Vetting TikTok creators for influencer marketing success

TikTok is a platform where viral moments dominate. This means that when vetting creators, you need to look for performance and consistency in different places than you would on Instagram or YouTube.

Because of the hyper-personalized nature of TikTok and the short-form video format, a lot of traditional influencer vetting metrics simply don’t translate in this channel. Plus, what works for one influencer won’t necessarily work for another.

This can leave influencer marketers feeling a little lost when they start looking for TikTok creators: Which metrics actually matter? When is big influencer NOT actually a big influencer?

Keep in mind—flexibility and adaptability are the name of the game when vetting creators on TikTok! Let’s jump in:

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Identify the right demographics

Knowing that a TikTok creator has the right audience makes a significant difference to the effectiveness of your campaigns. As we covered in the previous vetting chapters, age, gender, and location are key demographic data you should be assessing.

As Cristina shares, it’s important that you validate the accuracy of this information by asking for some sort of evidence from the creator or agent:

“I would definitely ask for screenshots of their demographics, which would include their age, location. I believe there's also interests as well.”

‍‍Cristina Vintimilla, Senior Influencer Marketing Manager at Oura Ring.

Remember: If you're targeting a specific market (like the U.S.) make sure that the influencer's audience is aligned with this goal.

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Go beyond virality and views

It’s important to recognize that TikTok has certain limitations when it comes to vetting creators, such as not sharing link clicks. So, brands need to adapt their vetting process accordingly. However, it’s important not to fall into the trap of relying on misleading metrics.

Because the medium is short-form video, it’s easy for anyone to rack up a LOT of views on TikTok—without necessarily creating quality content. This makes views a much less reliable metric than on YouTube and Instagram.

Ultimately, you want to partner with creators who are able to balance high viewership with high engagement (likes, comments, and saves). The metrics and benchmarks that will help you to this end are:

Views-to-Follower ratio

• As we’ve mentioned, views and followers are easy to rack up on TikTok. But this doesn’t necessarily mean good engagement on a creator’s content. To identify a sophisticated TikTok creator, zero in on their views-to-follower ratio.
• So, what is a good views-to-follower ratio on TikTok? Look for creators who are getting at least 25% views compared to their number of followers. This will tell you that a creator is successfully building a community on the platform.

‍Performance of specific content series

• While looking at views in isolation cannot be trusted on TikTok, the performance of a content series (multiple short-form videos on one topic) by an influencer is a good indicator that they know how to engage an audience. If a series is doing particularly well, this can provide a useful focal point for further discussions with the creator:

“So if things are spotty and they're all over the place, that's fine. If they have a series that's popping off, that'll be like a leeway to me talking to them. I'll be like “this series is doing really well. What's the plan here?”

Molly Cole, Influencer Marketing Strategist + Partnerships at Epic Gardening

Posting cadence

• In order to feed that hungry algorithm, TikTok creators need to be posting a LOT to maintain momentum. Look for creators who are posting 2 - 3 times per day in order to support their continued channel growth.

Likes, comments, and saves

• The true test for a TikTok creator’s community lives in likes and comments, and whether their content is being saved on a regular basis. Calculate the average likes and comments they’re getting across at least 4 videos. You’ll want to see an average of 25% likes-to-views.
• When it comes to comments, make sure that the creator has comments turned on. Look for genuine comments and interactions from followers and that the creator is highly responsive, as this furthers engagement in the content.

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How do trends impact TikTok creator vetting?

‘Trends’ can be dirty word in social media marketing; it hints at one-hit wonders, rather than sustained growth and engagement. But on TikTok, trends are what makes the platform function. Any successful TikTok influencer—no matter what their niche is—needs to excel at leveraging trends while still preserving their unique spin as a creator.

When vetting TikTok influencers, look at their ability to jump on trends quickly and creatively and how they integrate branded content into those trending formats. As Korina explains:

”TikTok is the platform where we really have started to see trends come to life, and where people are creating content relevant to something that's on trend in order to gain that larger reach.”

Korina Sanchez, Performance Marketing Manager at Chomps.

TikTok trends are VERY short-lived—as little as 72 hours! But is an influencer doing a good job of capitalizing on them? This will tell you a lot about their agility and skill as a creator.

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Sponsored content and brand partnerships

As any influencer marketer knows, sponsored content is not all alike in quality. While some influencers are super enthusiastic about their sponsorships, others are a lot more transactional—or barely mention brands at all.

So, what should you look for in a creator’s sponsored content?

