In the rapidly evolving landscape of social media marketing, TikTok has emerged as a powerful platform that captivates millions of users worldwide. With its short-form videos and viral trends, TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon, capturing the attention and engagement of diverse audiences. 

Recognising this immense reach and influence, businesses and brands have embraced TikTok influencer marketing as an innovative strategy to connect with their target consumers. By leveraging the popularity and creativity of TikTok influencers, they can tap into a vast network of followers, drive brand awareness, and ultimately foster meaningful connections with their desired audience.

It’s important to note, however, that you must think of your target audience and marketing goals before choosing a new marketing channel. If you’ve already done that and want to start implementing an influencer marketing strategy with TikTok, then we got you covered! In this article, we’ll tell you about some ways to find content creators on TikTok that are relevant to your brand and industry.

Search Using Keywords

One way to start looking for influencers is by using the app itself! Thanks to TikTok’s app design and algorithm, it’s easy to discover new trending content creators. However, to find the most relevant influencers for your brand, you might want to leverage TikTok search features. Similarly to searching video content, you can use keywords to target creators that are making content aligned to your industry niche. 

This search technique might deliver an extensive list of results, which at first glance may seem positive, but in the end, might end up having a counter effect. That extensive list of creators will need to be reviewed to ensure each creator’s performance, audience and content are aligned with your brand values and messaging.

Search Using Hashtags

If you include the search term #ad, TikTok will display influencers that have been posting sponsored content and in turn, you’ll gain insight into the types of influencer content that works effectively in the platform. Although this is an excellent method to learn about new influencers, it still may be time-consuming as there are very limited options to filter your results. 

However, we have a hack for using hashtags that will still enable you to narrow down your search. The key lies in including trending or popular hashtags in your industry. This will give you a more accurate overview of the content creators that are relevant to your audience, easing your search. For example, if your brand sells special boots for hiking trips then you might start your search using #boots. However, your search might still be a bit broad. You would be more likely to find less, but more relevant creators when searching for #hikingshoes instead, since it taps into the value of your product. 

It would be a good idea to spend some time using TikTok to really understand the most accurate hashtags for your brand and see which creators your audience is responding to. 

Use the "For You" Page

If you have an existing TikTok account and you’ve interacted with your content related to your industry and target audience, then the ‘For You’ page may also help you find the right influencers. This page curates personalised content for you based on your viewing history, likes, and other interactions on the app. So, if your account has been already engaging with content in your industry niche, then TikTok will show you content that has been tailored to your interests. Checking this page will give you an idea of the most popular topics, styles, content formats, and creators. But bear in mind that most probably the creators displayed on your ‘For You’ page are in high demand by other brands, thanks to their visibility and reach. 

Use an Influencer Marketing Platform

So far we’ve seen that you can carry out a search directly in TikTok, but are there any other ways that are external to the app and do not involve a manual search? The answer is yes and we’ll tell you more about two different techniques that will simplify your search.

Doing a manual search may be both very time-consuming and less precise since you might not always have enough filters to refine your search. That is why a good alternative is to use a platform that is specifically designed for influencer marketing. This kind of platform usually comes with an in-built database of influencers, saving you countless hours of searching! Besides, it will allow you to apply the desired filters so that you have the guarantee that the list only shows the most relevant creators. 

A good example of an influencer search tool is Upfluence. It gives you the opportunity to apply more than 20 advanced filters including social media platform, follower count, engagement rate, age, gender, location, audience demographic, and many others. 

It is important to note that this kind of software will require an up-front cost, but it can be a great investment for your business as it can help you find your content creators in just a few minutes. 

Saving time during the influencer search process will allow you to contact and seal a deal with your influencers within your campaign’s timeframe. Additionally, you won't have to review too few or too many profiles, unlike a manual search.

Make the Most Out of Your Brand’s Network

Within their own communities, brands will find the most sincere supporters. Consider your loyal customers, subscribers, social media followers, and employees. They already support your company and will probably promote your goods on their social media platforms. You might have several TikTok creators among your customer base if your brand caters to Gen Z consumers. 

Going back to the example of the influencer marketing tool, Upfluence, you can also use it to connect your contact databases and lists through its link integrations with Shopify, Woocommerce, Klaviyo, and Zapier. In this way, Upfluence helps identify valuable brand partners from your own network by analysing social reach data and purchasing patterns. Even if you don't have celebrities on your email list, you may still find nano, micro, mid-sized, or mega TikTok influencers by looking at the social reach of your customer base. 

Working with an influential customer who is already active on TikTok is a great approach to start if you're seeking to establish a presence there. For instance, if you are a clothing brand, you could ask your TikTok influencers to post a video of how they styled some of your clothing items or an unboxing video tagging your brand account. 

Overall, your ability to invest the necessary time and resources will determine the best method for finding TikTok influencers. Although a manual search for TikTok influencers may seem like a cost-effective strategy, you'll lose a lot of time on a method that doesn't provide comprehensive influencer metrics or the capacity to expand effectively. Use hashtag and keyword searches instead to learn how TikTok creators are interacting with your industry. Discover the content types that are effective and use them in your approach. 

In the long term, using a specialised influencer marketing platform will be the greatest investment for accurate influencer identification at scale. With this kind of platform, you can go smoothly from identification to outreach and onboarding.

Check our blog for more tips or contact us to gain a leg up on your digital marketing strategy!