TikTok Influencer Marketing - Everything You Need to Know About It

1. TikTok Influencers: Marketing, Competition and Opportunities
2. These are the Influencer Marketing Opportunities on TikTok
3. This is how TikTok Influencer Marketing works
4. How to find and approach TikTok influencers – here's how!
5. TikTok Influencer Marketing Tools
6. What you need to consider with TikTok Influencer Marketing
7. Best Practices for TikTok Influencer Marketing
8. Advantages and Disadvantages of Influencer Marketing
9. Conclusion: TikTok Influencer Marketing is packed full of opportunities

TikTok, like other platforms, is of course open to targeted online marketing and has set up an official advertising platform for this purpose. But especially on TikTok, influencer marketing is the popular tactic to increase reach or brand awareness or generate sales. This is not the worst decision, as according to Statista, the market values for influencer advertising are steadily increasing.

If you have also chosen this path and are looking for a cooperative connection with TikTok influencers , then you have come to the right place in this article! Our TikTok influencer expert Keyvan Haghighat Mehr will explain everything you need to know to launch a top campaign with the right creator. Let's get started!

TikTok Influencers: Marketing, Competition and Opportunities

First of all: congratulations on deciding to do marketing on TikTok. After all, TikTok is the absolute leader in the global race of social media portals. No wonder, because ByteDance started a long time ago, before the app was called TikTok, to incorporate all the experience and data into the creation of the app. So there can generally be no talk of a newcomer app.

An app that has been doing everything right from the start naturally quickly moves to the very front. That's why TikTok is not only as an app, but also as a website worldwide ranked 1 and among others. in Germany among the top 5 – trend consistently rising. In terms of marketing, the chances for social media marketing are rosy like never before.

Even though many brands have already discovered TikTok influencer marketing for themselves and are exploiting all possibilities, there is still a lot of room for manoeuvre. The best moment to establish yourself and get on board with the new marketing trends is now. If you are still not sure whether TikTok and Influencer Marketing is right for you, then you can get a TikTok potential analysis here!

How effective are TikTok influencers really?

Influencers, who are more commonly known as “creators” on TikTok due to the high content load and emphasis on creativity, significantly influence users' purchasing behaviour. According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, 28% of all TikTok users stated that they had bought a product because it was presented to them by creators.

This means that every third person has already become aware of a product through influencers and even bought it. The reason for this could be that (according to a PWC study on German purchasing behaviour), every fourth person claims to trust influencers. Provided they come across authentically and demonstrate exceptional product knowledge.

This would potentially affect TikTok influencer marketing, because especially known influencers with more than 5,000 followers are important for users and have an opinion-shaping effect.

These are the Influencer Marketing Opportunities on TikTok

Knowing the ad concept on TikTok is helpful to fully understand the possibilities of influencer marketing on TikTok. Because TikTok is not only creative and crazy, but also versatile. Therefore, here are the most important marketing opportunities of TikTok in the overview:

• Branded Lenses

Branded lenses are the perfect tool to get involved in TikTok's action as a brand. Filters are among the #1 tools on TikTok and users are eager to try something new. So the company-owned, exclusive filters of a brand, which can be tried out in a new video, are absolutely welcome.

• Brand TakeOver (TopViewLite) & TopView

Brand takeovers are the ads that take over the screen before the app starts. These are valuable seconds of attention before the TikTok app with its play and fun factor takes over again. TopView is the same on a larger scale: This mode takes up the entire screen. So every ad that appears there has the full attention of the users for a few seconds.

• Hashtag Challenges

Hashtag Challenges mainly call for participation. Somebody starts a trend – and the more attractive the idea, the more people join in. In the best case scenario, your brand has started such a challenge and the idea goes viral. Case study for a successful hashtag challenge: Guess with #inmydenim

• In-Feed Native Videos

Well camouflaged in the look of regular user posts, your brand's in-feed native videos can convince. If your videos adapt to the TikTok trends, then even labeled ad sequences will be gladly watched. The tolerance towards advertising on TikTok is very high. Importantly: Always shoot your content in the native format. On TikTok this means e.g. in portrait format.