When vetting TikTok creators, understanding how a creator has talked about brands in past partnerships is a great indicator of whether they are good fit for you. How often they speak about brands they work with—and the overall vibe when they do—helps you to gauge how partnership-friendly they really are.

On the flip side, a creator that boasts a lot of partnerships and regularly posts about them is less likely to give your brand the exposure you want. It’s also a sign they are less picky about the brands they work with—and you’re going to have to share the airtime. As Liv puts it:

“If you look at someone and they have three different brands on their Story or profile at once, probably not the best fit, right? You're gonna get buried in every other message there. And then they're not really authentic to their audience.”

Liv Soibelman, Head of Ecommerce at Blueprint.

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Think about TikTok in the context of your broader social media strategy

Sourcing creators and content for TikTok doesn’t necessarily have to mean thinking TikTok first. TikTok is a powerful platform in its own right, but 90% of the time, it will fit into a broader influencer marketing strategy on other platforms, since brands rarely start influencer marketing with TikTok as a first platform

If sourcing creators natively on the platform is proving to be a little hit or miss for your brand, consider how the influencers you partner with on your other social platforms could provide a useful workaround. Kendall has an interesting perspective on how TikTok syndication of Instagram content is proving to be more successful at Graza:

“I always lead on Instagram first for right now with TikTok syndication versus making TikTok the first hit, because I've tested enough videos on just TikTok only because maybe it was a little bit cheaper, but I wasn't getting, like, the bang for my buck.”‍

‍Kendall Dickieson, Head of Social and Influencer at Graza.

This approach is more suited to brands who already have well-developed influencer marketing programs. But focusing on finding those creators who have the ability to tailor content for different social platforms is a brilliant strategy to grow your program further.

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Focus on community building, rather than outreach

Outreach is an important of the vetting process, because it’s also the time where creators get to vet YOU.

When you’re trying to land multiple creators for campaigns, it’s easy for outreach to get impersonal and focus on specific outcomes, rather than actually building relationships that lead to success.

“How can you bring the creator into the ecosystem of your business, of your agency, of your platform with that organic, authentic “Hey, I'm a real person. I want to get to know you.”

Amber Kai, Head of Creator and Brand Partnerships at Sequincial.

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Instead of approaching outreach as  ‘I want to book X, Y and Z’ make sure you actually have something to offer the creator from the get-go that will pique their interest. Invitations to events, or group calls with influencer managers and founders, work wonders ion those creators you really want to work with.

Why? Because recognition breeds loyalty. When creators feel seen and valued by your brand from the outset, they are more likely to be interested in a partnership.

Remember: The goal of vetting TikTok creators is NOT just to find influencers with large followings (this applies to vetting creators on any social media platform). Try not to get distracted by surface-level metrics that don’t have a solid link to performance; you want to focus on those indicators that generally lead to positive outcomes for TikTok campaigns.

Consistent content creation, the ability to hop on trends successfully, and positive approach to sponsored are key marketers of success when vetting TikTok creators. Given the nature of TikTok as such a volatile platform, it’s important for influencer marketers to stay curious, adaptable, and don't be afraid to test new approaches!

That wraps up the sourcing and vetting creators section of the Field Guide! Next, we move into how to book creator content across platforms—and how to negotiate with creators for best deal!

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How can you validate TikTok creator demographics?

The best way to validate TikTok creator demographics is to ask for screenshots directly from the creator. The data you should ask for includes the age range of the audience, gender breakdown, geographic location, and interests. It's really important to ensure that any creator you want to work with has an audience that aligns with your target market. For example, if you're targeting a U.S. audience, you should confirm that the majority of the creator's followers are located in the U.S.

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What metrics should you use to assess TikTok creators?

View counts can be very misleading on TikTok, because the nature of short-form video content means that the app can serve up a lot of content very quickly. Instead look at metrics that speak to high engagement and resonance with a creator’s audience. A high views-to-follower ratio, posting frequency, and quality likes/comments are good indicators that a creator is pulling in an audience—and keeping them engaged with their content.

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How does TikTok fit into a broader influencer marketing strategy?

TikTok is only one piece of your influencer marketing strategy. Brands can create more cohesive campaigns and programs by leveraging creators across one than platform. Content can be shared across different platforms via syndication, i.e. repurposing a Instagram Reel for TikTok or vice versa, so it’s important to assess the creator's ability to tailor content for different social media environments to give yourself the flexibility to test on TikTok without over-committing spend.

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