TikTok isn’t just growing into one of the largest social media platforms in the world, it’s becoming the go-to place for marketers and brands.
Will the trend change anytime soon?
We think not.
Aside from the recent launch of TikTok For Business, it’s easy for active users to connect to the authenticity of user-generated content (UGC)...
…especially if it’s from someone they love like their favorite creator.
You’ve seen top brands use influencer marketing to their advantage and of course, you want a piece of that too.
The real question is: how or where do you find the right influencers and creators to promote your brand or product?
We got that right, didn’t we?
That’s why in this article, we’ll discuss:
- What the TikTok Marketplace is
- Benefits of using the TikTok Creator Marketplace
- How to find creators for your business
Let’s get started.
What is TikTok Creator Marketplace (TCM)?
TikTok Creator Marketplace is a virtual meeting point for marketers and creators – it’s where marketers go to hire creators they can collaborate with and vice versa.
It’s like Fiverr or Upwork, but for content creators.
Business owners can use it to search for creators they want to partner with and creators can equally look for brands they’d like to work with.
Sounds pretty direct and easy, doesn’t it?
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As a marketer, the campaigns you collaborate on can either be a paid or reward-based sponsorship.
So, what do you stand to gain by joining TikTok Marketplace?
For starters, your digital marketing endeavors would see a huge leap.
Your brand would also be gaining access to a generation said to have the most influencing power and will soon become the largest cohort of consumers – Gen Z.
That caught your attention, didn’t it?
In that case, you would want to know how the creator marketplace works.
How does TikTok Creator Marketplace work?
TikTok is a huge platform that can help improve your brand’s online presence.
There’s no doubt about that.
Reports have shown that over 23% of marketers consider TikTok as an effective means of reaching their business goals…
… especially with TikTok’s low advertising rates and massive creator base.
And so, we welcome TikTok Creator Marketplace.
By joining the platform, you gain access to millions of TikTok creators from all over the world.
More specifically, they can help:
- Create organic content for your brand’s product or services
- Share it with their followers
- Drive engagement and sales through their post
How can brands join TCM?
We can almost see you searching for how to get started on the Creator Marketplace platform.
…metaphorically speaking-we can’t actually see you!
It’s pretty easy to log in if you already have a TikTok Ads Manager account.
If you don’t, here’s what you should do:
- Create an account with TCM
- Input necessary information such as your name, business email, and phone number
- Verify your account by clicking the link in the email that will be sent to you
- Customize your profile to include the brand logo and other parameters
Once that's done, you can start searching for creators that fit your target audience and resonate with your brand.
Thereafter, you can reach out to them via TCM or by leaving a comment on any of their TikTok posts.
One thing you should know is that not every creator can join the TikTok creator marketplace; only those who are eligible can.
How can creators qualify to join TCM?
Knowing that not every creator can join the Creator Marketplace platform makes a lot of sense for brands.
Why?
Because you can be certain that any creator you reach out to on the platform can get you closer to your marketing objectives.
Creators who join TCM are either invited by TikTok or apply to be a part of the community.
In any case, accounts that are considered need to meet the following criteria:
- A personal TikTok account
- Over 100k followers
- Posted at least 3 videos within the last 28 days
- Garnered over 100k likes on their posts within the last 28 days
- Over 18 age limit
- Be in any of these 24 countries
If all these criteria are met, the creator’s application will be reviewed before they’ll be allowed to join TCM.
Now, how about we look at some of the benefits of using TikTok Marketplace?
6 Pros & Cons of Using TikTok Marketplace for Influencer Marketing
Like in Stevie Wonder’s Ebony & Ivory song, there’s good and bad in ev’ryone.
In this case, there are good and bad points when using the TCM platform for influencer marketing.
You’re probably thinking: why do we want to spoil these good TCM vibes we’ve got going?
Why did we have to include cons?
We feel you!
However, outlining the pros and cons will help you make informed decisions so you can use the TikTok Marketplace correctly.
TikTok Creator Marketplace Pros
Benefit #1: Fine-tuning your search for creators
As stated earlier, finding the right creator to partner with is a challenge most brands experience.
