Need to find TikTok influencers to promote your brand? Below we break down three creator search methods to help you figure out how to find influencers on TikTok.
If you find a creator who links their TikTok account in their Instagram bio, you’re golden! Directing people to their TikTok profile means they’re open to possible influencer collaborations.
And if you don’t see a TikTok link right away, don’t fret. Many creators will keep contact information and social handles in their bio links. That’s where you’ll see their TikTok (if they have one).
Source: @shelby.jolly
It might seem backward but Instagram can help you hone in on potential influencers on TikTok. However, you still need to keep a few things in mind if you plan on reaching out to creators here:
- Try to find an email address, bio link or contact form first.
- Be upfront about how you found their account and contact info. Keep your outreach warm, welcoming and honest.
- If your only method of contact is to send a TikToker an Instagram DM, be crystal clear about where you’d like to collab.
Kicking off your TikTok outreach on Instagram can be confusing to creators. Ideally, you can find an all-purpose point of contact (hint: email) before reaching out. That said, some creators use their IG for all brand-related communication. It really depends on the creator!
Option #3: Using a TikTok Influencer Search Tool
No surprises here but this is the fastest way to find TikTok influencers.
There are plenty of third-party search tools and influencer platforms out there. This includes databases that let you search through lists of TikTokers across industries.
The only caveat? Not every platform is equal in terms of features, oversight or types of creators. Depending on the type of TikTok search tool you use, you could still be responsible for:
- Vetting creators for authenticity, engagement rate and no fake followers
- Double-checking creators’ content to make sure it’s relevant to your industry
- Drafting documents including influencer agreements and creative briefs
- Negotiating with (and compensating) influencers
A big problem with so-called TikTok influencer finders is that their information is outdated. Creators pivot and change their and areas of focus more often than you might think. Reaching out to irrelevant creators isn’t just a waste of time — It can reflect poorly on your brand.
Sure, self-service influencer platforms and databases can help you find TikTokers. But the process can get overwhelming (and time-consuming) if you don’t know exactly what you want.
That’s where a TikTok influencer platform like Statusphere can help.
Our tool programmatically matches your brand with TikTok influencers from our network in real-time. Not only is our network fully vetted but you only get matched with influencers relevant to your industry. Specifically, people that actively want to promote your products.
This means you can quickly scale your creator campaigns — even if you don’t know what you’re looking for initially. Not to mention ditch the legwork of scrambling for creators to work with.
Why Brands Should Prioritize Finding Micro-Influencers on TikTok
We’ve seen firsthand how brands do influencer marketing with a wider variety of creators than ever before. Diverse content, totally different follower counts and everything in between.
And in our experience, micro-influencers play a not-so-micro role in driving campaign results.
To wrap things up, we’ll quickly run down why brands shouldn’t discount smaller creators and instead make finding TikTok micro-influencers a priority:
- They’re more scalable. Contrast this with working with a handful of “celebrity” creators. More creators mean more individual pieces of promotional content you earn. Likewise, this makes micro-influencers more cost-effective.
- Their content is more authentic and relatable. Smaller creators seamlessly bring a sense of “realness” that consumers crave. That relatability translates to trust. This is especially important for brands that want to run promotions such as TikTok Spark Ads which perform best with raw content.
- Their content earns higher engagement rates. Micro-influencers’ audiences are often more engaged than those of celebrities or mega-influencers. We’ve seen firsthand how TikTok micro-influencers in niches like beauty and pet care can consistently earn 10-20% engagement rates across an entire campaign.
When it comes to smaller creators, follower count doesn’t tell the whole story. The TikTok algorithm doesn’t solely favor “big” accounts. In our experience, authentic creators in the micro or power-middle categories tend to be the ones who get the most love from the algorithm.
Finding TikTok micro-influencers isn’t totally different than finding bigger creators. The process simply requires more digging and likewise combing through profiles to verify their account sizes.
That said, here are some tips to speed up the process:
- Comb through #unboxing videos related to your products or niche. This specific tag is a goldmine for finding TikTok micro-influencers, especially since unboxing videos consistently earn reach on the platform.
- Look at trending videos and Spark Ads on TikTok’s Creative Center. Micro-influencers have to be up on the latest trends to maintain strong engagement and grow their accounts. Analyzing top keywords and trends in TikTok ads can clue you in on up-and-coming formats used by smaller creators that are gaining traction with the algorithm.
- Don’t rely on typical creator search tools. Having a list or database of TikTok influencers doesn’t save a ton of time if you have to vet and review each account by hand. Contrast this with a platform like Statusphere that matches brands with relevant influencers based on 250+ first-party data points.
The Best Way to Find TikTok Influencers to Collaborate With
Finding creators is only the beginning when it comes to running a TikTok influencer campaign.
From outreach to vetting, there’s a lot more that goes into it all than meets the eye. Many brands running their first campaigns often find themselves in over their heads.
Hey, we totally get it! Influencer vetting and outreach can take a ton of time and resources.
That’s exactly why we created Statusphere to streamline busy brands’ influencer marketing campaigns. Again, our platform matches you with relevant creators to earn UGC at scale.
Our software also handles all of the heavy lifting related to fulfillment, data tracking and more. For brands that want consistent UGC for organic social and Spark Ads, we remove the legwork from finding TikTok influencers and instead help brands focus on getting content at scale.
Want to learn more about how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to see how you can get hundreds of TikTok influencers posting about your brand consistently.
This article was first published in June 2020. It was last updated May 30, 2024.
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