TikTok is now considered to be the third largest social media platform in the world with a user base of over 900 million people. TikTok users average spending 45 minutes each day on the platform, far exceeding all other social media platforms besides Youtube.
Yet, the goal of just about any social media platform is converting its user base into ad revenue. That is where TikTok has experienced difficulties.
Upon launching their advertising platform, TikTok had trouble recruiting brands as they had not won the trust of the advertising community. In 2021, they started connecting brands with influencers in order to gain revenue and gain trust as an advertising platform. These influencers make it easier for brands to have a personal, more authentic connection with their target audience on TikTok.
Influencers are able to connect brands with their audience, allowing themselves to be the personification of the brand. In order for a brand-influencer relationship to be successful, the influencer will have to be picked based on what their niche on TikTok is and who their audience is. Agencies are able to come into play here by being the ones who connect brands and influencers based on their niches and the audiences that these brands want to target.
How is TikTok expanding its influencer partnership platform?
With recent improvements in ad technology, it has become easier for advertisers to find space on the platform. TikTok’s advertising revenues have been forecasted to triple this year surpassing Twitter and Snapchat combined. This is due to the social platform introducing a new ad solution, Branded Mission, where agencies and brands use unique video content from creators and convert it into engaging ads.
In this initiative, advertisers get to use TikTok’s diverse community of creators and advertise using their individual voices. Creators get the opportunity to work with brands, gain compensation, and gain access to more traffic on their account. Creators are to be at least 18 years of age and have more than 1,000 followers to participate in the Branded Mission. TikTok’s Branded Mission should help the business grow as the most creator-friendly of all social media platforms.
TikTok is focused on helping advertisers with branding through some other channels as well. The platform used ByteDance, an owned platform that lets advertisers add first-party cookies to its conversation pixel so site activity can be tracked and used in advertising efforts. The addition of cookies to TikTok gives the platform the ability to provide data for things like campaign measurement.
Further, brands can use interactive add-ons that allow advertisers to become interactive with the audience by adding polls to ads in video feeds. In addition, TikTok implemented a new tool called TikTok Pulse, which guarantees advertisers that their ads will be shown among the top 4% of all videos on the For You page and gives creators a 50% cut of ad revenues. TikTok Pulse will include an option for audience targeting that can record behaviors, demographics, and interest targeting. TikTok’s ability to measure effectiveness and impressions are improving.
The last piece that is making it easier for advertisers to enter a platform like TikTok is helping brands intertwine organic content into their ads. Tools like Spark Ads, TikTok Creator Marketplace, TikTok Creative Exchange, and Branded Mission are all working to bring together creators and brands to make campaigns that feel like their own original content. TikTok is known for creating organic content and much of the advertising on the platform is done by creators or UGC, and this has been an obstacle for many advertisers.
How can brands take advantage of new TikTok creator partnerships?
Michael Neumann, MHP/Team SI’s director of digital media, says that TikTok is the type of app that chooses to be more aware of issues and focuses on selling yourself. The platform creates ads in an engaging manner that people many times do not even realize that they are ads. TikTok is the third-most used platform used for advertising at our agency after Google and Facebook. Branded Mission will allow the agency and our clients to more easily get in touch with TikTok creators and use influencer marketing. Therefore, if this new platform is used correctly and creatively, it can absolutely be an excellent new source of marketing.
In a conversation with Chris Bell-Davis, MHP/Team SI’s content studio manager, he pointed out that TikTok is trying to establish itself as a real social media platform and mirror the monetization on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. These allow creators to use their platform to make money and better capitalize on their audience’s preferences.
How does TikTok require brand authenticity?
Branding on TikTok differs dramatically from other social media platforms. Bell-Davis emphasized how TikTok requires brands to show their authentic selves. It is face-forward and personal to businesses. If a business attempts to be overly white-washed or “corporate” on TikTok, their content won’t do well. Instead, TikTok offers brands the opportunity to pull back the veil and display their personality.
If you plan to repurpose content intended for Facebook and Instagram on TikTok, think again. What performs well on Meta’s platforms typically does not see the same levels of engagement on TikTok.
What benefits do creators and influencers offer to brands?
Creators and influencers offer brands the potential for embodiment. Through smart and careful partnerships with creators and influencers, brands have legs that walk around and tell people about their businesses.
Creators and influencers can also serve as ideal personas to help connect brands with their target audiences. Influencers are known as such because they have developed loyal communities of followers. If a brand partners with creators and influencers who intersect with their target audience, it builds their credibility within niche markets which they may not otherwise be able to reach..
What is the agency’s approach to influencer marketing? How can it help clients?
We help brands partner with influencers to advertise on social media by doing the groundwork and connecting brands with their niche. We’ve seen that when we put our clients in the hands of a creator, we see more success and even outperform traditional ads. Creator-initiated ads see higher engagement, click rate, and views. They also show how many shares the ad received, which is important in measuring its effectiveness.
We currently have some plans in the works for developing our influencer marketing capabilities and seamlessly integrating them into our campaigns. We are also creating a new team for TikTok, innovating with new TikTok Ads and launching a new social media studio.
If you’re interested in increasing your TikTok marketing or integrating an influencer into your upcoming marketing campaign, reach out to us. We’d love to work with you!
