As TikTok surges in popularity, advertisers are beginning to take notice - and they want in.
The app's short-form videos are reaching millions, and it's turning teens into today's celebrities. But because of the way the app is set up, follower counts don't restrict a creator's potential reach (like on Instagram). Instead, views brought in by its "For You" page are the dominating metric.
"On TikTok, it doesn't matter how many followers you have, that's not the main metric of success," said David White, head of influencer management at Whalar Stars. "It's all about how many views you're getting."
Business Insider spoke to White and Alex Devlin, a digital agent at WME, on the metrics brands are paying attention to as a way to track the success of a sponsorship on TikTok.
TikTok has been releasing features designed to help brands and influencers connect, like its new influencer-marketing tool, Creator Marketplace. The platform has also begun introducing ecommerce features, like adding a "link in bio" or clickable URL option to creators' profiles, which some creators use to drive purchases.
From a branding perspective, Devlin said that TikTok is good for its volume of impressions and reach, and Instagram is the place to drive sales.
"I think there are still a lot of rules, especially on YouTube and Instagram that we haven't seen hit TikTok yet," Devlin said. "It's definitely coming, but I like to encourage my talent to use each platform for something different, but keep it connected."
She said brands are excited about TikTok because they are interested in targeting a Gen Z audience - both YouTube and Instagram skew more toward a millennial audience for her influencer clients.
For instance, one of WME's clients, TikTok star Addison Easterling (known as Addison Rae), has an audience demographic that's mainly teens between 13 to 17 years old on TikTok. But on Instagram, her demographic is mainly people between the ages of 17 and 24, Devlin said.
Lately, Devlin said she has been packaging sponsored content, offering brands both a TikTok and Instagram component. Each platform serves a separate purpose, she said (TikTok is for reach and Instagram is for driving sales) and brands should have different goals per platform.
These TikTok campaigns have less creative restrictions, Devlin said, and she's seeing brands give creators more freedom than they have before.
"There's greater potential for brands to have more visibility when they engage with a creator in a way that works with the language of TikTok," White said.
TikTok moves quickly, and what makes the platform special is its trends and challenges. Brands are looking to the creators they work with to help understand what is happening on the platform, and learn how to engage with these trends.
TikTok creators can see how many hours a single video has played for, the total amount of views (counted by how many times a video was started), and the average watch time. They can also whether traffic on a video is coming from their followers, the "For You" page, or from their personal profile.
These features are offered in the analytics tool which is available to creators with a Pro Account. All creators are eligible to set up a Pro Account, and they can enable that feature within the setting tab on their app.
"I don't think a lot of people understand that those metrics are actually available for creators to get," White said.
Bands are also looking at the comments within a social post, which can be viewed publicly. Brands want to know whether a commenter is referencing the brand or product being promoted, known as comment sentiment, White said.
"The brands will go in and they will review the sentiment," he said. "They will see the type of people that are commenting and also the value of the comment."
For more on the business of influencers, according to YouTube stars, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:
All Rights Reserved © 2024
