New Report Shows Brands Aren’t Tapping Into The Full Potential Of TikTok Influencers

TikTok now counts 689 million users worldwide, and while some of those users are influencers, the platform’s influencer landscape is still fairly nascent according to Social Publi’s “State of TikTok Influencer Marketing 2021.”

From a March 2021 survey it conducted among 1,865 marketers and content creators in over 20 countries, Social Publi found that 38.5 percent of influencers have yet to recommend brands, products or services, either paid or organically. This represents a big opportunity for brands to tap into the $13.8 billion influencer industry and get a leg up on their competitors. Ahead we’re sharing more takeaways from the report, broken down by responses from marketers and influencers.

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Marketers

Among the 133 marketers Social Publi surveyed, 69.7 percent said they have yet to allocate budget to TikTok influencer marketing. As another 10.7 percent of marketers noted, however, more than 50 percent of their budget is being invested in influencer marketing on TikTok. Additionally, more than half (53.7 percent) plan to increase their investment this year.

When asked which industries they believe have the most potential for success on TikTok, marketers listed lifestyle (42.4 percent), beauty (32.2 percent) and media (9.3 percent). As the world slowly reopens, 8.5 percent believe the hard-hit travel industry will see growth this year too.

The most popular ad formats, according to TikTok marketers, are in-feed videos (34.6 percent), branded hashtag challenges (28 percent) and sponsored content (19.6 percent).  

Though Instagram is beefing up its content monetization offerings for creators, 61.5 percent of marketers believe TikTok will soon reach the social media giant’s level and become a leader in the influencer marketing space, reports Social Publi.

Nevertheless, 27.9 percent of marketers agree that analytics on the platform could use improvement. Another 16.4 percent believe TikTok should focus on improving brand safety.

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Influencers

Social Publi surveyed 1,743 influencers internationally on their perspectives on TikTok, usage habits and activity around sponsored content. The influencer space has significant potential to grow on the platform given that 60.8 percent of influencers have yet to post any sponsored content on TikTok. Among those who do, just 4 percent post about sponsored content daily. Just 6 percent of influencers have been creating sponsored content for more than two years on TikTok. 

Social Publi’s research also found that 87.1 percent of influencers experience a greater engagement rate on TikTok than any other social media platform, confirming TikTok’s growing importance in a brand’s marketing mix.

Over two-thirds (67.9 percent) of influencers surveyed said they’ve purchased a product after seeing it in a post from someone they follow on TikTok, suggesting the power these creators have on sales.

One of the keys to effectively using TikTok is creating content native to the app and tapping into its viral trends. Given users flock to the app to be entertained, it’s expected that 70.4 percent of influencers named comedy as their favorite type of content to watch on TikTok.

Another 58 percent favor dance videos while 48.4 percent prefer tutorials. Other loved genres by influencers include challenges (42 percent), lip-sync videos (33 percent), life hacks (32.6 percent), memes (31.6 percent) and recipes (27.4 percent).