and being overwhelmed by ads is not a pleasant experience.

Luckily, TikTok might just be the best app to leverage influencers on.

TikTok influencer marketing can embed these advertisements within organic content that flow naturally, making their presence less obvious.

Research shows that influencers can have an overall impact on a customer's choice to make a purchase.

People respect and trust the opinions of their favorite influencers, which makes them more receptive to advertising from brands.

According to DMI Blog data, 49% of respondents said they have purchased things based on recommendations from influencers.

Branded content that feels like an overt advertisement is frequently not well received by social media audiences, especially on TikTok—which is all about being authentic.

Being social media natives themselves, TikTok influencers have an advantage over companies. They know exactly how to connect with and appeal to their target audience.

With that in mind, take a look at these easy steps for creating a TikTok influencer marketing campaign:

Before starting to contact TikTok influencers for partnerships, you’ll have to consider a number of factors that will dictate the direction of your TikTok influencer marketing campaign.

Start by considering what you want your campaign to achieve, the message you want to deliver, the budget you have, the length of time you want the campaign to run, and the number of influencers you need to engage.

If a creator becomes popular enough, businesses will start to take notice and approach them, asking them to participate in influencer marketing campaigns.

But how much should you pay for TikTok influencers?

The size of the influencer you want to leverage is the factor that decisively influences the campaign costs.

Based on the size of an influencer’s community, Influencer Marketing Hub affirms that the budget may look something like this:

Keep in mind that the price may rise depending on how far you want to push TikTok influencer marketing.

Asking your influencers for exclusivity or paying for the ability to promote and repurpose their videos can all impact final costs.

As a social media manager, there are many methods you can use to select the ideal KOLs for your TikTok influencer marketing campaign.

You can either spend time scrolling on TikTok, look at who your target audience is already engaging with, or use dedicated tools to find talent.

Softwares such as Dovetale, Klear, or TikTok's Creator Marketplace examine everything from the audience and age to content style.

When choosing your TikTok influencers, conduct a marketing background check to determine whether their followers, reputation, and content are a good fit for your brand.

An influencer's likes, comments, and shares might reveal a lot about them. Even though they may receive a lot of views on TikTok, if people discuss their brand negatively in the comments, they might not be the right fit for your brand.

Thus, you must verify if they receive positive engagement on TikTok, have a similar target audience, and share your brand's beliefs and interests.

Now that you have chosen your influencers, you can start reaching out to them and informing them of the campaign's message and what the deliverables are.

Make sure you put in some effort into writing your influencer outreach message. A potential relationship might be made or broken by your initial communication with a creator.

You only get one opportunity to leave a good impression. This is why it is crucial to be transparent, introduce yourself, describe the campaign concept, and ask for the usual influencer rates.

If your campaign includes products that need to be shipped out, ensure the products influencers are using in your campaign get to them 1-2 weeks before publishing dates. This will ensure they have enough time to prepare their content.

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that you might not have total control over the message.

The content on TikTok is intended to be spontaneous and user-controlled.

Successful TikTok campaigns may involve influencers running with your idea, hashtag, or filter instead of pushing a specific brand message and expecting only certain forms of engagement.

And although you must set clear instructions, you should be cautious about placing too many restrictions on the KOLs.

It would be best if you gave them the creative freedom to make this branded content appealing to their fans. Ultimately, they know best what works for their audience.

Due to their desire to have strict control over their identity and the message they want to convey, many brands may struggle with this element of TikTok.

After receiving the content, you must assess it to see if it satisfies the requirements—before allowing them to post it to their channels.

It's crucial that you get in touch with the influencers in advance and let them know when the best time to post is.

To determine the effectiveness of your TikTok influencer marketing campaign, you should track TikTok metrics such as reach, views, and engagement such as likes, comments, shares, and saves.

The complexity of implementing and evaluating campaigns with several influencers at once is the top metric hurdle for marketers.

TikTok analytics tools might be helpful in this area as they automatically gather, analyze, and show your data comprehensively.

But—as you’re dealing with more creators at the same time—some data will need to be collected manually.

TikTok creators can also add profile links to drive website traffic and point followers toward retail locations.

At the end of the campaign, you’ll have to request data regarding the number of link clicks from each influencer.

To determine what type of content worked, track how your budget was allocated, and plan your subsequent efforts, you’ll eventually have to compile all the data into a TikTok analytics report.

Even though many brands have decided to leverage TikTok influencer marketing as part of their overall social media strategy, they are unsure about what to do.

To ensure the success of your TikTok influencer campaign, make sure you follow the advice below.

Your communication with the TikTok influencer must clarify from the very first outreach message that you value long-term partnerships as a brand.

Building solid relationships with the people you collaborate with can help you get better influencer content, a more enjoyable experience for the audience, and ultimately higher engagement and ROI for the brand.

Since influencers are actual people, developing loyalty and trust is essential to any successful relationship.

The tone and quality of an influencer's content will immediately reflect how they feel about the companies and goods they promote.

When an influencer repeatedly supports a particular company, their audience grows accustomed to seeing that brand in their daily lives and routinely consuming that brand's content.

By being a natural part of their life, building long-term relationships with influencers can assist you in converting those same audiences into devoted consumers.

It is crucial you manage the expectations of your TikTok influencer marketing campaign.

Once you decide how many influencers you need to collaborate with, contact at least twice as many. Some won't necessarily want to collaborate with you, and some won't even reply.

Once you've secured the partnerships, it's time you let the TikTok influencers get to work and create the desired content.

On TikTok, your content can look very different from the one on other social media channels.

When influencers eventually share their content, it may not be 100% what was agreed. Remember that influencers should have some creative flexibility when working on your projects.

Experiment and think outside the box.

Are you wondering how other brands manage to plan effective TikTok influencers marketing campaigns?

Let's explore two of the most successful examples of brands using influencers on TikTok.

One of the most creative businesses marketing online is Red Bull, which has established the standard for viral videos and shown best practices for managing its own social media pages and video channels.

The brand collaborates with influencers on several platforms.

On TikTok, Red Bull recently collaborated with influencer @keeoh on a campaign on which he posted a video on TikTok that stated he would use Red Bull in a magic show. This allowed the brand to use illusions and captivating graphics to sell its products efficiently.

Aerie is a brilliant example of a brand using TikTok influencers to expand its reach and start TikTok trends.

Aerie employed collaborations with influential TikTok users in one campaign using the hashtag #AerieReal to boost digital sales by 75% in a single quarter.

The brand has also worked with TikTok influencer Charli D'Amelio to launch a sponsored hashtag challenge with the hashtag #AerieRealPositivity.

With over 51 million followers on her account at that time, the influencer earned more than 3 million likes and almost 22 million views on her campaign video.

Most Aerie influencer campaigns inspired TikTok users to engage by uploading a video, using the branded hashtag, and identifying themselves as community members.

Marketers find Gen Z notoriously challenging to engage because of their complete scorn for anything resembling traditional advertising.  

This is why social media managers leverage TikTok influencer marketing to avoid being too pushy while selling on TikTok.

With studies suggesting that viewers are more likely to convert based on word of mouth, TikTok influencer marketing is a segment of the marketing sector that is constantly expanding.

Hopefully, you found this article helpful and now feel more confident to go into the world of influencer marketing on TikTok.

Are you ready to give TikTok influencer marketing a try?