As mentioned before, promoting other people’s products is one of the most lucrative businesses in TikTok. Big brands and large companies like Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola often run influencer marketing campaigns on the platform.
They’re looking for medium-to-large accounts, that are in relevant niches, and influencers that have a strong connection with their audience. Please don’t get me wrong – this is not restricted to big brands. Little to medium companies also search for the help of Tiktok influencers to promote their services and products.
So there you go, there’s big money to be made as a Tiktok influencer. If you’re wondering how to make money and how to set up such a campaign then this is for you… Let’s jump right in!
First things first
What is an influencer marketing campaign, you may ask?
Well, when a company asks you to promote a service or product to your audience, and you happen to be a thought leader in a niche.. this is what professionals refer to as influencer marketing!
As the influencer, you have the ear of your audience, you know where their interest lays, and so on… So, having this in mind, it’s only natural that you would know how to present a product to your fans and get them hooked. Brands understand the nature of the game, and so they find huge value in such strategies.
How does it compare to Youtube and Instagram?
Let’s get the bad news out of the way. As TikTok is a new platform, brands tend to pay less than they do with YouTube and Instagram. It’s a widely known fact that YouTube influencers are paid the best, as it’s an established platform and the competition is fierce! But, don’t worry! TikTok is growing fast and will soon reach similar heights. So, it’s better to be early in the game and take a spot at the influencer’s table.
Earnings will grow it’s only natural!
The good news is that the demand for content is really high on TikTok at the moment. So, even though YouTube influencers will get paid more money, aspiring to become one is a difficult game. With TikTok, your account can blow overnight, you can grow fast and become an influencer overnight basically. The times for doing so on YouTube are long gone…
On a different note, brands like to pay more on YouTube because the content the influencer makes will get a spot in the search engine, and will get views over time. With TikTok your content usually gets a lot of visits in the first couple of days or month, and then the traffic tends to dial down. But at the end of the day, the promotional content you create for brands is there to stay on your account and will not get removed as its the case with an Instagram story for example. So, there’s a lot of value in TikTok clips, brands know this and will jump in on the promotion wagon more and more as the platform itself gets established.
How much will I get paid?
It’s all an estimation! There is definitely no rule for how much an influencer gets paid for a particular campaign.
It’s all related to your niche and your audience’s specifics. The better your demographic specs and other key parameters match with the needs of a particular brand, the better you get paid for the campaign. There are tools that state they can offer a good estimate of the earnings, but I discovered that they tend to overestimate the amount by a big margin.
A platform you may want to try out is igface.com. They have a tool on the website called TikTok money calculator. You simply input a TikTok name and get some stats for it, like:
- followers numbers
- posts number
- a profile ranking
- an estimate of earnings
Please note this is broadly inaccurate and it seems to me it’s highly overrated. But, yeah… such tools are in their infancy at the moment. They all take into account a couple of parameters like the number of followers, likes, and views for all clips and make a calculation. So, yes they’re inaccurate but I am sure that in time they’ll offer better results.
Most importantly: When a brand considers an influencer marketing campaign, they do a complete vetting of the account in question. They look at the age, location, and income of your followers to come up with a number to pay on the contract.
Frequent mistakes
One thing I’d like you to know is that you shouldn’t try to monetize your audience too early! This will be a hindrance to the growth of your channel. Also, note that any brand makes an audit of your account before they jump in to make a deal with you. If they discover that your account is heavy on the promotion side, that’s to say if you do a lot of paid campaigns, then they’ll most likely search for a new influencer that’s lighter on the whole thing.
The second thing I noticed is that many small influencers try to negotiate their deals too much. Please note that brands are really experienced in this type of collaborations and they usually have a fixed budget for it. So, try to be flexible and get the deal (even if it seems that it’s not that profitable in the beginning).
Hashtag “Ad”
It’s a legal requirement. Make sure you never forget to include a #Ad in your sponsored video description. Overlooking this little detail may result in your account getting banned.
To conclude
- Try to grow your account as much as possible before you get into promoting other people’s products.
- Focus on growing your audience first.
- There’s a lot of money to be made as a TikTok influencer but the platform itself is in a process of growing.
- There is no exact graphic to calculate how much you get paid for a gig.
- It all depends on the company and your demographics.
- Your account will be analyzed and vetted before any potential contract.
- Try to be flexible when you negotiate your deal.
- Never forget to add the “#Ad” in your sponsored videos, as this is a legal requirement and it’s mandatory.
… keep on learning, in the next chapter, we’ll focus on how to get an influencer gig.