• Influencer Marketing

Influencers are kind of like the trump card up the sleeve. These users already have a large group of loyal followers and authentically show their lifestyle or their ideas in their videos. A cooperation with the right user could therefore increase your popularity. As long as you do everything right.

How to correctly implement TikTok Influencer Marketing, we now reveal in detail.

This is how TikTok Influencer Marketing works

You may have already done influencer marketing on Instagram or Facebook. On TikTok it looks quite similar and requires knowledge of various factors:

1. Know your own brand exactly

First of all, you need to know where you stand and where you are going. To do this, you have to get to know yourself very well and find out which target group reacts best to your brand. Once these factors are known, then you can take aim at the platform where you want to profile yourself.

2. Know TikTok exactly

TikTok is not like other portals: TikTok is the wild circus turmoil of short entertainment seekers. Consequently, the diverse range of content is also large. Filters, Hashtag Challenges, Duets and LipSync not only stand as a daily occurrence, but so to speak on an hourly basis, because the portal is really fast-paced and demands new content much more often than e.g. Facebook.

Therefore, it is also sensible for you to look for a TikTok veteran who is cut out for influencer marketing and can present your brand adapted to the tone of the platform. This is especially important if your brand is not yet well-known and does not yet have the trust of the community. To find the right creator, however, you must first clarify another point:

3. Know the campaign exactly

Only when you know exactly where you want to go, can you find someone who will take you there. First ask yourself: Do you want a campaign or a long-term strategy? And what do you want to achieve with it? Do you want to e.g. reach, brand awareness or sales? Ask yourselves the following questions:

1. How high is your budget?
2. How big should the campaign be?
3. How many influencers do you need?
4. Is the realization of the campaign realistic?

Once you have clarified these cornerstones, then you can search for the right creator for your influencer marketing.

4. Research

To find the right creator, you can of course first go on a classic search. Ask yourself: Which influencers also have profiles on other channels, which would be useful for your marketing as well? Here you can kill two birds with one stone.

The important thing here, however, is that you look for someone who really masters the language of the TikTok community and does not simply do clumsy Instagram marketing.

The easiest way to conduct successful research is of course to use the right tools, because software can really make the work easier. More on that in our tool tips below!

5. Contact

Contact is the trickiest part. After extensive research. Because of course an influencer wants to be seen. An impersonal request will almost certainly lead to a rejection. So make an effort and woo the chosen one a little.

Research thoroughly and like some posts. This way you draw attention to yourself right from the start, before you send the request. Then personalize this and address the creators by name. Let it be seen that you know the contents exactly and why they please you.

But when making contact, not only pay attention to conveying your knowledge about the creator, but also to clearly communicating your goals. This means:

• Send the request via the correct address.
• Introduce yourself thoroughly, so that the creator gets a good picture of you.
• Argue why you are a good fit and why a cooperation would be beneficial for both sides.
• Present your ideas for the campaign (the more elaborate, the better).
• Ask about past successes and talk about all financial matters at the beginning (e.g. mention your budget or ask for the desired share of the creator).

This way you make sure that this creator really fits your brand and that a synergy is possible that convincingly affects the users. Because if not, it will cost the influencer credibility and it won't help you.

How to find and approach TikTok influencers – here's how!

Now that it has been sufficiently established how important influencer marketing on TikTok can be and which factors need to be determined beforehand, it is time to initiate concrete contact . To find influencers and successfully contact them, there are three sensible strategies:

Speak to TikTok influencers yourself

Via Google research, you can of course find and approach influencers yourself. This does mean considerably more effort than for example via a marketing agency, but also very personal contact. Because who researches, knows the influencers of course the best.

Important: The first hit on Google does not mean that this is the most popular or successful influencer. And even less does this circumstance say anything about whether this influencer also fits your brand or maintains an active exchange with followers. Instead, take the time and scroll on TikTok – or heed our tips!

Here are a few tips to make your search more efficient:

1. Depending on where you are in your marketing process, there may already be influencers talking about you. With social monitoring tools you can easily find out.
2. Look at who your target group is already interested in.
3. Get your community directly involved and ask your followers who would be interesting in their opinion.

