TikTok and its short videos have exploded in popularity, especially among Gen Z and young millennials. That’s why most brands whose target audience is these groups are considering TikTok influencer marketing.
Partnering with TikTok influencers helps businesses gain credibility with hard-to-reach demographics, and influencer marketing platforms, mainly those focused on TikTok, will simplify this process.
This comprehensive guide breaks down everything you need to know about influencer marketing on TikTok, from its definition to benefits and creating campaigns.
Ready? Continue reading from start to finish.
What is TikTok Influencer Marketing and How Does It Work?
Let’s start with the most basic definition: What is Tik Tok influencer marketing? Do you really need it?
The answer is simple: TikTok influencer marketing involves partnering with popular content creators and influencers on TikTok to promote your brand in an engaging, authentic way.
You need to find the right influencer, whose content is most relevant to your niche, and make a deal on how to collaborate.
For example, in some cases, you can ask them to share the video or content you give them and tag or mention your brand, and in some cases, they will create a video and promote your brand or product naturally and organically.
But, do you really need to learn more about it? Let’s check out some stats:
- By 2024, TikTok surpassed Instagram as the most-used channel for influencer campaigns.
- 69% of brands use TikTok in their influencer marketing, compared to 47% on Instagram and 33% on YouTube.
- 78% of TikTok users have bought a product after seeing it featured in creator content.
All these numbers show how effective TikTok will be for brands. However, that doesn’t mean it should be the only marketing method you should follow. But if you haven’t thought about it yet, you’re missing a significant opportunity.
Benefits of Working with TikTok Influencers
What makes TikTok influencers different from others? Here is what you get by collaborating with these content creators:
#1 Direct Access to Gen Z and Young Audiences
The most important thing you get from this collaboration is reaching to Gen Z audience. Almost 63% of TikTok users are under 30, so if your target customers include teens or young adults, TikTok is the place to be. It’s also easy to find American Gen Z influencers for this partnership.
#2 Unparalleled Reach and Virality
TikTok’s algorithm can make a well-timed video go viral, reaching millions of viewers, regardless of whether the influencer has many followers.
Whether you are working with a nano influencer or a macro influencer, your chances of going viral on TikTok are higher than on other platforms.
#3 High Engagement and Impact
Did you know that TikTok is considered the “engagement leader” in social media? One study found TikTok creators with under 50k followers (mostly micro influencers) have an average engagement rate of 30.1%, versus just 1.8% for similar-sized Instagram influencers.
This is mainly due to the short-video format popular on the platform, as well as the habits of Gen Z users. That means a TikTok influencer’s audience is far more likely to like, share, or discuss the content, a huge win for brands considering TikTok influencer marketing.
#4 Authenticity and Trust
TikTok’s relaxed, informal video style makes influencer content seem more like a friend’s update than an ad. Collaborating with TikTok influencers lets brands borrow that hard-won trust and credibility.
By letting influencers tell your story in their own voice, you build authenticity. This can lead to stronger emotional connections and loyalty.
#5 Cost-Effective Marketing with Strong ROI
Gone are the days when brands needed to pay hefty prices for producing TV commercials or running large ad campaigns to increase their brand awareness. Now, TikTok influencer marketing can be surprisingly budget-friendly, especially when working with micro-influencers.
TikTok videos don’t require high production value because influencers film with their phones at home. Therefore, brands save on creative costs by leveraging the influencer’s content creation skills.
This lower cost, combined with TikTok’s high engagement, means the ROI can be excellent. Brands often see a direct boost in metrics like website traffic or product sales during a TikTok campaign.
#6 Creative, Agile Content Production
TikTok influencers are familiar with the platform’s content format and trends. They know how to hook their viewers in the first 2 seconds, and make them watch a video till the end. They can also create content quickly and easily.
Additionally, they can add humor to their content creation, making it more fun to share with others. TikTok influencers’ understanding of the platform, audience behavior, and current trends makes them a valuable asset for brand promotion.
Who Should Consider TikTok Influencer Marketing?
With all the benefits that come from working with TikTok influencers, do you think TikTok marketing is good for your business?
