TikTok Guide: Start Your TikTok Influencer Campaign

TikTok has become one of the most used social media platforms since 2022. With 750 monthly users worldwide, brands have started to pay attention to TikTok influencers to create new collaborations on this platform. TikTok is known for being a very volatile platform with an algorithm that varies from one day to another. Influencers can go viral without having thousands of followers or being popular personalities. Thus several brands from all sectors and sizes started to invest in TikTok influencers. With its unusual algorithm dynamic, many small businesses exceeded their expectations and sold out their entire stocks thanks to a few TikTok videos that went viral and boosted their sales. So if you are looking for new dynamic and modern content that goes along with expensive visibility, this platform is the perfect match for you! 

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Learn how to use TikTok  

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Starting on TikTok doesn’t happen by night. You’ll need a few key points and best practices to start your TikTok journey on the right foot! That is why we will share our best influencer marketing TikTok tricks and tips so you can plan a successful TikTok campaign with your favorite content creators! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

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The first step to knowing how to plan the perfect partnership for your brand on this platform is to understand the platform itself in the first place. Thus if you are still not completely sure how to use TikTok, or understand its community and the purpose of its content, be sure to check our previous article to familiarize yourself with the platform’s usage.

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The importance of TikTok trends

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TikTok is well known for its trends. Following TikTok trends is crucial if you want to have a chance at going viral. But how exactly does the TikTok trend work? To make it simple, a TikTok creator will create a sound or use an existing sound and create a video with it. It can be funny, instructive, or around any kind of sector such as fitness, cooking, fashion, humor, etc. Then if other users find this content entertaining and amusing, they will recreate the same video but with a different message. For instance, a food influencer can use a sound to present their new bakery, then an intern designer might just use the same sound to present their small interior design office. If other content creators use this sound to introduce their small business to their community, then this sound will become a trend where the main purpose is to show your small business. 

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The concept of a TikTok trend is about content creators creating original content then other users recreating this same video with the same sound but adjusting the message to their background and adding their style to it. Thus a key point to keep in mind is how important it is that other tiktokers personalize their content. Following a trend isn’t only about recreating the same video as the original content but rather about adapting it and adding your personal touch to it. 

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Understanding the TikTok algorithm in 2022

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Why is the TikTok algorithm important? The TikTok algorithm is the smart technology that will determine if your video will appear on the For You page of other users. As you know the For You page is a space where you find videos of content creators you don’t follow, but TikTok considers it suits your center of interest. Thus only TikTok can decide which content will appear on other For You pages. And that is what we call the TikTok algorithm. In other words, understanding this algorithm means creating content that TikTok finds entertaining and sharing a message that other users can relate to. So how do we use TikTok? Here are a few points to better understand what TikTok wants:

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• Creating original and creative content. As we said following trends is crucial but the algorithm also greatly values original content as it shows the influencer’s creativity and capacity to diversify their content. Moreover, this is a great way to make your TikToks go viral!

• Posting regularly. TikTok is about posting dynamic content regularly. So posting once a month just won’t do it. TikTok influencers are used to posting at least three times a week and at most a few times a day. Thus be sure to create many different videos at once so you can post them later regularly!

• Following the latest trends. This point is important since it is by following trends that you will at first get visibility. When using a popular sound you are also appearing in the searches for this trend. The algorithm might just push your content since it shows how you are aware of the platform’s latest tendencies and trending sounds.

• Finding your niche audience. Who you are addressing your video to is one of the most important key points. Defining who your audience is will help you create a message that this audience can understand and relate to.

• Being active on the platform. Creating new content isn’t enough for the TikTok algorithm, the influencer must bring something to the rest of the community, by engaging with other content creators. This means following, liking, commenting, and sharing other influencers’ posts. So coming on the platform, and leaving as soon as you post just won’t do it.

• Visibility is more important than followers. The real audience of an influencer is the users that will watch their video on the For You page. Influencers can have thousands of followers and yet only reach very few views, and so goes the other way around with little followers but massive visibility. However, if an influencer has +100k followers then it shows how the influencer was able to produce viral content over a long period. 

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How to find the right TikTok influencers

What is a TikTok content creator?

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We find content creators on every single social media platform, yet their content differs from one social media to another. For instance, Instagram influencers work on aesthetically pleasing content. Their feed’s consistency and the editorial line are quite important since it is like their own portfolio. It showcases their style and portrays their creativity as well as their level of professionalism. When a brand decides if they want to work with the influencer or not, looking at their feed will help their decision-making. If the feed corresponds to their brand style, values, and aesthetic then it’s a match, however, if the image doesn’t fit then it won't.

