The Power of Marketing—Influencers on TikTok
Social media marketing has become just as effective as, if not more so than, conventional marketing. This is especially the case for white-label and private label goods and eCommerce brands. But just like the skincare, beauty, and wellness markets themselves, platforms like TikTok and other social media mainstays are heavily saturated and very competitive.
To gain a solid funnel of interested shoppers from TikTok, your team needs to do more than understand customer personas and create a unique brand. Reaching existing content creators, especially TikTok influencers, is key to connecting your brand to the right markets, building trust with them, and garnering the attention and shares that help your products go viral.
The Rise of the TikTok Influencer: A New Era of Marketing
TikTok operates simultaneously as an entertainment platform, a search engine, and a habitual source of scrolling. Many TikTok creators in the health and beauty space have built large audiences that put trust in their opinions and follow their advice. In most cases, they do this by posting authentic product reviews, regularly occurring videos like “get ready with me” (GRWM) routines, and detailed tutorials that focus on select products. These influencers aren’t just entertainers—they’re educators.
Some brands are adept at developing their own TikTok channels and creating buzz directly with audiences by participating in trending challenges, using popular hashtags, and filtering into the target market feeds. But this planned approach takes time, and unfortunately, clearly “corporate” TikToks can be hit-or-miss. Instead, many businesses partner with TikTok influencers, leveraging the influencers’ expertise and ready-made audience to:
- Create videos that more naturally incorporate or display a product, generating traffic organically.
- Create an in-depth review of a product.
- Use the right hashtags, challenges, and trends that neatly fit both product branding and the influencers’ own brand for a more genuine connection.
- Instantly place products in front of a large and interested audience, where engagement can push products to viral status quickly.
- Help a target market discover the product effortlessly through searches and daily scrolling.
Social media marketing that comes from a company may give some more skeptical viewers pause or may be dismissed as “just marketing.” In contrast, TikTok influencer messaging gets your brand in front of new eyes and is delivered by a trusted individual with product authority.
How to Find Your Ideal TikTok Influencer
There are thousands of big influencers, microinfluencers, and even nanoinfluencers, and the reality is that most aren’t the right fit for your brand. Finding the right influencer with the right audience, tone, and focus makes all the difference in a campaign’s success. Follow these steps to develop the right partnership:
- Understand your own brand story. Influencer marketing works best when your brand aligns with theirs. Outline your product’s story, your company’s vision, and the values that your company and its customers share so you can zero in on compatible influencers.
- Go small. If you have a niche skincare brand, a large-scale influencer may not make sense for your budget or your goals. Instead, look for smaller influencers with a small but very loyal core audience. These influencers often see a great deal of engagement on a very narrow focus—such as tallow-based skincare, bedtime routines for nurses or overnight workers, or people with specific skin conditions—and you can leverage that tight focus to launch a powerful brand awareness moment.
- Develop a story together. Work together to create a story about your brand instead of just having them feature your project on the screen. If they can knowledgeably highlight specific ingredients like tallow and its unique benefits, you open the door for consumers who have never really thought about it before.
- Let the influencer decide the details. Ideally, you’ve found an influencer with a deep and authentic connection with their audience, full of two-way communication. So let them take the reins to create equally authentic content.
Measuring Success: ROI and Analytics in TikTok Influencer Campaigns
Creating a partnership is the first stage, but measuring the outcomes is equally important. Set a quantitative and detailed goal for your influencer campaign, such as a measurable increase in web traffic or a certain quota of pre-release orders. Then you can:
- Measure conversions through unique promo codes, URLs, and affiliate links so you have clear sales records.
- Monitor engagement through likes, shares, and comments on your influencer’s TikToks.
- Gather insights into demographics, consumer preferences, and how well different types of content (e.g., GRWM videos, trending challenges, reviews) perform.
Ideally, your product will go viral so you can see an exponential return on your investment. But even if you don’t unlock that big win, you can create a solid foundation for growth by spreading positive brand awareness.
Budget Costs/Cost Efficiency
Digital marketing is often less expensive and easier to measure than conventional marketing. With TikTok influencer marketing, you can instantly begin to measure engagement rates, customer acquisition costs (CAC), and conversion rates. You can also be more certain that your messaging is reaching the market, as you can decide which influencers you work with and which audiences you engage with; compare this to traditional marketing, which reaches generalized audiences that don’t likely need niche skincare products.
TikTok is also a cost-effective solution once you’re ready to grow into new target markets. You can monitor who likes certain videos and which new audiences those high-engagement videos reach. This incidental research can tell you exactly what your next market will be (while already beginning to do brand awareness work). It’s even more effective as a sales funnel, as influencers are directly endorsing your products and shoppers are just a single tap away from completing a transaction.
Skincare Marketing with Moe’s Group
Go the extra mile to make your products from high-quality ingredients, more visually interesting, and ready for viral Internet fame with Moe’s Group. We specialize in formulating, packaging, and private label production to help your brand develop niche products that become best sellers and reach new markets. Reach out today to discuss how the right cosmetic formula and packaging can boost TikTok marketing and viral marketing options for your business.