Undoubtedly, TikTok influencer marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution for all brands. It might not work for your business if you don’t consider your audience, budget, industry, and marketing objectives.
Although with a mindful strategy and right collaboration, almost all businesses can benefit from a TikTok campaign, some businesses must consider influencer marketing on TikTok:
- Brands targeting Gen Z and young Millennials- If your ideal customers are roughly 13–35 years old, TikTok is an excellent platform to reach them.
- Visually appealing and creative product categories: If your brand has an element of lifestyle or creativity, TikTok influencers can showcase it in imaginative ways.
- Brands looking to build awareness and cultural relevance: If your goal is to get your name in front of millions and become a “trending” brand, influencer campaigns on TikTok are extremely effective.
- Small businesses and D2C brands with limited budgets: TikTok influencer marketing isn’t just for big brands. A small ecommerce brand can send free samples to a group of TikTok micro-influencers and potentially get a wave of authentic reviews or feature videos.
- Brands that are prepared for a fast-paced, trend-driven approach: Brands that benefit most are those who can jump on trends or memes in real-time (through influencers who guide them).
How to Start a TikTok Influencer Marketing Campaign (Step-by-Step)
Are you convinced that influencer marketing on TikTok is effective for your business? So, let’s start creating a campaign:
1. Define Your Campaign Goals and KPIs
Like all other marketing strategies, the first thing to consider while running a TikTok influencer marketing campaign is defining your goal. What do you want to achieve?
Is it:
- Brand Awareness: Your goal should be more views, followers, and mentions.
- Engagement: Keep an eye on likes, shares, and comments.
- Traffic to Your Website: You should count clicks and conversions.
Be as specific as possible.
For example, your goal might be to generate 100,000 video views and a 20% increase in web traffic during the campaign period, or to drive 500 promo code redemptions. Choose 1 or 2 primary goals so the campaign has a clear focus.
This video can help you define correct KPIs for your influencer marketing campaigns:
2. Know Your Target Audience on TikTok
This is the main thing that can help you discover whether your focus should be on TikTok influencer marketing or not.
- Who is your target audience?
- Who do you want to become your customer?
- What is your product?
This involves demographic factors (age, gender, location) and interests. Outline the audience characteristics, and think about what type of TikTok content they enjoy.
For instance, if you’re targeting 18- to 24-year-old women in the US who enjoy beauty content, consider working with American beauty influencers.
3. Set a Budget and Campaign Parameter
No campaign will be successful without defining its budget. Determining how much you want to spend on your influencer marketing can outline the scope of your campaign. It can help you discover whether you should work with nano influencers, mega influencers, or a mix.
For example, if you have a limited budget, you might decide to collaborate with several micro-influencers rather than one celebrity.
4. Brainstorm Creative Campaign Ideas and Messaging
Although TikTok influencers are creative, you should still have an outline of what you want them to do and what hashtags to use. Decide on the core message or story, which aligns with your goal and appeal to your audience.
Summarize your campaign idea in a few sentences to use in your pitch to influencers.
5. Find the Right TikTok Influencers
Well, it’s where the journey begins. Now, it’s time to find influencers for your campaign.With a well-defined budget, a clear understanding of your target audience, and a concise campaign story, finding the right influencer for your TikTok marketing campaign will be much easier.
However, the main challenge here is: how to find TikTok influencers?
Forget about all the manual searches or community checks, which may take your time and make you confused. Just use a TikTok influencer marketing platform.
Use Ainfluencer: the Free TikTok influencer marketing platform
Let’s shorten the long story, you want to find TikTok influencers based on your budget, right?
Most platforms that allow you to search for influencers have subscription fee, which is mostly high for startups and small businesses because they should pay for using the platform and then they should pay the influencers, too.
Looking for a most cost-effective method?
Ainfluencer is here to help you run a TikTok influencer marketing campaign affordably. As a brand, you can join Ainfluencer for free, totally free. There is no hidden fee for using its features. So, search for TikTok influencers without having to pay any price at all.
Here are Ainfluencer features that can simplify running a campaign on TikTok:
- AI-powered search tool that helps you find influencers based on category, language, number of followers, hashtags, and more filters.