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The same goes for TikTok influencers. A TikTok creator knows how to create content specifically for the platform. They focus on being creative and original, then on creating a clean and consistent image. TikTok considers a content creator to have become an influencer when they reach 1k followers. All in all, TikTok influencers know how to adapt quickly to new trends and create original content fast. Brands will choose TikTokers depending on their activity (fashion, fitness, dance, food, travel, lifestyle…), and their capacity to go viral and build a community.

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Find the right target audience

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Targeting the right audience is a concept that applies to all social media partnerships. Whether you are searching for an Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok influencer, your number one priority is to be sure this influencer’s audience corresponds to your target market. Are their followers and viewers your clients? If yes, then you are on the right track. 

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For instance, if a female gym wear brand partners with a female fitness TikToker, then thousands of users (mostly women) who are interested in fitness will see their collab. The brand has perfectly chosen its influencer because they were able to reach its niche audience. However if the brand had partnered with a male fitness influencer, the collab is not very efficient since the percentage of women in the audience is lower. Moreover, if the brand’s target market is located in the United States, it is beneficial to partner with an influencer of this location. Collaborating with a European influencer who has 80% of their audience in Europe is a no-go. 

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The challenging part of TikTok is understanding how your viewers have different statistics than your followers. Since the algorithm pushes the content to users on the For You page, the audience that watches it is not the same as the followers. So the best way to target the right audience is to choose your influencer wisely based on:

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• Their image and reputation
• Their content (long/short, collage, voice-over, filming technique, editing skills, etc)
• Their activity (fashion, fitness, food, studies, etc)
• Their language and location
• Their statistics (buzz ratio, engagement rate, activity rate, etc)

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To make it easier for you, you can find all this information on Favikon’s influencers’ audits. Favikon provides all the statistics you need to find the TikTok influencer that fits your needs and objectives to plan a successful partnership.

Planning a TikTok campaign

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Build your TikTok marketing strategy

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Now let’s get to the important part, define your TikTok marketing strategy to plan your influencer campaign. Here is how you can plan your influencer marketing strategy in six easy steps!

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1. Define your objectives. Are you looking to gain visibility, and engagement or to work on a new image? Are you promoting your brand to boost your sales or are you promoting a new launch for a specific collection? The purpose of your marketing strategy will define the content you need and thus the influencer you should work with.

2. What is your main message? Following our previous point, once you have set the purpose of your influencer marketing campaign, you must define a clear message you’ll be sharing all along the campaign. This way users will understand the purpose of your ad. 

3. Plan your campaign’s content. Now that you know what you are promoting and why you should define a few content ideas. Is it product placement? Is it unboxing? Should the influencer talk about your product or should they show their audience how to style it or use it? 

4. Choose your TikTok influencer. Now that you know what content you need, you can now find an influencer that creates this type of content. For instance, for a fashion brand, some influencers don’t talk and only show their daily looks, others enjoy filming unboxing videos to talk and go into the details of the product. Thus your choice of influencer will be defined by your target audience as well as your campaign objectives.

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5. Contact your TikToker. In contrary to Instagram, you can’t DM TikTok influencers if they don’t follow you back. Thus most of them will either share their professional email contact or their other social media account such as their Instagram. Be careful, there are do’s and don’ts when contacting influencers. Don’t spam them, or comment on all their posts asking for a partnership, but send them an official partnership proposal with a personal message. Explain why your brand wants to work with them, why you like their content, and so on. 

6. Plan your influencer campaign. Once you are in contact with your TikToker, it is important to discuss your expectations. What kind of content are you looking for? How many posts do you want from them? When should they post? What is the remuneration?

How to measure the success of your Influencer Marketing Campaign

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Depending on the objectives you set before your campaign, your Return On Investment will vary. Thus there are many ways to measure your influencer marketing ROI. 

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If you were aiming for more visibility, you’ll be checking the evolution of your number of followers and views. If your objective was to gain engagement, then you’ll be focusing on the ratio of likes/views and the number of comments received on your collab as well as the rest of your accounts. These results are more on the quantitative side of the ROI. But we can also measure a qualitative ROI. The latter is defined by the quality of the comments and the User Generated Content that has been created following your influencer marketing campaign.

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However, if you are looking for an easier, quicker, and automated solution, you can measure your influencer campaign’s success directly on Favikon. You can enter your influencers, your objectives, your partnerships’ timetable, influencers’ price, the sales generated, and so on. Then Favikon will provide all the posts of your campaign to make it easier to follow all of your influencers’ posts as well as the statistics of your campaign!

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