TikTok has exploded in popularity over the last few years, becoming one of the most widely used social media platforms in the world. As of 2022, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users globally. With such a massive audience, many brands have started partnering with popular TikTok creators to sponsor branded content and advertise products.
A TikTok sponsorship involves a brand paying a TikTok influencer to create sponsored content that promotes the brand’s products or services. The sponsored content is posted to the influencer’s TikTok account and leverages their audience and creativity to drive awareness, engagement, and sales for the brand.
TikTok sponsorships have become an extremely popular marketing tactic, allowing brands to tap into Gen Z audiences. They come in many forms, from creators making short sponsored videos to livestreams focused on a brand. Rates vary widely based on the influencer’s audience size and engagement.
Typical Rates for Sponsored TikTok Videos
Sponsored content rates on TikTok vary greatly depending on the influencer’s follower count, engagement levels, and niche. However, most sponsored TikTok videos fall within the following ranges:
– Cost per 1,000 views: $2 – $121
– Cost per post: $200 – $20,0002
– Cost per conversion: $10 – $100 (cost per click, signup, sale, etc.)
Nano influencers (5k or fewer followers) typically charge $5-25 per post. Micro influencers (5k-50k followers) charge around $100-500 per post. Macro influencers (50k-500k followers) can charge $1,000-5,000 and celebrity influencers usually charge over $10,000.
The average cost for a sponsored TikTok video post is around $100-200 for micro influencers and $2,500 for macro influencers according to influencer marketing platforms.3 However, rates vary widely based on niche, production values, exclusivity and other factors.
Factors That Influence Rates
When negotiating rates for sponsored TikTok videos, there are several key factors that come into play:
Follower count: Generally, the more followers an influencer has, the more they can charge. Nano influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers typically charge $100 to $500 per post. Micro influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers charge around $500 to $2,000. Macro influencers with 500,000+ followers can charge $10,000 or more.
Engagement: Engagement rate, or the percentage of followers that like, comment, and interact with the influencer’s content, is a key metric. Influencers with higher engagement can justify higher rates. A good engagement rate on TikTok is considered to be around 15-25%.
Video views: The number of views per video also impacts sponsorship rates. More views means greater reach and exposure for the brand. Macro influencers often have individual videos with millions of views, significantly boosting their value.
Overall, brands look at follower count, typical engagement, and viewership together when determining if an influencer’s audience and content is worth the sponsorship investment.
Average Rates for Nano, Micro, and Macro Influencers
TikTok influencers are typically categorized into tiers based on their number of followers:
- Nano influencers: 1,000 – 10,000 followers
- Micro influencers: 10,000 – 100,000 followers
- Macro influencers: 100,000 – 1 million followers
Nano influencers generally charge $10 – $100 per sponsored post, with an average of around $40. Their high engagement rates make up for their lower follower counts. According to one source, nano influencers on TikTok have an average engagement rate of 7.5% (1).
Micro influencers charge $100 – $500 on average, with rates on the lower end for those ~10k followers and higher rates for those nearing 100k followers. Their engagement rates tend to be around 4-6%. A TikTok micro influencer with 50,000 followers may charge around $250 (2).
Macro influencers with 500k+ followers can charge $500 – $2,500+. Their engagement rates are around 2-4% on average. A TikTok influencer with 800,000 followers may charge approximately $1,500 per sponsored post (1).
So while nano influencers have lower follower counts, their high engagement often makes up for this when setting rates. Engagement and video views are top factors in determining how much to charge.
Sources:
(1) https://blog.ainfluencer.com/tiktok-influencer-rates/
(2) https://izea.com/resources/how-much-do-tiktok-influencers-charge/
How Brands Determine Budgets
Brands take several factors into account when determining budgets for TikTok influencer campaigns. Some key considerations include:
Bidding strategies – Brands can choose between three bidding strategies on TikTok ads: CPM bidding (cost per thousand impressions), optimized CPM bidding which uses an algorithm, and conversion bidding which optimizes for actions like clicks or purchases. Brands will set a max bid amount and their budget is determined by the cost to reach their target audience.
Campaign goals – Budgets are aligned with campaign goals and desired outcomes. Brands spending to increase awareness may allocate more budget to impressions, while those focused on conversions will optimize budgets around driving traffic and sales. Longer campaigns generally require higher budgets.
Target audience – Reaching larger, more general audiences costs less per view than niche audiences. Brands will factor in the size of an influencer’s audience and how well it aligns with their target market when setting budgets.
Video production – More high-quality, produced video content costs more to create. Brands plan budgets around the production needs for UGC (user generated content) vs. professionally filmed branded content.
According to this video, the minimum budget for a branded TikTok campaign is around $5,000-$10,000 to make an impact and see results. The average is closer to $25,000.
Negotiating Sponsorship Deals
When negotiating sponsorship deals on TikTok, both creators and brands should come to the table with a clear understanding of their goals, audience, and metrics. According to source, creators should prepare a media kit that outlines their follower count, average views, engagement rate, and audience demographics. Brands will want to see stats that prove a creator’s value for promoting their products. Having a history of successful brand partnerships can strengthen negotiating power.