- Creating as many campaigns as you like. There is no limitation.
- Sending as many invitation as you like. No limitation for influencer invitations, too.
- Direct connection between influencers and brands. So, you can easily define what you want and make a deal with influencers.
- Checking out influencers’ past collaborations. If you are not sure whether an influencer is right for your campaign, check their previous collaborations, engagement rates, and how effective they were.
- The escrow payment system secures your payment until the influencer delivers the agreed content.
Join Ainfluencer for free and check out all its features.
6. Reach Out and Pitch the Collaboration
Now that you have found the influencers you want to collaborate with, it’s time for influencer outreach.
Introduce your brand briefly and tell them why you thought of them for this campaign – mention something you liked about their content or how you see a great fit.
If you’re using Ainfluencer, you can easily chat with influencers and discuss the campaign you want to run. It’s much easier that reaching out to them on TikTok itself, as most influencers receive thousands of messages each day and won’t open their inbox.
7. Provide a Creative Brief and Guidelines
In the next step, outline the collaboration idea: explain what the campaign is about, what you’d like them to do, and ask for their ideas. Influencers can come with great and creative ideas, which can help you go viral on different platforms.
For example, your brief might specify: “Please showcase Product X and mention the hashtag #GlowUpChallenge. Emphasize how it’s vegan and cruelty-free. Video should be 15–30s. Feel free to use trending sounds.”
8. Launch the Campaign and Amplify the Content
Now it’s the day that influencers should post your promotion. Don’t leave everything to influencers, you should also engage with the campaign and support the content.
On TikTok, one way brands amplify influencer posts is through Spark Ads, which allow you to turn the influencer’s post into an ad (with their permission) and target it to a broader audience.
Remember, your campaign won’t succeed without your help.
9. Track Performance and Collect Results
You may think it’s all done! You have created a campaign and the influencers have posted it: finished!
Wrong!
Remember the KPI and goals we set at the beginning of the campaign creation? Now it’s time to track the performance and see how successful your campaign was.
You can ask influencers to share detailed stats of their post, check out those analytics for key metrics, which include view count, like count, comment count, share count, and engagement rate (likes+comments+shares divided by views).
If you provided a unique promo code or tracking link to each influencer, measure how many sales or clicks came from each.
Your work just begins after launching the campaign. If you are unsuccessful, you should determine which step you performed incorrectly.
10. Engage Further and Repurpose Content
You can feature the influencer content on your website’s testimonials or product pages, or edit it to use on other platforms like Instagram or YouTube. However, reusing the influencers’ video should be something you discuss before running the campaign because you need to have their permission.
Also consider continuing the relationship with high-performing influencers – perhaps convert them into longer-term brand ambassadors.
Examples of Successful TikTok Influencer Marketing Campaigns
It’s always helpful to read the real stories of successful TikTok marketing campaigns. The following case studies and examples can show you how beneficial a campaign can become:
1: e.l.f. Cosmetics – #EyesLipsFace Challenge
With over 5 million user-created videos and 7 billion views in total, e.l.f’s #EyesLipsFace campaign became the most viral TikTok campaign in U.S. history in 2019.
e.l.f. worked with beauty influencers to create an original song and a dance challenge on TikTok, aiming to engage Gen Z and raise brand awareness. They created a challenge by dancing to the custom “Eyes Lips Face” song and tagging #eyeslipsface.
The campaign went massively viral, even celebrities like Lizzo and Reese Witherspoon joined in organically.
The key to success was a catchy song, an easy and fun dance that anyone could replicate, and strategic seeding through influencers to start the wildfire.
If you are a beauty brand, learning about beauty influencer marketing can also help you run such successful campaigns.
2: Chipotle – #GuacDance Campaign
You might be familiar with restaurant chain Chipotle, which is our next example of a successful Tik Tok influencer marketing campaign.
For National Avocado Day, (yes that might surprise you too, we really have that day! It’s July 31) Chipotle invited users to show off dance moves on TikTok dedicated to avocados, using the hashtag #GuacDance. They collaborated with popular TikTok creators like Loren Gray to lead the dance.
