Ever since its launch in 2016, TikTok’s growth and popularity continue to skyrocket.

Aside from being a video-sharing platform, TikTok has also become home to a variety of content creators and influencers who have their own mostly organic community.

With over a billion active users in 2021, more and more brands and companies are tapping into this social media platform’s influencer marketing potential. There are tons and tons of brands that have boosted exposure thanks to viral branded content videos on the platform.

This article details everything you need to know about starting influencer marketing on TikTok.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is working with people who influence the brand’s target audience or market. These influencers are tasked to create content that promotes the brand.

At its core, the principle of influencer marketing is that these individuals with a solid following already have a certain credibility in their community, which means their followers will likely trust what they have to say.

You’re essentially paying for the influencer’s ability to affect their community’s purchasing decisions.

Why Influencer Marketing on TikTok Works

TikTok started out as a platform for sharing short videos of recreated dances and mimed karaoke-like clips. How has it become such a strong marketing tool, especially for influencer marketing?

One reason is TikTok’s diversity of communities. Tiktok allows anyone to create vertical short-form videos about virtually anything. You’ll find that the platform has a video for every single possible niche imaginable.

There’s also a community surrounding whatever that niche may be. In addition, there will almost always be an influencer or a known expert within that certain niche too.

The platform has given voices to diverse communities all over the world. Users have even created names for certain communities within the platform. Booktok, for example, is the side of TikTok that focuses primarily on books and reading.

Tiktok is Good at Showing Off Personalities

Whether it’s the brand’s or the influencer’s personality, TikTok is really good at showing or highlighting these to the audience.

Because of the short nature of TikTok videos, they seem less formal and less structured than the lengthier videos on other social media platforms, for example YouTube. TikTok videos are more casual, it lets brands and individuals show off their personalities more without the pressure of looking more polished and professional.

TikTok’s algorithm also goes beyond your account statistics. Simply put, the way TikTok works is that it doesn’t limit who gets to see your content based on your followers, unlike other social media platforms like Instagram. The engagement on an Instagram post relies heavily on the number of followers.

When you post a video on TikTok, virtually anyone will be able to see it, whether they follow you or not. TikTok videos feel more personal and curated because of the platform’s algorithm. It will naturally bring in content that fits your interests based on the videos you engage with.

With its informal nature, TikTok seem to enhance strong connections between influencers and audiences. This is essentially one of the biggest reasons why influencer marketing works on Tiktok: an influencer’s community is usually built on seemingly real connections. Because Tiktoks are more personal and feel less scripted, content creators are given the chance to build strong connections with their community members.

Aside from likes and comments, the ability to duet, stitch, or re-post a Tiktok video takes engagement to another level. It strengthens that connection between the community and the influencer because Tik Tok allows them to interact.

In turn, these influencers know their audience well too. They know how to create content that their audience will like and engage with.

This means that influencers themselves provide better marketing than any other advertisement out there.