Platforms for influencers

As the influencer business is booming, some platforms have established themselves where supply and demand find a happy combination. Such platforms are e.g. :

HitchOn - On this platform, entrepreneurs primarily present their campaigns and place search ads. Influencers then apply.

TRIBE – If you prefer to set regional goals, then TRIBE with a pool of micro influencers is just right.

Professional Social Media Agency

Social media agencies specialize in all kinds of marketing and on all platforms. If you want someone who knows what they are doing, a good agency is the best address. Also for the reason, because some even have their own creator pool and have the right person for you in no time.

This way, you can benefit from the already trustful basis of the agencies and quickly get someone who can act professionally according to your ideas . This makes the risk much lower to come across someone who makes beginner mistakes (e.g. finding all your products in the videos just great) and then loses credibility.

TikTok Influencer Marketing Tools

Social media tools are the not so secret secret tip in online marketing. Those who want to be successful naturally also rely on the help of a powerful influencer marketing software, which helps to find suitable creators, contact them and build a mutually lucrative business relationship.

Popular tools include:

Creator IQ - The all-around tool enables contact, relationship maintenance, and campaign management, among other things. Here you have all services in an all-in-one package.

Upfluence - Upfluence helps to identify the right creators internationally using more than 20 different search criteria and to start campaigns within a short period of time.

Brand 24 - With a user-friendly operating interface, the software offers a selection of influencers for every marketing area and for every company size. Perfect for beginners as well as professionals.

If you want a larger selection and want to find a tool that is perfectly tailored to your needs, then check out the complete list of influencer marketing tools here.

What you need to consider with TikTok Influencer Marketing

Successfully influencer marketing is, of course, not only the selection of the appropriate creator's success, but also that during your campaign or your long-term appearance on TikTok you do not disregard the most important criteria. These include:

1. Authenticity of influencers

An important factor that accounts for the success of influencers is, of course, the authentic performance: Influencers must convince, prove knowledge in their area of interest, convince communicatively and of course present with all sorts of creative content.. It is important for the followers that the creators are honest and thus credible.

Just paying to praise a cool product does not work accordingly. Because then the creator would be for sale, and you would have to question any statement that speaks for the product. Therefore, first determine how well creators interact with their followers and how trustful the relationships are before you make a selection.

2. Synergy between influencer and product

The second factor is, how well creators can maintain their authenticity, when they introduce your brand. Because of course you want this to be portrayed in a positive light, but not to be too promotional. This means, the influencers must be able to critically express their opinions and consequently demonstrate expertise in your field.

Ideally, you will find someone who is genuinely interested in you and presents you comprehensively.

3. Decision: Nano, Micro or Macro Influencer?

For you as a brand, not necessarily influencers with the highest number of followers count – and certainly not on TikTok, which runs a completely different algorithm than Instagram or Facebook. It is more important to decide whether you want to appear regionally or internationally , as in many cases micro or even nano influencers would be more sensible than a Charli d’Amelio.

Nano-InfluencersThe trick with Nano-Influencers is that they have a particularly loyal following (e.g. they even know some of them personally), even though they only consist of 1,000 to 10,000 users. The engagement rates up to 5 times higher than those of top influencers speak for themselves.

Nano-Influencers are not professionals, but convince with absolute authenticity, as they are genuinely passionate about their topics and are on the move on social media channels with conviction. They are the right address when you are new and want to make a name for yourself regionally first. For example, if you want to set up a delivery service in Hamburg, a nano influencer from Hamburg would of course be ideal.

Micro-InfluencersMicro-influencers with approx. 10,000 to 100,000 followers are kind of the middle part between nano and macro influencers. They also still have a strong regional reference and thus more influence on the followers, but are “higher circulation” than nano influencers.

If macro influencers are too expensive or too much work for you, then the solution could consist of several micro-influencers, who are definitely not a bad choice with the already higher engagement rates of the followers.

Macro-Influencers

Macro influencers have a followership in the 6 to 7-digit range. While the engagement rates are lower than those of nano and micro influencers, macro influencers offer brands a lot of potential in terms of increasing reach, visibility or CPMs.