In fact, 61% of marketers say it’s challenging to find an influencer for a TikTok campaign.
But TCM helps rectify that.
You get to find creators based on your:
- Marketing objectives
- Budget
- Region
- Target audience/audience demographics
- Brand voice
And that’s a good thing for your brand because you get to collaborate with creators who have a good idea of what you represent and want.
What’s the outcome at the end of the day?
Great branded content, increased brand awareness, and direct response from the audience.
Benefit #2: Having access to accurate data on the content of each creator
Another benefit of using TCM is that you get to have access to the data of any creator you would like to collaborate with.
Think about it like trying on a dress in a dressing room at the mall. With the mirror right in front of you, you’re trying to see if it’s a perfect fit for you.
When using TikTok Creator Marketplace, you can easily evaluate each creator to see if they are right for your campaign.
How do you do that?
By checking their engagement rate, performance trends, demographics, and more.
That’s the thing about influencer marketing, whether the creator is aligned with your brand can affect campaign performance.
We talk more about finding creators in the next section. For now, let's stick with the pros.
Benefit #3: Analytics for your campaign results
After putting out content with your creator, you would like to see how it’s doing, right?
That brings us to this next benefit of using TCM for influencer marketing where you get to track core metrics such as:
- Post reach percentage
- Follower growth rate
- Engagement rate
- Comment per post
- Hashtag performance
- Best time to post
All the analytics tools needed to analyze the campaign results are present in TCM.
Benefit #4: Strict eligibility criteria for creators
Have you ever paid for a buffet and were able to eat till your stomach couldn’t take any more food?
How did that make you feel afterward?
You got your money’s worth, right?
The point of our brief story is that you get your money’s worth when using TCM because of the strict eligibility requirements creators have to meet before making it to the marketplace.
Essentially, you would be getting only thoroughly vetted creators.
Now, let’s see some of those cons.
TikTok Creator Marketplace Cons
Downside #1: Not being able to directly communicate with creators
Remember we sorta compared TCM to Upwork earlier on?
Well, here’s the thing: when clients find a freelancer to work with on Upwork, it’s easy to communicate directly with them.
But that’s not the case on TikTok Creator Marketplace.
Brands are only able to send an invitation to collaborate with the creator they’re interested in working with or drop a comment on their posts.
Boasting aside, that’s one of the things we love about our marketplace at Insense – the integrated chat feature.
It makes it easy for brands to discuss with creators.
Might seem informal to some people, but it gets the job done effectively.
Don’t you think?
Downside #2: Having to handle negotiations and the contract process
Also, on the TikTok Creator Marketplace brand needs to handle the negotiations, agreements, and contracts for every creator they work with.
This is a time-consuming process as contracts need to be drafted manually to include the specifics of each campaign.
Then they may be some negotiation stages with the creators before an agreement is made and the creator starts to make the content.
This can cause delays in the content creation process, however, Insense has turned this into a streamlined process that makes brand and creator partnerships much more straightforward.
Downside #3: Matching with creators
Although the database of creators on TCM is unlimited, the filtering options are not as optimized as they could be to make it simple to find creators that match your ideal profile.
Once you have published your campaign any creators that think they are a good fit can apply and then you need to weed through the applications to choose who is best.
Whereas on Insense you select the filters and only creators that match that filter can apply to the campaign.
Downside #4: TCM might lower creators’ video views
Surprised?
There have been incidents where TikTokers complained about their video views going down after declining collaborations with some brands.
Could it mean creators don’t have a say in who they get to work with?
Well, so far there have only been isolated incidents compared to the millions of creators who use the Marketplace.
On that note, TikTok replied to the statements with a post: “there are no negative impacts on your video views or followers by joining the creator fund and if there is, it’s caused by in-app fluctuations.”
Now, it’s time for the fun and practical part!
Find Creators on TikTok Marketplace in 5 Easy Steps
We know you’ve been waiting for this. But we’re certain it was worth the wait.
Plus, you know what? Finding creators using TCM is super easy.
As stated earlier, ensure you’ve got a TikTok ads manager account or create an account with TCM.
