5 steps to a successful influencer campaign on TikTok

Created by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd in 2016, TikTok is now one of the most popular apps in the world. And for good reason: it has just passed 1 billion users, and has reached over 3 billion downloads in just 3 years.

Launched as a video sharing platform, mainly for lip synch, challenges and dance videos, TikTok has now become a social network in its own right. Everyone can find happiness there.

In 2021, many brands have been seduced by the ease of use and creative ability of the network and have invested in influence on TikTok.

In this article, we'll give you all the keys you need to succeed with your influencer campaign on TikTok. Let's get started!

Why do an influencer campaign on TikTok

Influencer marketing on TikTok is the best way for a brand to quickly gain visibility in a community.

It is common that when a brand launches its account on TikTok the results are not spectacular from the start. Indeed, growing a community requires a real expertise and investment.

That's why launching an organic account is more of a long-term effort to get on TikTok.

This is for example the case of Ralph Lauren or Dior, which despite their fame do not manage to convince TikTok users.

To realize this, you just have to observe their relatively low number of views compared to the number of views that illustrious strangers who have understood the codes of TikTok can make.

Indeed, the format of TikTok is quite standardized.

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Users share short videos spontaneously or to reproduce challenges launched by brands.

Content creators with a large number of followers are calledTikTok influencers". And the content they produce directly on the platform is said to be "native", as opposed to content that does not respect the codes of the application. 

Non-native content, i.e. commercial content or content shot in a studio, with methods coming from TV, does not perform well on TikTok.

TikTok influencers act as influencers.

Activating influencers will therefore allow you to create much more results, whether in terms of views or engagement, and very quickly.

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5 steps to a successful influencer campaign on TikTok

Running an influencer campaign, whether on TikTok or on any other social network, is not something you can improvise, at the risk of getting mediocre results. We have written an article on the mistakes to avoid when launching a TikTok influencer campaign, which you can read by clicking here.

Influencer marketing is therefore a powerful lever, but it requires solid preparation to obtain satisfactory results.

Step 1: Define your objectives and target

First of all, as with any marketing campaign, you need to define clear, achievable and measurable goals . It is important to determine the reason(s) why you want to implement an influencer strategy on TikTok. Is it to increase brand awareness or to convert?

Once you've made that choice, keep in mind that many influencers have a large community, but it's not always engaged and relevant to your market. 

If you want to generate awareness for your business, you should focus oninfluencers with a large community.

If your goal is to generate sales, focus instead on more niche influencers with a smaller, but more qualified community. This will give you a better chance of getting a good return on investment.

Step 2: Define the target of your TikTok influencer campaign

In order to set your objectives, you must first think about your targets. If you are a company with an older or BtoB target, you risk having a limited choice of influencers, even if the average age on TikTok is increasing.

On the other hand, if you're a brand focused on a young target audience (ideally between 16 and 24 years old), you'll have no trouble finding an influencer that's right for your audience. Still, take the time to analyze your positioning in the TikTok market before looking for influencers to collaborate with.‍

Step 3: Select and negotiate with influencers

It's time to start selecting creators that are relevant to your brand, i.e. with an audience that matches yours.

Here is a list of criteria to consider in your selection:

- Engagement rate: look at whether the community is interacting with the influencer

- Average number of views on videos: to get an idea of the number of views you can achieve by collaborating with the creator

- The number of subscribers: this is the main determinant of the influencer's price, although it is not a reliable indicator of the quality of his videos or his number of views. It is important to know the different categories of influencers on TikTok to choose the right influencer.

- The notoriety of the creator: it goes beyond TikTok. For example, an influencer with 400k subscribers on TikTok but who comes from Youtube or Instagram where he is more followed will cost more than an influencer with 2 million subscribers but only on the TikTok platform.

- The creator's video concepts: it is important to find out if the video concepts of the influencer are conducive to collaborations or not. The goal is to make the collaboration as natural as possible.

Content creators are constantly being asked to collaborate, so it's up to you to stand out from the crowd and make them want to showcase your brand. The easiest way is to ask an influencer agency to help you design your campaign. At Sleeq we take care of everything and in particular negotiate the budget of the influencers for the brands.

Step 4: Video design

Before moving on to the briefing stage, it is imperative that you think about the direction you want your brand message to take: what do you want users to remember when they watch the influencers' videos?

You need to focus your creative thinking on your objectives (conversion, awareness and engagement) and adapt the video accordingly. 

Here are some guidelines to help you find your way around:

          Conversion = more commercial promotional video that calls for action 

          Awareness = the content design can be more open and the influencer will be able to talk about the brand in a more subtle way.

          Engagement = brand content i.e. branded content without the brand appearing, this type of video must bring a real added value to the audience.

Step 5: Write the briefs

Once you have selected an influencer, negotiated the rates and conceptualised your videos, comes the brief stage. By collaborating with an influencer on TikTok you can create remarkable content that speaks to your target on their turf and, most importantly, with their codes. You don't need to come up with revolutionary concepts for your campaign to work. On the contrary, the more trendy you are, the more successful your TikToks will be.

The best thing, and what we do at Sleeq, is to draw up a specific brief adapted to each influencer in order to respect their world. There is a subtle balance to be found between the influencer's content and the brand's sales pitch.

If as a brand you are not used to the exercise, propose a fairly broad brief to the designer. This will allow him to understand the brand's objective while leaving him enough room to adapt it with his creative concept.

What should be avoided at all costs are generic scripts for all influencers. This risks restricting them because it will not be adapted to their personality at all. Their followers will notice and the results will be disastrous...

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Step 6: Plan the publication and boost the videos

Depending on your marketing objectives and strategy, videos can be published all at once by all the influencers for a "buzz" effect, or they can be staggered to gain notoriety or make sales over the longer term.

Also, as a brand you can use the videos of content creators to run TikTok Ads campaigns. These will allow you to increase the reach of a publication or to convert thanks to the implementation of a call to action button allowing users to continue their customer journey towards a site.

Are you a little lost? Sleeq can support you throughout your influence campaign, so don't hesitate to contact us.