Mega-Influencers

While mega influencers have the lowest engagement rate, they are unbeatable in increasing reach. With a following of a few million, they achieve an reach that you would need to create a small army of micro influencers for.

What does an influencer on TikTok cost?

The cost of influencers strongly depends on their number of followers and popularity. On TikTok, this affects less the followers but more the popularity of the content. There are no concrete numbers, but you can roughly calculate. The more popular the influencers are, the higher the price naturally.

Currently, however, the prices are volatile and depend on many factors. Therefore, no general flat rate can be stated and must be asked individually depending on the topic and influencer. An approximate range of costs for influencer marketing, which you could expect, you can find here.

For comparison: If you want to get micro-influencers on board, you can expect costs of about 30 to 270€ per post. For macro influencers, you have to dig a bit deeper into your pockets and expect about 1,500€ to 10,500€ per post.

What influencers on TikTok cost is hard to say. Tendency is marketing on TikTok is a bit more expensive than on other channels, but usually much more successful. So the price-performance ratio will rather pay off for you.

Best Practices for TikTok Influencer Marketing

Of course, there are no limits to TikTok influencer marketing. To give a few examples of the creative and efficient use of creators in a marketing campaign, here are three best practices from large companies:

1. Calvin Klein

Shawn Mendes in a TikTok performance for the Calvin Klein Influencer campaign

For its TikTok debut, Calvin Klein decided to start quite classically with an official account . This was supported, however, by a series of high-profile influencers named Kendall Jenner or Shawn Mendes. They talked about their exciting working day and about celebrity experiences – of course, very discreetly wrapped in Calvin Klein fashion.

2. Punica

The influencer Daliamya in a dance sequence for #PunicaDance

To attract the attention of a young audience, Punica relied on an interactive strategy: With the call “Which Fruits Character are you?” the brand called on users to dance with different Punica fruit characters.

These could perform the Punica dance on the floor and could via split screen be shared in a duet video . Four larger TikTok influencers (@doro_dori, @katulka_, @alinamour and @daliamya) kicked it off and fueled the TikTok Hashtag Challenge.

3. Red Bull

Keeoh in action in an influencer video for RedBull

Red Bull is one of the most skilful online marketers ever and often proves its inventiveness. In the case of TikTok influencer marketing, however, the brand revealed more adaptability and a good overview of the interests of the TikTok community. 

Accordingly, the campaign followed the magic trick trend on TikTok and showed the influencer Keeoh in “yo but where did the Redbull go” as he seemingly pours a Redbull into a jug, which is then empty. In the end, it turns out that the Redbull went directly into the mouth of a friend or was poured over the friend, who then jumps out from behind the table.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Influencer Marketing

Of course, influencer marketing is not only non-plus ultra despite all the advantages. There are advantages as well as disadvantages that must be weighed before making the first steps.

Advantages:

• High reaches: With influencer marketing, you can immediately take advantage of the reach and established fan base of the influencers.
• Constant new opportunities: TikTok is growing constantly and offers new opportunities. The chance to go viral is by far the highest on TikTok.
• Feedback: TikTok is a good test ground to find out (e.g. via social listening) whether an influencer is well received in combination with the brand.
• Targeted approach: The target group can be reached well via the selection of different areas of interest and topics, and influencers reach the established fan base in an even more direct way.
• Acceptance for advertising on TikTok is generally high. Even more so when popular influencers subtly incorporate a product into a video.

Disadvantages

• Precise weighing must be: wrong choice of influencers can harm the brand's credibility, so the person must really fit 100%.
• Lack of independence: In cooperation, decision-making freedom is not always like before. If the cooperation does not lead to success, it may result in negative publicity
• Price: Depending on whether it is nano, micro or macro influencers, the price may vary. Influencers know their value.

Conclusion: TikTok Influencer Marketing is packed full of opportunities

TikTok marketing in general is still not mature and is used less than would be good for companies, because now there is so much potential for online marketing as has not been for a long time.

While TikTok influencer marketing is not a guarantee of absolute success for all possibilities and advantages, but with the right implementation an important jump start and successful marketing tool. So if you smell your chance, it's a good idea to take it.