If that’s settled, let’s begin.
Step #1: Create a new campaign
After signing up or logging in to TCM, the next page you see is the Find the right creator page. Click on it and it will bring you over to the page you see below:
Once you’re in this environment, click on New campaign as seen in the image above.
Then, enter a campaign name and other information deemed necessary as indicated by the asterisks.
It’s also known as an influencer brief.
When you’re done, click Save.
The next step is to…
Step #2: Adjust the search filters
To find the right creator for your campaign, you need to use the creator filter to streamline your search.
So, what should you look for?
You can adjust the search filters to help you find the best creators based on:
- Country or region
- Niche or topic
- Follower count
- Video views of previous content
- eCommerce anchor feature for creator’s content on an external landing page
- Target audience and their demographics
- Average view and reach of creator’s video content
- Creator’s device
As you select each filter, you keep seeing top results for what you want. And when you find one that matches your search criteria, you can look at their insights.
Step #3: Check the insights of creators that match your search
Access the profiles of creators from your filtered search.
This helps you to learn more about the creator to see if they are a good fit for your campaign.
You have a more detailed insight into the demographics of their audience, sample videos, and performance trends of their content.
It's background information on the creator's profile so you know what you're getting into.
Step #4: Shortlist the creators that fit your needs
As you go through the filtered list of creators, you can shortlist candidates who match your needs.
You can click on Add to list on the right side of your screen while viewing their insights or when browsing through your search results.
Create a new list, give it a name, and save.
You should see the name of the creator before you save.
Step #5: Send your campaign brief to creators
This is the final step to beginning your collaboration with a creator.
That didn’t come out right, but you get the point.
Right?
After accessing creators that fit your needs, what next?
You send your campaign brief to them.
If they like what they see, it’s up to them to accept or decline your proposals.
A good Tiktok marketing strategy.
But then, remember how TCM doesn’t allow you to communicate with creators you want to help with influencer marketing campaigns?
You do, right?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could chat with influencers to know if they’ll be willing to jump on your campaign?
We have an alternative solution we think you’d like.
We’re not counting down this time around. 😏
Streamline Collaboration with TikTok Creators
By streamlining partnerships, we mean coming up with a more efficient solution to collaborating with TikTok creators.
One where you can communicate with them first without having to wait for an acceptance or rejection letter from them.
Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
How can you get that done?
It’s simple!
You need to…
Switch to using Insense for faster and more efficient communication
As a TikTok marketing partner, we are proud that our platform can allow brands or marketing companies to communicate with creators on creator ads.
Basically, you can use Insense to find the right influencer for your campaign just like on TCM.
What makes our tool unique is that you can chat with creators.
How can you get started?
First, sign up or log in to Insense as a brand.
Next, create a campaign by filling out an influencer brief.
Fill out the brief by entering your brand name and including the campaign information.
Essentially, everything that the creator would need to know about your marketing campaign.
The brief would also include:
- Campaign objective
- Campaign cover
- Brand name
- Option to enable influencer social licensing
- Payment method
- Campaign timeline
- Product description
- Price cap
- Product delivery
Author’s Note: It’s advisable to include a competitor’s piece of work as a reference for a creator or other creative assets you’d like them to draw inspiration from.
Once the brief is ready, head over to our Creators Marketplace.
By clicking Find creators, you gain access to our community of creators so you can find a perfect one for your campaign. Just like on TCM.
You get to search by adjusting filters of what you want.
Another benefit of using our platform to find creators is that it’s great for social licensing (previously called whitelisting) which can help you get permission from creators to run social media paid ads through their handles.
And now, you’re all set to begin your TikTok brand campaign.
It’s time for the monetization of this social media platform and for you to shine.
Now Over to You
Hey marketer buddy! ✋
You made it through to the end and we’re truly glad you did.
We hope you now know what TCM is and how to use the marketplace to find TikTok influencers.
It wasn’t so difficult now, was it?
We want your brand’s growth trends to take a new turn as much as you want them to.
Feel free to book a demo with Insense. It’s a good place to get started!
Thanks for reading and good luck with your search!
