The TikTok Creator Marketplace is a platform within TikTok that allows brands to connect with creators to promote their products and services. Brands can search for and vet creators based on audience demographics, content style, and engagement rates. Partnering with popular creators provides brands access to their large, engaged followings and an authentic way to promote offerings to a highly targeted audience.
According to a recent Medium article, the TikTok Creator Marketplace saw a 195% increase in ad spending in Q1 2022. With the explosive growth of TikTok, brands want to tap into the platform’s highly engaged user base. Partnering with creators through the Marketplace allows brands to do this in an organic and cost-effective way.
Define Your Goals
The first step in finding the right TikTok creator for your brand is to clearly define your marketing goals. This will help guide your creator search and ensure you find someone who can help achieve your desired outcomes. Some common TikTok marketing goals include:
- Increasing brand awareness or reach
- Driving engagement and views for your branded content
- Generating conversions or sales
- Acquiring new followers and subscribers
- Improving audience sentiment or brand affinity
You may aim for a certain number of views, a target engagement rate, or conversions from clicks. Quantify these goals so you can track performance. Consider both immediate campaign objectives and longer-term brand goals. Align on the purpose so you and any creators are working towards the same outcomes.
According to one source, “Successful TikTok marketing stems from having clear objectives and KPIs to reference throughout a campaign.” https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-marketing/
Identify Your Target Audience
When looking for a TikTok creator, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your target audience and who you want to reach. According to recent statistics, TikTok’s audience skews young, with around 25% of users under 20 years old. The majority of users are Gen Z (ages 13-25). In terms of gender, TikTok has a nearly equal male-female split, with women making up around 57% of users as of 2024 (Backlinko).
Geographically, TikTok has an international audience, with large concentrations of users in the US as well as countries like India, Brazil, and Russia. Consider the locations and languages spoken by your target market.
Beyond basic demographics, think about the values, interests, and psychographics of your ideal audience. Are they passionate about certain hobbies, causes or subcultures? What emotions do you want to evoke? Selecting a creator who is already popular with your target audience can help you effectively communicate your brand message.
Find Relevant Niches & Hashtags
Researching relevant niches and hashtags is crucial for finding the right TikTok creator for your brand. Look at niches and hashtags that align with your target audience and business goals. Some top niches on TikTok include comedy, dance, food, fashion, fitness, and travel (Source). Consider niches that work well without showing faces, like crafts, cooking tutorials, and storytelling (Source). Use TikTok’s search bar to find hashtags in your niche and sort by views. Look at the top videos and creators in those hashtags for inspiration.
Filter by Followers & Engagement
The number of followers a creator has and their engagement level can help indicate how influential they are on TikTok. Creators with a higher number of followers typically have a wider reach and larger potential audience for branded content. According to MegaDigital, the average TikTok engagement rate per follower is around 5.7%. However, this rate tends to be higher for creators with under 5,000 followers, and lower for those with over 100,000 followers.
When shortlisting potential creators, look for those with engagement rates at or above the average for their follower count. For example, a creator with 50,000 followers and a 7% engagement rate is performing well above average. Their high engagement indicates their followers are more actively interacting and engaging with their content. This translates to greater influence and higher visibility for branded content.
Conversely, a creator with 500,000 followers but only a 2% engagement rate may not drive as much visibility, shares and engagement for branded partnerships. Follower count alone doesn’t guarantee influence. But combining high followers and high engagement rates indicates strong TikTok authority.
Analyze Content Style & Quality
When evaluating potential TikTok creators, it’s important to take a close look at their content style and production quality. Assess factors like videography, editing, graphics, visual effects, and overall creativity. Look for creators that demonstrate strong storytelling abilities and produce engaging, high-quality videos. Avoid amateurish videos with poor lighting, shaky camerawork, or distracting background noise.
Analyze how well creators optimize their videos for the TikTok platform. Do they utilize popular sounds and effects? Do they create memorable captions? The top creators understand how to craft content specifically for TikTok. Review a creator’s entire library of videos to get a sense of their skill level and range.
Prioritize working with creators that have a consistent brand image and style across their content. Their videos should feel cohesive and reinforce their niche. Professional creators will have a high bar for the videos they produce and publish.
The very best TikTok creators have a keen eye for detail. From colors, fonts, and graphics to overall composition, their videos feel meticulously crafted. Carefully examine factors like shot framing, editing pace, transitions, and more. Production value matters when trying to make an impact and stand out.
Review Public Profiles
Once you have narrowed down your list of potential creators, it’s time to visit their public profiles on TikTok. Thoroughly review their profiles and content to get a sense of their overall aesthetic, audience, and production value. According to TikTok’s Creator Portal, “personalizing your profile is key to making a great first impression on new viewers” https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/getting-started-on-tiktok/personalizing-your-tiktok-profile/. Look for creators who seem to put thought and effort into elements like their profile photo, bio, links, and highlights.
As you click through creators’ videos, get a feel for factors like their on-camera presence, editing skills, creativity, relatability, and production value. Look for creators who consistently produce high-quality, engaging content within their niche. Also consider whether their overall vibe and audience seems like a good fit with your brand. The goal is to find one or more creators with an established TikTok presence who can authentically represent your brand and engage their audience.
Shortlist Potential Creators
Once you’ve identified relevant creators in your niche, the next step is to narrow down your options by making a shortlist of the best potential partners. Here are some tips for creating your shortlist:
Review each creator’s key metrics like average views, followers, engagement rates, etc. Focus on creators with consistently high engagement and growing followings, as this indicates an active and invested audience.[1]
Analyze the content style and quality of their videos. Prioritize creators who produce high-quality content that aligns with your brand. Look for professionalism, creativity, and production value.
Check out their public profiles and reviews left by other brands. This can give you insight into their personality, professionalism, rates, and what it’s like to work with them.
Curate a diverse shortlist of 5-10 creators who would bring unique skills and audiences to your campaign. Don’t limit yourself to just the top mega-influencers in your space.[2]
The goal is to end up with a focused list of qualified, vetted creators who would be great potential partners for your campaign goals and audience.
Contact Selected Creators
Once you have shortlisted potential creators that match your goals and needs, it’s time to reach out and establish a relationship. According to TikTok’s influencer outreach guide, the key is crafting a personalized message explaining why you think they are a great fit. Provide background on your brand, campaign goals, target audience overlap, and content ideas or briefs you’d like to collaborate on. Focus on showing you understand and appreciate their channel specifically. Offer reasonable compensation based on their follower count and engagement rates. Be direct but friendly, and follow up if needed. With the right outreach strategy, you can connect with creators genuinely excited to partner on branded content campaigns.
Track & Optimize
Once your campaign is live, it’s important to closely monitor the results and continuously optimize the strategy. Analyze performance data like impressions, reach, engagement rate, clicks, conversions, etc. and adjust targeting, creatives, or bidding as needed. Consider A/B testing different ad creatives or audiences to determine what resonates best.
Review metrics daily or weekly to spot any issues early. Tweak low-performing elements, double down on what’s working well, and maintain budget discipline. Refer to TikTok’s campaign optimization checklist for guidance. Frequently optimizing your campaigns based on data can lead to better results over time.