On the brand side, marketers need to determine campaign goals, ideal creator partnerships, and budget ranges before reaching out, per this source. Being flexible on creator rates and willing to negotiate will lead to better collaboration. Both parties should be open to testing creative ideas to achieve campaign objectives. Setting clear expectations around deliverables like sponsored posts, product integration, and reporting can prevent misalignment down the road.
According to influencer marketing experts, the negotiation itself should focus on win-win partnerships, not just the cheapest deal. Creators have a right to charge fair rates based on their influence and production costs. But staying realistic and not inflating rates is key. Compromising to find middle ground often results in the best campaigns. With trust and transparency as core values, creators and brands can build relationships that benefit both sides.
Measuring Campaign Performance
When running a sponsored campaign on TikTok, it’s important to track key metrics to understand the performance and ROI. According to TikTok’s business blog, the most important metrics to analyze are:
- Impressions – The number of times your sponsored content is displayed.
- Reach – The number of unique users who see your sponsored content.
- Engagement rate – The total number of engagements (likes, comments, shares, etc) divided by impressions.
- Click-through rate – The number of clicks on your sponsored content divided by impressions.
- Conversions – How many users take a desired action after seeing your sponsored content, such as visiting your website or making a purchase.
According to Rival IQ, other helpful metrics are engagement rate by follower, hashtags per video, monthly follower growth rate, and videos posted. Comparing these metrics over time and against industry benchmarks can provide greater insight into campaign effectiveness.
Overall, choosing a core set of metrics aligned with campaign goals, and tracking them consistently over time, is key to understanding the impact of TikTok sponsorships. This enables informed decisions about budget, strategy adjustments, and future partnerships.
Case Studies of Successful Campaigns
Here are some examples of brands running effective sponsored campaigns on TikTok:
Pepsi launched a campaign promoting their new product Nitro Pepsi. They leveraged TikTok’s creative culture by encouraging users to create fun videos showing off the nitrogen bubbles in the soda. The campaign generated over 6 billion views and introduced the new product to Generation Z consumers.
Chipotle ran a sponsored hashtag challenge called #ChipotleLidFlip, which encouraged users to flip Chipotle lids into the air and land them upright on the burrito bowl. This built brand awareness and engagement among TikTok users. According to TikTok’s case study, it reached over 104 million users.
Louis Vuitton promoted their Stellar Times handbag line by sponsoring vertically formatted videos on popular TikTok profiles. This sponsorship allowed them to creatively showcase their products in TikTok’s native video style. TikTok reported the campaign delivered a 4 point lift in ad recall.
Apple Music sponsored high-energy dance challenges to promote new song releases. The branded challenges fit seamlessly into TikTok’s participatory culture while connecting the songs to Apple Music. Dance challenges for Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat generated 1.2 billion and 6.6 billion views respectively.
Alternatives to Direct Sponsorship
While sponsored branded content is one of the most common ways for TikTok creators to monetize their audience, there are other approaches that brands and influencers can consider:
Affiliate Marketing – Creators can earn commissions by promoting products and services through affiliate links in their profile or video descriptions. When viewers make a purchase after clicking these links, the influencer receives a percentage of the sale. Affiliate programs like Amazon Associates and ShareASale are commonly used by TikTokers.
Gifting – TikTok has a native gifting feature that allows fans to send virtual gifts to creators during live videos. The gifts cost money to purchase, and TikTok shares the revenue with the influencer. Gifting provides an easy way for followers to directly support their favorite creators.
Contests & Giveaways – Running contests and giveaways is another popular tactic. Typically, users have to follow the creator, like their posts, tag friends, etc. to enter the contest and win prizes provided by the brand partnering with the influencer. This builds the creator’s audience while promoting the brand.
Codes & Discounts – Some influencers offer special promo codes or discounts to their followers for certain brands as a non-sponsored promotion. This allows them to easily track sales they drive using a unique code or link.
The Future of Paid Partnerships
A major factor in the future of TikTok paid partnerships will be the evolution and maturity of the platform itself. Though TikTok is already massively popular, it is still a relatively new platform compared to giants like Facebook and YouTube. As TikTok continues to refine its offerings to creators, influencers, and brands, the opportunities for innovative sponsored content will only increase.
Experts predict the number of brands partnering with creators on TikTok campaigns will grow exponentially in 2023 and 2024 (Forbes). As TikTok unveils more sophisticated advertising products and analytics, brands will flock to the platform. With better performance tracking capabilities, both brands and influencers will be able to optimize their collaborations.
The production quality and creativity of branded TikTok content is also expected to improve. As creators become more familiar with the types of sponsorships that perform well, they will raise the bar for unique, engaging ads that don’t feel overly promotional. Seamlessly weaving branded content into imaginative TikTok videos will become the norm. Brands will also get smarter about pairing up with influencers that genuinely match their target demographic and brand image.
While it is impossible to predict exactly how TikTok’s volatile regulatory and political landscape will evolve, the platform has proven its resilience time and time again. Barring any governmental bans, TikTok is poised to become one of the top channels for influencer marketing and brand partnerships over the next few years. With its addictive scrolling experience and playful creativity, TikTok offers a huge opportunity for brands to authentically engage the next generation of consumers.
