TikTok strengthens the path for brands to connect with creators. How crucial is it for marketers?

Published: June 09, 2023

min read

While TikTok faces a ban threat in the western market on the one hand, this strongly youth-oriented platform keeps on adding more intriguing features for users and possibilities for marketers and creators. Needless to mention, recently the company announced its testing of the AI chatbot Tako.

With the creator world continuing to gain traction among users, businesses use of influencer marketing to amplify their reach is only increasing. Particularly, TikTok is one prominent platform on which many influencers lean to connect with younger audiences and increase their followings. And to use it to its advantage, TikTok is also striving to incorporate many new features for the benefit of both businesses and influencers.

TikTok recently introduced an innovative method called 'Open Applications' that allows brands to share the details of a forthcoming campaign, which interested creators are able to respond to in the app.

TikTok has been trying it for a few months. However, the feature is now made available to a broader audience. It allows businesses to generate curiosity among creators while helping them build their campaigns.

Each creator application includes a brief proposal or idea for the brand campaign, glimpses of relevant TikTok videos created by the creator, contact details, and an offered fee.

It's sort of an audition for TikTok creators. This will ideally provide brands with greater choices and key information on who they work with, while also increasing partnership possibilities for creators.

Brands will be able to view creators' submissions in the app once they have made their pitches.

Furthermore, brands may request that particular creators submit proposals for their pitches, allowing for more targeted collaboration.

What does it mean to brands and marketers?

While there are certain influencer marketing platforms already available in the market to choose legit and reliable influencers, it is clear from the recent move that TikTok is striving to level up its creator marketplace as one such platform for brands and marketers.

With influencers oftentimes becoming a reliable source for users to make purchase decisions, brands are increasingly incorporating influencer marketing as part of their marketing strategy.

As an impact, the influencers marketing costs increased while lacking the proper framework for measurement, and brands are striving to come up with various approaches to make their investments in influencers meaningful and effective.

At this situation, we believe TikTok’s new feature "Open Applications" will be considerably helpful for brands and marketers in many ways.

With open applications, marketers can ensure they choose the right and relevant influencers for their brand by leveraging screening questions, preference filters, etc. Thus, by choosing the right influencer who has a genuine affinity for their brand, marketers can significantly boost the engagement rate and effectiveness of their marketing campaign.
Creating content that feels natural and organic is crucial for a campaign's success. As creators pitch specific ideas in Open Applications, marketers will be able to assess if the particular creator can connect with your target market, create content that resonates well with your audiences, and decide accordingly. This way, they can easily filter out the influencers that are not showing the signs of the right fit.
As the open application feature maximises the creator discovery process, brands may be able to find the right match. By building strong and long-term relationships with them, brands can develop deeper connections with the influencer's audience over time. This, in turn, can drive higher engagement and greater brand recognition and recall among the influencers’ audiences.
Each influencer has their own unique audience demographics and interests. While collaborating with them, it is essential to choose the influencers whose followers align with your brand's target market. As TikTok provides options for marketers to surface the creators applied in open applications based on location, followers count, etc., it will become easier for marketers to ensure they choose the relevant influencers so as to make their message reach the right people.

Overall, TikTok’s Open Application is a small, significant, and beneficial move for brands and creators. By effectively using this, brands can enhance the impact of their influencer marketing campaigns and achieve the desired results.

Author

Jasmine Jackson

Jasmine is a social media maven with a talent for building engaged communities. She's a natural storyteller and has a way of making complex ideas accessible to everyone. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, and exploring new cuisines.