6 tips to master Influencer Marketing on TikTok

Be authentic and transparent

In recent years, authentic content has become increasingly important on social networks. Far from the ultra-clean and very aesthetic feeds that worked wonders on Instagram a few years ago, users are now looking for more authenticity.

Authenticity is now the key to brand success on TikTok, as confirmed by the study “Authenticity, Happiness and Joy” conducted by Flamingo Group in collaboration with GroupM. The study found that 56% of users have a more positive opinion of a brand after seeing it on TikTok and that ads on the platform are on average more “creative” and “original” than on other digital platforms. Furthermore, the study also found that authentic content leaves 73% of users with a positive feeling.

Authenticity is about being more human on TikTok. Being imperfect, for example, creates an intimacy between brands and their audience, and allows for a real relationship to be established. When talking about your brand and its history, don’t be afraid to use your voice and talk openly and honestly about the highs and lows you may have experienced.

Finally, you can also use TikTok to give your audience a glimpse behind the curtain, where the magic happens. Behind the scene content works very well on social media and creates a real connection between the brand and its audience. Do you have a product launch planned? Don’t hesitate to share the different steps from the making to the selling. With such content, users will not only feel closer to your brand, but also to the product designed, which they will have been able to see grow from start to finish in complete transparency.

Transparency is another value that is highly appreciated by users on social networks. According to Sprout Social, 86% of Americans say that a company’s transparency is more important than ever to them. And 73% of them are willing to pay more for products that guarantee full transparency.  Brands that prioritise transparency are therefore rewarded on a number of levels, gaining more consumer trust, increasing sales and enhancing their reputation.

Tip 2: Make the most of user-generated content (UGCs)

User-generated content (UGC) is the term used to refer to the various pieces of content created by users, rather than by brands or companies. It is the equivalent of word-of-mouth, where users share their experiences of the brand with their audiences.

For brands, UGCs represent a real opportunity as consumers are more likely to interact with and trust this type of content. They no longer trust high-paying celebrities or content produced directly by brands, but rather accept recommendations from others like themselves.

According to a study by Stackla, 60% of consumers said that user-generated content is the most authentic form of content – 3 times more authentic than content created by brands. Moreover, more than 50% of millennials base their decisions to buy a product on recommendations from family or friends. So UGC is definitely a great way to promote your brand.

By leveraging user-generated content, you integrate your community into your online presence and also show new visitors that many customers already like your products. And as you know, there is no better review than a customer personally praising your brand online in front of their friends.

TikTok has taken the importance of UGC content to another level by creating a brand new and appropriate format: the Hashtag Challenge. Challenges with a strategic hashtag tap into the audience’s desire to create and respond with their own content, and it works! In total, 35% of users participate in this type of challenge and 16% of all videos published on TikTok are linked to hashtag challenges.

In short, user-generated content allows you to improve your relationship with your current and future customers, helps you get authentic reviews of your products and brings you traffic from all user communities. Another important benefit is that UGC content is free for you and easy to re-share.

Tip 3: Promote your values and missions with pride

Always in the spirit of authenticity and transparency, don’t forget to promote your values and your missions with pride. By sharing your values, you make your brand more human, and therefore closer to your potential customers. Highlighting your values and missions is all the more important as it is becoming increasingly difficult to capture the attention of users. This is why you need to be precise about the message you want to send out for your brand.  

Rather than over-promoting your products or services, don’t forget to highlight your values and missions which will have a much greater impact and resonate with users. Indeed, most people do not choose to work for a brand for its products, the reasons are often other than the brand’s reputation or social commitment. What drives employees to work for a brand, and to stay with it, are the values and people within that company. The same is true for the consumer.

Today, competition is such that we can almost always find a substitute for a product or service. So why do consumers choose your product over that of a competitor? What can make the difference are your values, your missions and your commitments, which is why it is essential to highlight them in your communication strategy on TikTok.

Tip 4: Focus on creative and entertaining content

TikTok’s mission is “to inspire creativity and bring joy”: creativity is therefore a key element on the network. Yet an article published by The Drum points out that even today, the majority of marketers claim that their main objective is to use data to better target their customers, whereas creativity is the most vital ingredient for a successful Influencer Marketing campaign on TikTok. Indeed, the creative quality of a campaign determines 75% of its impact. As TikTok stated in a blog post published last February: “TikTok runs on creativity, and brands are no exception”.

To capitalise on creativity and offer ever more entertaining content, TikTok offers users a number of tools, such as the “react” function, which allows users to film themselves reacting to another video, or the “duet” function, which allows them to re-share a video they have already created and add their own version. Its in-app features make it easy for users to become creators in a matter of moments and, in turn, can help brands go viral.

So feel free to let the imagination of the KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) you activate run wild. As we have seen, creativity is the order of the day on TikTok and the content creators who have been able to develop on the network know the ins and outs perfectly.

Tip 5: Create a real brand community

Today, the objective for a brand is no longer just to generate views or likes, although this remains important. The main objective of a brand on TikTok should be to get viewers to take action by buying their products. In order to achieve this, it is essential to create a real brand community with users who don’t just watch the content but comment and share it. Creating a real brand community will indeed give you more credibility.

Creating a brand community is not easy. However, some of the tools offered by TikTok can help you achieve this goal, such as the functionality to answer questions asked in comments with a video. By answering through a video, brands can showcase their passion and reinforce their credibility by providing essential information to potential customers.

Another effective way to create a real brand community is to make maximum use of user-generated content (UGCs) as we discussed earlier in this article.

Tip 6: Use storytelling and play with emotions

Quality content is essential, which means telling good stories that evoke a reaction. The danger for brands is that they want to rely on ultra-structured and pre-written campaigns, whereas good storytelling and strong emotions will be much more impactful and get better results.

It is thanks to this strategy that the airline RyanAir has been successful. Indeed, with more than 1.5M followers and 46.5M likes at the time of writing, RyanAir has won the hearts of Generation Z through good storytelling. It has been so successful that many users in the US and Asia have asked Ryanair to extend its flight routes in these regions so that they can try the airline after discovering it on the app.

Many comments testify to the success of this campaign: “I don’t live in Europe, so I will never fly with Ryanair, but thanks to this account, it’s my favourite airline” says one user, another even writes “I will literally change countries just to pay Ryanair“.

In an interview with ContentCal, Ryanair’s Head of Social, Michael Corcoran, gives advice to brands who want to get started on TikTok:

• Approach your account as a creator rather than a brand,
• Look beyond video views. Read the comments to see how people interact with your brand to get a better idea of how they position you in their minds. Don’t forget to reply to the comments as well to keep users coming back for more!
• Don’t just do what you do on your other social networks
• Success is not just measured by numbers. TikTok can be used for public relations or as a springboard to other long-term business goals,
• TikTok is a creator-driven platform, making creators more credible than influencers.

So why not you? We hope these 6 tips will help you develop your Influencer Marketing strategy on TikTok and help you achieve success.