Within 6 days, #GuacDance videos had over 250,000 submissions and 430 million video starts, becoming at that time the highest-performing branded challenge on TikTok.
3: Azzaro – “The Most Wanted” Fragrance Launch
In 2023, Azzaro (a luxury fragrance under L’Oréal) launched its new cologne “The Most Wanted” with a TikTok influencer campaign aimed at Gen Z men.
The main strategy of Azzaro was to bridge high-end luxury with TikTok trends. So, they decided to work with different TikTokers, whose target audience were men, and who mostly talked about ment’s fashion and lifestyle.
These influencers created videos around a transformation theme – Showcasing how applying the fragrance transforms their everyday look into a confident, ready-for-a-night-out persona.
The result: Azzaro’s campaign achieved over 59 million views and 1.5 million engagements across their hashtag challenge.
This example demonstrates that even luxury brands can use creative marketing to promote products like fragrances, which are often purchased after being tested in stores because no one can smell it behind their cell phones.
However, this TikTok influencer marketing example shows it is still possible to lead users to do something they don’t usually do.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in TikTok Influencer Marketing Campaigns
After checking out the successful examples, you may wonder if all TikTok influencer campaigns become successful?
The answer is: No!
Because some brands are not aware of the mistakes they should avoid while running an influencer campaign on TikTok. Let’s see what they are to be able to launch a more successful campaign.
#1 Ignoring TikTok Platform Culture
Don’t treat TikTok like other advertising channels. TikTok is a unique, trend-driven, creator-first space where polished, traditional ad content falls flat.
TikTok users will scroll right past content that feels like an ad. So, don’t restrict influencer creativity too much or demand a corporate tone.
#2 Focusing on Vanity Metrics Over Real Results
Don’t stick to view counts and like numbers. Although they are the main metrics to track the performance of the campaign, you should not limit yourself to these numbers. A campaign might get a million views, but did it reach the right audience or drive any interest in your product?
That’s when you should think twice about choosing the right influencers. Don’t choose them only based on their follower count.
In reality, micro-influencers with 50k highly engaged followers might spark more conversions for you than a mega influencer with 5 million random followers.
#3 Unrealistic Expectations (Especially Around Virality)
Remember, virality is somewhat unpredictable. No one can guarantee your campaign will go viral. You can’t expect to run one campaign and collaborate with one TikTok influencer and drive thousands of sales overnight. That’s no possible.
A better approach is to view TikTok influencer marketing as a longer-term strategy with experimentation. You may need to test multiple influencers or content angles to find what resonates.
#4 Choosing the Wrong Influencers
Relevance is more important than reach. So, don’t think you should only work with famous TikTokers. If influencers in your niche don’t have as many followers as a celebrity TikToker, there is no problem. Because at least you will know that an American tech influencer has audience who are more interested in your gadget.
#5 Poor Communication and Lack of Clarity
Be clear and concise about what you want. It’s a mistake to assume the influencer knows exactly what you expect if you haven’t spelled it out. Provide that creative brief and discuss it – ensure they understand the key points to mention.
Also, don’t forget to set clear agreements with influencers.
Bottom Line
TikTok influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands looking to connect with younger audiences through authentic and engaging content. Brands can build real connections and boost engagement by using TikTok influencers’ creativity and ability to connect with audiences.
Using tools, like Ainfluencer, can help you easily create a TikTok influencer campaign and track your campaigns’ performance.
FAQs
Q: Is TikTok Influencer Marketing Effective for Small Businesses with a Limited Budget?
Yes, the TikTok’s algorithm favors organic content, which influencers are good at creating. So, even smaller accounts with low budget can still gain visibility without substantial advertising spend.
Additionally, partnering with with micro-influencers, who often have dedicated and engaged followers, can yield significant impact at a lower cost compared to larger influencers.
Q: How Much Does TikTok Influencer Marketing Cost?
The cost of influencer marketing on Tik Tok can vary widely based on factors such as the influencer’s follower count, engagement rate, and niche. However, if you clearly set your budget, you can always find great influencers even with low prices.
